As part of Blockbuster Inc.’s bankruptcy reorganization plan filed in September of 2010, regional locations are part of a 600 store closing list. The Turlock Blockbuster Video store, located on Geer Rd. in the Walgreens shopping center, has survived the corporate chopping block and is not on the closing list as of now.
“The Turlock store is not closing as of now,” said a Blockbuster spokesperson.
As part of the recapitalization process, Blockbuster will be evaluating its U.S. store portfolio with a view towards enhancing the overall profitability of the store operations.
Is the Turlock store, or any other Blockbuster in the area, guaranteed to stay open?
The Blockbuster spokesperson said, “No decisions have been made at this time. Decisions will be made on a store-by-store basis over the next several months.”
Thus far, four Turlock area Blockbusters were slated to close:
2119 E. Hatch Rd., Ceres
1055 Sperry Rd., Patterson
901 N. Carpenter Rd., Modesto
1484 E. F St., Oakdale
Two Modesto locations also made the cut and are remaining open.
Blockbuster expects that its U.S. operations, including a majority of its stores, DVD vending kiosks, by-mail and digital businesses, will continue to serve customers in the ordinary course during the sale process.
While going through the bankruptcy process, Blockbuster announced on February 21, 2011, that it had initiated a process to sell the Company, which it now believes represents the best means of maximizing value for Blockbuster’s stakeholders. Blockbuster was looking for a way to cut its approximate $1 billion in debt and afford reorganization to complete with alternative distribution methods that the company has not been able to keep up with.
Blockbuster, along with their competitor who was number two in the video/game rental business and went out of business in mid 2010, is facing changing times competition from entertainment distributions such as Redbox rental machines, Netflix mail order, Amazon, and online streaming available immediately on demand.
Along with Hollywood Video in Turlock, the FYE (For Your Entertainment) store in Turlock closed after the holiday shopping season. FYE has closed many stores as part of a plan to survive and restructure their business to compete with digital media downloading. The Hollywood Video website still tells their “friends” or customers to check out their holiday offerings online, but once someone clicks the “Shop Now” button it takes them to www.amazon.com.
As with Blockbuster, Borders Group Inc. announced in February that the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and would be closing approximately 200 stores as part of the reorganization process. The Turlock Borders store will remain open, while the Modesto store will be closing due to underperformance.
Borders is facing the same bricks and mortar sustainability issues as Hollywood Video, Blockbuster, and FYE are.
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