Last Blockbuster Store on Earth Develops a Loyal Following
The last Blockbuster video store in the world has developed a following on social media and in its community.
Some fans are nostalgic for the video store chain that was a staple in many communities from its 1985 founding through 2010. However, today, only a single store remains.
The store highlights its special status on its Instagram page, which has grown to more than 88,000 followers.
"The Official Last Blockbuster," the page declares. "Blockbuster Bend is the official page of the last remaining Blockbuster on earth! Help keep the Last Blockbuster open and check out our merchandise," it says.
The store, which is located in Bend, OR even advertises that it has "21,000 movies to choose from" on its website.
Despite the trend toward online streaming of movies, the website says that the store's owner "credits her store’s success to both local support and Bend’s budding tourism industry."
The page has posted as recently as March 8, when it posted a photo from inside the store, with the familiar blue-and-yellow Blockbuster signage. "If ur gonna be at the @centralfloridafairgrounds this weekend stop by and meet Sandi and enjoy a piece of our Blockbuster Experience," the post reads.
People grow nostalgic on the store's comment threads. "I miss video rental stores. Always so much fun to go to on a Friday afternoon after school and get the weekend started," wrote one person.
"????❤️???????? Long live BlockBusters!!!" wrote another person.
"I miss Blockbuster," a man wrote.
The store even poked fun at false rumors that it was closing, writing in October 2024, "Happy Halloween fellow spooksters! In celebration of us NOT CLOSING we will be handing out 'till the bitter end' stickers to the first 20 customers."
The store addressed the rumors in another post, writing, "Thanks for all the love fam ♡ we aren't going anywhere!"
In 2010, Blockbuster Corporate "filed for bankruptcy. The once giant video store chain had fallen from over 9094 stores in 2004 to a mere 1700 struggling corporate locations," the Bend store's website says.
"By April 2011 they were being auctioned off and the winning bid of 320 million dollars went to Dish Network, a satellite TV provider. Slowly the new operators began closing corporate owned stores and in January 2014 the final Blockbuster Corporate location closed. This left only a few franchise locations around the world and at the end of March 2019 only 1 store remained, our store in Bend Oregon," the website says.
Ken and Debbie Tisher and their teens opened a store called Pacific Video. They nd Debbie's parents Larry and Berniece Doan "made the decision to become a Blockbuster Franchise in June of 2000. This was the beginning of our Blockbuster Story: how a small business, thru stubborn determination and a bit of pure luck, has been able to operate in the chaos of an ever-changing home video world," the website says.
The store has online Blockbuster merchandise that it sells to help it stay open.
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