Blockbuster Closing in Avon Lake

The store, along with six other stores in Northeast Ohio, will be closing its doors permanently next month.

The Avon Lake store, in Towne Center, will close Jan. 22, according to Jenn Krystowski, a manager at the location.

“We found out Dec. 19…there are seven in our district that are closing,” Krystowski said.

The struggling company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2010, announced massive store closings earlier this year. This week, it was announced it will shutter additional stores, including Berea, Brooklyn, Lakewood, North Ridgeville and Port Clinton, Sandusky and three in the Dayton area. The chain is owned by Dish Network.

The closing will leave Avon Lake without a video store. Two other former stores, both located in Learwood Plaza, have closed in the past 10 years.

Avon Lake resident and Blockbuster patron Carsten Anderson was upset with the closing. He said he has been a customer of the store since its opening.

“I feel really bad another store in Avon Lake has to close,” Anderson said. “I had Blockbuster Total Access and I would rent from their website and return there and get another one. Now I will have to cancel my membership and look for something else.

“It’s a really a sad loss for Avon Lake.”

Dish Network/Blockbuster spokesperson Aaron Johnson said Blockbuster continues to evaluate the performance of each store location individually.

“As we have said in previous statements, we remain committed to maintaining only those stores that we believe we will be able to operate profitably,” he said.

Johnson said stores can close for a number of reasons, such as the store reaching the end of its lease, a store may be too large in size, or property owners may be unwilling to reach a reasonable lease renewal. He said Blockbuster continues to focus on its Blockbuster Total Access DVDs By Mail service.

“For employees of any closing stores, we intend to relocate as many employees as possible to other stores,” he said.

The store’s closing will leave another vacant store in Towne Center, which is managed by Kopf Builders. Tops, the center’s anchor store has been vacant for year. Several other storefronts are vacant and in October, citing “not enough business.”

Blockbuster has begun an “everything must go” sale. Calls placed to Kopf Builders were not returned by deadline.