Valuetainment - The Last Blockbuster Reveals How Netflix Crushed Them

00:00:00.000 You can't help but want to be a part of something that's so good.

00:00:02.800 Sandy, how long have you been working with Blockbuster yourself?

00:00:05.480 16 wonderful years.

00:00:06.820 Why haven't you jumped ship to my Netflix or to someone?

00:00:10.260 Why are you so loyal to Blockbuster?

00:00:12.400 You know what? It's the people and the community.

00:00:15.160 I worked for a corporation before this.

00:00:17.020 You know, I was a number.

00:00:17.960 Who owns the entire brand? Who owns the entire Blockbuster brand?

00:00:20.960 The brand is actually owned by Dish Network.

00:00:22.900 What is Dish's plan with Blockbuster?

00:00:25.040 I mean, they bought them out of bankruptcy.

00:00:26.740 I remember when somebody was talking about this vending machine

00:00:29.040 that kicks out DVDs.

00:00:30.620 Oh, nobody's ever going to want to do that.

00:00:32.240 And then next thing we knew, Redbox was everywhere.

00:00:34.100 Today, everybody kind of is hoping there's a resurrection with Blockbuster.

00:00:38.840 It's easy for me to sit back down and go,

00:00:40.500 oh, they should have done this, they should have done that.

00:00:42.060 They really thought that what they had was good

00:00:44.140 and it wasn't going to need to go.

00:00:45.560 So I'm like, okay, what can we do that Netflix can't do?

00:00:47.900 Well, we can give that personal touch to people.

00:00:50.080 It becomes problematic when you're doing everything yourself

00:00:52.160 and they're not coming out with anything for that 10% you're paying.

00:00:54.460 The nostalgia is wonderful.

00:00:56.000 The only thing that's going to keep the doors open is our local community.

00:00:58.760 And we need to remember that.

00:01:00.200 If I lose that attention to my local customers, we're not going to be here.

00:01:07.220 So I want you to think about a company called Blockbuster,

00:01:09.720 multi-billion dollar company from 1985.

00:01:12.120 They start their first store in Dallas, Texas.

00:01:13.960 And in 2004, 2005, 9,000 stores, 80,000 something employees.

00:01:19.640 They're crushing it.

00:01:20.860 And then all of a sudden, Blockbuster breaks my heart,

00:01:24.440 goes out of business because every Friday night,

00:01:26.620 I used to go run movies at Blockbuster.

00:01:29.440 And today's guest is a legendary guest.

00:01:32.880 It's Sandy Harding, who is the last surviving Blockbuster store manager in the world.

00:01:41.560 So the song, I'm a Survivor, was written and made and produced just for her.

00:01:47.140 Sandy, thank you for being a guest on Valuetainment.

00:01:49.500 Oh, thank you.

00:01:50.340 That was quite an introduction.

00:01:51.540 Thank you very much.

00:01:52.520 And by the way, just so everybody knows, are you at the store right now?

00:01:56.300 I am at the store.

00:01:57.280 I'm in my office, which is cluttered with old stuff behind me.

00:02:00.740 You can see crates of VHS and games and all kinds of old signage.

00:02:04.960 It's just crowded full of stuff.

00:02:06.580 Now, you know, everybody's got their own Blockbuster store.

00:02:08.860 You know, for me, when I think about Blockbuster,

00:02:10.340 I think about a certain girlfriend you were dating at the time.

00:02:13.720 I think about, you know, my dad and I would go get movies and we'd watch them.

00:02:17.580 And I think about the waiting outside the glass and waiting for people to come and return.

00:02:23.080 And you wanted to jump in and go, I don't know if, you know,

00:02:24.940 obviously you've been around for a while.

00:02:26.180 So you know that you would sit and say, are you returning this movie?

00:02:28.980 Are you, I'll take it.

00:02:30.160 I'll take it.

00:02:30.800 Hey, John, I got it.

00:02:31.700 Yeah, no problem.

00:02:32.440 I mean, all this stuff that you experienced.

00:02:34.660 And, but the memories go all the way back.

00:02:38.000 But for people that don't know your story,

00:02:40.340 Sandy, how long have you been working with Blockbuster yourself?

00:02:42.680 So, so I celebrated my 16 years last month.

00:02:47.080 So I started actually in 2004.

00:02:49.820 I opened up a location for Ken and Debbie and was a store manager.

00:02:54.040 So yeah, 16 wonderful years.

00:02:56.140 And about six months, it was a different location than this one.

00:02:59.360 Got it.

00:02:59.880 Six months after we opened that store, I transferred to this store as the,

00:03:04.140 at the time I was the co-general manager.

00:03:06.180 There was two of us and we had five stores and we divided up the responsibilities.

00:03:10.900 So I did the payroll personnel kind of stuff.

00:03:14.560 And she, Melissa did all the movie orders and the candy orders, you know,

00:03:18.940 the, the other stuff behind the scenes.

00:03:20.980 And that lasted for a couple of years together.

00:03:23.360 And then she left and then I took over everything.

00:03:27.000 And so, yeah, it's been a whirlwind adventure ever since I started.

00:03:31.680 Why are you still around though?

00:03:33.020 I mean, you went from O4.

00:03:34.100 Why haven't you jumped ship to my Netflix or to someone?

00:03:37.460 Why are you so loyal to Blockbuster?

00:03:39.600 You know what?

00:03:40.240 It's the people and the community.

00:03:42.940 100%.

00:03:43.260 You know, I worked for a corporation before this and you know, I was a number and I did,

00:03:50.260 you know, the, the, I was a training manager and I went around and I traveled and I did stuff.

00:03:53.900 And I, I love the company.

00:03:55.080 I love the people I worked with.

00:03:56.300 Never thought in a million years I'd ever worked for a mom and pop for a small business,

00:03:59.860 which I know the last thing people think of when they hear Blockbuster is mom and pop.

00:04:03.780 Um, you know, got the famous how Blockbuster used to close all the mom and pop shops.

00:04:07.980 Um, and that irony has not been lost on us as well, that we survived all of that.

00:04:12.300 But, you know, I, I needed a part-time job out of the house away from my three young sons.

00:04:17.260 I was going crazy and bonkers looking for that.

00:04:20.280 Um, when I talked to Melissa, um, and said, Hey, can I have a, can I get a part-time job?

00:04:25.320 I'd known her for years.

00:04:26.360 She and I were good friends.

00:04:27.800 Um, and she said, well, actually we're opening up a location.

00:04:30.860 We need a store manager. 0.99

00:04:31.880 And I'm like, Oh man, I really only want to work about 20 hours a week.

00:04:34.700 Um, but anyway, that's how my story began.

00:04:37.580 I came in, opened up that location and just have been going since then.

00:04:41.520 And Ken and Debbie are phenomenal people.

00:04:43.720 They take really good care of us.

00:04:45.360 They really have embraced kind of my customer service and employee philosophy, um, has really

00:04:51.540 been just right in sync with theirs.

00:04:53.620 Um, and it's been so nice to work for somebody who can appreciate people as much as I do and

00:04:58.920 gives me the freedom to really, you know, treat this like my home.

00:05:02.120 And that's exactly what it has been for the last 16 years.

00:05:05.260 Now, who did you say owns the company now?

00:05:07.640 Um, Ken and Debbie Tischer.

00:05:10.020 Um, they have owned it.

00:05:12.540 This is actually our 20th year as a blockbuster and our 30th year as a company.

