Blockbuster will close one east-side location later this month, but the national retailer says it doesn't expect any changes to its other Tucson stores even as the movie rental market continues a dynamic overhaul.
Blockbuster's store at 105 S. Houghton Road will close Nov. 15, company spokesman Randy Hargrove said. The store is no longer renting games or movies, and its inventory is for sale. Hargrove said the store's eight employees will continue to work for the company.
The main challenge with the Broadway and Houghton location is that it is fairly close to two other stores, creating an overlap. There is a Blockbuster about a mile away at 9451 E. 22nd St.
Arizona is "a very important market for us," Hargrove said. "In Tucson there are 26 remaining stores."
Blockbuster is evaluating the possible closures of roughly 900 stores across the country as it competes with Netflix, which sends rentals through the mail; and Redbox, which rents movies for a dollar from kiosks at convenience and grocery stores.
People are also reading…
"Certainly the growth of Redbox and Netflix have contributed to the overwhelming drop in sales for in-store movie rentals at Blockbuster and Hollywood Video locations," Ashley Dos Santos, a senior account executive specializing in the entertainment industry with the Washington, D.C.-based firm Crosby-Volmer International Communications, wrote in an e-mail interview Tuesday.
Dos Santos said Blockbuster will have to increase its online options - it also offers movies via the mail and through downloads - as well as adopt the kiosk model.
"Snail mail service and online downloads are sure to take over as the most popular ways to rent/own movies in the near future," she wrote. "We will continue to see a decline with in-store rentals, especially for locations that are in any way inconvenient to constant foot traffic."
Dave Hammack, a commercial broker in Tucson with Volk Co., has handled several recent lease renewals for Blockbuster and said he expects the company's presence in Tucson to remain strong.
He sees a huge potential for crossover between online services and traditional stores. For example, a person could order a movie with Blockbuster online, receive it in the mail and then return it to the store.
Hargrove, Blockbuster's spokesman, said the company is aggressively focusing on mail service and kiosk options.
He said the company has a goal of 2,500 video vending machines called "Blockbuster Express" in the marketplace by the end of the year and 7,000 such machines by the middle of next year.
The company also will pursue growth in movie downloads to computers and TVs and will be sprucing up existing stores, he said.