Many articles and news stations across the world have highlighted the Bend, OR franchise as being the last remaining Blockbuster store in the world. In August of 2020 and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the family-owned business began offering overnight stays via AirBnB for families of four to watch movies all night on a big screen TV and pullout couch. It reads:
If you’re missing the best of the 1990s — like wandering the aisles of a Blockbuster video store — and if you live around Bend, Oregon, your nostalgia cravings can be satisfied.
The only Blockbuster store still standing in the world is allowing three small groups to each spend a different night inside, watching a marathon of their favorite movies.
The lone survivor of what was once the largest video chain store in the U.S. has partnered with Airbnb to offer separate sleepovers, adhering to COVID-19 safety guidelines.
A household of up to four people will have free rein of the store’s entire film collection plus be treated to pizza, Pepsi and popcorn.
Starting at 1 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 17, residents of Deschutes County, which includes Bend, can go to airbnb.com/BLOCKBUSTER and request to book one of the slumber parties at the Blockbuster store on Sept. 18, 19 or 20.
The cost: A penny more than a $3.99 movie rental (plus taxes and fees).
Airbnb will make a donation to the Humane Society of Central Oregon, which the Bend Blockbuster store has long supported.
Make It a Blockbuster Night
Awaiting the slumber party guests’ arrival: A re-creation of a 1990's living room with a hide-a-bed sofa, bean bag chair and a Sony VHS player. Cassette labels show Blockbuster’s unforgettable request: Be kind. Please rewind.
Open the closet to see fashions of the “Clueless” era, from scrunchies to parachute pants.
Beyond the living room vignette are preserved blue-and-yellow Blockbuster signs and racks and racks of beloved and belittled films.
Why are only residents of Deschutes County invited to book a night at the fabled small-town video store?
Longtime store manager Sandi Harding, who’s known as the “Blockbuster Mom,” wants to thank local supporters who kept this store humming despite competition from Netflix, Redbox and video on demand services, and now, the coronavirus.
“Without the renters coming in every week, we can’t survive,” says Harding, who started managing the store in 2004, when Blockbuster had 9,094 locations and 84,300 employees worldwide.
The home movie and video game rental company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010. A year later, it became part of the Dish Network, which eventually shuttered the last of the company-owned stores.
By 2019, all the privately owned Blockbusters had shut their doors, too, except this one.
Be Kind. Please Rewind
Discouraging travelers during the pandemic is another reason to limit overnight guests to people who live nearby, says Harding.
“Employees and customers are family and I don’t want to put anyone’s health in jeopardy,” she says.
Like so many others, Harding and her husband rented a movie at a Blockbuster on their first date. That was in 1993. Their three sons worked at the Bend Blockbuster and even the family cat, which they adopted during one of the store’s Humane Society’s events, roamed the aisles.
Harding says store owners Ken and Debbie Tisher continue to be supportive, the landlord “loves” having the store in the strip mall, Dish is happy and she has “no concerns about ever closing.”
The holdout franchise store, at 211 N.E. Revere Ave., did temporarily close at the start of the pandemic. Then Harding and her crew started offering only curbside pickup.
DVD cases are cleaned with Clorox wipes, sealed in a plastic bag and taken to a patron’s car.
They later reopened the doors with increased cleaning and disinfecting as guided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and installed social distancing markers and directional arrows. Employees and patrons wear face coverings.
The crew will switch again to exclusively curbside service for the three nights of sleepovers and will follow CDC and Airbnb’s enhanced cleaning protocols.
The store’s vintage living room will be displayed for a limited time after the three nights’ stays are over.
Anyone in the world can call the Bend store (541-385-9111) to hear a staff member’s movie recommendations and visit the online shop to buy Oregon-made sweatshirts, beanies and membership cards with Blockbuster’s iconic torn ticket logo.
Or watch the documentary, “The Last Blockbuster,” by Oregon filmmakers Taylor Morden and Zeke Kamm, which debuted July 25 at BendFilm Festival’s pop-up drive-in.
Famous people in the documentary, such as filmmaker Kevin Smith (“Clerks”) and actress Ione Skye (“Say Anything...”), attempt to explain the significance of Blockbuster.
Harding says it best: “Minus the late fees, people have such fond memories of date nights and family time, some of which don’t exist anymore.”
She says streaming services are easier than visiting a video store, but “you miss the personal connections and going out.”
With COVID-19, people are isolated and spending more time at home, she adds, and maybe appreciating each other more.
During this uncertain time, “people want to feel good and for some,” she says, “Blockbuster makes them feel better.”
In other words: Blockbuster nostalgia is wrapped in an apt lesson for today: Be kind.