Blockbuster Test Stores Look Like Best Buy

By Peter ScirettaApril 25, 2008 12:06 am EST

The photo of the store above is not of a Circuit City store or a small market Best Buy, it's a snapshot from one of the new Blockbuster Video prototype stores in the Dallas Texas-area. The store is testing a variety of new concepts including:

Earlier opening hours (6:00am) for those who want to rent a video on their way to work.

An old-fashioned soda counter co-branded as a Coca-Cola cafe with chrome stools and a black-and-white checkerboard tiled floor which sells Cappuccino and Fountain Drinks

Televisions, Blu-ray players, and Video Cameras

Free WiFi

A hands-on video gaming center

A dedicated play area and toys, books and T-shirts

I don't know who would buy a big screen teleivison at a Blockbuster, but on Monday, the store sold its first big-screen HDTV, a 40-inch Sony Bravia for $1,597.99. It seems to me that Blockbuster understands they probably only have five to ten more years before everyone is renting movies digitally. Just recently the company proposed a bid to buy Circuit City. Looks like someone is scared about the future.

Discuss: Would you buy an HD television, digital video camera or Cappuccino from your local Blockbuster Video?

source: dallasnews