The Death of Blockbuster | Rentals, Stubbornness, and Netflix | History in the Dark

Blockbuster was a video rental retail chain that for a few decades was by far the most dominant in the industry. But when the market began to shrink due to the advent of digital media and video streaming, Blockbuster failed to adapt to the change and found themselves failing as fast as they had succeeded.
0:00 - Intro
1:03 - Formation
4:49 - Early Success
11:03 - Issues Begin
21:20 - The Collapse
31:11 - Legacy
"Blockbuster Video was an American video rental store chain. It was founded by David Cook in 1985 as a stand-alone mom-and-pop home video rental shop, but later grew into a national store chain featuring video game rentals, DVD-by-mail, streaming, video on demand, and cinema theater. The company expanded internationally throughout the 1990s. At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster consisted of 9,094 stores and employed approximately 84,300 people: 58,500 in the United States and 25,800 in other countries."
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[@haydendegrow945]

I remember my hometown had three Blockbuster stores and five Rogers Video (yes, it was owned by the telecommunications giant)... you went to either one if you wanted a rental, and it was sad when both of them went under. See, for some of us middle-class families, a Netflix account was just not possible, so Blockbuster and Rogers were still the way to go for movies... it wasn't until cable TV began being offered at cheaper rates in my hometown that we got to watch movies more often. This was the main reason why my parents gave my sister and I a GARGANTUAN VHS and DVD collection. It meant that we didn't have to go to rent movies all that often... Now though, I kinda miss Blockbuster and Rogers simply for the nostalgia of the concept...

[@SomeDude047]

Worked at a Blockbuster around 99-2002. They laughed at Netflix back then. Look who's laughing now. I loved the job, tbh. Talking and suggesting movies and getting paid for it on the side was actually fun. I used to be the one who did the Saturday late fees call list. No one else wanted to do it. We would get death threats and all kinds of verbal abuse. Most hated it. I loved it. It was always fun to see what they could come up with on the other end when being asked to pay their fee. I used to wipe a ton of late fees when I could, up to a certain dollar amount. I've seen a ton of people flip out at the registers. I never charged if the person returning a video didn't rewind it before returning it. Got pretty high out back "taking out the trash" with other fellow employees as well. The good ol' days.

[@theconceptualist8626]

I was born in 2004. I remember a Blockbuster near where I used to live as a kid. We didn’t go in there often, we only went there because the pet store was in the same shopping center. I have had quite a few memories of this particular shopping center. It was on the corner of Moulton Parkway and Golden Lantern Parkway in Laguna Niguel, California. I think the main memory I have of the place was in 2011 when I was 6 and we got my then puppy one of those retractable leashes. My mom gave me the leash and I accidentally dropped it. The dog understandably freaked out at the thing coming at it from behind (because it was retracting the leash), and ran out into traffic onto Golden Lantern. My mom didn’t hesitate and ran after the dog, with traffic coming at her at 40mph. I can’t remember exactly what happened after that because the store clerk of the pet store had run out and bear hugged me to prevent me from running after my mom and the dog (we were good friends with her, so it was okay). Everyone was fine. My dogs name is Penny and she’s now 13 years old, in case anyone was wondering. Im getting off track here. Anyways, that Blockbuster closed around 2011, and the building sat vacant for about a year before a Fresh and Easy grocery store opened there. Ironically enough, Fresh and Easy went bankrupt too… so the building went once again vacant somewhere between April 2015 and April 2016 (I had moved out of the area by this point. I’m using google maps street view for this). In its place was a locally run grocery store, and that was there until 2020 and the pandemic, where the building was once again vacant. It is now occupied by another locally run grocery store. The most hilarious thing is, that the pet store was there throughout all of this and is still there. Idk, just thought I’d put my two cents in. Thought y’all might enjoy the story.

[@THEBACKSTER]

I remember the Movie Gallery my hometown had, I actually miss it, fond childhood memories, and I never forget the smell of that Movie Gallery. Just a side note, can we take a moment to appreciate that darkness is still reading the list of the underwater train finders, despite it being a mile long at this point

[@threepea1151]

I tell all my teachers in school that Netflix offered themselves to Blockbuster and they declined, and my teachers reactions are like: wtf

[@MrCateagle]

No different as when Ford turned down an alliance with Honda. Going the other way, B. Dalton sold their online operation to a start-up named Amazon.

[@matsv201]

That is pretty common. Newcompanys are whoring them self out, but nobody cares before they are large... Becasue most companies went bust early on, only the exception that don´t.

[@missouribackwoodsadventures]

We had a video store in my home town too! But you had to be 18 or older to go in, and there was also really dark curtains over windows.. Even tho I’m now 30, I still wonder what kinda videos they rented 😂

[@tractorjunkco9431]

Just ignore the sticky floor. Lol

[@markvogel5872]

Actually if I'm not mistaken the Blockbuster near my place had a section that was behind a door / curtain where we kids were never allowed to go.

[@solarflare623]

I once had a teacher that asked me if I remembered blockbuster. I told him I wasn’t even alive back then. Also you forgot to mention the snacks. My dad told me that blockbuster also sold snacks to go with your movie.

[@SomeDude047]

Yes, they sold a ton of popcorn, candy, chocolate and a bunch of other things. We used to play Video trailers throughout the store while people were looking for movies. Every employee had their own endcap in each aisle with their favorite movies. We used to get new releases early on the weekends before they were released the following Tuesday and employees could watch them early so we'd have opinions on new releases if employees asked us. Also, free rentals.

