Blockbuster opened its first store in 1985 and has grown to become the world 's number one video chain. Blockbuster is open 365 days a year with 9,800 stores worldwide. Customer base has risen above 50 million in the United States as well as several million more worldwide. The Gallup Organization, known for the Gallup Polls, declared that Blockbuster has 100 percent recognition. Most importantly, 70 percent of the population in the United States lives within ten minutes of a Blockbuster store. Category killers, however, usually attract customers from far distances. Because most customers are ten minutes away, small businesses in competition will fail.
A recent marketing campaign has been the promotion of DirecTV, a digital satellite service alternative to cable television. Also, an alliance with Radio Shack has been in effect promoting new technologies. To compete against the up rise of online rental services, Blockbuster has been testing online rental services which allow customers to reserve and rent videos from specific stores.
The other services retailer is West Coast Video, a Philadelphia-based company that was once a supreme challenger to Blockbuster. West Coast Video was at one point, New Jersey 's largest video rental chain in 1997. That preceding year, the company acquired stores from Palmer Video, Super Video, and Great American Video. It became the fourth largest video chain with close to half of its 568 stores in New Jersey. However, the company has approximately 225 stores to avoid going out