Blockbuster Video might be long dead in most people’s eyes, but the company (now owned by Dish Network) is holding on in a few places around the country. But there’s about to be one less store.
The North Pole (Alaska, not Santa’s ‘hood) is losing its location of the once omnipresent video and DVD rental chain. The shutdown was announced via social media and a liquidation sale is underway now.
Blockbusters might seem like a quaint reminder of days past, but some locations have remained important in remote areas, where high-speed Internet isn’t widespread. Other options, like DVD rentals via mail, take time (and aren’t as plentiful as they once were as Netflix focuses on its streaming strategy). That makes the brick and mortar local stores a popular option.
The chain, with this closure, has six remaining stores open—four in Alaska and two in Oregon. Earlier this year, the last Blockbuster in Texas shut its doors.
Blockbuster, at its peak, had 9,000 stores across the United States, but failed to innovate with the times, opening the door for Netflix to steal its customer base and ultimately lead to its bankruptcy and demise.