Americans feeling nostalgic for Blockbuster can still visit the world’s last remaining store. How they’ve managed to stay open for 41 years

Flash forward to today and only one Blockbuster store remains in the world. In an episode of Bartell’s Backroads, ABC10 reporter John Bartell visited the store and spoke with its owner. Standing outside the building, Bartell said lightheartedly, “Oh, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. Your nostalgic movie memories are alive and well in Bend, Oregon.” Adding, “This is the last Blockbuster on the planet.”

The business turned 41 in October 2026, and with thousands of Blockbuster stores closed, it’s fair to wonder how the Bend branch has stayed open this long.

How Blockbuster went from 9,000 stores to one

Blockbuster’s collapse unfolded quickly as competitors silently chipped away at its core business. By the late 2000s, Netflix was offering DVD deliveries via mail, Redbox stationed automated, self-service movie rental kiosks in strategic locations and online streaming was becoming popular..

Blockbuster’s late fees, which generated about $800 million in 2000, according to a C-Suite Network study, pushed customers toward more affordable alternatives. Blockbuster reportedly declined a $50 million offer to buy Netflix the same year.

Weighed down by debt and punished by the 2008 recession, Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in 2010, according to a BBC report. Dish Network bought the remains in 2011, and by January 2014, it had closed all its company-run stores and its DVD-by-mail service. Only a few franchise shops were left, and they all closed one after the other, except for the one in Bend. Alaska’s last stores closed in 2018, BBC reported, and when a Perth, Australia location shut down in March 2019, Bend became the last Blockbuster on Earth.

Why this Oregon shop survived when every other one folded

The Bend store wasn’t always a Blockbuster. Ken and Debbie Tisher originally opened it as a Pacific Video Store in 1992, before converting it into a Blockbuster franchise in 2000. Because of their independent ownership agreement, they were shielded from the corporate bankruptcy. The owners pay Dish Network a licensing fee for the trademark.

The store’s day-to-day operations are overseen by General Manager Sandi Harding, who has worked at the shop since 2004. Her devotion to the place drew national attention and a 2020 documentary called “The Last Blockbuster.”

When asked how the store survived, Harding told ABC10, “a lot of luck has played into it. A lot of hard work has played into it.” Further attributing their survival to “just my love of movies, love of my crew that works here, my customers.”

The store is still fitted with some of its original features, including an old checkout system. Pointing to the 1990s hardware, Harding said, “It is a DOS-based IBM computer system,” adding, “You can see it has 1985 to 2006 in here.”

When the Perth store closed, Harding got a surprise call. “That store actually called us the last night they were open and wished us well,” she told ABC10. “All the way from Australia just to tell us good luck.”

The merchandise and tourist business that helps pay the bills

Movie rentals alone won’t be enough to keep the store going. According to a report from The Washington Post, roughly 80% of the store’s revenue is generated from merchandise sales.

Speaking about the store’s survival strategy, Harding told The Oregonian, “70 to 80% of the business is the merchandise.” T-shirts, hoodies and Blockbuster-branded fanny packs available online have turned the shop into a pop-culture gift store.

Harding acknowledged this shift, noting that nostalgia keeps the business viable. “I think it’s great that people are nostalgic for it. It’s certainly helping us stay alive,” she told Fox.

Tourists fly in from around the world for a selfie in front of the sign. Some rent a movie just to walk back outside and drop it in the return slot, teaching their kids a ritual that is best experienced at a real-life Blockbuster.

“We’ve had people who will come in and rent a movie just to go back outside and put it in the Dropbox, so their kids can experience that with them,” Harding told ABC10.