Our sources are getting word that the remaining 250 Game Crazy stores will be closed, as will the 2,165 Hollywood Video/Movie Gallery outlets. Movie Gallery Inc., who is the parent company of both Game Crazy as well as Hollywood Video, has not officially confirmed that this is the case, but it is suspected that the company will make an official announcement in conjunction with its Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing.

The move will put almost 19,000 employees out of work once all of the liquidation has taken place. According to whispers that we have heard, the move will not affect the company’s operations in Canada, and only stores in the US will be part of this move. The company has about 184 stores in Canada.

According to what we hear, the company is talking with liquidators, as we first told you about yesterday, and it is expected that once a liquidator is chosen, the stores will remain open till the inventory is reduced or exhausted. If the sale drags on, the liquidator may opt to sell off much of the remaining inventory to large movie and game resellers.

While the company has yet to make any official statement, store managers and employees seem to know this is the fate of the stores or what is being planned. We spoke with a store manager who said he could not confirm the rumors, but he suspects that they are likely accurate. It is suspected that any liquidator that would get involved would likely ship the majority of the new product out of the stores for resale outside the individual retail units. Because of the recent closings some stores have good levels of used gaming titles, which will likely go quickly.

With the shift to video-on-demand, Pay-Per-View, Game Fly, Netflix, and $1 per-day rental options like Redbox, it is understandable how this could happen. It could be that this will be the future fate of Blockbuster video, as well. Retail video and game rental is struggling to survive and looks to be a thing of the past. It appears to be only a matter of time.