Blockbuster staff in Watford, Bushey and Croxley Green facing uncertain future

11:00am Monday 21st January 2013 in News Photograph of the Author By Zoe Forsey, Reporter

Blockbuster staff facing uncertain future Blockbuster staff facing uncertain future

Staff at Blockbuster stores across south west Hertfordshire are facing the possibility of redundancy as the company has announced it will be closing more than 100 stores.

The DVD and game rental chain, which has 528 stores across the UK, was forced into administration last week.

It currently has branches in Watford, Bushey and Croxley Green.

On Saturday, the appointed administrators announced that 129 shops will be shut down, although the closures will not be immediate.

Lee Manning, joint administrator, said: "Having reviewed the portfolio with management, the store closure plan is an inevitable consequence of having to restructure the company to a profitable core which is capable of being sold.

"We would like to thank the company’s employees for their support and professionalism during this difficult time.

"We are also grateful to the customers for their continued support."

The administrators added that more closures may be announced in the next few weeks.

Comments(6)

Mohandas says...
11:41am Mon 21 Jan 13

Undoubtedly there are a lot of hardworking good people who have given their best to providing good service and have been victims of the decision makers. It’s far too easy to blame the competition / technology but at the end of the day when a business fails, those at the top should acknowledge they made strategic errors. This spate of administrations threatens to make this one of the grimmest periods in the history for high street workers as retailers face up to the prospect that they can no longer compete with digital competitors. If you don’t innovate and adapt to the new trading conditions companies will crash like the once great British motor cycle industry and workers thrown on the scrap heap through gross mismanagement.

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The Rover says...
12:09pm Mon 21 Jan 13

People used to rent Videos and DVD's. Blockbuster stores were always busy and you had to queue to rent your film. The introduction of High Speed Broadband and services like Netflix etc. has made their traditional business model obsolete, and they have been too slow to move with the times. On the few occasions I have been into Blockbuster on St.Albans Road they have either been overpriced or not had stock of the item I require.

I agree with Mohandas. Gross mismanagement and failure to move with the times has been their downfall. I am sure new management, a new business plan, and diversifying into other product ranges could reinvigorate the business. Once again, its the hard working staff that suffer. I hope everything turns out good for them, like it did for the many employees at Game.

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theturpster says...
12:35pm Mon 21 Jan 13

As I've said before, our network infrastructure will not cope with the demand for media streaming poor download speeds and contention ratios, will bring buffering and outages all over the country. I'm surprised no one has commented on the poor video resolution and number of frames dropped to get stuff pumped down the pipes.

Stop following the sheep of convenience and keep your physical media close to hand - your going to thank yourself for it.

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Watfordengineer says...
1:42pm Mon 21 Jan 13

its not streaming that did it for me, it was love film! which is so advanced it uses a man on a bike to deliver it to me! very 21st century!
Sad to see it struggle. but why wasn't there "blockbuster film that sent you the DVD's?"

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thomas.howard says...
1:49pm Mon 21 Jan 13

Watfordengineer,

There is/was its called Blockbuster by post...

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Razor Sharp says...
6:23pm Mon 21 Jan 13

Change is the new norm. Either adapt and strategise or 'die'.

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