There are still traces of former Blockbuster Video shops to be found on the high streets, shopping centres and retail parks of the UK.
Video shop memories.
Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s I've got fond memories of visiting video shops with my family and picking out a film or two (generally one of the Police Academy films, action flicks, or horror movies as I got older!).
I found the preserved remains of a Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester in 2019. And during the coronavirus pandemic my interest in lost brands and retail history was piqued. Since then Emily and I have been to several former Blockbuster Video stores around the UK, as well as finding some other old, and some still open, video shops on our travels!
Visiting the last bits of Blockbuster Video in the UK.
Lost brands.
Emily and I have spent the last few years reminiscing about 'the good old days'. One of our areas of interest is in old retail brands - we're both marketers by profession and two of my first jobs in the 1990's and the year 2000 were at Tandy and Toys R Us, while Emily's first job was at a Happy Shopper shop.
It's been fascinating to find remnants of these brands - and a number of other lost, dead and defunct brands - on the high street and at retail parks around the UK.
 |
| Blockbuster Video in Nuneaton in 2021 |
Visiting Blockbuster Video stores.
At its peak in 2004 there were more than 9,000 Blockbuster Video 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.
The last Blockbuster Video shop ceased trading in the UK in December 2013.
Amazingly we've been able to find traces of the brand at 29 former store locations. This has ranged from QuikDrop boxes to parking signage to full shopfronts!
Posts about former Blockbuster Video stores we've been to:
- 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
- Watford, Hertfordshire
- Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex
- Wisbech, Cambridgeshire
- Wythenshawe, Manchester
No comments:
Post a Comment