The neighborhood rental company demanded that the tapes be returned. Rewinded, if you didn't do that you would pay a fine.

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There was also the line to rent releases, the conversation with the movie attendants, the discussions as a couple about which movie to rent.

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Then came Blockbuster, the huge chain of stores with hundreds of copies of the same movie.

I would never have to wait 20 days to rent Titanic again!

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Today we have Netflix and so much is left behind, including the Blockbuster network itself, that it's fun to remember.

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Netflix's business model was disruptive for Blockbuster, which in the end had to throw in the towel.

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It's the one Creative Destruction.

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See the evolution of the Blockbuster network in the United States:

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While it was a hegemonic network, Blockbuster invested a lot in selecting points for its stores.

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When we talk about investment, it's not just money, but time and your best brains.

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This culture was very strong in the United States at the time and was brought to Brazil.

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In practice, many Geomarketing studies were carried out to validate each point.

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In 2007 at Blockbuster in Brazil was bought by Lojas Americanas for 182 million of reais, equivalent to 500 million in today's values.

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There were 127 stores in Brazil, an average of R$ 4 million per store.

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Why could a network with a failed business model be worth so much?

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At the time of the acquisition, the executives of Lojas Americanas stated:

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“The purchased stores are located in high-flow areas, with access to classes A and B”.

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Knowledge about the market was the most valued asset when the movie rental business was no longer worth anything.

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The same argument was made by Carrefour in its acquisition of 30 Makro stores for R$ 1.95 billion:

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”More important is the location of the stores“,

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They paid R$ 65 million per store, an amount so high that it was controversial, since Carrefour spends less to open a new unit - between R$ 30 million and R$ 50 million, As pointed out by Credit Suisse.

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For Carrefour, the opportunity to acquire 30 well-located points at once justified the Premium.

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It is true that Blockbuster and Makro invested a lot in location studies for their units, but even the sum of the amounts spent on studies for all stores exceeds what they received for a store.

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It was a highly profitable investment for the networks, so much so that even without customers entering, they had them outside.

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That's worth a lot.

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After all, it's not the commercial outlet that has value in itself, but the knowledge that leads you to select that location, whether central, peripheral, luxurious or popular.

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The first step is to know what is important for your success, so look for markets with this profile.

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Do that and even if a devastating competitor shows up, you still have what to gain.

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