With the final click of a lock and the turn of a key there’s just one Blockbuster Video left in America, on Earth in fact. Bend, Oregon is where the final bastion of our youth, our history, and our memories of the good old days, well, at least some people’s good old days, is now located. It might not be as dramatic as it sounds but at the same time a lot of people might actually read these articles and think that it’s a sign of the times and that things are changing. Well, yeah, that’s kind of how things go. The closing of the video stores is about as dramatic as it was when Betamax was was replaced by VHS and then when DVD took over for VHS. The truth about all of this is that despite the change, something always comes along to bolster or replace the same experience so that people always have something instead of nothing to fall back on.
But it is very easy to look back and remember in the mid-80s how it felt to walk into a Blockbuster Video and be wowed by the rows and rows of movies that seemed to be vying for the attention for the customers and the NEW ARRIVALS that were typically nearest the cash register or somewhere close by. There were so many movie stores back in those days however that picking just one was a headache unless there was a store you actually trusted. Blockbuster was one of those that absolutely serviced the customer and despite the late fees and other hassles of creating a membership it was the kind of store that you felt was there and wasn’t going anywhere for a long time. In fact well into the 2000s it was still thriving and the chain was still going strong since the transition over to DVD’s was a minor bump in the highway, nothing to worry over. People still came in, found a movie or two to rent, purchased some candy, soda, popcorn or whatever on their way to the register, and were out the door in short order. Unfortunately the shift wouldn’t be felt until well into the mid to late 2000s when other factors started cropping up that made video rentals a thing of the past almost overnight.
At the time some people thought that streaming and iTunes and other such methods of watching movies were just fads that would come and go as things always did. But eventually in 2010 when Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy it was more than evident that the minor speed bump had become a major glitch in the system, and in fact had become a new system that meant to take over. It wasn’t entirely negative though, as streaming services don’t charge late fees, and off up a wide assortment of entertainment for only a small monthly fee. If anyone remembers the late fees that Blockbuster could wrack up from time to time they might change their mind as to how great it was, but the nostalgia should still be strong enough to make the memory at least bittersweet and not godawful.
Somehow a Blockbuster in Australia hung on for years by the skin of their teeth until finally they couldn’t fend off the inevitable any longer and had to close their doors for good. It was a hard hit for their community, which still valued the store and was a definite sign of the times. But as Bob Dylan has sang in the past ‘the times they are a’changin”. There’s no getting around the fact that streaming and DVD’s are the dominant form of media at this time, and even DVD’s seem to be fading in and out now and again, perhaps taking their last few gasps before they too are made irrelevant. With streaming services, On Demand, and various other ways to watch movies for a low price the old video stores are fading off into the sunset as so many other things before them have done.
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