Hit by a Blockbuster: Dish Network Turning Off the Lights at One-Time Video Store Giant

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The 300 remaining Blockbuster Video stores and DVD-by-mail distribution centers are being shuttered by owner Dish Network, the New York Times reported yesterday.

This blog has chronicled the demise of the one-time video chain behemoth from its peak of more than 9,000 retail stores nationwide to its filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (see "TUOL" posts 3/14/11 & 9/23/10) partly out of nostalgia, and partly out of fear that we may have forgotten to return a VHS kiddie tape we rented two decades ago.

Blockbuster's undoing was the rise of Netflix, Dish officials conceded. Dish will continue to operate the Blockbuster @ Home streaming video service for satellite tv subscribers as well as Blockbuster on Demand, an iTunes Store rival.

Dish Network bought Blockbuster out of bankruptcy in 2011, at which time the chain still boasted 1,700 stores.  The brick & mortar Blockbuster stores won't vanish entirely, the Times article reported, because roughly 50 stores across the nation are owned by third-party franchisees.