Posted on 07/15/2018 3:40:22 PM PDT by BBell
A man parked his motorcycle on the sidewalk Saturday morning, ruining the aesthetic of the last remaining Blockbuster in the continental United States.
"You can't park there," general manager Sandi Harding told the man as he walked into the store in Bend, Oregon. "People are trying to take pictures."
The man paused for a beat. There was confusion in his response.
"Trying to take pictures?"
Somehow he had missed the past decade, when Blockbuster the video rental behemoth became Blockbuster the fallen victim of modernity.
In 2004, at the company's peak, 9,000 Blockbuster outlets studded city blocks and suburban strip malls nationwide, a one-time indelible fixture of the family movie night. But soon after, Netflix, Redbox and the cold march of digital progress eroded the customer base at each store.
Thousands of Blockbuster stores were closed through July 2018, leaving only three: two in Alaska, and Harding's store in Bend.
"Every day, even before this, people would drive by and see the 'Open' sign and say, 'Oh my gosh. How are you still here? Why are you still here?'" Harding told The Washington Post in a Saturday phone interview as her store buzzed with activity, including the arrival of the oblivious motorcyclist.
Now gawkers and tourists stop in Bend and line up to take photos in front of the store.
There is, in a literal sense, nothing else quite like it in the lower 48.
And after Sunday, when the stores in Anchorage and Fairbanks close for the last time, the location on NE Revere Avenue will be the sole Blockbuster in the entire country.
Harding has been with the company for 14 years and joined the Bend location on Revere in May 2005. She insisted that nothing big changed. Customer service keeps people coming back, and new titles, such as NBC's
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
There’s not enough of us who care but if you want high quality you still need DVD’s (blu Ray). Streaming is heavily compressed and the Audio Quality is much lower. If you want a true 4K picture you cannot do it with a stream it will be compressed. It takes a constant high speed connection and you better not have a data cap. A 4K stream is about the same picture quality as a 1080 blu Ray with nowhere as good Audio. Netflix charges more for 4k and now they are going to charge more for HDR.
When I was still stationed in North Dakota they opened 80 miles away in Fargo, along with a Sam’s Club. We used to drive there and shop. At the same time K Mart opened their Builders Square stores to compete with the Menard’s (there were no Lowe’s or Home Depots up there at that time).
After our first visit to Walmart my wife and I talked about how it seemed to be a lower quality Meijer’s, which was based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. I found out Sam Walton got his start at Meijer’s and broke out on his own.
Too bad the Builders Squares didn’t find a way to compete with Menard’s, Home Depot, and Lowe’s as we liked their offerings. Also, I think being owned by K Mart didn’t help.
Blockbuster and Hollywood video had a better selection than Netflix. You could also rent games from Netflix, which isn’t possible online. You either buy it or you don’t.
Oops, I meant, rent games from Hollywood video and blockbuster.
I never find anything worth watching at the Redbox myself.
I always enjoyed going to Blockbuster and other video stores. Of course, I haven’t been to one in twenty years. Time marches on!
Our town has a Family Video/Marco’s Pizza that seems to be doing all right. I believe it is pretty much a Midwest operation.
How do they compete with my library that offers DVDs for free if I merely have the patience to wait till they're available to me?
All I have to do is wait till the library receives the DVD then reserve it and be placed on a waiting list. Once my reservation comes up, I receive an email telling me I can come in and pick it up.........
Blockbuster or Redbox can't even come close to that........
That's pretty smart. Maybe I'll give that a try.
There is also https://www.store-3d-blurayrental.com/
They rent 4k movies and games. No membership required and a pretty good selection. I have used them 2 years no complaints
Oh wow, thanks!
I really enjoyed going to the video store when my kids were young. Nice thing to do on a week night.
“I remember buying a DVD player sometime back in the very late 1990’s and there was a coupon for the new Netflix. I was a bit leery about it so I never joined but as Netflix grew I often wondered why Blockbuster didn’t try to do something about the competition. Redbox too.”
Oh Blockbuster was way stupider then that.
I first heard of Netflix by getting a coupon for it AT THE LOCAL BLOCKBUSTER.
I hated their late fees.
All you have to do is search for whatever DVD or CD you are looking for and if they have it, you can reserve it. For new releases you may have to wait a while before your turn comes up to take it out. But they notify you via email when it's available then all you have to do is go to the library and pick it up from the shelf that holds all the reserved books, dvd's and cd's..........
Typically the library will get the new DVD's as soon as they're released and you have to make sure you access their website as soon as possible or else you're way down the list for the DVD reservation.
What I do is reserve a DVD and when I finally get it, I bring it home and make a copy of it for my use and watch it some time in the future and take the original back to the library........
I worked with a guy who had once worked at Blockbuster in their IT department. He said they had already developed a Netflix like service even before Netflix existed and were practically ready to go into production when top management killed the project.
Gene Wilder died?
.........................
Don’t even think of telling me Marty Feldman is gone.
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