The end of Blockbuster Video

The last Blockbuster Video store in the UK closed on this day in 2013.

I've spent a lot of 2020 reminiscing about 'the good old days' before the coronavirus pandemic hit the planet. One of my areas of interest is in old retail brands - I'm a marketer by profession and two of my first jobs in the 1990's and the year 2000 were at Tandy and Toys R Us. It's been fascinating to find remnants of a number of lost, dead and defunct brands on the high street and at retail parks.

Blockbuster Video Express in Colne, Lancashire this summer

One of those lost brands is Blockbuster.

Blockbuster ceased operations in the UK in December 2013. At the start of that 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.

The first Blockbuster Video store had opened in Dallas, Texas, USA on the 19th October 1985.

Blockbuster Video in Fallowfield, Manchester

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.

2020 and 2013 meet - Covid-19 social distancing signage on the ground next to the remaining signage at the Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield

The sign about the closure is still on the window there.

Blockbuster Video in the UK

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 Video entered the UK video rental market in 1989 following the purchase of Ritz Video.

The Last Blockbuster Video

There is still one last remaining open Blockbuster Video store in the world. It's in Bend, Oregon, USA.

We had planned to go on holiday to Portland this year but the pandemic put paid to that. We would've called in at the store if we were there.

Instead we've been visiting the sites of old Blockbuster Video shops near to us here in the North West of England. It's been incredibly interesting to see how may remnants of the brand can still be found on the high streets and retail parks of the country.

The QuikDrop box is still in place at the old store location in Prescot, Merseyside

A new documentary film about the store was released yesterday. You can find out more about it on The Last Blockbuster website.

Other video stores are available

Blockbuster certainly wasn't the first video rental shop brand, but it was at one time the market leader.

We actually found a video shop open in October. And it just so happened to be Video Shop Day. You can find B.V.C. - Bolton Video Centre in Little Lever, Bolton. It's brilliant to know that you can actually still rent VHS tapes there!

Last month we also found the remains of an old video store inside a Happy Shopper shop in Derbyshire!

Save the Video Store

Family Video - one of Blockbuster's competitors back in the day - and a brand that has existed since 1978.

There is a Save the Video Store campaign and you can follow it and get involved on social media using the hashtag #SaveTheVideoStore. 

Related blog posts:

• Video Shops
• Blockbuster

A couple of nice festive gift cards from days gone by

Did you know that Blockbuster pioneered the use of gift cards? The first plastic gift cards went on sale at Blockbuster Video in the USA back in 1994.

One of these cards is from the USA (2005), the other from Canada (2006).

Related blog posts:

- Video Shops

- Blockbuster

A retail time machine

Today is Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day.

I pretend to be a Time Traveler quite a bit by hunting out relics of the past that can still be seen today.

Old UK shop brands from my (time) travels

If you could once again shop at a long lost store which one would it be?

Make it a Blockbuster night

At my local (long closed) video store.

What are you watching tonight? Stranger Things for us.

Lost shops

Relics from a lost time.

Kwik Save in Barrow in Furness, Woolworths in Longton, Toys R Us in Preston, Tandy in Hitchin, RadioShack in St Annes on the Sea and Blockbuster in Manchester

Which lost brands do I need to track down next?

Keep YOUR Distance - Protect yourself

Check out this social distancing floor sign outside the old Blockbuster Video store at Fallowfield Retail Park in Manchester.

Signs of the old and the new. Together. In Manchester

We're currently in Tier 3 Restrictions in Greater Manchester. 

Here in Stockport we've been under tight restrictions of one form or another since the first national lockdown in March.  

Tomorrow the whole of England will move into a national lockdown for the second time this year.

I wonder what other interesting signs I will see on my daily outdoor exercise this winter...?

Picture Postcard Magic - What have you been watching during lockdown?

Check out my latest guest post for the Reflections of a Bygone Age blog.

Picture Postcard Magic 31st October 2020 with Richard Gottfried What have you been watching during lockdown? With 2020...

Posted by Reflections of a Bygone Age on Saturday, 31 October 2020

35 years of Blockbuster Video

The first Blockbuster Video store opened in Dallas, Texas, USA on this day in 1985.

