# Companies you thought would have gone belly-up by now... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 7, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686 "2012-08-07T02:28:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![goonhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ebca7d/32.png) [@goonhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goonhead)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/61 "2012-08-08T02:15:35Z")
I was never impressed with the Captain D’s seafood chain, and batter-fried anything seems like a major health hazard, but I just looked them up online and they’re still in business. I just haven’t seen one in a while. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/62 "2012-08-08T04:28:39Z")
> [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](#): > > Zeller’s. I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to go there to buy. Every time I’m in there, it feels like I’m just paying more for Walmart (i.e. not great)-quality miscellaneous goods. Which is why Target purchased the chain and is closing all of them down! But some of them are being replaced by actual Targets now. I’m excited! Well, if they get to bring over new brands, anyway. Otherwise it’s just Zellers with a new name and the same colour scheme. > [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > In no particular order: > > Little Caesars They’ve just moved into my little corner of Canada and people love it! We’ve never really had budget pizza chains until the last couple of years, we’re used to $18 Pizza Hut pizzas. $5 for decent pizza I don’t have to wait for blows my mind! > [@Smapti](#): > > Taco Time: Their product is the blandest, least inspired version of “Mexican food” that i’ve ever tasted. It’s a product of a different era when Anglo people genuinely couldn’t be expected to know what Mexican food tasted like, and it’s overpriced. Taco Bell tastes like a Tijuana street food in comparison. When the nearest Taco Bell is 7 hours away, Taco Time begins to look pretty good! ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/63 "2012-08-08T05:44:47Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Blockbuster. I thought they were done for, for sure, a few years ago. Their end **will** happen…eventually. In my city two have gone-belly up in the last couple of years. A company that I wish would disappear is Old Navy. I just despise that place - everything from their stupid and loud music to most of their clothes with Old Navy pasted all over them. They’re going strong though…so my wish is not realistic. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/64 "2012-08-08T05:57:19Z")
Grandy’s. I know they have the whole Southern hospitality and breakfast thing supposedly going for them, but you can get much better chicken almost anywhere and inside, they are the Kmart of fast food. It’s always dingy, badly decorated and sparsely populated. I hate eating there. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/65 "2012-08-08T06:50:12Z")
> [@benbo1](#): > > Question for the photographers out there - is there any advantage to using real film over digital? You can use the black (fully exposed) parts of film (usually at the start and end) as infrared filters. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/66 "2012-08-08T07:26:45Z")
I will defend Radio Shack. They’re ubiquitous, have a pretty good selection of electronics that a hobbyist or DIYer would need, and if you know how to handle the staff, they’re not hard to deal with. Frankly, I don’t want to wait three days for my online order (and typically I need something on a Saturday or Sunday). Also, when you factor in shipping, they’re typically not that much cheaper than RS. Except for cables, and if you buy 'em at RS, you deserve to be mocked. I tell them exactly what I’m looking for (my local store, I just head to that section). No, I don’t need batteries or a new cell phone plan, thanks. In and out in five minutes. On the other hand, who goes to Blockbuster? This retailer deserves to die a slow and horrible death. I don’t know anybody who had any loyalty to them because of their horrendous customer service, so when Netflix and Redbox appeared, people abandoned Blockbuster with wild abandon. Seeing the company in its death throes makes my black little heart happy. Fiat has positioned itself as the new Mini, when I thought their legendary shoddy workmanship and rusting bodywork would have killed them off. I see some sketchy mail order company has the rights to the Bell + Howell name. Instead of projectors they sell cheap magnifying glasses and crap like that. Activision is still around, right? That’s surprising, not because they suck, but because they’ve been around since the 70s! River Raid and Pitfall, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/67 "2012-08-08T07:32:32Z")
IBM ITT Citibank Northop ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/68 "2012-08-08T07:50:19Z")
Not dying just yet, but looming on the horizon: SDMB? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/69 "2012-08-08T10:58:15Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > I will defend Radio Shack. They’re ubiquitous, have a pretty good selection of electronics that a hobbyist or DIYer would need, and if you know how to handle the staff, they’re not hard to deal with. But I don’t wanna have to handle the staff. They want me to also buy batteries. They want my email address, promising it is not for nefarious purposes. My phone/zip code. I’d be less turned off by the place if I didn’t get grilled for personal info. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/70 "2012-08-08T11:06:48Z")
