Dish Network Closing More Blockbuster Locations Than Originally Announced

For all those of you still loyal to Blockbuster brick-and-mortar stores, we’ve got some bad news. Dish Network has announced they’ll be shuttering more U.S. stores than they’d planned, and the rest of them will be turned partly into Dish customer-service points.

Dish, which bought Blockbuster for $320 million, originally said they’d keep 1,500 stores, or around 90 percent, open. But CEO Joe Clayton now tells Reuters that all unprofitable stores will be shut down, as well as others.

“We are committed to keeping the profitable stores open that are generating positive cash flow, but there are ones that aren’t going to make it,” Clayton said in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. “We will close unprofitable stores. We will close additional stores.”

There’s no total number yet or a timeframe for the closings. But adding the customer service component for Dish customers could be a boon.

“If a consumer has a problem, just bring your box in and we’ll give you a new one so you don’t have to stay at home and wait for an installation,” he said.

Dish to shut more Blockbuster stores than planned [Reuters]

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