At its peak in 2004 there were more than 9,000 stores around the world. 500+ of which were in the UK.

There is now just one Blockbuster Video store left open. It's in Bend, Oregon.

Blockbuster Video in the UK

Blockbuster Video entered the UK video rental market in 1989 following the purchase of Ritz Video.

I remember going to the Ritz Video shop on the Peachcroft Estate in my home town of Abingdon, Oxfordshire back in the late 80's and early 90's. That store became a Blockbuster and I rented some classics from there back in the day.

Blockbuster ceased operations in the UK in December 2013. At the start of that 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.

There are still clearly visible remnants of the brand on the high street and on retail parks almost seven years later.

This is the old Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester, UK.

We've also been to the Blockbuster Video Express in Colne, Lancashire and found the remains of quite a few other old stores.

Finding a video shop on Video Shop Day 2020

Last Saturday happened to be National Video Shop Day and we were fortunate enough to stumble upon a video rental shop in Little Lever, Bolton! What are the odds?

It was like stepping back in time

The old-school video rental shop was fully stocked with VHS tapes. I haven't seen anything like it for years.

What a time capsule.

You can find B.V.C. - Bolton Video Centre in Little Lever.

From Blockbuster Video to Taco Bell

I've been taking a look into the world of Blockbuster Video during lockdown. We live near to an old store that still has visible signage and branding and it's always fun to pass by and see a glimpse of the past.

I've also found that back when we were freely able to travel around the country we had unknowingly 'visited' some former stores, most notably in Felixstowe, Suffolk. There, the old sign with its distinctive torn ticket outline had been used for a new business.

Tracking down old Blockbuster Video stores I've noted that there were two in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. The one in Wombwell is now a charity shop and the old QuikDrop box is still in place. The other on Peel Street in the town centre is now a Taco Bell. We passed by it back in January 2019.

Not a Blockbuster

I always keep an eye out for Taco Bells on my travels. I think it's got something to do with the year 2032.

Sadly the old torn ticket sign from its days as a Blockbuster is long gone.

The Barnsley store closed along with the other last stores in December 2013. There had been 528 Blockbuster Video stores in the UK at the beginning of that year.

In addition to the Blockbuster Video locations in Fallowfield and Felixstowe we've visited the Blockbuster Video Express in Colne, Lancashire. Other former stores we've been to include the former stores in Prescot, Chester, Cheadle Hulme and Marple.

Lost Blockbuster - Chester

Another day, another lost Blockbuster Video store.

This one was in Chester, Cheshire, England.

It's now a Roy Castle Foundation charity shop.

The QUIKDROP box is still in place. A lot of the paintwork and fixtures inside are from its days as a Blockbuster too.

QUIKDROP

You could still see a number of familiar pieces of the Blockbuster shopfittings

  

The old Blockbuster counter

Other lost Blockbuster stores

On our travels we've found the remains of other lost Blockbuster stores in Manchester, Colne, Oldham, Cheadle Hulme, Marple, Hastings, Felixstowe, Telford, Prescot and Chester.

Lost Blockbuster Video store in Prescot, Merseyside

A look at the old Blockbuster Video store in Prescot, Merseyside.

The former Blockbuster Video shop on Church Street in Prescot is now Partyworld, but the old QuikDrop box is still in place with visible branding.

Another 7 years late fee

If you look closely you can also see that the original Blockbuster sign is underneath the Partyworld sign.

Another Lost Blockbuster. It's good to see the Partyworld shop trading in its place though

Can you see the blue and yellow branding?

The old and the new - we didn't know Prescot had links to Shakespeare before our trip there. The crane is part of the building work of the new Shakespeare North Playhouse

Quite a sight to see a Blockbuster Video QuikDrop box AND social distancing measures in the same place!

I wonder how many letters get posted in the QuikDrop box by mistake

QuikDrop

Retail archaeology

It's always nice to see remnants of old brands and ghost signs when they are hidden in plain sight.

Since we found the remains of Blockbuster Video near us in Fallowfield, Manchester we've been looking to see if there are any other former branches still showing signs of the brand. We've found a Blockbuster Video Express in Colne, as well as remnants in Cheadle Hulme and Marple.

