‘Thanks for the memories’ say devastated shoppers after basic supermarket with 24,000 locations closes all locations

SHOPPERS are mourning the loss of an iconic supermarket product that managed to outlast its rivals.

Movie rental company Redbox announced that all operations would cease after its parent company filed for bankruptcy.

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Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 last month with reported debts of nearly $1 billion.

CSSE then filed for liquidation in Delaware bankruptcy court on July 10, with more than 1,000 employees set to be laid off.

As movie fans prepare for the removal of 24,000 red rental machines at stores like Walmart and CVS, they’ve taken to social media to remember.

“Thanks for the memories. I’m going to rent movies over the weekend,” said a devastated customer he wrote in the comments on a Facebook post about the mass closure.

“It’s a kind of sad first box office success and now Redbox and I remember the Hollywood video.”

“Damn. Well thanks for the entertainment you provided the neighborhoods,” said another.

Upon hearing the news of the bankruptcy, many buyers were shocked to learn that the company was still in operation.

“I was literally wondering a few days ago if Redbox was still in operation and reminiscing about those days during its heyday,” said one customer.

The movie rental store launched in 2002 and has largely outgrown its rivals, except for Blockbuster’s final location in Bend, Oregon.

“It was a game changer and it was quite a race..!” said one Facebook user.

Meanwhile, another said the loss means “the last of the rent era [is] lost.”

“As much as this was expected…it’s still touching,” one added.

‘HEARTBREAKING’

At its peak, the movie rental company operated more than 43,000 DVD rental machines, with peak revenue of $1.97 billion.

However, the increased use of on-demand streaming services has greatly reduced their popularity.

Redbox’s streaming service, launched in 2017, will also close due to bankruptcy.

This comes just a few months after users got access to many new movies via Redbox Free Live TV.

Richard Pachulski, an attorney for CSSE, said at the time of the Chapter 11 filing that the situation was “painful,” according to a Deadline report.

He added that the team worked “day and night” in an attempt to find a solution.

CSSE purchased Redbox in 2022 to get rental numbers back to pre-pandemic levels.

However, the $375 million deal caused the company to take on debt of about $360 million.

Since then, the company has listed debts of $970 million and consolidated assets of $414 million.

“It’s not a position any of us want to be in,” the lawyer said in an audio recording released by the court.

Meanwhile, a town hall meeting for employees was reportedly held on Thursday amid reports that employees had not received paychecks last month.

Walgreens and Walmart are also hoping to receive money from Redbox, as well as major media companies like Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures and Lionsgate, according to Variety.

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