Blockbuster closes doors in Menlo Park Blockbuster closes doors in Menlo Park (March 09, 2005)

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

The closing credits are rolling for Blockbuster Video in Menlo Park.

With the lease for the video and DVD rental store up in April, the Blockbuster corporation has opted not to renew it, city associate planner Julie Thompson wrote in a staff report.

Instead, the Cashin Company real estate office, which occupies part of the building at 1367 El Camino Real, will expand into the entire 10,626-square-foot building.

That plan got the go-ahead February 28, when the city's Planning Commission approved changing the building's use permit to allow it to be used all for office space, rather than half office and half retail.

A Blockbuster spokesman did not return a call to say why the store was closing.

Ms. Thompson, though, said a spokeswoman for the building owner said the store's business had been hurt by Menlo Park and Atherton restricting left turns into and out of the store parking lot from Valparaiso Avenue. The restrictions came after years of complaints by residents about traffic accidents there.

City Manager David Boesch also speculated that the store's business might have been hurt by the rising popularity of online video rental.

While planning commissioners have been working to help retail thrive in Menlo Park, commissioner Lorie Sinnott said in this case it made sense to allow an office to take the place of a retail store.

Alluding to the traffic issues at Valparaiso and El Camino, she called the building "a tough spot" for retail to succeed.

The building is also not in a major retail area, she said. Located just south of the Atherton border, it's surrounded by residences, a hotel, a gas station and a few retail and office spaces.

In addition, the loss of Blockbuster would not be a major blow to the city's sales-tax revenues, Ms. Thompson wrote. According to city finance officials, a business of Blockbuster's type and size would generate $10,000 to $20,000 for the city annually, she wrote.

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