Hidden in plain sight

It's funny what you see when you look back on your travels.

With my current, new found interest in seeking out old Blockbuster Video stores while there are still traces of them, I checked out if there used to be any in Suffolk ahead of our next visit to see family and friends in the area.

In a normal year we'd have been to Ipswich and Felixstowe a number of times already by now. Felixstowe is probably our most visited seaside of all time, with the minigolf courses in the town our most revisited.

Sadly we've been there a grand total of zero times in 2020.

Looking online Felixstowe was once home to a Blockbuster Video store on Crescent Road.

Strangely I inadvertently blogged about it in 2017! In a way.

When I saw the location of the former store I knew I'd seen it before.

Back in 2017 I was alerted to the fact there was a new American Diner in Felixstowe that served a 98% gluten free menu. Something that intrigued me as it's a strange thing to offer as everyone with Coeliac Disease needs 100% gluten free food!

Looking at that blog post I noticed a remnant of its time as a Blockbuster. Can you see what it is?

Look closely^

Yes, the original Blockbuster Video sign was still in place and the big torn ticket outline is clear to see!

Blockbuster!

It's always interesting to see shadows, ghosts and remnants from a bygone time. Here in Cheadle Hulme you can still see the outline of the old Blockbuster Video logo on what is now a Majestic Wine Warehouse.

Blockbuster Video Express in Colne

A look at the Blockbuster Video Express store in Colne, Lancashire.

Since our out-of-home minigolfing adventures have been somewhat curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic I've needed to scratch my exploring and collecting itch somehow. During the first nationwide lockdown we spent our daily outside exercise time walking around the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport where we managed to visit and photograph every one of the 265 pubs, bars and clubs in the area.

My next mini 'tickable list' urban exploration challenge taps into my interest in ghost signs, shops, retail marketing and old brands. Ever since I found the remnants of the Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester last October I've been amazed to see the brand still has a lingering presence in other places too.

My old local Blockbuster was on Park Street in Luton, Bedfordshire and while it is long-gone I still remember the amount of time I spent in it when I was a student. I built up quite a collection of big-box ex-rental VHS tapes from there in the early noughties.

Blockbuster ceased operations in the UK in December 2013 so it's amazing that there are still clearly visible remnants of the brand on the high street and on retail parks almost seven years later.

Blockbuster Video and Express stores

Blockbuster Video entered the UK video rental market in 1989 following the purchase of Ritz Video.

I remember going to the Ritz Video shop on the Peachcroft Estate in my home town of Abingdon, Oxfordshire back in the late 80's and early 90's. That store became a Blockbuster and I rented some classics from there back in the day. Check out this post from the excellent Abingdon Blog to see a photo of the shuttered shop in 2014.

Blockbuster Video Express stores were somewhat smaller than regular Blockbuster shops. Although all of the stores expanded to include video game rentals. Old signage for the games area has been clearly visible on both the Fallowfield and Colne stores I've been to.

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.

Blockbuster Video Express in Colne

While looking online for nearby places to have a wander during the local lockdown here in the north west I stumbled upon the Blockbuster Video Express in Colne, Lancashire.

It's crazy to see the store in person as Colne's main street is quite a busy thoroughfare and the prominently positioned Blockbuster was the only empty shop we saw in that particular part of the town.

You should've seen the size of the fine for taking back Police Academy almost seven years late. And I hadn't rewound it

A view of the store from Market Street

The old QuikDrop box has been sealed and painted over

The box is still in place though

It's always nice to see old CRT TVs in place

A view of the right hand side of the store. The Häagen-Dazs fridge is still there

The left side, till area and games wall. Note the Coca-Cola and Ben & Jerry's fridges towards the back of the store too

The games wall

A letter about the Administration. That was a good printer and high quality paper to have lasted so long. The Blockbuster branded tape looks in great condition as well

Still sticky

Blockbuster Video Express in Westcliff on Sea

Last month my friend and fellow blogger Mark Routh kindly sent me some super snaps of the old Blockbuster Video Express store in Westcliff on Sea, Essex. I'm looking forward to seeing it in person next time I'm down that way.

