Some of you may not remember this, but there used to be these stores where you had to drive somewhere to rent a movie. Blockbuster is one these, it closed in January of 2014. They had major clearances and ended their failed attempt at a DVD-by-mail service when the stores closed.
Joseph P. Clayton, president and CEO of DISH said this regarding Blockbuster’s closing:
“This is not an easy decision, yet consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment,Despite our closing of the physical distribution elements of the business, we continue to see value in the Blockbuster brand, and we expect to leverage that brand as we continue to expand our digital offerings.”
The Twitter account, The Last Blockbuster, appeared earlier this year.
Blockbuster held out for as long as it could when Netflix came out. They tried to get into the streaming game, but it was too late. If you miss going to an actual store to rent movies, you can get your nostalgia on with this Twitter account.
Here is the first tweet:
Underdogs never came back from the dead? I guess You've never heard of Jesus.
— The Last Blockbuster (@loneblockbuster) April 23, 2016
They post some pretty hilarious tweets playing on the cultural changes since people don’t rent movies anymore.
Remember the days when you were supposed to rewind the VHS tapes:
If we have to rewind one more returned movie for a customer we're going to lose our fucking minds.
— The Last Blockbuster (@loneblockbuster) April 25, 2016
Netflix is their arch-nemesis:
Quit Neflix and chill.
— The Last Blockbuster (@loneblockbuster) June 15, 2016
Looks like they have some pranksters at their store:
Whoever keeps putting Passion of the Christ in the comedy section can burn in hell.
— The Last Blockbuster (@loneblockbuster) April 25, 2016
They seem to be desperate for business:
Listen, if you rent 3 movies you can take as many Sour Straws as you want.
— The Last Blockbuster (@loneblockbuster) April 27, 2016
They have resorted to some crazy ways to make money:
Don't freak out if the shoplifting detector goes off. It's probably just reading your credit card or something.
— The Last Blockbuster (@loneblockbuster) April 27, 2016
Two irrelevant stores at the same time:
Come into Blockbuster today and get 10% off at Radio Shack.
— The Last Blockbuster (@loneblockbuster) May 3, 2016
They regret giving money to charity when they were successful:
We used to give a lot of money to charity, which sucks because now we could really use that shit.
— The Last Blockbuster (@loneblockbuster) May 4, 2016
Who doesn’t like Brendan Fraser?
If you purchase something from the snack bar we'll let you take a selfie with our life size Brendan Fraser cutout.
— The Last Blockbuster (@loneblockbuster) May 9, 2016
The Kernel did some investigating and got a hold of the people running the account. When asked why they created a Twitter account, the creator said:
“It’s no secret we haven’t been doing so well in recent years (one remaining store). Since the advent of the Internet, streaming services have taken a sizable portion of our customer base. But instead of lying down, we dug into research and found the problem wasn’t the Internet, it was that we lost touch with our consumers. This account was created to get face-to-face with them and build a personal relationship for a better Blockbuster future. And to contact people who owe us late fees.”
Scroll through the whole Twitter feed to get your ’90s nostalgia on. It will give you a good laugh. Check out this video for some nostalgia when the last Blockbuster closed:
Featured image is a screengrab from YouTube.
