Blockbusted

Some recent business news was actually more interesting as cultural news, as Blockbuster announced that they would be shuttering their remaining 300 brick and mortar locations.

The rise and fall of the home-video market, which Blockbuster ruled, is dizzying. At its peak, in 2004, Blockbuster had 9,000 stores, with 60,000 employees. But in just under ten years, the business will largely be defunct, as even the DVD-by-mail business, which languished in competition with Netflix, will also cease.

The span of this business existed within my adulthood, and I remember well the stages of development. I remember how exciting the concept of a VCR was, not even thinking of watching movies on it (I was excited at the prospect of taping things, as I have always been something of an archivist and a pack rat). I got my first VCR in 1984, kind of late, and delighted in taping anything at all and then playing it in slow motion, stop-frame, etc.

The video rental stores came shortly thereafter, and they were largely mom-and-pop. I utilized them mostly for adult films, though I did join a few. I remember their membership fees were ridiculously high. Most people rented, as videos for sale had absurd prices--usually about 79 bucks.

Going to a video rental place on a Friday or a Saturday night became a ritual, looking for something to watch. Blockbuster, which started as a single store in Dallas in 1985, was bought by Wayne Huizenga and John Melk, and were soon opening a store every 24 hours. Almost every town had one. I resisted them, both because they didn't carry porn and there was something evil about them, as they consumed their rivals, many of those the mom-and-pop places.

Blockbuster was unequaled until those red envelopes started showing up. Netflix, which the company declined to buy (how that would have changed everything!) was the first shot across the bow. Now there are so many ways to watch movies without leaving your living room that the brick-and-mortar business model couldn't survive. The Blockbuster in my area closed several years ago (after putting two independent stores out of business). I remember five or six years ago I went looking for a place to rent a movie that Netflix didn't have. I finally found a couple (one even still had VHS!) but they are both gone now. As far as I know, there is no place to rent a movie anywhere within 50 miles. There might be some holdouts in New York City.

All of this in less than thirty years. I'm trying to think of something comparable--a business that didn't exist before, grew to be ubiquitous, and then quickly became obsolete. I don't know if there's another. It just shows how rapidly technology, specifically the Internet, has made it easy to do things, and by doing so, has ended certain segments of commerce.