WhereIsAtlas · Video rental
Blockbuster
The video-rental empire that passed on buying Netflix
Defunct — Bankrupt by 2010; the last corporate store closed in 2013.
Blockbuster opened its first store in Dallas in 1985 with a radical idea for the era: a huge, computerised inventory of VHS tapes, family-friendly shelving and no adult section. Within a decade it had swallowed its rivals and become the defining ritual of the weekend night — walking the aisles, arguing over the last new release, and paying late fees on the way out.
At its peak in 2004 the chain ran roughly 9,000 stores worldwide and counted some 70 million members. Yet it repeatedly failed to take the threat of mail-order and streaming video seriously — most famously declining to buy a young Netflix for about $50 million in 2000. Burdened by debt and a shrinking store model, Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in September 2010 and shuttered its final corporate store on 6 November 2013.
The brand survives in fragments: Dish Network owns the name, and a single independently owned franchise in Bend, Oregon — opened in 2000 — still rents tapes as the world's last Blockbuster, now a pop-culture landmark.
Quick facts
- Founded
- 1985, Dallas, Texas
- Founder
- David Cook
- Peak stores
- ≈ 9,094 (2004)
- Peak members
- ≈ 70 million
- Bankruptcy
- Sep 21, 2010
- Last store closed
- Nov 6, 2013
- Brand owner today
- Dish Network
Sources
- Wikipedia: Blockbuster (company) — Wikipedia (2026-01-10)
- The Last Blockbuster in the World — BBC (2026-01-06)
- Blockbuster Files for Bankruptcy — The New York Times (2026-01-06)
- Wikipedia: Bend, Oregon — Wikipedia (2026-01-10)