Remaining Blockbuster Stores to Close By End of the Year

The official end to the Blockbuster era is right around the corner. With no buyers lined up, Blockbuster locations across the United Kingdom will cease rentals on Saturday, December 7, as management initiates a strategy on finalizing the last stage of the company's bitter, but hardly surprising demise. Blockbuster maintained just 153 stores in the country. Sixty-two of those locations will be shutdown immediately, with the other stores closing by the end of the year, resulting in a total loss of 1,235 jobs. Blockbuster U.K. was bought by private equity group Gordon Brothers Europe back in March. The group failed to broker a licensing deal with its parent company in the U.S. Related: Netflix Could Face Competition with New Amazon Streaming Service To get rid of existing inventory, the chain will be selling off its stock at discounts of up to 70 percent off. Dish Network DISH bought Blockbuster for $233 million and the assumption of $87 million in liabilities on April 6, 2011. In November 2013, Dish announced that the company's remaining 300 retail locations across the United States would be closed. Sky News noted that “the failure of the brand's fortunes – on both sides of the Atlantic – was largely blamed on shifting consumer trend towards online movie rentals and on-demand TV.”