Blockbuster Inc. plans to close as many as 960 stores nationwide by the end of next year to stop the bleeding inflicted by growing rivals Netflix Inc. and Coinstar’s Redbox video kiosks.
Blockbuster hasn’t determined which stores will close, company spokesman Randy Hargrove said Tuesday. There are 55 Blockbuster stores in Minnesota, seven of which are franchisee owned, he said. Franchised stores will not be subject to closure.
At least one store in the state will be among those closing soon. Employees of the Red Wing location confirmed Tuesday that the store will close Oct. 18. Employees at about 15 east metro stores said either they would remain open or that they had not heard whether they would be closing.
The Dallas-based video rental chain, which posted a $36.9 million net loss for second quarter 2009, estimated the closings would quell $30 million a year in losses.
Blockbuster has been struggling to keep up with Netflix, which boasts more than 10 million subscribers. Blockbuster’s Total Access program, which allows customers to exchange their movies either through the mail or in-store, now has 1.6 million subscribers, the company said, down from 2 million at the end of 2007. Hargrove said the Total Access figure doesn’t capture the total number of customers who use Blockbuster’s online and mail-in services.