Blockbuster U.S. leaves physical retail, 2800 jobs lost

300 stores and remaining distribution centres to close by January 2014

The Dish Network will close all remaining Blockbuster retail stores and distribution centres in the U.S., resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs.

Dish will call time on its Blockbuster retail business in January, 2014, with the DVD-by-mail service scheduled to close one month before. In total, around 2800 jobs will be lost in the process.

“This is not an easy decision, yet consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment,” said Dish CEO Joseph P. Clayton. “Despite our closing of the physical distribution elements of the business, we continue to see value in the Blockbuster brand, and we expect to leverage that brand as we continue to expand our digital offerings.”

Dish acquired Blockbuster for $320 million at auction after it filed for bankruptcy in September, 2010. Since then, the business has continued to struggle, trimming or selling assets both in the U.S. and abroad.

Blockbuster will continue to trade through its digital-only services, Blockbuster @Home and Blockbuster On Demand.

[source]

GameStop Set To Close 200 Stores, Blames “The Longevity of the Current Console Cycle”

I really don’t know what to make of this news. On one hand, GameStop has been outclassed recently by Best Buy’s trade in offers and Amazon’s sales, with them still not offering enough of a discount on used titles. On the other, it means that a lot of people will be out of jobs.

Either way, Gamestop announced at their Q3 earnings that they will be shutting down 200 stores out of their over 6,000, due to a sales drop of 8.3%. Don’t feel too bad for them though, they still made $1.77 billion during their third quarter.

They didn’t say which stores would be closing and at what time, but the CEO of Gamestop, J. Paul Raines, did attribute the drop to “the longevity of the current console cycle and the difficult comparison of major new software titles released during the third quarter of 2012.”

What do you think of this news? Do you really care? Do you think I’m wearing pants, shorts, or nothing? Let us know in the comments section below.

[Source 1, 2/Via]