The Blockbuster Chronicles - Chapter 4: Moving Up

Our Blockbuster was located in a dying shopping center. There was a Cato nearby, but it did not exactly inspire crowds of eager shoppers. When a new retail space opened directly in front of Walmart, Blockbuster jumped at the opportunity to move somewhere with actual traffic. We relocated during the winter of 2001. In a plan that was equal parts cheap and ingenious, Blockbuster convinced our customers to move most of the inventory for us. During the week before the move, every movie rented for ninety nine cents and was due one week later at the new location. Customers carried roughly sixty percent of our movies out of the old store and returned them to the new one without ever realizing they had become unpaid members of the moving crew. Everything that remained was left to the employees. We spent the week boxing equipment and sealing stacks of merchandise with the shrink wrap machine. Once the old store was packed, we loaded everything into a truck and drove it two miles down the road.…