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Well it has been quite a while since I have posted on this blog, my new business has kept me very busy. However, on a whim today I thought that I would take a look at the EzyDVD Website and see what is going on.

Looking through the “Visit our Stores” section I counted only 18 Bricks and Mortar stores left. 17 of these are Franchisee owned and only 1 is company owned. When EzyDVD went into receivership last December there were 58 stores including 32 owned by Franchisees. So what has happened to all the stores? Read the rest of this entry »

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It has been done before and now is being done again. You can bag your own EzyDVD Franchise store right now on EBay. Check out EzyDVD Retail Franchise Business For Sale

Bidding starts at just 99 cents so get in quick. Auction Ends 8 PM 11 March 2009

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I was just down at the Tuggeranong Hyperdome (in Canberra) and I noticed that the EzyDVD Store there is closed. Not only closed, but all the stock has been taken out of it, as has the Plasma Display on the wall. It would seem that even though Franchise Entertainment Group (FEG) bought EzyDVD head office a few weeks ago, it was a case of too little too late for that franchisee.

I spoke to a friend who lives over near Belconnen and they said that the store there closed down last Wednesday. It seems they closed for Stocktake and then took the stock. There was no closing down sale as far as I can tell so it looks like the franchisee just packed up and left.

The franchisee in question has, as far as I know, a couple of stores in South Australia, maybe one in Victoria. I wonder if they are still operating.

Popularity: 47% [?]

Well it has been a week since it was announced that Franchise Entertainment Group (FEG) bought EzyDVD and it seems that little news worthy has happened yet. I do wonder however what will become of the thousands of dollars worth of gift cards that where sold in the lead up to Christmas, only to be dishonoured when the card holders tried to buy DVDs with them.

According to reports, EzyDVD went into receivership with debts of $18 million. According to Ferrier Hodgson’s Press Release, “the group purchased the EzyDVD brand and online business, the franchise network, as
well as stock, plant and equipment and 11 company-owned EzyDVD stores.” Other reports say that FEG paid $10 million for the assets of EzyDVD. This would appear to leave a $8 million hole yet to be filled. Read the rest of this entry »

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According to this News report EzyDVD Pty Ltd has been sold to the Franchise Entertainment Group.

It looks like 15 of the 26 company owned stores that were open at the time EzyDVD went into receivership have closed or soon will be. The remaining 11 company owned stores will move over to the Franchise Entertainment Group who manage the Blockbuster and VideoEzy groups. As for the 32 franchised stores, there seems to be no news announced regarding the mechanics of the transfer and how it will affect them. Read the rest of this entry »

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Yesterday, Friday 9 January 2009, was the last day for offers by potential buyers of the beleaguered EzyDVD Pty Ltd. As yet there seems to be no word out whether the receiver, Ferrier Hodgson, has had any offers or not. I would guess that the current franchisees will be waiting with baited breath for an announcement on Monday.

Even if a buyer has been found, this does not mean smooth sailing for those franchisees. As it seems that some of the losses incurred by EzyDVD were due to poorly performing Bricks and Mortar stores, it is possible that a buyer could buy the company just for the online arm of the business. If this is the case the buyer may not honour existing franchise agreements. So buyer or not - what now for the EzyDVD franchisees? Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 56% [?]

Just 16 Days after announcing That EzyDVD Pty Ltd is was placed in receivership, 9 of their 26 company owned stores have closed according to this article. While it is unfortunate for the staff, it was bound to happen. What will be interesting over the next few weeks in what happens to the other stores, including the 32 franchised outlets. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 58% [?]

It was with mixed emotions that I read that
EzyDVD Pty Ltd went into Receivership today. I feel a sense of loss for the many good franchisees who put their trust and money on the line to work within the EzyDVD franchise model and I hope that they can recover from what ever happens over the next few weeks. As for the company as a whole, I have far less compulsion to feel any sorrow at all.

The EzyDVD system was a good experiment that should have ended several years ago. Far too many hard working people have put their savings into the business and then been left by the wayside having lost most, if not all, their assets when their store failed to perform as expected. Read the rest of this entry »

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In November 2005, after 15 months of negotiation, we finally bought out our business partner. We had full control of the three stores; EzyDVD Belconnen, EzyDVD Hyperdome and EzyDVD Paramatta.

When we turned up to Parramatta for the handover we were told that their were no staff rostered for the next few days trade, as all available staff had personal committments to deal with. Fortunately Charly and another of our Canberra staff had gone to Parramatta and could manage the store while more staff were hired. Several of the Parramatta Staff came back to work there for a while, which helped with the transition. Read the rest of this entry »

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This post marks our decision to end an era. It is by no means the end of the story being told in this blog, but rather a leap forward in time to the present day. This story started on this blog of our journey as EzyDVD franchisees with court notices from a DVD wholesaler who wanted their money. The good news is that we managed to get the bank guarantees released and hence could pay the supplier. In fact the supplier even let us out of the additional charges that they were intending to levy on us.

In the mean time however time and expenses have marched on. Since we left our businesses and sold our investment property, we still have loans in the order of $600K. Interest payments on these loans are about $5,100.00 per month. This is over $61,000 per annum that we have to find, after tax, before we can even buy food. Read the rest of this entry »

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