![]() ![]() The Rogers Plus corporate store in the Burntwood Plaza, across the street on Selkirk Avenue from where Blockbuster was in Thompson Plaza is not being closed because the company is bankrupt, but Rogers also does face tough challenges and lots of competition from multiple sources for consumers' entertainment dollars, and not just from Netflix, Leigh-Ann Popek senior manager for media relations for Rogers Communications Inc. The Thompson Blockbuster closed in September. 31 Blockbuster announced that no buyer could be found for the remaining 253 Canadian Blockbuster stores that were acceptable to the court-appointed bankruptcy receiver, and that it would wind down operations at the rest of the stores by Dec. racked up some US $70 million in unpaid obligations to the studios, for which they demanded payment from Blockbuster Canada in February, sealing the demise of the Canadian operation.īlockbuster's store here had good enough revenues that when 146 stores, accounting for approximately 35 per cent of the company's stores in Canada, were closed on June 18, Thompson wasn't among them. Through mid-January, however, Blockbuster Inc. 23, 2010 and Dish Network purchased its American assets on April 11. Blockbuster in the United States, however, filed for bankruptcy protection less than six months later on Sept. to Hollywood movie studios to ensure the continued supply of DVD product to Blockbuster stores in both countries. On March 31, 2010, Blockbuster Canada provided an unlimited guarantee toward the financial obligations of Blockbuster Inc. ![]() The formerly profitable Blockbuster Canada was an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of the long-troubled American parent company Blockbuster Inc. Mark Matiasek, general manager of Thompson Unlimited, calls what's happening to video chain stores in Thompson and elsewhere an example of "globalization at the local level."īlockbuster opened its first store in Dallas in 1985 and in Canada in 1989. Which is one big - but by no means the only reason - why places like Blockbuster and Rogers Plus and most other bricks-and-mortar movie rental places are in the situation they are in, after a business lifecycle of less than 30 years. Or you can switch to Netflix and cloud-based streaming video. (which has a surprisingly well-stocked and free seven-day collection available to borrowers with library cards), not to mention the marked down DVDs for sale at many stores around town, often to be found at bargain prices in what retailers not so flatteringly call "dump bins," but it's not quite the same, at least to some of us, as having an actual movie rental store dedicated to the proposition of video, DVD, videogame and Blu-ray disc rentals in town. outlet at Thompson Shell at 745 Thompson Dr., which is likely to expand its DVD inventory, and the Thompson Public Library at 81 Thompson Dr. Sure you can still rent or borrow DVDs at a few local Thompson locations, including the Mac's Convenience Stores Inc. But it comes close to describing what the DVD movie rental business (most studios stopped releasing videos in VHS format in 2006 and the last VCR was manufactured in October 2008) has come to in Thompson now that Rogers Plus is on the verge of closing its doors and following Blockbuster across the street into the celluloid sunset. While Sleepless in Seattle is a real and well-known 1993 movie starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, "movieless" is not quite a real word. ![]()
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