The Last Blockbuster

The very last Blockbuster Video store in operation is in Bend, Oregon, USA. We were planning a holiday to Portland this year and would've called in to the store on the trip.

Hopefully it'll still be there when it's once again safe to travel to the USA.

Other lasting signs of Blockbuster

We've seen other remnants of Blockbuster Video on the former Blockbuster Video Express store in Marple and the regular store in Cheadle Hulme. Back in 2013 we also saw the old store in Hastings had been converted into a shop called Bookbuster.

If you know of any other Blockbuster stores or branding still visible do let me know.

'Playing' Blockbuster

Interestingly there is a 'Blockbuster' storefront within another venue. You can find it at Ghetto Golf at the Custard Factory in Digbeth, Birmingham.

Disappearing brands

We've seen traces of a number of old and defunct brands that were big in the 80s and 90s on our travels around the country.

These have included Woolworths in Stoke-on-Trent, Woolworths Big W in Edinburgh, Kwik Save in Barrow-in-Furness, Blockbuster Video in Fallowfield, Tandy in Hitchin, RadioShack in Lytham Saint Annes and Toys R Us in Ancoats and Warrington. I also recently took a look at the Happy Eater restaurant chain.

Urbex - Blockbuster Video in Fallowfield

A look at the remains of the old Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester.

Blockbuster Video lives on in Manchester. In a way.

Kind of.

Lost Blockbuster Video in Oldham

Last month we popped over to Oldham for our daily walk and a look for an old Blockbuster Video store on Ashton Road.

Sadly there were no traces of the brand visible at the former location. Until fairly recently the upstairs windows had retained the Blockbuster branding. Sadly they had been boarded up. Had the store been open I believe the old QuikDrop box is still in place. Next time we're over that way we'll take another look.

Interestingly the new shop in the building has retained a blue and yellow colour scheme and a Square is a kind of Block too

It wasn't all for nought though as we did spot an apt road name on the way back.

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Check out more Blockbuster Video related blog posts

Remnants of Blockbuster Video

Finding some more traces of the lost brand.

We've always enjoyed exploring our surroundings, looking for and hunting out interesting things. We've seen quite a few ghost signs on our travels and many of these are hangovers from another time, some even dating back over a hundred years.

Since we found the remains of Blockbuster Video just up the road from us in Fallowfield, Manchester we had a look to see if there were any other former branches still showing signs of the brand.

We were in luck as on our walks around Cheadle Hulme and Marple we spotted the ghostly outline of a sign, as well as an old QuikDrop box.

The outline of the old big ticket logo of Blockbuster is still visible behind the Majestic Wine sign. A modern day ghost sign

The QuikDrop slot is the only part of the former Blockbuster Video Express in Marple that hasn't been painted over. It's now a Post Office

It'll be interesting to see if we spot any other traces of the brand once we're back out on the road on Crazy World of Minigolf Tour travels.

You can actually play a Blockbuster Video crazy golf hole at Ghetto Golf in Digbeth, Birmingham!

The Blockbuster shop hole at Ghetto Golf Birmingham

Blockbuster Video Express in Westcliff-on-Sea

A look at the old Blockbuster Video Express in Westcliff-on-Sea, Southend.

Many thanks to my friend and fellow blogger Mark Routh for sending me these photos of the old Blockbuster Video Express store in Westcliff on Sea, Essex.

It's amazing the signs are still up seven years since the demise of the brand.

Since I found the remains of the Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester last October I've been intrigued to see the brand still has a lingering presence on the high street. It's always fun to see ghost signs, remnants of old & dead brands and interesting signage while out and about on our travels.

I found out the Blockbuster signage was still in place at the Westcliff-on-Sea store via this post on Instagram.

We should've been visiting family in Southend-on-Sea this summer but that trip has been postponed. Hopefully we'll get back down there soon so I can check out the old Blockbuster store too.

Check out Mark's superb postcard blog at Mark's Postcard Chat and his Facebook Page. The blog is a wonderful insight into the world of postcard collecting and social history.