A look at the ghost signs on the former Blockbuster Video Express store in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.
We found some brilliant ghost signs and a QuikDrop box at the former Blockbuster Video Express store in Clacton-on-Sea during our trip to the seaside town in August.
We had a good idea that the QuikDrop video return box would still be visible on the front of what is now a Tendring Community Clothing charity shop. Partly from our research in advance, and partly because the day before the charity's spokesperson had been interviewed on BBC Look East news outside of the shop and you could clearly see the QuikDrop box there!
What we hadn't expected was that the side and front of the shop would still have ghost signs on them! It's wonderful to see these pieces of retail history on display.
The inside of the charity shop itself has had very few changes made to it since it was a Blockbuster, with the colour scheme, walls and till desk all looking very Blockbustery!
Blockbuster Video
Our interest in old Blockbuster Video stores was piqued when I found one close by in Fallowfield, Manchester in October 2019.
Since then we've found quite a few more signs of the brand on the high streets and retail parks of the UK.
Blockbuster ceased operations in the UK in December 2013. At the start of the year there were 528 Blockbuster locations in the UK. The number dwindled until October when only 264 shops remained. The remaining stores closed on the 16th December that year.
At its peak in 2004 there were more than 9,000 Blockbuster stores around the world. There is now just one remaining store open. It's in Bend, Oregon, USA.
Blockbuster Video stores we've visited
Check out the posts about other former Blockbuster Video stores we've been to in:
- Abingdon, Oxfordshire
- Ashton, Bristol
- Barnsley, South Yorkshire
- Basingstoke, Hampshire
- Billingham, Teesside
- Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester
- Chester, Cheshire
- Chorley, Lancashire
- Colne, Lancashire
- Fallowfield, Manchester
- Felixstowe, Suffolk
- Filton, Bristol
- Great Moor, Stockport, Greater Manchester
- Hastings, East Sussex
- Leigh, Greater Manchester
- Luton, Bedfordshire
- Marple, Greater Manchester
- Nuneaton, Warwickshire
- Oldham, Greater Manchester
- Prescot, Lancashire
- Shanklin, Isle of Wight
- Southampton, Hampshire
- Telford, Shropshire
- Wythenshawe, Manchester
No comments:
Post a Comment