> [@listedmia](#): > > Little Caesars seems to be doing quite well. They sell a large pizza, pepperoni or cheese only, for 5 dollars and a lot of them are located inside of Kmart. They’re the go-to pizza place for the broke and lazy! Right, at one point in time Little Caesars sold pizzas at about the same price as Domino’s or Pizza Hut and also had delivery. That incarnation of Little Caesars nearly went bankrupt, and was widely considered the worst major chain of the big pizza chains. They were closing stores left and right where I lived at the time. Then they introduced the $5 take out pizzas and eliminated their delivery drivers and made a come back, but they looked like they were on their last legs. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/71 "2012-08-08T12:22:27Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > But I don’t wanna have to handle the staff. They want me to also buy batteries. They want my email address, promising it is not for nefarious purposes. My phone/zip code. I’d be less turned off by the place if I didn’t get grilled for personal info. I haven’t been asked for my email address in years, nor my zip code. I’m pretty sure they knocked that off years ago. Other retailers have asked me though and I respond, “No thanks.” Never had anyone challenge me on that. They used to ask for your phone number in the 80s. Micro Center in Cambridge, MA asked for your address! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/72 "2012-08-08T13:04:06Z")
The Blockbuster brand may survive if they handle it right. The brick-and-mortar store near me finally gave up the ghost earlier this year, but there’s still a Blockbuster vending machine in the grocery store across the parking lot, which I actually use from time to time. 1-2 dollar rentals but obviously a smaller physical inventory than the full store. Probably at least a break-even venture. They waited far too long to get into the streaming business and let Netflix get a huge head start, but I can now rent from Blockbuster on my TiVo (and other devices, I’m sure) easily and cheaply. Netflix has made some blunders recently so there’s room for competition. Time will tell. I don’t know if it’s a single company or not, but every mall I walk into seems to still have a shoe repair shop in it. I can’t imagine them getting enough business to stay open day after day. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/73 "2012-08-08T13:08:21Z")
Netflix + Blockbuster would have been such a great combination. Charge a little more than Netflix, and if the movie is physically at Blockbuster then you can trade as much as you want, but if it isn’t then they will ship it to the nearest Blockbuster, you can rent out more movies as soon as you return yours to BB, and BB saves themselves shipping costs by shipping to one place. I _think_ BB tried that toward the end but by then Netflix had already won out. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/74 "2012-08-08T13:18:42Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > I haven’t been asked for my email address in years, nor my zip code. I’m pretty sure they knocked that off years ago. 451 Hyde Park Road Leechburg, PA 15656 (724) 845-3172 The above location still does zip-code/email address/battery sale pitch as of less than 12 months ago. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/75 "2012-08-08T13:43:01Z")
What about Hickory Farms? I know they show up temporarily around the holidays, and they have an online presence, but their “gifts” are ghastly, fatty sausages, waxy cheese, and stale crackers. I guess there is still a market for sending this crap to people you don’t like. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/76 "2012-08-08T13:57:40Z")
> [@benbo1](#): > > Photo developers. Question for the photographers out there - is there any advantage to using real film over digital? Similarly, how is [Ritz Camera](http://www.ritzcamera.com/) still around? Hardly anyone buys film; you can now buy the same digital cameras at any big box store or online; and every Walgreens and CVS will print your digital photos. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/77 "2012-08-08T16:36:57Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Burger King. Why? ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/78 "2012-08-08T16:43:54Z")
I’m still surprised when I see a Colortyme (Colortime?) rent to own store. I realize there are people out there without the funds to purchase new items, but I think what get’s me is the name: Colortyme. It makes me think of the 1960s when color tvs came out and perhaps they were so expensive that people were better off renting to own them. Does anyone know if that was how the company came about, or am I way off? ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/79 "2012-08-08T17:06:52Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > In no particular order: > > Yahoo! > AOL > Little Caesars > U.S. Steel I couldn’t believe it took 40 something posts before AOL came up. That was the first thing that came to my mind. Maybe that just shows how insignificant they are. They actually purchased the Huffington Post last year. I am curious where they got the money ($300M in cash). ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686/80 "2012-08-08T17:23:13Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Flintstone’s vitamins: It seems to me that the Flintstones aren’t even on TV anymore, and I just can’t imagine that they’re culturally relevant enough to today’s kids to make the license worth it. They’re still the #1 branded children’s vitamin line, and are relatively heavily advertised both in children’s media, and in media aimed at young parents and mothers… certainly more than any other chewable vitamin brand. If you think of them as animated product mascots similar to kid’s cereal mascots (not a far fetch since the Flintstones _are_ also cereal mascots for the Pebbles line), then it’s not that odd. I think at this point, their primary value to Time Warner is for the product licensing income, with TV show and movie repeats secondary; and they have the added benefit of the occasional new show or movie that not only brings in broadcast/showing income, but also boosts interest in the product lines as well. A lot of licensed characters become temporary product mascots; I’ve always thought it interesting that there are so few that seem to become permanent: Donald Duck on orange juice, Popeye on spinach, Flintstones on vitamins, cereal, and the occasional push-up ice cream. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-you-thought-would-have-gone-belly-up-by-now/630686.md?page=5)