Blockbuster stays local despite cuts

A spokesman told the Herald&Post that shops in Marsh Road, Luton, West Street, Dunstable, and Waterborne Walk, Leighton Buzzard had survived the latest re-structuring since Blockbuster went into administrationlast month.

The company did have 528 locations across the country before appointing administrators Deloitte in January – that total now stands at 204.

Lee Manning of Deloitte said: “We have continued to review the performance of individual stores since our appointment a month ago and have concluded that further closures are necessary in order to restructure the company for sale.”

The future of surviving stores in still uncertain.

Matthew Hopkinson of the Local Data Company – who monitor the number of empty shops – said: “This has the potential to increase the national shop vacancy rate by nearly 5 per cent to an all time high of over 19 per cent if all the stores close and are not reoccupied.”