The Rise And Fall Of Movie Gallery

On April 30, 2010, Movie Gallery announced it was closing and liquidating all of its stores per a filing of Chapter 7 bankruptcy. At its peak the firm had about 4,700 stores in North America, operating mainly under the Movie Gallery, Hollywood Video, and GameCrazy brands. The last of the company’s stores were closed in August 2010.

Whenever people talk about old movie rental stores that everyone use to shop at, the biggest that comes to mind is Blockbuster. Which makes sense because Blockbuster was the biggest rental company in the United States for two decades, and it’s usually the one people have their childhood memories attached to the most. But the one movie rental store that I rarely ever hear people talk about anymore and seems to have been forgotten is Movie Gallery.

Movie Gallery started out in the 1980s as a small video specialty store that was only open in certain areas. As the 1990s rolled in, the expansion and popularity of Movie Gallery grew and by the Late 1990s, it became one of the biggest movie and game rental companies in the United States along with Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, with over 950 stores open in the US. By the Early 2000s, Movie Gallery became the largest movie and game rental company ever, only behind Blockbuster, with over 4,700 stores open worldwide… read more >