The mega physical format DVD rental service Blockbuster announced today, via CBC, that it will be closing its doors in Canada, liquidating all of its remaining stock to Canadians beginning on Friday September 9 at 10am.
The movie rental giant, which started in 1985, has been facing tough times these past two years, seeing major competition from online media rental services like Netflix and iTunes. Netflix offers unlimited movie rentals over the Internet for as little as $7.99 Canadian.
Blockbuster said that they will begin to liquidate all of their remaining movies, games and other media within the store beginning tomorrow at 10am in all of its 253 remaining stores. Blockbuster already closed and liquidated a number of stores back in June, which saw bare shelves within hours as Canadians were able to pick up stacks of $4 DVDs. Blockbuster isn"t alone in closing their movie rental chains, as Rogers video, a local competing movie rental chain, has been closing a number of stores across Canada.
Blockbuster in the United States was purchased by Dish Network back in June, promising to keep only 500 stores open across the country, but the company is already struggling to fight off debt collectors and landlords for the cash.
Blockbuster Canada"s store locator can be found here.