Redbox going out of business - no more DVD rentals at the grocery store

[short ornery norwegian]

another sign of the times changing - Redbox is biting the dust. Those colorful red boxes that rented out DVD's will go the way of the dodo bird. details from Next tv -

The 20-year-old DVD rental kiosk business Redbox will shutter, with a Delaware bankruptcy court judge approving parent company Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment's request to shift its proceedings from Chapter 11 restructuring to Chapter 7 liquidation.

Redbox’s 24,000 remaining kiosks will be closed and sold at auction, and the 1,033 remaining Redbox employees will lose their jobs.

The move marks an inglorious in for two venerable niche media brands, after Chicken Soup made an ill-fated decision two years ago to take on $325 million in debt by acquiring Redbox.

At the time, Redbox — which had recently conducted a SPAC IPO — was struggling in its attempt to convert a user base of streaming late adopters into regular AVOD users.

Chicken Soup fared no better in this quest. And now, Redbox — a business first incubated in Chicago in 2004 by former McDonald’s executive Gregg Kaplan, and which peaked in 2012 with 43,500 kiosk locations nationwide — is no more.

Chicken Soup for the Soul, meanwhile, started in the late 1990s as a line of self-help books out of Cos Cob, Connecticut.

(note - SPAC is short for Special Purpose Acquisition Company. a SPAC raises capital through an initial Public Offering to acquire a private company, then turns it into a publicly traded company. AVOD is advertising-based Video on Demand - a streaming channel that is free to viewers but runs ads during its programs)

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

Kinda wondered when these were going to go the way of the Dodo. It was a pretty damn cool concept while it was the hot thing. Very nice option while it lasted.

RIP, Redbox.

 

[stocker08]

I'm kind of surprised that Redbox hung around as long as they did. Not a knock on Redbox either. It was a great idea and really convenient at the time.....but just like with the brick and mortar rental places......technology and convenience made Redbox antiquated.....even if it wasn't yet completely obsolete.

 

[GophersInIowa]

We were probably one of the last people in the world to use Netflix's DVD rental service so didn't use Redbox a lot but it was nice to have at the grocery store back in the day when something new came out.

 

[Frink]

We were probably one of the last people in the world to use Netflix's DVD rental service so didn't use Redbox a lot but it was nice to have at the grocery store back in the day when something new came out.

I was one as well. I think at the end there were just under 3 million subscribers. The selection was vastly superior to streaming.

And I ended up with copies of Three Days of the Condor and the first season of What We do in the Shadows

 

[Spaulding!No!]

Let’s play twister let’s play risk…yeah, yeah, yeah..

 

[dpodoll68]

The selection was vastly superior to streaming.

I doubt that's true. I can rent almost anything I want from Amazon Prime Video and I don't have to leave my couch.

 

[forever a gopher]

I still use Redbox. I am also a really bad customer for them. If you sign up for their mailing list, they would send you numerous coupons. I've probably averaged paying less than $0.50/rental using them. If I'm not in a hurry to watch it that night, I just request if from the library and I get it from there for free. They have almost any movie out there if you're willing to wait a few days. If it's good, I rip it to my computer or burn to DVD (mostly kids movies for the car) and have it forever.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

Eddie Murphy got married.

 

[stocker08]

I was one as well. I think at the end there were just under 3 million subscribers. The selection was vastly superior to streaming.

And I ended up with copies of Three Days of the Condor and the first season of What We do in the Shadows

What We Do In The Shadows is a great show.

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

I'm sure it's just nostalgia, but sometimes I miss going to Mr. Movies (we didn’t have Blockbuster) and that cheap little thrill you got when that one last copy of the movie you wanted was still on the shelf.

 

[stocker08]

I'm sure it's just nostalgia, but sometimes I miss going to Mr. Movies (we didn’t have Blockbuster) and that cheap little thrill you got when that one last copy of the movie you wanted was still on the shelf.

It's not just you.

I unboxed my old Super Nintendo a few weeks back and had a game with a Mr. Movies sticker on it. Two with Video Update stickers.

 

[Frink]

I doubt that's true. I can rent almost anything I want from Amazon Prime Video and I don't have to leave my couch.

Yeah I should have qualified this. Netflix DVDs had a 90,000 title library that included a great variety of older and/or lesser known titles. Individually Netflix streaming and the other streaming services had nothing to compare to it. I think some of those are now more available elsewhere.

I stand by the assertion though that the DVD service was much better if you wanted to get something other than current mainstream titles.

 

[Frink]

What We Do In The Shadows is a great show.

I'm assuming you've seen the original movie as well?

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

It's not just you.

I unboxed my old Super Nintendo a few weeks back and had a game with a Mr. Movies sticker on it. Two with Video Update stickers.

Oh, video game rentals would be a separate, fantastic conversation altogether. Countless weekends where a 2 dollar rental filled the entire weekend.

 

[tikited]

What We Do In The Shadows is a great show.

Watch the movie that started it all if you haven't yet. Oops, Frink already beat me to it.

 

[coolhandgopher]

I'm sure it's just nostalgia, but sometimes I miss going to Mr. Movies (we didn’t have Blockbuster) and that cheap little thrill you got when that one last copy of the movie you wanted was still on the shelf.

Perhaps it's nostalgia, but it also dovetails into my soapbox theory that so much of our social fabric which was dependent on stepping out into public venues and is now replaced by never having to leave home has contributed to the crumbling of our social connections.

When I was in HS, I'd often head over to the local gas station which rented movies following my night shift at the grocery store (this was before rentals came to our store-the late '80s were wild!). In my perusal of the shelves, I'd bump into friends, talk it up with the person working behind the counter, find out the low-down on weekend plans, gossip and news, etc.

When I was in college, a trip to the video store was often accompanied by friends and scores of other college students would be in the store--friends working behind the counter, commiseration with your friends about what you should watch together, recommendations offered by others in the store.

Post-university/early 20's, it became less of a social endeavor but there was still a social connection-finding out what was recommended by the staff, the chance of connecting with someone with similar tastes, etc.

Now, I'm sure my Dad would scoff at me to say that renting videos to watch at home was the height of social connection (he'd regale with me tales of the weekend dances that every kid from the region would find themselves attending), but the video store/grocery store/etc. did force you to get off your couch, leave your home and either walk/bike/drive to find some entertainment and I'm sure there's some rose-colored glasses being worn by myself here, but I do think there's a loss of something now that it's gone away.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

before streaming took off, there was a Redbox in the local Hy Vee - about 6 blocks from my house. so I could pick up a movie after buying groceries, and walk to Hy Vee to return it the next day (as long as the weather was tolerable).

but beyond that, unless you subscribe to every streaming service known to man, your choice of movies is still limited. with Redbox, the choice may have been limited to the size of the kiosk, but it's not like now, where each studio's movies are on a separate streaming service. at least with Redbox, it didn't matter whether the movie was from Disney or Warners or Paramount or Sony - if it was a new movie, Redbox would have it.

I also miss the old video store ambiance. walking around the shelves and seeing what might strike my fancy. (never did the Netflix rent-by-mail).

 

[stocker08]

I'm assuming you've seen the original movie as well?

Watch the movie that started it all if you haven't yet. Oops, Frink already beat me to it.

Yes, I watched it after seeing the first two or three seasons of the show. The movie is good......but it doesn't hold a candle to the show.....imo.