Blockbuster Video
The blue-and-yellow torn-ticket empire where Friday nights meant wandering the new-release wall, hoping the big movie wasn't rented out, and dreading the late fees. At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster dominated home entertainment with 9,094 stores worldwide—until Netflix and streaming dismantled the whole business model.
David Cook opened the first Blockbuster in Dallas on October 19, 1985, with a then-enormous selection of roughly 8,000 VHS tapes. Wayne Huizenga took control in 1987 and built it into a national force, and Viacom's $8.4 billion acquisition in 1994 supercharged the expansion. By 2004, Blockbuster had become unstoppable: 9,094 stores worldwide, over 84,000 employees, and a stranglehold on the Friday-night ritual that defined a generation.
But Netflix's DVD-by-mail model and the rise of video-on-demand couldn't be stopped. Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2010, and corporate stores closed by 2014. One franchised location in Bend, Oregon defied the odds and continues operating today as the "Last Blockbuster," a pilgrimage site for anyone nostalgic for late fees and tangible movie nights.
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