A look inside the last Blockbuster video store in America

https://www.nola.com/ ^ | 7/14/18

[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

[OldMissileer]

Blockbuster had Redbox-type DVD kiosks for awhile. We had several around here.

Yep. They were reacting and were not proactive. If we look at history the big corporations who try to emulate instead of innovate almost never catch the market. They are top heavy in management and the big guys at the top are too reluctant to make the changes fast enough to catch back up or find a way to get ahead. Redbox had already caught the peoples' trust so it was hard for Blockbuster to break into the Redbox market.

[ImaGraftedBranch]

Netflix offered to partner with blockbuster and were laughed out of the room.

Blockbuster made 85% of revenue off of late fees. Netflix saw that and built a business model to take them down.

That’s the rest of the story that people miss.