[@LatitudeSky]

Netflix didn’t kill Blockbuster. They seriously wounded them, yes. But Redbox is what finally ended Blockbuster, and then Netflix severely wounded Redbox. Trivia: the Roku box was originally The Netflix Player, a standalone player meant to play streaming movies. They decided having a proprietary box would limit the service too much and spun it off as a seperate company. They were right. Netflix today plays on anything.

[@evangaines2303]

Awesome video, I remember Blockbuster during my childhood when they were still around. We would go & rent movies there on occasions. That was long before streaming services put the nail in the coffin. Well done Darkness.

[@mityace]

Why physical media? Your physical copy can't be cancelled or changed. Physical copies can be played in the future. If you have a favorite movie or someone like me who's a videogame collector, I'll be able to show a PS2 game especially a marginal seller that may not be able to be downloaded. But yeah, that's not for everyone and I do stream things. I streamed Eureka twice on Prime Video but I want to keep a copy. Also, DVDs and BluRays can be played without an internet connection. But, yeah, renting physical media makes no sense these days. My best case prognosis for DVD and BluRay is as a niche product like Vinyl Records. But, as DVDs and BluRays are digital media there is not necessarily a different experience to streaming. So, they may just disappear some day.

[@neohistoryfan1014]

there used to be a blockbuster not too far from my house which I vividly remember going there with my dad back in 2008 and 2009. the space it formerly occupied is now an urgent care facility. Video stores were basically libraries for A/V media only rather than books.

[@dannylittle6766]

Netflix actually started out as a mail subscription service, Blockbuster's Total Access was competing with the Netflix mail program, not their streaming service. Even if Blockbuster bought Netflix when they had the chance, their physical stores still might have closed as they went to streaming only.

[@avgjoeavglife]

I remember Blockbuster, i liked going there.

[@SomeDude047]

Wow, Major Video. I remember them. I remember Hollywood Video too.

[@Trainman3985]

I remembered Blockbuster when I was a kid. Back in the 90s, almost everyone rented VHS and DVDs when they came out. When we see a rare video there. My friends would always try to rent it before the other. Blockatys we used to call them.

[@DrRacer78]

26:37 So fun fact about Circuit City for quick off topic second. Circuit City had "sponsor" car in Burnout Revenge, one of my nostalgia games lol

[@crystalmorgan5593]

This is amazing, now I finally know what happened to blockbuster, thank you darkness the curse 🥰👍

[@AaronArroyo-sn4uy]

I went to the last one in Bend, Oregon this summer. very cool place

[@obelic71]

Blockbuster never had stores in the Benelux countries Blockbuster tried 2 times to get a foot on the ground in this part of Europe but failed huge both times. This is because we had the first videostore rental companny in Europe who accidently exploded into existance due to an employee of a big electronic company (Philips). in 1979 Philip started its own system (Video 2000) and getting buying VHS/Betamax/Video2000) tapes were dificult / expensive at that time. So an employee of Philips started a video rental from his garage in a small town in 1980. Years before other videostore franchises like Blockbuster started. Philips had also a big library of its own content so they were suprised that a employee of them bought more and more copies. That employee became later the CEO of a subsidary (Videoland) of Philips. Videoland stores were all over the place like Blockbusters . They even had rental points in supermarkets and gas stations. The video rental stores part went bankrupt in 2010 and only the streaming service part remained and is still alive.

[@harrisonallen651]

I’m going to miss renting Thomas dvds that I didn’t have as a child

[@markvogel5872]

Wow this one had me surprisingly nostalgic sending me on a trip through the 90s.

[@dougsfilmtv9810]

I love going to Blockbuster as a kid and I have a lot of good memories. I remember I brought the last movie at Blockbuster before it closed its doors and the movie I got was Across the Universe. I really want to visit the last Blockbuster.

[@johnbishop4641]

I was born in 2023 and I can't believe that watching movies through streaming was sooo much work compared to accessing them via the microchip in my head!! note: this comment will make sense 20 years from now -the baby Troll

[@cmdrflake]

What happened to Blockbuster reflects just how fast the “industry” changed. There were a bunch of capitalists that got caught in obsolete business models. The changes were occurring in a matter of days. This was not what they were expecting.

[@ActorBillDRussell]

Hey look I’m right at the beginning of your video 😎

[@seanmas7599]

That was my first business i know close to that closing in 2012.

[@bobbykirbos336]

I wonder if that last store in Oregon has anything on Beta...

[@micoasters]

6:47 when Nintendo is brought up with a year (to quote Scott the woz) “something stinks”

[@DinsdalePiranha67]

Blockbuster died by its own hand.

[@GL-xz3xk]

Like Encyclopaedia Britannica - a company managed by people that just kept burying their head further in the sand. Love how execs still kept pocketing millions right until the end while the whole thing crashed and burned. Ps have also been to the last blockbuster store!

[@generalprincecodyhedgewolf2944]

Well now because of Amazon video, Disney Plus and other streaming services and Rise of many android and Apple devices were on the rise and making Netflix a bit redundant..

[@Low760]

And now? All streaming services now rent movies. Even real old ones. Piracy is going back up again.

[@True_NOON]

I hope netflik will at some point just keel over