We all know that the brick and mortar video stores are almost universally struggling.  In an environment where steadily more people can stream movies in a heartbeat and the rest of us can get job lots sent by mail, it’s hard to work up reason to drive to the video store any more.

And there are two new points in the steadily ongoing Blockbuster saga to keep in mind.  To-wit:

1. Movie Gallery’s troubles don’t mean good times for Blockbuster.  With so many other alternatives, just because Movie Gallery’s in dire straits doesn’t mean people are flocking to Blockbuster.  In fact, it’s actually more indicative of a problem sector wide.  Movie Gallery’s troubles are almost exactly the same as Blockbuster’s.

2. Blockbuster has several “liquidation stores” located nationwide. I caught this bit out of a business news story from Bakersfield, California.  We mentioned this here some time ago, but in Bakersfield as well as locations in Florida, Georgia, Texas, Nebraska and Pennsylvania, there are stores devoted ENTIRELY to selling off Blockbuster’s excess goods.  Sure, right now, it’s for excess…but with six stores ready to go, how long before the entire brick and mortar chain is used as a sell-through machine?

Factor these two points together–motive and opportunity–and you get a distinct case for the end of Blockbuster as we know it.