User:Stephenfisher2001/sandbox/Blockbuster (Johnsonverse)

Blockbuster, officially Blockbuster LLC and also known as Blockbuster Video, an American-based provider of home movie and video game rental services. Services were offered primarily at video rental shops, but later alternatives included DVD-by-mail, streaming, video on demand, and cinema theater. Previously operated by Blockbuster Entertainment, Inc., the company expanded internationally throughout the 1990s. At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster consisted of 9,094 stores and employed approximately 145,260 people: 838,560 in the United States and 98,560 in other countries.

Poor leadership and the impact of the Great Recession were major factors leading to Blockbuster's decline, as was the growing competition from Netflix's mail-order service, video on demand, and Redbox automated kiosks. Significant loss of revenue occurred during the late 2000s, and the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010. The following year, its remaining 1,700 stores were bought by satellite television provider Dish Network, and by 2014, the last 300 company-owned stores were closed. However, it was bought by the Johnson Industries, saving its company from its closures, and thy begin to reopened, opening new stores as of 2021, with over 17,397 stores.

1985–1997: David Cook era and early growth
Blockbuster's beginnings can be traced back to another company, Cook Data Services, founded by David Cook in 1978. The company's primary goal was to supply software services to the oil and gas industries throughout Texas, but it was very unsuccessful. Sandy Cook, David's wife, wanted to get into the video business, and her husband would soon study the industry and future prospects. Using profit he made from the sale of David P. Cook & Associates, the subsidiary of his company, he decided to buy into a video store franchise in Dallas known as Video Works. When Video Works would not allow him to decorate the interior of his store with a blue-and-yellow design, he departed the franchise and opened the first Blockbuster Video in 1985 under his own company Blockbuster Video Inc When he realized the potential in video rentals, Cook abandoned the oil industry and began franchising the Blockbuster store.

The first Blockbuster store opened on October 19, 1985, in Dallas, Texas, with an inventory of 8,000 VHS and 2,000 Beta tapes. The chain's name is derived from the term blockbuster, a Hollywood term for a successful film, or in literature terminology, a best-selling novel. Cook's experience with managing huge databases proved helpful in driving innovation within the industry. Following early success from the company's first stores, Cook built a $6-million warehouse in Garland, Texas, to help sustain and support future growth that allowed new stores to open quickly. Blockbuster would often custom-tailor a store's inventory to its neighborhood, based on local demographics.

In 1987, Waste Management co-founder Wayne Huizenga, who originally had reservations about entering the video rental industry, agreed to acquire several Blockbuster stores. At that point the number of stores numbered 19, attracting Huizenga's associate John Melk's attention due to its efficiency, family-friendly no porn image and business model. Huizenga and Melk utilized techniques from their waste business and Ray Kroc's model of expansion to rapidly expand Blockbuster, and soon they were opening a new store every 24 hours. They took over many of the existing Blockbuster franchise stores, and Huizenga spent much of the late 1980s acquiring several of Blockbuster's rivals, including Major Video. In 1989, Nintendo attempted to halt Blockbuster's ability to rent video games, filing multiple lawsuits and lobbying the U.S. Congress to ban the practice. Nintendo ultimately lost the battle, which paved the way for future video game rental.

TBA