Blockbuster to close 164 stores, 800 jobs under threat

Another 164 Blockbuster stores are to close, threatening 800 jobs and leaving the DVD and game rental chain with less than half its stores surviving.

The latest round of closures is on top of 160 closures already announced. That takes the number of doomed Blockbuster stores to 324, leaving just 204 branches remaining of the 528 open when Blockbuster first went into administration.

The branches earmarked for closure will stay open for the time being, but there's no word on how long for. Fear not though -- stores will inform customers ahead of time to give you opportunity to return rented items. Returning items to a company that's about to go under, that'll definitely be at the top of the to-do list.

In the meantime, the Blockbuster website has a clearance sale, including a deal to get you 6 pre-owned DVDs for £10 -- and we're talking proper recent movies like True Grit, Star Trek andBridesmaids.

The administrators were called in in mid-January and are currently searching for a buyer to see if Blockbuster can continue trading.  

Blockbuster's administration is handled by Deloitte, which ushered Comet to the great high street in the sky last year and is also currently administering to ailing music and movie shop HMV. HMV is closing 66 stores in the UK, threatening nearly 1,000 jobs, and abandoning Ireland completely at the cost of 300 jobs.

Meanwhile camera emporium Jessops, which has disappeared from the high street, is to reopen online after buyers -- including Dragons' Den tellypreneur Peter Jones -- snapped up bits of the brand.

[Source: CNET]

HMV Canada owner takes control of HMV UK in attempt to rescue troubled chain

HMV's 91-year long tenure on the British high street might not be coming to an end after all, as HMV Canada's owner has mounted a rescue attempt. The rescuer in this instance is Hilco, which previously picked up Polaroid's brand and paired it with famous insolvency specialist Lady Gaga. BBC News is reporting that Hilco scored a cut-price rate on the £176 million ($278.8 million) corporate debt and has already received cheering words from the film and music industry. After a bout of uncertainty, HMV has also said it'll once again accept gift cards in its stores.

[Image credit: London Express / Getty Images]

[Source: Engadget]

GAME sells Steam vouchers in its UK stores, sees no dramatic tension in that whatsoever

GAME is certainly up for trying new things after getting a second chance at life, and today it becomes the first store in the UK to offer Steam Wallet Codes for purchase. You can buy £5, £10, £20 or £50's worth, and until December 7th, you can get a 33 percent bump in trade-in value, should you put the credit towards codes. Customers can also browse the entire Steam catalog on tablets dotted around the shop floor. While the vouchers will obviously make good gifts this holiday, and also appeal to those who don't want Steam knowing their card details, we're not sure how smart a move this is. We imagine there are still a few keyboard-and-mouse gamers out there who don't use Steam, but once GAME shows them the light, will they ever set foot in there again?

[Source: Engadget]

Amazon recruits 5,000 UK corner stores for CollectPlus delivery service (update)

Convenience stores, cornershops, newsagents, call them what you will -- nearly 5,000 local businesses in the UK have now been signed up by Amazon to receive and look after its customers' precious packages. The "CollectPlus" scheme is currently on trial but The Telegraph reports it's expected to roll out across Britain, where it'll add one more delivery option for those who -- for their own strange and inexplicable reasons -- are rarely at home between 9am and 5pm.

Update: We've just heard from CollectPlus that it should be now be available as a delivery option at checkout, and equally Marketplace sellers can select it as a mode of delivery.

[Source: Engadget]

Apple Stores matching iPhone discounts from retailers and carriers

If you're in the market for an iPhone right now, you can take advantage of a new price-matching deal that appears to be popping up at Apple retail stores nationwide according to MacRumors.

The program apparently matches price drops that have been announced by carriers -- for instance, Sprint's recent $149.99 price on the 16 GB iPhone 4S. Apple is officially showing pricing at $199/$299/$399 for the iPhone 4S, $99 for the iPhone 4, and free for the iPhone 3GS, and if you purchase an iPhone from the online Apple Store, you'll still pay that price.

But Apple's retail stores have authorization to match discounted prices by cutting prices down $49.01 on all iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 models. In order to take advantage of the discounts you'll need to show the store personnel the ad where you saw the lower pricing.

[Source: TUAW]