Growing up, I went to Blockbuster with my family to pick out what VHS’s I was going to watch. That all changed in 2010 when Blockbuster filed for Bankruptcy and Dish Network bought them out. In their prime, they had over 9000 stores across the US. Today, they only have one store WORLDWIDE!
That Blockbuster is in Bend, Oregon. At the beginning of the year, there were two stores left and that store closed recently in Australia. The last remaining store has been open for over 20 years. It offers customers the newest movie releases, but the general manager, Sandi Harding says the classic older titles are the store’s “bread and butter.”
Scott Thornton takes a selfie in front of the Bend, Ore., Blockbuster on Friday, July 13, 2018. The Bend store is the last remaining Blockbuster in operation in the United States after two stores in Alaska closed earlier this week. (Photo by Ryan Brennecke /The Bulletin via AP)
“You can go to Redbox and you can get the new titles, but they don’t have the older ones,” Harding said. “Netflix and Amazon don’t have everything, either.”
“We probably open up ten accounts a day,” Harding said. “It’s crazy the amount of people that come in and want a Blockbuster card. I don’t foresee the store closing,” Sandi said. “I think we are good for a while.”
When the last couple of Blockbuster stores closed in Alaska in 2018, Harding started selling t-shirts, magnets, and hats. Now, earning the title of the last one on the planet “is not hurting us,” Harding said. “In fact, it will probably be good for business and attract more nostalgia-seeking visitors.”
The general manager said she was more shocked about the closing of the Blockbuster in Australia than she was about the stores that closed in Alaska.
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