Dan or Matt (Blockbuster employee)
Appearances
Flightless Bird
Blockbuster
I think it's the experience of walking around and picking up that physical movie, looking at the cover, looking at the artwork, flipping it over, reading what the movie's about. I think we've lost touch with that a little bit with streaming. Like, it's like, oh, okay, I'm just going to go with this. So we've lost touch with the, I don't know, the magic of that, I guess.
Flightless Bird
Blockbuster
People that were born in the same era as us, it's literally our job to keep physical media alive.
Flightless Bird
Blockbuster
So there were corporate stores and there was franchise stores. So all the corporate stores were put down basically immediately once the company was filed for bankruptcy and dissolved. All the franchise stores were allowed to stay open because the parent company, which was Dish Network, is still Dish Network, was like, if you're still making money, we'll allow you to stay open.
Flightless Bird
Blockbuster
And slowly over the years, over the last six or seven years, Well, I guess we've been the last one for seven years now. So all the franchise stores were allowed to stay open as long as they were still making money and they could keep their doors open. And so over the years, we just kind of did enough. People in Bend love our store, and we're a big tourist town.
Flightless Bird
Blockbuster
I think as a kid that grew up in the 90s, it was kind of that sense of freedom. This was the place where you could go and your parents kind of just let you loose. Growing up a 90s kid, this is just a part of Americana's blockbuster video. And I think that's known around the world. Everyone that comes in here is just like, oh my God, the smell, the look, the computer.
Flightless Bird
Blockbuster
That's it. I think that's what it is. I think it's the candy, the popcorn and the tiles because these carpet tiles were specifically designed for blockbusters. Get out of town. You can remove one square at a time. So if something happens, something spills, you can pull that square up and just put a new one down. So it was something they came up with all on their own and we have them.
Flightless Bird
Blockbuster
Blockbuster never had an adult section. Get out of town. No Blockbuster franchise has ever had an adult section. Pure. Yeah, that was their thing. We're like a family-run video store, so they never had that back room with the beads and stuff like that, so it was never a thing. It was always the beads. Yeah, the beads or the lights on the door.
Flightless Bird
Blockbuster
Well, we rent DVDs and Blu-rays, but we've seen an uptick in people renting Blu-rays. I mean, more and more people are transitioning to Blu-ray. We actually just added 4K to some of our movies. So we also sell VHS tapes. So people are getting very nostalgic about 90s stuff. So VHS tapes are really hot right now as they're becoming quite a collectible thing out there.
Flightless Bird
Blockbuster
Well, that's the question. If physical media starts to die off completely, that would probably take us out at the knees. But I think there's such a love for physical media nowadays to where I don't think it'll ever not be a thing. Maybe you pay a little more for physical media, but I don't think it'll ever not be a thing. So hopefully it doesn't die off.
Flightless Bird
Blockbuster
I mean, I could see like maybe things like DVDs die off. But as far as physical media, I think Blu-ray and 4K and whatever comes out after will just always be around.
Flightless Bird
Blockbuster
I mean, our t-shirts are probably our most popular items. We sell a lot of t-shirts. Our ticket tee is our top seller. So it's our basic t-shirt with the ticket logo. And then Last Blockbuster on the Earth is on the back. And then after that, it's probably our Friday nights at the Last Blockbuster with the storefront on it. That's right there. And then they trickle down from there.
Flightless Bird
Blockbuster
We have franchise owners that have been the franchise owners since 30 years ago. They've been the franchise owners for 30 years. Are they still in Bend or somewhere else? Yeah, they still live here. Local family still lives here, yeah. They own the franchise owners, so they still have all of that, but they don't own Blockbuster.
Flightless Bird
Blockbuster
The Blockbuster trademark and the logo is owned by Dish Network, so we can't say we own that.