The local Movie Gallery may soon be sporting a Going Out of Business sign.
Movie Gallery may close as many as 1,000 stores, "The Wall Street Journal" reported Thursday. This is the second major restructuring launched by the beleaguered video rental company, which emerged from bankruptcy in May 2008. As part of a bankruptcy reorganization, Movie Gallery, which also operates under the Hollywood Video and Game Crazy brands, closed more than 1,000 stores nationwide
Movie Gallery did not return calls for comment by TheWrap.
Movie Gallery with its 2,700 locations is the second largest video rental chain in the country, second only to Blockbuster. Like Blockbuster, staggering debt along the order of $600 million has forced the company to shutter many of its locations over the past two years as it struggles to fight off incursions by online and kiosk rental companies such as Netflix and Redbox.
Blockbuster is also aggressively cutting stores, planning to slash as many as 950 locations over the coming year.
The Journal speculated that in addition to closing stores, Movie Gallery may file for Chapter 11 for a second time. Movie Gallery’s stock did not appear to be impacted by the news. It continued to trade for 8 cents yesterday.
