Blockbuster Closing Store in Palmer Township
Blockbuster Video will close all but one of its stores in the Lehigh Valley and Phillipsburg.
Blockbuster will close its Palmer Township store and start to sell off its stock of videos there next week, according to The Morning Call.
The company already closed hundreds of stores this year including some in the Lehigh Valley. In September, the company closed all its stores in Canada, too.
Now Blockbuster will close the remaining Lehigh Valley stores except one in Trexlertown. According to reports, the stores will stop renting videos Dec. 26, and then have a liquidation sale. The stores will close by mid-February.
Once the dominant movie rental company in the U.S., Blockbuster Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2010 and was sold at auction to Dish Network Corp. earlier this year.
Blockbuster had 3,300 U.S. stores, about 25,500 employees, including 7,500 full-time workers. Now it’s down to about 1,500 stores.
On Tuesday, a Dish Network spokesman said physical stores remain important even as the company expands its video streaming services.
Movie rentals took a huge hit with the rise of mail-in services and web-based video such as Netflix, and rental machines such as Redbox.
Tom Adams
2:06 am on Thursday, December 22, 2011
Gee, looks like retailing in the burbs isn't as good as people say. I wonder why you don't do a story on the large amount of retail space that is vacant at the area malls. And wait till January, there wil be a lot more. But downtown Easton is filling up. It' great to see the new stores like Easton Outdoor, Carrie's, the new bakery on third street, Pomeroy's new restaurant, and the list goes on. What's even better is that burbites like me going back to the downtown and supporting local businesses.
An interested bystander
9:05 am on Thursday, December 22, 2011
So a business model that was overwhelmed by technology and cheaper cost competitors (Netflix and Red Box to name two) failed because they were located in the burbs?
Ok, but just a couple of things: these stores weren't located in the burbs, and it didn't matter where they were located they were going out anyway.
I'm happy that Easton is doing well. But I have to ask, why are you happy the burbs aren't doing well? Seems that during the Christmas season you might want to wish well for all of your fellow man, not just the ones in downtown Easton.
another point of view
10:01 am on Thursday, December 22, 2011
Let's be frank. Easton lost its record stores and 8 track depots a long time ago. The city missed the video tape rental build out. I am just hoping that my incandescent light bulb store makes it.
The next major vacancies headed for the area are post office closings, another victim of technology. It should be interesting to see if the urban offices survive over their suburban counterparts. What I see in urban offices is a booming business in money orders and box rentals. Makes sense. All of the urban poor do not have checking accounts and need secure drops to beat the mail thieves. I'll bet on the urban post offices surviving. That does not really say much for any downtown, does it?