Blockbuster paying hefty price for being late to change

Remember when the holiday routine included picking up videos at Blockbuster? There seemed to be one everywhere, open until midnight every day (including holidays). But the explosion of sell-through-priced media and the rise of Netflix (among other factors, including a string of nutty business decisions at Blockbuster HQ in Dallas) have helped move the retailer’s stock to the edge of the abyss. It closed about 300 stores this year and will close 600 more in 2010. (Some of the 30 or so remaining metro stores seem likely to be on the list.)

At our sister paper the Dallas Observer, Robert Wilonsky traces Blockbuster’s shaky path from deeply entrenched colossus to bankruptcy-courting, diaper-selling corner store. The company hopes to reinvent itself with SD-card downloads and other late-to-the-digital-party advances, but it may be too late. The third-choice movie you pick up at 10:30 p.m. New Year’s Eve might mark your last trip to the neighborhood Blockbuster.