Blockbuster Shuts 6 Lexington Stores

Kentucky:

Blockbuster Inc. has taken over the operations of 4 Blockbuster Video outlets in Lexington, and 6 other Blockbuster locations across the city have closed, all as a result of unspecified difficulties faced by the company’s Lexington franchisee, a corporate official said yesterday.

Blockbuster spokesman Randy Hargrove said that as of yesterday the Dallas-based company had assumed control of Blockbuster stores at 2925 Richmond Road, 4222 Saron Drive, 921 Beaumont Centre Parkway and 551 Euclid Avenue. They will remain open as company-run outlets, Hargrove said.

Hargrove said 6 other Lexington Blockbuster locations have closed at 2467 Nicholasville Road, 1650 Bryan Station Road, 3090 Helmsdale Place, 450 Southland Drive, 3735 Palomar Centre Drive and 4101 Tates Creek Pike.

All of the steps were taken because franchisee Lex Entertainment, which had operated all 10 locations, was unable to keep them in operation, he said.

‘We regret that our franchisee can no longer operate those stores,’ Hargrove said. ‘We worked with them to try to identify a solution that would allow them to continue operating all of the locations, but unfortunately we could not reach a satisfactory resolution.’