00:05:17.180 So 2020 was supposed to be big celebrations for us, but as everybody in the world knows,

00:05:21.540 you know, all celebrations were kind of put on pause.

00:05:24.280 Yeah.

00:05:25.080 Um, but yeah, no, um, they've been in business for a long time, um, with the video stores.

00:05:30.120 Now, do they own the, who owns the entire brand?

00:05:32.700 Who owns the entire blockbuster brand?

00:05:34.540 Yeah.

00:05:34.760 The brand is actually owned by dish network.

00:05:37.000 So they're the ones that acquired blockbuster in bankruptcy.

00:05:40.400 And, you know, at the time when they did that, we were a franchise and in lieu of our franchise

00:05:45.340 agreement, we signed licensing agreements with them.

00:05:47.540 And we've just been signing that every year, um, since, oh geez, 2014, I think is when they

00:05:53.440 finally closed the last store or 2015.

00:05:54.900 I'm terrible with dates.

00:05:55.960 I should know these like the back of my hand, but you know, it was kind of a, uh, kind of

00:06:00.900 messy situation for us because when they were closing down corporate stores, you know, obviously

00:06:04.480 we're franchises.

00:06:05.080 So we really didn't know that was coming.

00:06:07.560 Um, I can remember when they announced that they were closing stores, we were actually,

00:06:11.680 we had actually closed one of our locations, um, because it now is a parking lot for a Ross

00:06:16.560 dress for less, uh, another store that moved into the mall and our lease was up.

00:06:20.360 And so we, we were out and they were in.

00:06:23.060 Um, and so I know that we were actually, um, moving the sign from that location to another

00:06:29.320 location and that, um, sorry, I don't know.

00:06:35.080 I'm going to do an interview.

00:06:35.940 Uh, but anyway, so we were moving the sign from that location to a different one and we

00:06:39.660 didn't have our sign in our building.

00:06:40.900 And so we had people who did not know we were still open and they were panicking thinking

00:06:44.720 that we closed because Blockbuster had just announced it.

00:06:47.360 And so we were trying to convince people and it was terrible timing for us for that particular

00:06:51.020 location.

00:06:52.040 Um, and that's, you know, we got the word the same time everybody else did.

00:06:54.980 And so it was kind of a lot of chaos during, um, that time.

00:06:58.860 And it was really hard for franchise owners.

00:07:00.360 You know, we were able to stay open, but we had to combat that national media that kept

00:07:05.300 saying that we were all closing and trying to explain over and over again that, no, we

00:07:09.120 are a franchise.

00:07:09.880 We're locally owned or right here in town.

00:07:11.720 We're not closing, we're not going anywhere.

00:07:14.060 Um, and it was kind of a struggle for a while.

00:07:16.380 What have you witnessed happen from all four till today?

00:07:19.540 Because I'm assuming when you're, when you're part of a brand like that today, everybody

00:07:24.500 kind of is hoping there's a resurrection with Blockbuster, but Blockbuster has gone through

00:07:29.880 the phase of, man, we hope they get, you know, Netflix comes and does something else.

00:07:34.660 And then, oh my gosh, I don't want them to go out of business.

00:07:36.400 Wait a minute.

00:07:36.820 They're out of business.

00:07:37.580 Oh my goodness.

00:07:38.240 They're not there anymore.

00:07:39.500 What have you seen happen from all four?

00:07:42.260 Cause the numbers I looked at the revenue, best revenue year, I believe for Blockbuster

00:07:47.160 was all five, uh, expansion wise was all four, but revenues all five.

00:07:52.500 So you, you've been at the peak when it was, when you guys were crushing it, what have you

00:07:56.520 seen happen from all four till today?

00:07:58.560 You know, a lot of things.

00:07:59.640 Cause you're right.

00:08:00.180 I started in the peak of it.

00:08:01.520 I mean, even for our locations, you know, these stores have always done really well, which

00:08:05.480 is why we're still here.

00:08:06.960 Um, but even for us, I mean, I saw, you know, an Oh four and Oh five going to, you know,

00:08:11.960 franchise conventions in Dallas, Texas, where, you know, it's all started, um, until right

00:08:17.100 now with being the last store, it has just been just a crazy rollercoaster.

00:08:21.240 And I know watching, you know, I came from, I was an outsider, so I had only been with the

00:08:26.400 company, um, for a year.

00:08:28.780 I think, I don't even know if I had been here an entire year before I went to my first

00:08:31.880 franchise convention and just watching the old school, you know, um, it was just amazing

00:08:40.300 to me because I was listening to a bunch of guys talking about the business.

00:08:44.200 And I remember when somebody was talking about this vending machine that kicks out DVDs.

00:08:48.320 And I remember them talking about that during the convention and thinking, well, that's kind

00:08:51.460 of interesting.

00:08:51.840 They're like, Oh, nobody's ever going to want to do that.

00:08:53.420 And then next time we knew Redbox was everywhere.

00:08:55.820 Um, I remember them talking about the, you know, mail service and how they were going

00:08:59.920 to be, you know, shipping movies home to customers, just kind of like Netflix was doing.

00:09:03.980 And, and they were starting to kind of see that Netflix was going to be a player in all

00:09:08.720 of this.

00:09:09.420 Um, but they really didn't appreciate that they were kind of behind the eight ball, I guess

00:09:14.400 you want to say, because they really didn't jump into it when they should have.

00:09:18.260 And that's, you know, I don't want to play the, you know, the armchair quarterback or whatever

00:09:22.380 and try to second guess.

00:09:23.240 Cause I, I certainly wasn't a part of all those decisions and it's easy for me to sit

00:09:26.880 back down and go, Oh, they should have done this.

00:09:28.280 They should have done that.

00:09:29.200 But, you know, I think in a lot of ways they really thought that what they had was good

00:09:34.600 and it wasn't going to need to go anywhere.

00:09:35.940 And they really under appreciated the fact that people love new, they love, I mean, we're

00:09:43.620 Americans.

00:09:44.580 I mean, you know, we, we like the newest toy, the more expensive iPhone.

00:09:49.260 I mean, as soon as the new iPhone drops, we're out there trying to buy it.

00:09:52.160 I mean, that's what, that's what society is like.

00:09:55.120 And, and they really underappreciated that and didn't realize that they have to change.

00:10:00.460 They have to adapt in order to stay.

00:10:03.840 Go ahead.

00:10:04.780 No, I'm sorry.

00:10:05.320 Go ahead.

00:10:06.060 No.

00:10:06.340 And I was going to say the irony of that though, is that I say those things, but yet we, we

00:10:11.120 haven't increased our prices since I started.

00:10:13.600 We haven't really changed other than selling merchandise.

00:10:16.500 Now, you know, we've adapted to our customers needs, which I think was the piece that was

00:10:21.700 missing for Blockbuster.

00:10:22.960 They just kept doing their same thing.

00:10:24.860 You know, and they had the late fees.

00:10:26.920 So when I started in August of 04, we still had late fees.

00:10:32.140 When I opened up our location in December of 04, that was the end of late fees program,

00:10:37.080 which was a nightmare.

00:10:38.300 And it was, it was horrible.

00:10:40.540 And I understood what they wanted to do, you know, which was tell people, Hey, you know,

00:10:47.180 we're not going to have late fees anymore.

00:10:48.280 Come in, rent movies.

00:10:49.380 But unfortunately the reality of it was, is you took all these great customers that we

00:10:54.580 had and you made them all angry because now when they come in on Friday and Saturday, there's

00:10:58.220 no movies on the shelf because all your bad customers checked them out and kept them.

