Report: Columbia House Closes Its Doors In Canada Due To "Obsolete" Media
December 12, 2010, 13 years ago
Mark Weisblott at Yahoo's Daily Brew has filed the following report:
The promise of a dozen albums for one dollar, or some other irresistible introductory offer from the Columbia House music and movie club, came to an end in Canada on Thursday.
The entire Toronto staff was terminated after its parent company's Canadian division declared bankruptcy.
Reports about the sudden closure of Direct Brands Media, which was also offering new members a $3 book from the Doubleday Book Club, echoed a now-familiar story of an entertainment retailer unable to justify its continued existence in the digital age.
"People like to get it for free on the internet," company graphic designer Jeff Betts told the Toronto Star. "The media we sell . . . it's obsolete."While similar laments have been heard repeatedly over the past decade, it's nonetheless rare for a company like this to abruptly cease operations, leading one to wonder how they hung in for so long.
Based on a Toronto Sun story that noted 100 employees have been left without severance just before the holidays, the closure seemed to take most of them by surprise.
Columbia House Record Club has a history dating back to 1955, designed to deliver music through the mail to Americans with limited access to record stores. Business boomed further with the introduction of cassettes and 8-track tapes, and later videocassettes.
The field became even more competitive with the higher profit margins of CDs and DVDs.
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