Blockbuster consolidates Wasilla stores

WASILLA — One of two Valley Blockbuster Video locations has closed, merging its selection of products into one local store.

The Blockbuster at 1511 E. Parks Highway near the intersection of the Parks and Palmer-Wasilla highways has closed. A visit to the location last week showed the store empty with an employee sweeping out the space.

When contacted Saturday, the Valley’s other Blockbuster location, 591 E. Parks Highway in the Carrs/Safeway center, reported it is still open and has merged with the other outlet.

Both stores are owned by Anchorage-based Border Entertainment, which also owns the Blockbuster store at 206 E. Northern Lights Blvd. in Anchorage. Repeated attempts to connect with a Border Entertainment official were unsuccessful as of press time.

The closure is in line with happenings at the corporate level for Blockbuster, which has been in financial trouble for the past several years, pressured by online and other movie services like Netflix, Redbox and Hulu.

Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2010, and in April 2011 was sold to Dish Network Corp. in a bankruptcy auction, The Wall Street Journal reports. Dish Network paid about $320.6 million for the chain, and creditors will see about $178.8 million of that money, the WSJ reports.

After purchasing Blockbuster, Dish Network Corp. announced it would close more than 500 of the remaining 1,500 stores in the first half of 2012. The Border Entertainment holdings are franchises and not corporate-owned, and it was unclear as of press time if the closure of the store near the Wasilla Fred Meyer is related to that announcement.