00:11:02.400 So, you know, we used to have the guarantee in stock that went away with the end of late

00:11:07.120 fees program.

00:11:07.640 So now customers are coming in and going, well, can I get a guarantee in stock?

00:11:10.600 And we're like, no, sorry, we can't guarantee it now because we don't have late fees and

00:11:14.380 we don't have a return time.

00:11:15.480 I mean, we have return times, but we can't, you know, guarantee those movies are going

00:11:18.460 to be back on the shelf.

00:11:19.560 Anyway, it became, it became a mess.

00:11:21.900 And I think that, you know, they really wanted to do something, but I, I mean, I know that

00:11:27.580 the documentary, for example, that we have about the store that's coming out and about

00:11:31.960 Blockbuster and SB, the last one talks a little bit about that and about, you know, they

00:11:36.380 talked to somebody who was like, you know, we went from, you know, having, you know,

00:11:41.340 the, a large revenue to literally cutting that revenue down by like three quarters or

00:11:46.060 something crazy.

00:11:47.120 The dollar amount that they talk about that we lost or that Blockbuster corporate lost

00:11:51.160 during that timeframe was what astronomical.

00:11:52.900 And I understand they were trying to do something positive for customers, but as a company, you,

00:11:58.140 you still have to be in business.

00:11:59.700 So, I mean, you probably should have taken a little bit harder look at that.

00:12:04.300 They also probably should have listened to Red Hastings when he was in there talking about

00:12:07.480 us buying Blockbuster or buying Netflix too.

00:12:09.920 So 50 million.

00:12:10.580 Yeah.

00:12:11.020 By the way, you're very intuitive.

00:12:12.280 What you just said right there, cause our audience is a lot of our audience are entrepreneurs.

00:12:15.660 You just said, you know, by getting rid of late fees, that means if me, if I had to bring

00:12:21.960 it back to you in three days or seven days, now I can take five weeks and it's sitting

00:12:26.520 there, but that means you're not able to re-rent that to somebody else.

00:12:29.420 So if you only have 40 of those movies and those 40 movies are out there and it's $4 a

00:12:33.960 pop, that's $160 that's sitting there that I can't make money on it.

00:12:38.040 So instead of trying to win over my existing customers, I try to please my unhappy customers.

00:12:44.200 And I even ended up losing my loyal ones.

00:12:47.320 That's a brilliant lesson for any business person to take away.

00:12:51.320 Well, and we, um, as a, as our franchise, because we're a franchise owner, so we weren't

00:12:55.640 obligated to go to the end of late fees program.

00:12:58.840 However, with a national campaign, how could you not?

00:13:01.440 Yeah.

00:13:01.800 That commercial was a big commercial that they did.

00:13:03.640 Yeah.

00:13:04.100 It was, it was, it would be incredibly difficult for us not to be a part of that.

00:13:07.660 So, and of course, again, I wasn't a part of that decision cause I just, you know,

00:13:11.880 I'd only been with the company less than six months.

00:13:13.580 So that was something that kid and Debbie had to really think about, but I understand

00:13:17.760 that, you know, there wasn't anything else we could do.

00:13:20.020 Um, by Oh five, we had seen the writing on the wall and watched how this was a total mess

00:13:25.560 and nightmare.

00:13:26.020 We switched, we went back.

00:13:27.740 And when we went back, we went back to a per diem thing.

00:13:30.580 So when a customer, you know, we have our, our late fees, um, that are different.

00:13:35.240 So back in the past, you know, you didn't return that movie after three days automatically

00:13:38.620 charged you for a full rental period again.

00:13:40.400 And that was a lot of things we were really upset about because next thing they know,

00:13:44.460 they had a movie that was, you know, 10 days late and they owed $30 in late.

00:13:48.480 Like, that's just crazy.

00:13:49.720 So we didn't do that when we did it, we were like, okay, we are going to charge a dollar

00:13:54.080 a day for every day that they're late.

00:13:55.860 We're going to charge 50 cents a day for the older ones for every day. 0.78

00:13:58.760 So we tried to go to something that was more reasonable that our customers would still

00:14:02.680 have to be responsible to get the movies back.

00:14:04.480 But yet it wasn't going to break the bank and they weren't going to, you know, go into

00:14:08.080 debt to Blockbuster or to us.

00:14:10.660 And of course, you know, it's all about customer service.

00:14:13.460 And I know I would have employees that would come to work for us that work for corporate

00:14:17.420 stores.

00:14:17.860 And they were much stricter about taking fees off for customer, much stricter about, you

00:14:22.980 know, working with people.

00:14:24.440 Whereas a franchise, we're like, oh no, first time you've had late fees.

00:14:28.040 Absolutely.

00:14:28.380 Let's take it off.

00:14:28.960 Let's educate you.

00:14:29.720 Let's make you aware of how the system works so that the next time you come in, oh, you

00:14:34.020 forgot again, we'll cut them in half for you.

00:14:36.260 And then the next time we're like, okay, we've, we've done all these things now.

00:14:39.240 Now, you know, so now you've got to start being responsible, get your movies back.

00:14:42.120 So, I mean, from a customer service standpoint, you've got to get your customers to that point

00:14:48.000 where they get it.

00:14:48.740 They understand it.

00:14:49.640 They're responsible for it.

00:14:51.460 And everybody's happy.

00:14:53.560 I mean, you're still going to have people take advantage of the system, but no question about

00:14:56.960 it.

00:14:57.120 But you've got to, you've got to work with people in a, in a more positive way that benefits

00:15:02.080 the business.

00:15:03.080 And what do they say?

00:15:04.480 You know, you, you tick off one, one customer and they tell 10, you make one customer happy,

00:15:09.560 they tell two.

00:15:10.320 I mean, it's like, you've got to, you got to kind of win that back and keep people from

00:15:14.600 leaving your door unhappy.

00:15:15.840 So that is so true.

00:15:17.320 And it's a be back business.

00:15:19.060 Meaning, you know, when I say be back, you're winning me over, like, you know, you have some

00:15:23.400 customers today that just don't like Netflix.

00:15:25.500 So maybe it is the nostalgic, you know, feeling of, let me go over here.

00:15:29.640 And then I kind of want to go through the experience.

00:15:31.480 Let's go walk the aisles.

00:15:33.000 Let's see what's over here.

00:15:33.940 There was something unique about it, but you know, going back to what you said, when you

00:15:37.400 went to the franchisee conventions back in the days, I think the blockbuster franchise

00:15:41.480 fee was somewhere between $150,000 to $700,000.

00:15:45.280 It was a big number.

00:15:46.100 You weren't paying a small number.

00:15:47.780 You could end up paying $700,000 to get the whole thing going.

00:15:50.220 But when you went to the conventions at the time and Netflix is coming out and all these

00:15:54.140 other guys were coming out, did you hear the leaders at the top, you know, downplay that

00:15:59.880 there's no way that's going to work?

00:16:01.300 Did you hear them bring up Netflix and other competitors regularly?

00:16:04.940 Or was there more people are never going to get away from renting from a movie, you know,

00:16:08.780 renting from a store like ours.

00:16:10.280 We're always going to be in business.

00:16:11.640 What did you hear from the messenger at the top?

00:16:13.340 Now, obviously I'm saying this, I know you are now working for Blockbuster's franchisee

00:16:20.020 with Ken and Debbie and Dish owns you.

