Blockbuster Video on Merritt Boulevard Closing

The Blockbuster Video store on Merritt Boulevard will close its doors March 13, moving the entire contents of the store to a Blockbuster location in Pasadena, MD.

The last day to rent a video will be this Sunday, with all outstanding rentals required to be returned by March 10. After March 10, movies and video games not returned must be returned to the Pasadena store, according to a shift manager on duty Thursday night.

“I heard about it a couple of weeks ago,” said Nikki, an evening shift manager who did not want her last named published. “They said it wasn’t a rental issue, but a lease issue. That’s all I know about the closing—that’s all that was passed down.”

Laurie Mazzotte, with Retail Strategies, which handles leasing for Dundalk Plaza where Blockbuster is located, said the issue wasn't leasing.

"Their lease isn't even up, yet," Mazzotte said, adding that a new tenant has not yet been found to replace Blockbuster.

Susan Thompson, office manager at the Columbia-based Ekos Management Corporation, declined to discuss Blockbuster's departure. Blockbuster did not respond to e-mails requesting comment

As of Monday, Blockbuster store hours will be cut back to noon to 6 p.m. until the store closes.

Blockbuster has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy since September. According to reports it's up for sale as well.

Blockbuster, previously with about 3,000 stores in the U.S., filed for bankruptcy just as the Dallas-based company was celebrating the 25th anniversary of it first store opening. Sales in recent years have shrunk, Bloomberg reported, while Netflix has boomed by renting movies online and through the mail, and Coinstar Inc. began putting Redbox DVD vending machines in supermarkets and drugstores.

Blockbuster has responded to Redbox competition by launching Blockbuster Express Blue Box video rental machines. The shift manager at the Merritt Boulevard store said she was told Blue Box kiosks would soon be coming to Dundalk.

Currently, the closest Blockbuster Blue Box kiosk is Canton, at the Safeway on Boston Street, according to Blockbusterexpress.com. Blue Box kiosks are scheduled to come soon to the 7-11 at 7901 Wise Ave. and the Food Lion at 7514 North Point Road in Edgemere.

According to the Associated Press, Blockbuster was scheduled to close nearly 1,000 stores last year, with more closing already in 2011 as attempts to fend off creditors and Chapter 7 liquidation.

Still, for many, browsing for movies, reading and turning over DVD boxes—and often finding an unexpected title—will be a missed art.

“I’ve been signed up with Netflix for about four years, but I really like coming to the store,” said Rodney Murchison shortly after returning a movie at the Merritt Boulevard location and learning it was closing. “I come here a lot. I’m an old-fashioned type of person—I like to browse and look at the movies until I find something I like."

Teresa Hanks and her daughter, Zoe, 12, also learned the Merritt Boulevard store was closing after arriving to rent a movie Wednesday night.

“We’ve been coming since we moved here six years ago. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Hanks said. “It’s very disappointing. I went to Redbox before, but I don’t like it. They seem like they’re usually out of new movies. I prefer to browse and look around.”