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One of the last free-standing movie rental stores in the Roaring Fork Valley will be gone after this week, when the Blockbuster store at the Roaring Fork Marketplace in Glenwood Springs closes its doors.
Employees at the video store declined to talk with a reporter about the impending closure, citing corporate policy, and would not disclose their names.
The two men at the counter confirmed, however, that Wednesday is the last day the store will be renting DVDs.
Blockbuster will be closed on Thursday for an inventory, and on Friday “everything will go on sale,” said one of the men.
A corporate spokesman, reached by e-mail at the corporation's headquarters in Dallas, wrote in a limited response, “As part of the recapitalization process, Blockbuster will be evaluating its U.S. store portfolio with a view toward enhancing the overall profitability of the store operations. No decisions have been made at this time. Decisions will be made on a store-by-store basis over the next several months.”
Blockbuster is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after filing in September 2010 with federal bankruptcy court in New York, according to the New York Times.
According to the company's website, the filing affected only Blockbuster domestic business. “International operations and domestic and international franchisees, which are legally separate entities, were not included.”
In 2009, described as the chain's peak, there reportedly were up to 60,000 employees working in more than 5,000 stores in the United States and in 17 other nations, according to published corporate profiles.
The New York Times reported that the company has amassed nearly $1 billion in debt, which the bankruptcy filing is expected to all but cancel out.
The Times article indicated that daily corporate operations and video store business would “continue without interruption. The company, however, plans to close a sizable number of those stores as part of its reorganization.”
In its e-mail message to the Post Independent, the company noted that movie rentals are available through Blockbuster stores, automated kiosks, Blockbuster by Mail, Blockbuster on Demand, and blockbuster.com.
The nearest remaining Blockbuster stores, according to an employee, are in Grand Junction and Steamboat Springs.
jcolson@postindependent.com
Employees at the video store declined to talk with a reporter about the impending closure, citing corporate policy, and would not disclose their names.
The two men at the counter confirmed, however, that Wednesday is the last day the store will be renting DVDs.
Blockbuster will be closed on Thursday for an inventory, and on Friday “everything will go on sale,” said one of the men.
A corporate spokesman, reached by e-mail at the corporation's headquarters in Dallas, wrote in a limited response, “As part of the recapitalization process, Blockbuster will be evaluating its U.S. store portfolio with a view toward enhancing the overall profitability of the store operations. No decisions have been made at this time. Decisions will be made on a store-by-store basis over the next several months.”
Blockbuster is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after filing in September 2010 with federal bankruptcy court in New York, according to the New York Times.
According to the company's website, the filing affected only Blockbuster domestic business. “International operations and domestic and international franchisees, which are legally separate entities, were not included.”
In 2009, described as the chain's peak, there reportedly were up to 60,000 employees working in more than 5,000 stores in the United States and in 17 other nations, according to published corporate profiles.
The New York Times reported that the company has amassed nearly $1 billion in debt, which the bankruptcy filing is expected to all but cancel out.
The Times article indicated that daily corporate operations and video store business would “continue without interruption. The company, however, plans to close a sizable number of those stores as part of its reorganization.”
In its e-mail message to the Post Independent, the company noted that movie rentals are available through Blockbuster stores, automated kiosks, Blockbuster by Mail, Blockbuster on Demand, and blockbuster.com.
The nearest remaining Blockbuster stores, according to an employee, are in Grand Junction and Steamboat Springs.
jcolson@postindependent.com