00:16:22.920 So it's not like you're calling out your existing CEOs.

00:16:25.280 I'm just trying to find out like what it was like when you went to the conventions.

00:16:29.000 So there was, you know, when I first started going to the conventions, I was, like I said,

00:16:32.500 new.

00:16:32.960 I mean, I had only been with the company for less than a year.

00:16:35.180 So a lot of this stuff was pretty new to me.

00:16:37.200 And I was really just dumbfounded by the kind of schmoozing, I guess you want to call it.

00:16:45.580 It was more that the corporate world would come in and, oh yeah, we're franchise owners.

00:16:49.740 Let's go in there and kind of, you know, they weren't really giving us a lot of information

00:16:53.320 or at least wise for me, the average franchisee.

00:16:56.900 Now, I don't know, you know, we have the ABF, which was our franchise business consultants.

00:17:00.920 They were, you know, a big group.

00:17:02.200 And I know Ken was involved in that at one point.

00:17:03.840 And I know that they probably had better communication with the corporate blockbuster

00:17:09.440 higher-ups than we did as just the franchisees sitting at the table in the convention room.

00:17:14.080 But from what I saw was just a lot more of them trying to, you know, pat us on the back.

00:17:19.740 Hey, you guys are all doing a good job, you know, kind of give us a lot of lip service.

00:17:25.140 I mean, I guess there's no other, you know, positive way to say it.

00:17:27.960 I mean, that's basically what it felt like.

00:17:29.560 And it didn't necessarily feel like they were taking all of those things seriously to us.

00:17:34.580 It's like you bring up a conversation.

00:17:36.280 It's like, oh, well, we're doing this, this, and this.

00:17:37.840 And of course, everything is all positive.

00:17:39.600 There wasn't, you know, you've been in conference meetings before.

00:17:42.780 Many.

00:17:43.320 With different businesses.

00:17:44.560 And you know how it goes.

00:17:45.640 I don't want to hear what positive things.

00:17:48.280 I want to see action.

00:17:50.020 I want to see results.

00:17:51.380 And it's like, you can give me all the lip service you want.

00:17:53.960 You can tell me how wonderful it's going to be.

00:17:55.600 But if I don't actually see results and I'm not getting any answers, then you're just giving me words coming out of your mouth to make me happy because I'm here for three days and then I'm going back home.

00:18:04.780 And it's like, you know, I want to see a real plan of what we're going to do as a result of this.

00:18:10.640 You know, our numbers were starting to go down.

00:18:12.360 And really here at our locations, we were, we had the benefit of not having any corporate stores around us.

00:18:19.220 And we had a Hollywood video here in town and we had some mom and pops, but, you know, we, we had four stores here in Bend.

00:18:26.380 So we definitely had, you know, the bigger market, I guess you want to say, or we had the, you know, the bigger piece of the pie here in town.

00:18:34.040 And so we probably didn't feel the effects that some of the bigger towns felt, you know, in Texas and different places where they had lots of corporate owned blockbusters and lots of franchise owners.

00:18:43.500 So, I mean, we had, you know, good producing stores and we made good money here at the time, but we still were feeling the effects of having Redbox across the street.

00:18:51.960 We were still feeling the effects of Netflix.

00:18:53.880 We were still hearing customers coming in and going, oh, you work at Blockbuster, Blockbuster's old news.

00:18:58.300 You know, I remember now when I walk into Costco, people see me and recognize me for Blockbuster.

00:19:02.660 They're like super excited.

00:19:03.840 And, oh my God, you work at the coolest place ever.

00:19:05.720 I remember when I'd go into Block or into Costco and different places and not want to tell people I worked at Blockbuster because I didn't want to hear about how negative it was.

00:19:13.380 And how, you know, we're all going out of business.

00:19:15.960 So, I mean, it just was very frustrating for me being a newcomer and seeing that, hey, you know, I'm not listening to the same old, same old that you're telling me every time.

00:19:26.160 I don't see results and I don't understand why you people aren't taking this more seriously.

00:19:30.200 And, you know, the franchise owners, I could see the frustration on their faces, the actual owners.

00:19:36.160 I was the manager and I was there and I was there more to, you know, find out what the new, you know, POP, which is what they called it,

00:19:42.860 which was the new, what the stores are going to look like, you know, what are we going to do for Christmas and what kind of movies are coming out.

00:19:47.760 I mean, I was more focused on that, but I also had worked in business long enough to watch the other things and the franchise owners getting really frustrated

00:19:54.620 because they weren't getting the kind of the answers that they were looking for.

00:19:59.720 They weren't getting the support and the help and, you know, and they were paying an enormous amount of fees.

00:20:04.900 I mean, the amount of money that we were paying to Blockbuster every month was a good chunk of money to not be getting, you know, the answers.

00:20:13.240 What was the number? Was it 10% or was it more like 6%?

00:20:16.640 You know, I think it was closer to 10, but I don't know because at the time, remember, I was doing-

00:20:22.020 That's a big number.

00:20:22.880 Yeah. I was doing the payroll and personnel stuff and I wasn't doing the financial stuff.

00:20:27.280 So that'd be more of a question for Ken, but I know it was not cheap.

00:20:31.080 I mean, we were definitely paying them a good chunk and definitely didn't feel like we were getting our bang for our buck kind of a thing.

00:20:38.760 That's the thing. That's the thing with franchisee.

00:20:40.480 People don't mind paying the money if the company at the top is doing their part.

00:20:43.680 It becomes problematic when you're doing everything yourself and they're not coming out with anything for that 10% you're paying.

00:20:48.400 It can be very frustrating.

00:20:50.080 What's kept you around?

00:20:51.480 Is it, are you more around because Ken and Debbie have become more family to you?

00:20:55.880 Are you more around because of the, you know, you just love what the company and the story is all about?

00:21:01.620 Or is it just your personality?

00:21:03.360 You're loyal, you stick around and you just kind of make it work until, you know, they decide to shut down.

00:21:08.380 Which one of the reasons is why you're still around 16 years later?

00:21:10.800 Only a little bit of all three.

00:21:12.240 I think that I am a very loyal person and Ken will tell you that I'm loyal to my own detriment,

00:21:17.440 that I tend to, you know, work the 60-hour week, you know, even though I'm salary.

00:21:22.340 But at the same time, I mean, you can't help but want to be a part of something that's so good.

00:21:26.860 You know, we're very community focused and I'm a part of something that's not just good for me, but it's good for all of us.

00:21:33.260 And, you know, we just had the Airbnb event last weekend, which was a lot of fun.

00:21:38.080 But it was very community driven and it was all about giving back to people here.

00:21:42.800 You know, during COVID, we didn't want to encourage anyone to travel.

00:21:45.280 And so we offered it for $4 a night, which everybody's like, are you crazy?

00:21:50.240 You know, you could make like, you know, a hundred times that amount every night.

00:21:54.140 Wanted to do it.

00:21:54.780 But it wasn't about that.

00:21:56.020 It was about the fact that, you know, when the tourism goes away, when the media stops calling me for interviews,

00:22:01.660 the only thing that's going to keep the doors open is our local community.

00:22:04.300 And we need to remember that.

00:22:05.900 So we still are very much a part of that.

00:22:08.040 And, you know, that $4 a night was meant for a customer to come in and rent a movie and take it home or they could come in and rent the whole store and watch whatever they wanted to for one night.

00:22:16.280 And so it was meant to be kind of a fun thing for just locals to say, hey, thanks for all the years of support.

