Blockbuster — Local services in Bend

I'm from Fresno, California. As a kid, I remember every Friday my mom would take my sister and I to rent a specific movie that we wanted to watch, then go buy a pizza and some snacks and just go home and watch that movie we picked, then after a week of renting a movie we would go back to the store, return the movie that we picked the other day and then we would rent another movie that we liked. Those were some fun memories from childhood. A long time ago, as a kid in school. I remembered my teacher asked each of us what would he our dream job and I said " I wanna work at a Blockbuster store", then I remembered some of my class mates and friends laughed and me as well. But I wasn't kidding though, I did wanted to work at a blockbuster. But when I heard that the blockbuster store near our house was closing and so other locations. I was sad, and confused. Because I didn't know what was the issue or why they were closing. I always thought that Netflix was probably that new Blockbuster, like a store. But later I realized that I was wrong. I knew then that Netflix and other streaming services were like the new way of watching movies and shows. But to be honest, I think going to a store and renting a movie was a better experience than just watching movies through Netflix or other services. Because it's not the same as going out on a Friday evening and getting along with friends, family, and probably with your date.

I recently visited this store a couple of years ago and when I sat foot inside. Immersing into that sound of the register and the smell of plastic and candy, I felt like I was revisiting my childhood. If I had to move somewhere where I can relive that experience, I would probably move to Oregon and visit this store to rent movies, than rather paying a month or two for Netflix or cable networks.

Thank you for letting me...

This place is a throwback to the 1990's and has the vintage blockbuster feel. I personally preferred Hollywood Video in the 80s and 90s, but obviously this is the last of those video stores left. It's a great place, they've gone out of their way to preserve the authentic feeling, have an amazing selection of movies and cool little setups and displays with pieces of movie history. Prices for movies are excellent, you can easily rent several movies for a week without spending much.

It's so much easier to browse and find movies you want to watch without the algorithm. You just go through the sections divided by genre, and look through the titles on the shelf. Easy and quick to browse and you'll find all sorts of movies you forgot you like that you want to watch. And the best part is you don't have to worry about what streaming platform it's on, it's right in front of you for a low price. Rental for some new releases is 3 days, for the rest of the movies that 7 days.

The staff is friendly and they also have all sorts of things like shirts and other memorabilia available. Most of it understandably centres around them being the last Blockbuster. Prices for those is a little high, but I get it. It's probably not cheap to run this, I know they have to buy their own movies out of their own pocket from stores, and their movie rental prices are great. Plus, prices aren't that crazy when you consider what it is: it's a a dinosaur, last of a dying breed. But definitely one worth visiting. We had a blockbuster less than a 2 minute walk in high school, and they've managed to keep the feeling despite the back there literally the last ones left. They've managed to capture the...

Bend is home to the LAST Blockbuster on the planet! Not only did I grow up renting movies at this location when spending the summers with my grandparents. I remember seeing it on the news when the other store closed around COVID leaving Bend's Blockbuster the last remaining store on the planet. Thats pretty cool in itself. But being a 90s kid, I had to take my Boyfriend to see the last one, there is so much nostalgia and memories that came rushing back to us both. This location isn't just a movie rental location, it has been turned into a museum of movie history. Though it is fully operational and the locals take their families in for rentals it is quite the tourist attraction. They sell all kind of trinkets from clothing to games to their very own Blockbuster ale. Which from what I heard are all made locally. They have signed movie posters and items from films on display, its quite amazing. They have over 21,000 titles to choose from and their prices? Incredible! You can rent a DVD for $0.99 for the week. New releases are a bit more and are 3 day rentals. You can rent VHS tapes for $.49 or purchase some for a few dollars. The staff was so friendly, they greeted us as we entered, let us browse, assisted locals renting movies. They even offered to take a photo for us in front of their memorabilia wall. I am so glad this...