Movie Gallery has agreed to buy out Hollywood Video.
From the way the stores I’ve been to looked compared to the big two, I had always just assumed that Movie Gallery was just a small regional chain, not a national organization with enough money to pull this off.
I wonder how Blockbuster’s “no late fees” plan is holding out as we approach week two.
I’ve never even heard of Movie Gallery.
I though they were a local to Seattle chain. When I first moved here, they were the nearest video store to me. I had never seen one and just thought it was local mom n pop shop as the walls were lined with eye-level soft core porn titles.
Their website sure doesn’t look it, either. And I don’t think that’s just lost in translation using FireFox, either.
Seems they like to focus on smaller markets, as the nearest one (with 5 locations in Wisconsin) is about 30 miles from Milwaukee.
The closest one to San Francisco, according to their web site, is 121 miles away.
And these guys outbid Blockbuster???
Blockbuster, and the investor group led by Hollywood’s CEO, both lowballed the bid. When BB announced their bid, their stock went up, but HV’s stayed the same because everyone knew it was a lowball.
I don’t know why any of them bother, all forms of video rental companies appear to be doomed. Blockbuster’s last 8-K talked about continued softening of the market through 2005, when they hope-hope-hope-really-hope it will turn around. They don’t give any reason for that, though.
I read an article in the New Yorker that you can make a lot of money by buying failed chains (like Department Stores) and then sell/rent the retail space the failed business occupied. Is there a Hollywood Video near Times Square?
Well, that sort of answers my only question on this matter.
Movie Gallery was formed in 1985 by Joe Malugen and Harrison Parrish in Dothan, Alabama.
Movie Gallery put my uncle’s local video stores out of business in Florence, Alabama. Well, Movie Gallery, the government (wait, you have to pay taxes every year?), and his own hubris.
I hope they don’t fuxor Hollywood Video. I’m doing their MVP program ($15/month for 3 movies out at once, all the time) and I like it. It’s like netflix only without the turnaround mail time. Of course, I have to go to the video store every 5 days, but since they’re <5minutes from my house, it’s not a big deal.
And they’re not Blockbuster.