00:22:20.740 That's awesome.

00:22:21.700 And we, you know, we've tried to do as many things as we can over the years.

00:22:26.260 And I always give out as many shout outs to the other small businesses in town because, you know, all of our merchandise that we sell online, for example,

00:22:33.120 all of it is acquired through a Bend store, a Bend company.

00:22:36.840 So even if, you know, they're only printing it, they're still buying it from somewhere else.

00:22:41.100 They're printing it here locally and they're getting paid by me.

00:22:43.920 So, you know, I've had lots of people that have told me, hey, why are you doing that?

00:22:47.320 Why are you not just buying it online and getting it for, you know, you know, at least 30% cheaper than what you're paying now?

00:22:53.680 And I'm like, yeah, but that doesn't bring the money back to Bend.

00:22:56.480 And the whole reason why we're still here is the Bend community.

00:23:00.040 And so I think that people really appreciate that we've done that.

00:23:03.980 And the fact that I can work for Ken and Debbie who support me on that and are like, no, you're spot on.

00:23:10.220 It's all about community.

00:23:11.340 It's all about taking care of each other that we're able to do those things.

00:23:15.520 Now, that doesn't mean we haven't struggled.

00:23:17.460 That doesn't mean that, you know, saving that 30% on those hoodies wouldn't help my bottom line.

00:23:22.580 It absolutely would.

00:23:24.080 But again, when the tourists stop buying those hoodies, this Bend's what's going to support me.

00:23:29.000 And if I turn my back on Bend and just go straight, push forward to the tourism aspect and become an Airbnb every week and all those things, Bend is going to be like, whatever, you're just another corporate sellout.

00:23:40.680 And I don't want to be that.

00:23:41.900 I want to keep being the small locally owned store we've always been.

00:23:45.860 And the nostalgia is wonderful.

00:23:47.860 I mean, we have people that travel here all the time to see us.

00:23:51.060 And, you know, short of working for Disneyland, I don't think that I can work anywhere else that every customer that walks to the door is happy to see me every day.

00:23:58.900 It's a very positive, happy place to work.

00:24:01.100 And right now in this world, I don't know that I'd want to leave that.

00:24:05.640 I mean, this is, it's just a very wonderful place to be.

00:24:08.800 You know, you said, talk about Disneyland.

00:24:10.380 And I think it was in, I don't know what year it was, 08 or Sonata, 08, a little bit prior to that, when Blockbuster got approval to build an amusement park in Miami, a massive little park that they were going to build.

00:24:20.660 I mean, the stories that they have is insane of what they were doing at one point.

00:24:26.100 But are you guys profitable right now?

00:24:29.180 Is enough business coming in where you're staying profitable?

00:24:31.100 Okay, that's great.

00:24:31.900 What, you know, going back, I run a business.

00:24:34.020 I have 16, 17,000 insurance agents nationwide.

00:24:37.460 I'm the CEO and the founder of the company.

00:24:39.000 I do this on the side.

00:24:40.380 It's not what I do full time.

00:24:41.500 What were some innovative campaigns where for you, if you were to say, you know, like McDonald's came out with an innovative campaign called Share a Coke and they would put a name on there.

00:24:53.400 Bob, Mary, Jack.

00:24:54.380 Oh my gosh, let me, I'm not even a Coke person.

00:24:56.680 Jack, let me take you to my friend.

00:24:58.100 Bob, let me take you to work.

00:24:59.220 It'd be cool to share with them.

00:25:00.700 It's a great campaign that they did, right?

00:25:02.100 You see a lot of different companies that do great campaigns.

00:25:04.820 What are some things you think they could have done at that time with the late fee that would have been a great campaign or even any other campaigns they could have done that maybe would have brought back the customers?

00:25:15.960 Have you, I'm sure there's been a lot of discussions, a lot of topics, talks about that.

00:25:20.340 What are some things they could have done?

00:25:22.120 Well, I think they could have done more charitable things.

00:25:24.260 And I don't know.

00:25:25.600 Now I say that, but I don't know all the things that they were doing behind the scenes.

00:25:31.020 But all you ever really saw was, oh yeah, they're doing the, oh, they had like an awards, like a blockbuster awards thing, kind of like the Oscars kind of a thing.

00:25:38.780 I mean, not to that level, but I know they had an awards thing.

00:25:41.300 I think you're right about the amusement park.

00:25:43.000 I mean, you always saw these big, huge things that we're doing for them and maybe they should have done more for others.

00:25:49.700 And I think that, you know, for us, for example, like the Airbnb thing, you know, we really supported our local humane society, which is a huge thing for us.

00:25:57.560 And in Central Oregon, we're all about pets and animals and all of those things.

00:26:01.340 And, you know, we try to support as many things.

00:26:04.320 But with late fees, I would love to have seen them.

00:26:06.680 You know, if you're going to keep the late fees that you are, maybe say for every, you know, dollar we get for late fees, we're giving a dollar to a local charity.

00:26:13.460 I mean, I think that a lot of times you've got to focus on your communities that you're in.

00:26:18.560 And I mean, even, you know, I've worked for lots of different businesses too and done different things over the years.

00:26:25.280 And I find that if you focus more on the local aspect and the person that's in your business at that time, and you're focused on that person and not so much about what's happening outside, it's going to bring back tenfold.

00:26:37.620 And I mean, I talk about the first week we became the last one in America.

00:26:42.220 I remember I had a customer, you know, we were super busy.

00:26:44.620 We were not expecting that.

00:26:45.780 We had no, you know, I was in the parking lot across the street.

00:26:49.140 My son had been in a fender bender and I was talking to a police officer when USA Today called me.

00:26:52.880 And I had no idea that this was coming.

00:26:55.620 And I remember being in our store and we were super busy and we were helping customers.

00:26:59.700 And I can't remember if it was the New York Times or the Washington Post, but one of them called and they were on the phone and they're like, oh my God, it's the New York Times.

00:27:07.140 And I was like, okay, well, I've got a customer in front of me.

00:27:10.200 And the customer's like, but it's the New York Times.

00:27:11.760 I'm like, but you're a paying customer and you're the reason I'm here.

00:27:15.280 I'm like, the New York Times can wait.

00:27:16.660 Let me, let me check you out.

00:27:18.140 And then, and everybody was shocked that I did that.

00:27:20.480 And I'm like, no, it's like, you know, I think it's exciting and it's fun.

00:27:23.220 And I'm so happy to be in all these programs.

00:27:25.340 But the bottom line is that customer in front of me is what's paying my wage.

00:27:29.680 That's what's keeping my doors open.

00:27:31.020 And if I lose that, and if I lose that attention to my local customers, then we're not going to be here for another, you know, 20 years.

00:27:40.440 I mean, we have to stay focused on that.

00:27:42.100 And so I think sometimes in the corporate world, that gets forgotten.

00:27:45.740 And I think if they had maybe paid more attention to those things, you know, allowed their employees, like we, we do fun stuff.

00:27:52.660 You know, we have an employee pick section and we do, we have a barbecue that we do every year.

00:27:57.160 And we were doing it in my, my backyard.

00:27:59.780 But last year we actually did it at the store because there were so many ex-employees that were coming and it was so fun.

00:28:05.440 And, you know, we do more of those kinds of things that are more focused on it.

00:28:09.860 And, you know, I'm known as the blockbuster mom.

00:28:13.780 And unfortunately now I'm starting to be known as the blockbuster grandma, which I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm not, you're sure I've got my own grandkids.

