Blockbuster Video was once a dominant force in shopping malls across America and other nations, their welcoming yellow and blue glow creating generation after generation of movie lovers. With the company's demise looking ever closer over the past few years, the announcement that the chain is to finally close its remaining US stores has been met with reluctant acceptance from nostalgists across the globe, who have ushered the end of era for film lovers.

The inevitable closure of the remaining Blockbuster stores across the US - estimated at 300 in total - is due to take place in as little as two months time. The Dish Network Corporation (DISH)-owned company will also discontinue its DVD-by-mail service by mid-December and around 2,800 jobs are expected to be lost when the final closures take place in January 2014. The news was revealed in a statement from DISH, published on their website on Wednesday, 6 November.

DISH who became the new owners of the chain in April 2011 after saving it from bankruptcy, have already closed down all of the company's international outlets, including operations in the U.K. and Scandinavia, and since it acquired the company, DISH have been gradually shutting down the 1,700 US stores remaining in early 2011. It is a stark contrast to the once dominant era of Blockbuster, who little over ten years ago were still a power to be reckoned with.

“This is not an easy decision, yet consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment,” DISH Chief Executive Officer Joseph Clayton said in the company's statement. “We continue to see value in the Blockbuster brand, and we expect to leverage that brand as we continue to expand our digital offerings.”

The Blockbuster brand will live on through the Blockbuster@Home and Blockbuster On Demand services already launched by DISH, which streams movies and videos to televisions, computers and other devices.But with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon's streaming service and other existing streaming sites already established in the online market, the days of Blockbuster domination will now be a thing of the past.

The closure has been hard on a number of sentimentalist around the world, such as country singer Bob Paisley, who mournfully tweeted this: