The fragile economy has forced the most innovative ideas to reconsider taking out that bank loan for a new business venture; so I have often wondered how Blockbuster has managed to stay afloat after all these years, especially with a Redbox around every corner. Then there's that genius way of watching all your favorite movies without ever having to leave the apartment: Netflix...and of course, iTunes.
It came as no great surprise to me when Blockbuster most recently announced they have filed for bankruptcy protection - a fancier way of saying: "Please help us slow down on closing down!"
The bankruptcy protection will allow Blockbuster to keep most of their creditors at bay and reduce their $1 billion of debts to a mere $100 million. But the largest U.S. video rental corporation is still crashing hard - last year alone, their sales dropped by $1 billion and more than 1,000 stores have closed across the nation in the past two years.
In every successful business, there must be a revolutionary idea present - something that sets your product apart from similar competitive markets. But Blockbuster has lacked this gene for quite some time now. Remember when they finally eliminated late fees a couple of years back? Unfortunately, the initiative took place five years too far in the future. By that time, several video rental companies were already soaring high on profits and had no such thing as a late fee since the beginning.
After many struggling years, the Dallas-based company is determined to keep CEO Jim Keyes on board. This has caused some controversy in shareholders who have lost quite a handful of money as Blockbuster's stock continued to plummet off the charts.
No one can really be sure of Blockbuster's destiny - although some may claim to know - but Blockbuster has much to look forward to. They have been given another chance for innovative changes - consider a partnership with Nintendo and the Wii or even discuss an app with Apple.
And the next time you enter a Blockbuster store, help them out and buy some of those used DVDs on sale.
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