00:28:19.340 I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet.

00:28:20.800 But I really think that that's important to be a part of that.

00:28:24.100 And I know I'm probably from an HR manager standpoint, probably their biggest nightmare because, you know, I love my employees.

00:28:30.220 I love my customers.

00:28:31.240 This is my family, how I operate the business every day.

00:28:34.320 And I think if more businesses treated things like a small business, they would be more successful.

00:28:41.640 If they kept track of what's happening right now in my store today, what's happening and not worry about what might happen tomorrow and focus on the here and now.

00:28:51.100 I mean, and that's, they train us like that for our personal lives, right?

00:28:55.880 It's all about being mindful.

00:28:57.560 It's all about, you know, you got to be mindful of your situation, mindful of what's happening now and not do the what ifs.

00:29:02.180 And, I mean, you have to do some of those as a business owner.

00:29:04.360 You have to, you know, you have to know your cash flow is good.

00:29:06.640 You have to know that you have to plan for those things.

00:29:08.760 But when it comes to customers, you have to focus on here and now.

00:29:11.840 Every customer that leaves my business unhappy, that doesn't find, if I can't find a movie for them to watch, even if I don't have that new release on the shelf, I need to be out there helping them find something else so that they leave happy.

00:29:25.560 Yeah.

00:29:26.180 That's a great point.

00:29:27.020 And by the way, I think you're still the blockbuster mom.

00:29:30.720 I think grandma, I know your age because I researched you.

00:29:33.780 We're on this.

00:29:34.400 We're a couple of years apart.

00:29:35.420 So if you're a grandma, then I'm a grandpa.

00:29:37.640 I'm not ready for your grandpa.

00:29:38.720 So we're going to stay moms and dads for now.

00:29:41.820 Yeah.

00:29:42.040 But, you know, you make such a great point.

00:29:44.300 You know, sometimes when you interview people, we have a lot of guests and we've had, you know, Mark Cuban.

00:29:49.220 Oh, my gosh.

00:29:49.760 You know, he's worth $4 billion or Chip Wilson worth $4 billion.

00:29:52.260 He started Lululemon.

00:29:53.440 It's like, oh, I'd love to be a billionaire.

00:29:54.600 But very rarely do you, are you able to learn from a franchise, 84,000 employees, 9,000 stores, 4,500 in America.

00:30:05.220 This was a brand that was all over the place for it to go from there to a fall.

00:30:10.320 What happened?

00:30:10.860 There's a lot of good things you're talking about here with us.

00:30:13.120 But a question for you with the pattern of customers today, do you notice a pattern with customers?

00:30:19.320 Age?

00:30:20.240 Are they a little quirky?

00:30:21.840 Are they chippy? 0.92

00:30:23.880 What do you notice?

00:30:25.000 Like, what is common about all the customers?

00:30:26.760 Because it's DVDs.

00:30:27.600 It's not like, I mean, they have to still have a DVD.

00:30:30.300 I don't even know if I have a DVD.

00:30:32.200 Do you have a DVD player at your house?

00:30:33.420 I don't even know if I have a DVD player at my house.

00:30:35.340 So if I come to you, I almost have to have a DVD player at my house.

00:30:39.060 So what are some of the patterns of customers you're having right now?

00:30:41.760 Well, and absolutely, we have a little bit of everything.

00:30:44.420 And there for a while, I mean, we definitely, the niche was the older customers.

00:30:48.860 I mean, when we were struggling, when the whole company was going under and everybody was struggling,

00:30:53.780 I know we definitely had a lot more older customers.

00:30:56.340 And that makes sense because I can tell you from having, you know, 20-something children,

00:31:01.420 that they're all about the newest technology.

00:31:03.740 We kind of talked about that a little bit ago.

00:31:05.640 And, you know, we have Netflix at home.

00:31:07.820 And I think my son-

00:31:08.940 Wait, did you say 20-something children?

00:31:10.820 Oh, yes.

00:31:11.760 My children, yes.

00:31:13.420 My youngest will be 20 next month.

00:31:15.600 So it's kind of scary.

00:31:17.480 But my children are all in their 20s.

00:31:19.580 My daughter will be 30 in December.

00:31:21.640 So it's kind of scary.

00:31:23.340 So see, now you're definitely aging me here.

00:31:26.220 You did it to yourself.

00:31:27.540 Don't put it on me.

00:31:28.420 But no, you know, having them at home, I mean, we do.

00:31:33.800 Again, you know, we have Netflix at home.

00:31:36.380 And I know my son has Hulu.

00:31:38.100 And, you know, we have different streaming services.

00:31:40.160 And I think that, you know, you have to keep, you have to let know that that's going to be the case.

00:31:45.680 You know, everybody's always like, oh, how do you compete with those things?

00:31:47.820 And I know I'm a little off the topic of what you asked me.

00:31:49.860 But you can't really compete with that.

00:31:52.120 I mean, that is going to be what it's going to be.

00:31:54.440 I mean, but the thing is, is that instead of trying to compete, you just embrace the fact that it's there and say, okay, well, these customers have Netflix at home.

00:32:02.300 But what do I have that Netflix doesn't have?

00:32:04.160 Well, I have a library here of over 25,000 movies on my shelves.

00:32:09.220 And, you know, and it may not be 25 different titles, but I have 25,000 movies on the shelf, which, by the way, I didn't know that till COVID and we did a full inventory.

00:32:16.020 I thought we had closer to like 18, 19.

00:32:18.460 But, you know, we still have a very large amount of movies.

00:32:22.540 Netflix, you know, they can, I'm sure you saw our billboard where we had the call to rhythm billboard.

00:32:27.420 So I'm like, okay, what can we do that Netflix can't do?

00:32:29.900 Well, we can give that personal touch to people.

00:32:32.080 We can, you know, they would have to go to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon.

00:32:35.580 And, gosh, all the different streaming services, they'd have to have all of those at home to have the same library that I have here.

00:32:42.620 So rather than focusing on what, you know, what Netflix has, let's focus on what they don't have.

00:32:47.220 They don't have the variety that I have in the store.

00:32:49.860 So that was one of the things that we kept doing.

00:32:51.960 We have a suggestion list for customers.

00:32:55.360 And if I don't have the movie, they tell us what movie they would like for me to see.

00:32:58.840 I search it.

00:32:59.540 Now, I don't buy every single movie because as a company, I can't.

00:33:04.400 I mean, if I research something, it's $30.

00:33:07.140 Well, that doesn't make any sense for me to bring that title into the store.

00:33:09.860 Even one customer rents it.

00:33:11.660 I'm paying $30 for, you know, $2.

00:33:13.860 Somebody rents it.

00:33:14.420 I'm not going to make my money back.

00:33:15.440 So I need to make sure that I'm purchasing things that will be beneficial for the store long term.

00:33:20.580 So there are some times when I have to say no.

00:33:22.400 But customers understand that.

00:33:23.760 And I explain it to them.

00:33:24.780 Be like, you know, unfortunately, it's too much.

00:33:26.800 I can't afford to buy that movie.

00:33:28.760 And then a lot of times that customer, I'm like, well, I'll buy it and I'll just donate it to you.

00:33:32.140 So I can't tell you how many times, oh, no, I do.

00:33:34.680 We have people donating movies every day.

00:33:36.480 So they'll buy it and they'll watch it and then they'll donate it back.

00:33:39.380 Because part of that is that honesty thing that I have with my customers.

