One of DeKalb's Blockbuster stores will close
By Daily Chronicle
DeKALB – One of DeKalb's two Blockbuster video stores has stopped renting materials and is set to close in January, a company spokesman said Monday.
The Blockbuster at 2561 Sycamore Road, near Starbucks and Target, will close on or around Jan. 10, spokesman Randy Hargrove said. The store remains open through the end of the year and the remaining inventory is being sold, he said.
The other Blockbuster location, at 2350 Sycamore Road, next to OfficeMax, will remain open and is conducting business as usual, Hargrove said. The two stores are essentially across the street from one another.
"In DeKalb, it happened to be an instance where we have two stores literally a block apart," Hargrove said. "With two stores so close together, we can serve the market adequately with the remaining location."
Hargrove said the store at 2350 Sycamore Road was performing better than the one at 2561.
Dallas-based Blockbuster announced in a regulatory filing in September that it intends to close 960 of its approximately 7,100 stores by the end of 2010. As the company evaluates its portfolio of stores, the vast majority of those slated for closure are geographically close to other, better-performing locations, Hargrove said.
As store closures are made, Hargrove said the company will shift its focus to newer ways consumers have turned to in renting movies. The company plans to have 2,500 DVD vending machines across the country by the end of this year, and will add 7,000 more by August 2010, he said. It also plans to make it possible in the next year for customers to download digital movies directly to some DVR, DVD and Blu-Ray machines.
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