Blockbuster receives reprieve from new buyer

Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - 11:03 by Mike Price

Blockbuster, which was of course the UK's largest video rental chain until it went into administration earlier this year, has been given a fresh lease of life, after a buyer emerged and promised to protect 264 of its high street stores from closure.

That is only about half of the total outlets that the company ran prior to teetering on the brink of collapse, but it does mean that a little over 2,000 people will be holding onto their jobs.

At the moment, you can still use the Blockbuster e-commerce site to carry out shopping online, which means that even if your local store is closing, you will still find a way of accessing its products and services, as long as you have a web connection.

Administrators at Deloitte have handed over Blockbuster's UK arm to Gordon Brothers, which is a company that specialises in restructuring failing firms and, ideally, bringing them back to profitability.

Reuters reports that all of Blockbuster's British stores which remain open will retain the branding of the company, which was not always a certainty, given that it is actually having to be licensed from a US firm.

On the high street, it looks like Blockbuster could be in for a bit of a rebirth, with its new owners promising to invest cash in bringing stores up to scratch and offering new products and services.

Of course, it will also have to look at how the brand handles safe shopping online, because no retailer of this size can hope to succeed in the modern market, without a sustainable e-commerce strategy.

We live in a world in which multichannel shopping has become vital, so Blockbuster will need to combine the best of the high street experience with the web, if it wants to regain its position of prominence.