00:33:42.660 They know that if I can do it, I will do it.

00:33:44.960 If I can't, then I'm going to tell them I can't and here's why.

00:33:47.780 And I think that it's that relationship that we've built with our customers that has come back.

00:33:52.780 And part of it was having that older generation during that struggling period where they appreciated good service.

00:33:59.420 They appreciated my willingness to go out of my way to help them.

00:34:02.660 And they knew that they could always count on me for my honesty.

00:34:05.580 And I think that the older generation really counted on that.

00:34:07.780 And we really kind of fostered a really good working relationship with those customers.

00:34:15.840 And then now with the nostalgia piece, we're seeing all those families come back.

00:34:20.160 And it's kind of come full circle.

00:34:21.720 People, you know, they might still, like I said, have Netflix and Hulu and everything else at home.

00:34:26.260 Amazon and Apple and Disney Plus and everything else that's out there.

00:34:29.520 But what they don't have is they don't have that opportunity to get out of their house to come to Blockbuster with their kids.

00:34:35.000 It's something they did with their family when they were younger and have just an afternoon where they can go pick a movie.

00:34:41.160 And they can actually, their kids can touch it.

00:34:43.640 It's tangible.

00:34:44.240 They love coming in and picking it up and carrying it around.

00:34:46.840 Something you don't get on Netflix.

00:34:48.320 I mean, we talked about that with our call algorithm.

00:34:50.680 You can go on there.

00:34:51.680 And, you know, I know on Netflix and I know yesterday I was looking at something and I didn't realize under my husband's name instead of my name.

00:34:59.580 And he watches every reality show possible.

00:35:02.080 And I'm like, why are all these reality shows on mine?

00:35:04.220 I don't watch those.

00:35:05.360 I mean, it's great that they have their algorithm so they'll tell you what you want.

00:35:08.460 But maybe tonight I do want to watch that. 0.93

00:35:10.400 Now I've got to go past all the other crap.

00:35:12.540 I've got to remember what I'm on that page.

00:35:14.500 I've got to search it.

00:35:15.660 Or I can just come in here and walk over to the documentaries and pick up a documentary.

00:35:19.420 And that's something that we just had to make sure that we focused on what we do have and not what we don't.

00:35:24.720 Yeah, that's very powerful because that's what choice do you have?

00:35:28.800 What can you do?

00:35:29.340 You can sit on top of what you don't have and it's going to drive you insane.

00:35:32.260 There's no way you're going to compete with them directly in that area.

00:35:35.060 I remember family video.

00:35:36.560 I remember Hollywood video.

00:35:38.140 But I was a, even today I forgot.

00:35:40.900 Is it video 2020 or 2020 video?

00:35:43.100 I don't know if you remember 2020 video.

00:35:45.140 It was a spot in LA we'd go rent.

00:35:47.720 And, you know, that was my spot.

00:35:49.780 And obviously they're no longer in business.

00:35:51.800 But we was Blockbuster, was Warehouse.

00:35:54.080 Totally forgot about Warehouse.

00:35:55.340 It was Warehouse, Blockbuster.

00:35:56.620 Blockbuster and it was video 2020.

00:35:59.360 So what is Dish's plan with Blockbuster?

00:36:03.620 I mean, they bought them out of bankruptcy.

00:36:05.660 Do they tell you what they want to do?

00:36:07.640 Do they have any idea?

00:36:08.620 They just bought it just to buy it.

00:36:10.440 Yeah.

00:36:10.600 And I think they probably at one point had plans of some things they wanted to do.

00:36:14.080 I don't think they intended to just close all the stores.

00:36:17.160 I think, unfortunately, by the time they got it, it was just in so much trouble.

00:36:21.480 There really wasn't much they could do with it.

00:36:24.100 You know, and I know that they have, you know, a small amount of licensees that people that

00:36:29.220 use the name.

00:36:30.280 And I think that that's definitely interesting that has grown since we became the last one.

00:36:33.940 And, and I, it, it's kind of a sad, it's kind of a, I don't know, probably because I

00:36:40.680 am so loyal and it frustrates when we, when other people try to take advantage of that

00:36:45.440 situation.

00:36:45.880 But I know even when we were setting up our website, you know, we had done Blockbuster

00:36:50.280 bend on everything and we ended up having to do, and I'm going to get this backwards

00:36:54.320 and my son will laugh at me because he's the one that designed the website with another

00:36:57.680 old manager that we had, but we went to do it and we had set up our Facebook and we set

00:37:02.220 up Twitter and we set up our Instagram one way and we went to do our, our website and

00:37:06.540 someone else had already bought it and opened it up and had a page, a webpage that looked

00:37:11.900 exactly like us representing it as if it was us.

00:37:14.780 And I'm like, what are these people doing?

00:37:16.620 I'm like, I get it.

00:37:17.540 It's an opportunity for you to get your 15 minutes.

00:37:20.500 It's an opportunity for you to make money.

00:37:21.920 And I know that, and I know that's what people are driven by that.

00:37:24.920 And, and I am, have no problem with entrepreneurs doing what they need to do to, to have that

00:37:29.360 American dream.

00:37:30.200 But I'm like, seriously, I'm like, so, and I knew that their intention was for us to buy

00:37:34.660 that from them.

00:37:35.180 Well, we are not in a position to do that.

00:37:37.560 So we just had to tweak it and make it something else and just keep going forward.

00:37:40.900 I mean, I couldn't dwell on it.

00:37:42.300 It wasn't something I was going to have to, to worry about.

00:37:44.320 It's just, it is what it is.

00:37:45.620 And we just move forward.

00:37:46.920 But, you know, I don't know that Dish has big plans for the Blockbuster name.

00:37:51.860 I know that there's certainly people who have called me up and wanted to do, open up their

00:37:55.380 own franchise or open up their own store.

00:37:57.520 And I, I kind of laugh.

00:37:58.920 I'm like, yeah, you're right.

00:37:59.820 Right now we're pretty popular and people are coming in renting movies, but I don't think

00:38:03.460 you realize what it was going to take to get your library of 20,000 movies.

00:38:07.760 Um, I don't think you realize, you know, what it takes to actually operate a brick and mortar

00:38:12.380 business.

00:38:13.200 You, it's not just go open up a store and you're going to become instantly successful.

00:38:17.520 And I think that part of the reason we're still here is we have the nostalgia piece.

00:38:22.100 We have those loyal people that want to come in and support us.

00:38:25.040 I don't know if there was 20 stores left that we would be doing as well as we're doing right

00:38:29.600 now.

00:38:29.860 I don't know if someone popped up one all of a sudden in LA that it's going to do really

00:38:33.820 well because you're right.

00:38:34.540 Most people don't have DVD players and they come in and they see us and they support us

00:38:38.980 because they know that we're, you know, not going to be here forever.

00:38:42.680 And they want us to last as long as we can.

00:38:44.760 And that's just the reality of it.

00:38:46.000 And I think that people sometimes forget.

00:38:47.620 I saw a posting today about family home video, um, which is big in the Midwest.

00:38:52.540 You had mentioned them earlier, but I think that they're getting ready to close some stores.

00:38:55.840 And part of that is because they're struggling right now.

00:38:58.300 And then like every other small business across America, everybody's struggling with COVID

00:39:02.460 and, and the reality of the situations that people have.

00:39:05.440 And, and I think sometimes people forget that, you know, right now what we have is unique

00:39:09.840 and cool and, and great because we're, we're on our own and we're the last one.

