Bend, Oregon, now has last Blockbuster store in world
BEND, Ore. — The Blockbuster store in Bend, Ore., became the last one in the United States last year. And now it’s the only one in the world.
The Bulletin reports that a Blockbuster store in Perth, Australia, is closing later this month, leaving the Bend franchise alone on the planet.
Blockbuster stores in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska, closed last July.
The yellow-and-blue themed movie rental stores were once everywhere, with 9,000 stores worldwide.
But competition from on-demand movie-streaming services like Netflix and Hulu forced Blockbuster to declare bankruptcy in 2010.
The company closed all of its corporate-owned stores in 2014.
The remaining franchised stores kept closing until the Bend Blockbuster was the last one.
Manager Sandi Harding says the store is a tourist attraction and won’t close anytime soon.
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