Blockbuster Inc. (Dallas) announced the acquisition of the assets of American Satellite and Video Inc. (Gainesville, Fla.).
American Satellite and Video owns and operates Rhino Video Games, a regional retail chain specializing in buying, selling and trading video games.
Blockbuster said the acquisition further strengthens its position in the growing console games and games trading market.
Rhino Video Games currently operates 40 game-only retail stores in Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. In addition to buying, trading and selling video games, Rhino stores sell new and previously owned games and game hardware.
“Rhino has expertise in game retailing and trading, two areas that Blockbuster is looking to build on,” said Eileen Terry, Blockbuster’s executive vp of franchising and emerging brands. “Specifically, this acquisition allows us to further our knowledge about Rhino’s game-trading business. Much like our Gamestation acquisition in the United Kingdom, Rhino provides Blockbuster with a new growth concept that we believe will allow us to more fully penetrate the games market with freestanding locations, offering an attractive complement to our Blockbuster/Game Rush store-in-store concept.”
Rhino Video Games founder Mike Vorce will continue managing the chain’s day-to-day operations. The company began operations in 1991, but during the past three years, the chain has aggressively expanded, growing to 17 stores by the end of 2002 and opening an additional 17 stores in 2003 and seven more stores during 2004.