00:39:14.820 And so we have all these awesome things that are happening out there for us, but I don't

00:39:18.020 know that that would be the case if they started popping up blockbusters everywhere.

00:39:21.120 I think unless somebody was really smart about how they did it, um, I don't know that that

00:39:26.540 would be super successful.

00:39:27.460 And I mean, we can look back and be like, oh man, what the heck were blockbuster thing

00:39:31.240 in when they bought, what was it?

00:39:32.640 Paramount or universal or one of the big, you know, they, uh, but was it Viacom?

00:39:38.060 I think that bought part of that.

00:39:40.360 Um, and they, you know, started funding that, um, studio with money from blockbuster and it

00:39:48.100 really got it up and going, well, you know, that was great, but how could they not know

00:39:52.100 that that was going to kill blockbuster?

00:39:53.420 I mean, you can't, you can't take all the money out of one business and push it off into

00:39:57.900 one, another one without hurting them both.

00:39:59.740 I mean, any smart business person knows that if you've got one dying business and you're

00:40:04.140 funding it from the other successful business, eventually you're going to have two dying businesses

00:40:07.540 if you're not careful.

00:40:08.840 So you have to really be smart about it.

00:40:10.880 Um, and make smarter decisions.

00:40:12.840 And I don't know, I, I'm just a manager here.

00:40:16.060 So I'm like, you know, more than a manager.

00:40:18.080 I mean, you're more than a manager.

00:40:20.000 If this doesn't work out for you, you could easily be, be a consultant for a lot of companies.

00:40:24.640 But, uh, but, uh, did you say blockbuster.com is owned by somebody else?

00:40:29.680 Not blockbuster is, is that?

00:40:31.140 So no, um, our website.

00:40:33.580 Oh, your website.

00:40:34.600 I got it.

00:40:34.940 Yeah.

00:40:35.160 Blockbuster.com is definitely still dish network.

00:40:37.500 Um, they have that name.

00:40:39.220 Um, but when we were trying to do our own website and we were doing the blockbuster

00:40:43.060 bend, that makes sense.

00:40:44.820 Somebody had that already.

00:40:46.080 By the way, on your Twitter account, what was really cool is, uh, on August 11th, you

00:40:50.300 know, this already, uh, blockbuster decides to send a tweet and they said, Hey, just checking

00:40:55.700 in.

00:40:56.080 And it got 954,000 likes, 141,000 retweets.

00:41:02.280 And a few hours later, they said, okay, we've seen enough checking out.

00:41:09.100 I think it was, uh, it was definitely funny that dish did that.

00:41:12.780 I think, um, that was right at the same time we were talking about the Airbnb stuff and rolled

00:41:17.880 it out at the same day.

00:41:18.820 And I thought that was great.

00:41:20.440 Um, did you get bombarded when that happened or did you like, did you get a bunch of calls,

00:41:24.320 customers, people coming in?

00:41:25.580 Did you notice the traffic or no?

00:41:28.020 Yeah, no, we definitely did.

00:41:30.060 And we definitely heard a lot of people from it.

00:41:32.360 Um, every time that something like that happens, we get a lot of phone calls, you know, when,

00:41:36.320 uh, Captain Marvel had, you know, her, you know, breaking into a blockbuster.

00:41:41.520 I can't tell you how many people were calling me going, Oh my God, is that your store?

00:41:43.860 And I'm like, no, that's not our store.

00:41:45.840 Disney didn't call me.

00:41:46.900 I'm sorry.

00:41:47.460 I didn't let anybody smash into my store.

00:41:49.440 Um, but now anytime anything like that happens, we get a lot of phone calls.

00:41:52.960 Well, listen, I just wanted to, uh, uh, share this story because I think.

00:41:57.260 There are so many things all of us can learn from this, but it's also, uh, it takes a very

00:42:03.660 special person to be you.

00:42:05.440 I don't think it's everybody's job to be you.

00:42:08.000 And, uh, in a way it's very obvious you can and Debbie have a very, very great, uh, good

00:42:12.360 relationship together, perhaps to them as owners, to be able to keep someone like you

00:42:16.260 and be loyal and, uh, for you to do your part and care about the profits as much as

00:42:20.880 the customers, where you become somebody that the owners can just trust to run the place

00:42:24.660 and operate the place.

00:42:25.440 It's tough to find people like you out there.

00:42:27.200 It's, it's, uh, you're, uh, you're very, very hard to find and you're very, very valuable

00:42:31.980 to a business owner.

00:42:33.800 And, uh, Sandy, I just wanted to tell you, I appreciate you for taking the time for being

00:42:37.240 a guest here and I'll give you the final words.

00:42:39.580 Anything else you want to say to the viewers here before we wrap up?

00:42:43.180 Take care of your small business.

00:42:44.780 Take care of your small businesses in your community.

00:42:47.220 Um, because they all need lots of love and support right now to keep them open.

00:42:51.200 And just don't forget local buy local whenever you have a chance.

00:42:55.360 Sandy, you're amazing.

00:42:56.500 Thank you for your time.

00:42:57.240 Thank you.

00:42:58.080 Bye-bye.

00:42:58.740 You know, many times we sit there and we talk to people who are billionaires on how they

00:43:01.840 made their billions, how they became millionaires.

00:43:03.320 How'd you become successful?

00:43:04.220 And you only think about all the things they did right.

00:43:06.300 And you don't get the blind spots, right?

00:43:08.440 And then you sit down with somebody like Sandy, who's a manager, the only blockbuster remaining.

00:43:14.540 And she's been there since 04.

00:43:16.200 And you learn so much more about what to do to make sure your company never fails.

00:43:22.880 Mindboggling how this interview was with Sandy.

00:43:25.140 It was amazing for somebody like me that's an operator.

00:43:28.260 I run a company to see what things she had to talk about that they try to focus on all their

00:43:32.520 customers were not happy by doing so.

00:43:34.580 They lost the customers that were happy.

00:43:36.600 What do you do to keep your loyal customers?

00:43:38.180 You're still going.

00:43:38.780 They still want you to do this.

00:43:40.320 And then all of a sudden, you lose everybody.

00:43:41.760 So it was intense.

00:43:43.620 It was a very, very good message for any entrepreneur and business owner to listen to.

00:43:47.620 I got another video I want you to watch if you got a lot of this sit down here.

00:43:50.860 I sat down with Patty McCord.

00:43:52.320 Patty McCord is the former chief talent officer of Netflix.

00:43:55.800 She was with Reed Hastings for 14 years.

00:43:57.980 And she talks about how they operated the company, how they recruited people, how they hired people,

00:44:04.460 how they fired people, what their culture did to get them to where they're at today of

00:44:08.780 $150, $200 billion company.

00:44:11.020 And to go from a company that was irrelevant.

00:44:12.740 She even talks about a story when they went into a room and everyone's like, oh my gosh,

00:44:16.600 we just crossed a million customers.

00:44:18.360 And Reed's like, awesome, you guys can celebrate, but I'm off to five million.

00:44:21.640 She tells all these stories.

00:44:22.600 If you've not watched that interview, it's a powerful one.

00:44:24.900 Click over here to watch that interview.

00:44:26.280 And if you've not subscribed to the channel, please do so.

00:44:28.340 So thanks for watching, everybody.

00:44:29.300 Take care.

00:44:29.700 Bye-bye.

Valuetainment - October 21, 2020

The Last Blockbuster Reveals How Netflix Crushed Them

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