Fascinating backstory of the world's last standing Blockbuster store in Oregon
The store's manager has been there since 2004
The nostalgia we all feel thinking back to stepping foot in a Blockbuster as a child is one we all assume is long gone.
After the video rental company went bankrupt after the financial crash, it officially closed its doors in 2014, ending an era.
But you might be surprised to hear that there is still one last store standing and it’s located in Bend, Oregon.
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In 2018, it became the only one left in the US and since 2019, the sole franchise has been the final Blockbuster location in the entire world.
And its manager has put in a lot of work to make sure it looks exactly the same as it did in the 90s.
The store first opened as Pacific Video in 1992 before converting into a Blockbuster in 2000.
Sandi Harding has been in charge of the store for 20 years, having first taken on the position as general manager back in 2004.
In an interview with The Sun, she said: “People usually say how excited they are to come and see us.
“The store looks exactly the same, you walk in and get that Blockbuster feeling, we haven’t really changed anything. It all looks exactly how it was in the 90s.”
This year it was estimated that around 80% of the sales the store makes comes from merchandise.
In fact, the actual rental of DVDs from the store has plummeted, which Sandi put down to people getting rid of their DVD players.
She said: “There’s not a lot of need for rental and some people don't even have DVD players in their homes anymore so it’s definitely a struggling business as far as the rentals go so we are fortunate to have the nostalgia piece and have the tourism and the T-shirts and our website now - without this we wouldn't be able to survive.”
She went on to say: “We're just trying to keep that going for as long as we possibly can.
“We try to do fun things to remind people we're still here.”
Blockbuster’s former CEO, James Keyes, shared his insight in an interview with Management Today, as to what went wrong with the company.
He said: “If I’d known that in 2008 the entire financial world would collapse, I’d have taken it private, refinanced the debt at a reasonable interest rate and we would have made it through the financial crisis and never looked back.”