THE DISAPPEARANCE OF B

lockbuster is the old-school Netflix, a retro video and movie rental store that revolutionized the idea of easy access to video tapes. The reason I’m still saying “is,” and not “was,” is because if you cruise northeast down Revere Avenue in Bend, Oregon, you will find the very last Blockbuster still standing. It is a mere relic, a small landmark to a titan of a company. At its peak in the mid-90s, Blockbuster employed some 85,000 people who assisted its 65 million customers in the United States. From a money standpoint, an individual movie rental was $25, a yearly membership cost $50 and a lifetime membership cost $100. All assets included, the Blockbuster company was worth north of $3 billion in 1997. The movie rental supercompany was an icon of retro-lifestyle. Nine thousand stores dotted streets across the world, embedded with the big, bold “Blockbuster” signs. “It’s hard to square Block- buster’s near-total disappearance with the busyness of my nights there,” Ben Unglesbee, a former Blockbuster employee recalled in an interview. “People came by the hundreds to ask me and my fellow video store clerks what to watch that night. They came, they circled the shelves, they lingered to chat, they bought ice cream sandwiches, they argued about their late fees.” The hustle and bustle Blockbuster brought to the 20th-century movie scene was unmatched by any other movie rental chain. However, Blockbuster’s downfall was about as spectacular as its rise. With the introduction of streaming giant Netflix in 1997, Blockbuster’s boasted accessibility was its eventual demise. Netflix gave customers seemingly unlimited access to TV and movie streaming, revolutionizing what convenience meant in the movie industry. Blockbuster’s downfall seemed inevitable in the 21st century, and by 2010, two thou- sand stores remained. In 2013, 300 stores remained. In July 2018, the second-to-last Blockbuster closed, leaving one remaining store open, despite the company being 1 billion dollars in debt since 2010. In late 2010, Blockbuster officially filed for bankruptcy for $1.2 billion. The official reason? Too many unreturned tapes and DVDs combined with the failure to keep up with the changes in the industry. While companies such as Netflix, Blu-Ray and Redbox were able to go almost fully digital, Blockbuster remained true to their original ideas, leading to over-reliance and under-consumption.

Well, at least Blockbuster ended with a bang. In a cataclysmic intercompany crash, over 70 thousand employees lost their jobs in five years. And yet, three employees still stock shelves for Blockbuster, working in the only Blockbuster left straight out of Bend, Oregon.