Blockbuster Had 9,094 Stores — Now One Is Left

At the end of 2004, Blockbuster reported 9,094 stores, 84,300 employees and more than $6 billion in annual revenue. Today, one independently owned Blockbuster remains in Bend, Oregon. The movies never disappeared. The building where Friday night began did. This episode follows the system behind the American video store: barcoded inventory, thousands of retail leases, late fees, Netflix DVDs by mail, Redbox kiosks, nearly $1 billion in debt and the moment streaming allowed the movie to escape the object. The 9,094 figure is Blockbuster’s worldwide store total at the end of 2004. Of those locations, 5,803 were in the United States. CHAPTERS 0:00 Nine thousand ninety-four 0:57 Friday night had an address 1:51 A database disguised as a store 2:45 Scale ate the neighborhood store 3:45 The fee inside the convenience 4:41 Netflix removed the due date 5:41 The fifty-million-dollar meeting 6:37 Blockbuster tried to become both companies 7:35 Six billion dollars hid a shrinking core 8:33 The movie stopped being an object 9:32 Bankruptcy and the disappearing sign 10:32 One store became the destination KEY SOURCES Blockbuster 2004 Form 10-K: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... Blockbuster bankruptcy filing: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... Netflix 2004 Form 10-K: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... California Attorney General settlement: https://www.oag.ca.gov/news/press-rel... Official last Blockbuster: https://bendblockbuster.com/ Real locations and archival photographs are identified on screen. Additional mechanism and lifestyle footage is illustrative stock licensed from Pexels. Full item-level credits are archived with the production package. #Blockbuster #AmericaGone #VHS #Netflix #AmericanHistory #1990s