With the growing popularity of e-book readers and tablet computers such as the Kindle and iPad these days it should have come as no surprise to me that my local borders store is going to be closing at some point in the coming months. That said, when I noticed the signs a couple weeks back I was quite surprised. I think the demise of bookstores such as Borders is going to lead to an increased number of coffee shops. The thing is those coffee shops will not be small shops with 4 or 5 tables they will be bigger shops with couches and tables alike that are close in size to that of the closing bookstores and provide free Wi-Fi.
Also, Blockbuster stores have been closing left and right for over a year now but a couple days ago Dish Network bought Blockbuster out at a bankruptcy auction and said that the remaining stores are not going to be shut down. Of course DIsh Network did this to compete with Netflix but the fact is they get a lot of assets by doing this that will allow them to provide Dish Network customers with “streaming” movies directly on their receivers. The reason I put streaming in quotes is because they will be able to take anything that Blockbuster has streaming rights to and allow their subscribers to watch them over their satellite box without needing an internet connection. Quite honestly the thought of that really intrigues me and makes me want a Dish Network box in my house.