”Blockbuster Entertainment, anchor store for the 970 Monument building, closed down for three days last week over a rent dispute. Store manager David Imfante told the Palisadian-Post that last Wednesday morning a U.S. Marshall arrived with a 3-day notice to vacate the premises. ‘All I know is that there was a dispute over the lease with the landlord,’ Imfante said, ‘We were told we had to close down the store immediately.’ Imfante said he and his staff spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday preparing for the possibility of a move. During the shutdown, Blockbuster customers were instructed to return their rentals to the store at Montana and 7th. On Saturday morning, however, the store was reopened. ‘We had the boxes ready to pack up,’ Imfante said this week. ‘Presumably, our corporate office was able to negotiate something. We’re back to business as usual.’ A spokesperson for Equity Partners, which owns the Monument building, would not comment on the dispute’either what caused it or what brought it to an end. Blockbuster, which has occupied the 3,500 sq. ft. space since 1997, currently houses 10,000 titles. When the store opened, there were two competitors in town’Video Depot and Video 2010. Both have since gone out of business. The only other surviving video store in the Palisades is Palisades Video Plus at 542 Palisades Dr. in the Highlands Plaza.
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