Bend, Oregon, now has last Blockbuster store in world

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Associated Press | Wednesday, March 6, 2019 1:30 a.m.

Associated Press

With the closing of a franchise in Perth, Australia, the last remaining Blockbuster store in the world is in Bend, Ore.

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.