The last Blockbuster Video shop ceased trading in the UK on this day in 2013.
Blockbuster Video entered the UK video rental market in 1989 following the purchase of Ritz Video.
In 2013 there were over 500 Blockbuster locations in the UK. Throughout that year the number dwindled until October when only 264 shops remained. On the 16th December 2013 all stores ceased operations.
It's amazing that there are still clearly visible remnants of the brand on the high street and on retail parks nine years later.
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| If you're lucky, and know where to look, you might find a QuikDrop box hiding in plain sight |
The first Blockbuster Video store had opened in Dallas, Texas, USA on the 19th October 1985.
The very last Blockbuster Video store in operation is in Bend, Oregon, USA.
We live near an abandoned Blockbuster Video store here in Manchester. It's always an eerie, interesting and nostalgic thing to drive past the old shop at Fallowfield Retail Park.
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| Blockbuster Video in Fallowfield, Manchester - soon to become a Lidl |
The sign about the closure is still on the window there.
At its peak in 2004 there were more than 9,000 Blockbuster stores around the world. 500+ of which were in England, Scotland and Wales. Interestingly in Northern Ireland the Xtra-Vision brand was used by the owners in-line with the Republic of Ireland.
Blockbuster certainly wasn't the first video rental shop brand, but it was at one time the market leader.
Our travels have taken us to a number of former Blockbuster stores:
- Abingdon, Oxfordshire
- Ashton, Bristol
- Barnsley, South Yorkshire
- Basingstoke, Hampshire
- Billingham, Teesside
- Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester
- Chester, Cheshire
- Chorley, Lancashire
- Clacton-on-Sea, Essex
- Colne, Lancashire
- Failsworth, Manchester
- Fallowfield, Manchester
- Felixstowe, Suffolk
- Filton, Bristol
- Great Moor, Stockport, Greater Manchester
- Hastings, East Sussex
- Leigh, Greater Manchester
- Luton, Bedfordshire
- Marple, Greater Manchester
- Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire
- Nuneaton, Warwickshire
- Oldham, Greater Manchester
- Prescot, Lancashire
- Shanklin, Isle of Wight
- Southampton, Hampshire
- Telford, Shropshire
- Wisbech, Cambridgeshire
- Wythenshawe, Manchester
We've found a few other video shops along the way too:
- Video Express in Swansea
- Video Rentals at The Village Top Shop in Thorpe Hesley, Rotherham
- Shahenshah Videos in Luton
- Deane Video Centre in Bolton
- Video Box Office at the Happy Shopper Wayfairer Discount Store in Ilkeston
- Video Future in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent
- The Movie Box in Manchester
- Jubilee Films video in Ashton-under-Lyne
Other video shops we've been to include B.V.C. - Bolton Video Centre in Little Lever, Bolton and 20th Century Flicks in Bristol - and both were still trading!
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