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Business News Retail
Blockbuster UK to close
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 13 December 2013
After an aptly Hollywood-esque long drawn out death scene, Blockbuster UK will finally disappear from the high street, it has been confirmed.
As previously reported, the DVD and games rental firm first went into administration back in January, pretty much around about the same time as HMV. But initially it seemed like the company might survive, when private equity firm Gordon Brothers bought the business.
And while 200 of the company’s stores were closed, the new owners seemed optimistic that something could be done, with talk of pushing more of the rental operation online LoveFilm-style, but then expanding the product range on the high street, including expanding the music products sold.
But then in October the company fell back into administration. All that optimism hadn’t come to much, it seems, partly because the new owner’s online ambitions relied on doing a deal with the owner of the Blockbuster brand in the US, and said deal couldn’t be done. This time no buyer came forward once the retailer was back in administration, and so stores began to close for good.
And yesterday administrators Moorfields Corporate Recovery confirmed no buyer could be found, and that the remaining 91 Blockbuster shops in the UK would close this weekend, resulting in 808 further job losses. Said the administrator: “It is with regret that we have to make today’s announcement, we appreciate this is a difficult time for all concerned and would like to thank staff for their professionalism and support over the past month”.
The demise of the UK Blockbuster business has pretty much coincided with its US counterpart, despite having different owners. As previously reported, Blockbuster in America recently announced all but its franchisee stores would close, though its owner Dish Networks still has plans for an online business using the brand.
