Xtra-vision
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| Private | |
| Industry | Video rental |
| Founded | April 1, 1980 |
| Founder | Richard Murphy |
| Headquarters | Dublin, Ireland |
| Owner | Hilco Capital Ireland |
| Website | http://xvxpress.ie |
Xtra-vision is an online video, film and music store in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland operated by Hilco Ireland.
The company original was Ireland's largest chain of DVD/Blu-ray rental stores and entertainment retailing company, founded in 1979 by Richard Murphy. It was previously operated by US company Blockbuster. Since 2013, 26 stores in Ireland were trading as HMV/Xtra-vision, offering many of the same items as the bigger HMV stores. On 27 January 2016, Xtra-vision was liquidated and ceased trading. The company now operates as an online business and operates rental vending machines across the Republic of Ireland.
Xtra-vision went into financial difficulties in the 1990s. The company went into receivership and was bought by businessman Peter O'Grady Walshe who later sold on the company to US giant Blockbuster.
The chain was run by Blockbuster from 1996. The chain never rebranded, citing market research that the Xtra-vision name was better known and more respected than Blockbuster. Even in Northern Ireland the Blockbuster name was not used as it is in the rest of the UK. The few Xtra-vision stores outside Ireland — those in Manchester, London and New Hampshire, were rebranded to Blockbuster after the takeover.
The company was involved in what was once Ireland's largest corporate insolvency, with massive expansion of their retail network causing a massive increase in their stock price on the . The company's value reached IR£27 million, but the low turnovers in the video rental market meant that there was no cash to continue their huge expansion — up to 10 new stores a week — and the company became insolvent with its shares valued at 1/8 of a penny on its sale to Cambridge Investments, who in turn went bankrupt and the business was sold for IR£12m to a consortium of Montague Private Equity, 3i, and the partners behind NCV (a local wholesaler of videos, etc.). Less than 2 years later the consortium sold out to Blockbuster. The failure of the group, in both guises, was notable enough to be mentioned in Dáil debates in 1994.
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