A Profile of the Alaskan Blockbusters and Their Loyal Employees

[ellie_andrews]

There’s just one Blockbuster left in America. @justinheckert traveled to the last three in Alaska on the eve of their closing to explore the end of an iconic part of cultural memories: https://t.co/HrHe3erKd6
- The Ringer (@ringer) July 19, 2018

* writer travels to Alaska to document the closing of a culture icon

Comments

[megalixer]

Echoing the sentiment that pizza and movie night was the best. I miss the ritual of walking through Blockbuster, browsing through everything, talking to the employees, trying to convince your parents to let you rent a game or pick up some Red Vines at checkout.

I'm also sad that now it's more difficult to (legally) find and get into older films - there's so much that's just not on Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime. Maybe with MoviePass going kaputt I'll try reallocating that budget to FilmStruck but it's not quite the same without the human element of talking to the store people and having them rec you stuff.

[cuteej4]

Have you checked your local library's selection?

Just this weekend, I've rented The Great Ziegfeld, Ben-Hur, and other movies from the 40s/50s/60s. All for free.

[megalixer]

Oh, that's a good reminder! I'm so behind on the books that I've purchased that I haven't been to the library in forever.

[tucker]

omg yeah why was candy and soda so much more exciting from the checkout line at blockbuster lol

[leomonade]

we still have a rental store where i live (oklahoma) and i love it!!!!! it’s called family video LMAO

i love looking through all the movies and feeling the nostalgia

i miss blockbuster. they dumb for not buying netflix

[anterrabre]

I used to love the foreign film selection at Blockbuster...especially the older stuff and the cheesy Asian Horror films. Blockbusters was so much fun!

[fimh]

does redbox not exist in alaksa?

[savage_land]

It’s easier for them to do that because Alaska is like it’s own country