Two Blockbuster video stores are closing in Alaska, leaving just one left in the United States. A couple franchise outlets in Alaska famously continued to survive long after the parent company of the formerly ubiquitous national chain folded. They were long bolstered by nostalgia as well as remote communities with a lack of high-speed Internet access for streaming video. But now they’re both shutting their doors for the last time Sunday night, the AP reported. “These are the last two Blockbuster stores in Alaska that survived and it is sad to say goodbye to our dedicated customers,” the managers posted on Facebook. “We have thought of you as family for the past 28 years … Thank you for sticking by us throughout all these years. I can’t tell you how much it means to us. We hope to see you at our stores during the closing, even if it’s just to say ‘Hello.’ What a great time to build your media library and share some Blockbuster memories with us. We will miss all of you!” The stores were given some media attention a couple months ago by HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver which sent a jockstrap worn by Russell Crowe in the 2005 movie Cinderella Man to one of the stores. The item was reportedly displayed in an effort to boost business. The video rental chain in 2000 notoriously made one of the worst business decisions of all time when it rejected a young company called Netflix whose CEO Reed Hastings offered to partner with the chain and run its online operations — Hastings was “laughed out of the room” as one report put it. Blockbuster then peaked in 2004 with an incredible 9,094 stores worldwide … and then quickly plummeted to declare bankruptcy in 2010. It’s not clear how many (if any) Blockbuster stores have survived outside the U.S.<doc-sep>The two remaining Blockbuster stores in Alaska are set to close, marking the end of an era in what has long been one of the video rental business's last strongholds. The stores, one on DeBarr Road in Anchorage and the other in Fairbanks, will close Monday for rental business, a post on the Facebook page for Blockbuster in Alaska said Thursday afternoon. They will reopen at noon Tuesday for an inventory sales that will run through July and August. The closures leave just one store standing in the U.S., in Bend, Oregon. Thursday's news follows a smattering of other recent Blockbuster closures across the state, which had 13 Blockbusters in 2013 and was down to nine stores by 2016. "It's tough to tell the customers, it really is," said Kevin Daymude, the general manager at the DeBarr location. "They are like family. It's hard to say goodbye." As Blockbuster stores disappeared from most of the Lower 48 in recent years, the brand long managed to persist in Alaska. Some have said expensive internet here is one reason why. The stores have also been a destination for some who visit just for the nostalgia. For years now in Alaska, announcements have cropped up every few months that another Blockbuster will shut its doors. The Wasilla, North Pole and Soldotna stores closed this year, as did another Anchorage location near the intersection of Old Seward Highway and Huffman Road. Alan Payne, who owns the Alaska stores through a Texas-based Blockbuster licensee called Border Entertainment, said he and his team determined about nine months ago that it wouldn't make sense to renew any more leases on the stores that remained. The leases on the last two Blockbusters are up at the end of August. The last locations are still making a profit, he said Thursday, but that profit has been declining at a rapid pace. "It's always kind of a kick in the pants every time we close a store. But it's been going on for so long that the shock has worn off, frankly," said Payne, who is based in Austin. "This is not going to come back. We can't string this out any longer without creating some financial problems." Border Entertainment used to own Blockbuster stores in Texas, too, but those have also closed. Alongside Blockbuster, there are also other independent video stores in Anchorage and Fairbanks. It's not just streaming services that have hurt the video rental business, Payne said, attributing the decline in part to how smartphones and social media have changed the way people spend free time. Then, there are the people who go to Blockbuster but don't even come inside. A Facebook post near the end of June on the Blockbuster Alaska page read, "We see you out there taking selfies in front of our stores, show them to us!" Kelli Vey, the district manager for the Fairbanks area, sees people in summer and winter alike hopping out of their cars to snap photos and then drive off. "I wish they would come in and buy something," she said. "All day long, I joke that I need to put a picture of somebody in the window to photobomb them." In the Fairbanks area, Vey said the challenge of getting speedy, affordable internet service is one thing that brings people to the store. The news of the closure has been devastating to regular customers, she said. "It's kind of emotional," she said. "I'm getting some tears, getting lots of hugs." The Anchorage location recently acquired some Russell Crowe memorabilia, including a jockstrap Crowe wore in the 2005 movie "Cinderella Man," gifted to the store by John Oliver's HBO show, "Last Week Tonight." "The memorabilia is probably going to go back to the owner, which is fine, because I don't want a jockstrap in my house," Daymude said. It's not clear yet what will happen to the memorabilia, Payne said. He added that his team had explained to people involved with Oliver's show that the stores would probably not be open much longer. "We were very up front with them, and they said, 'That's OK, we want you to have it anyway,' " he said. "I'm not sure what we're going to do with it." At the Bend location, general manager Sandi Harding said there are no plans to close. She was shocked to learn that her store will soon be the only one in the country. "Alaska had always been — I always thought they'd outlast us," she said. "If you'd asked me 14 years ago, there's no way I'd thought we'd be the last one. It just seems a little crazy."<doc-sep>
Alaska’s last two Blockbuster video stores are calling it quits, leaving just one store open in the U.S. This May 2, 2018 file photo shows the exterior of a Blockbuster Video store in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File) This May 2, 2018 file photo shows a display case featuring the DVD of the movie "Cinderella Man" and the jockstrap worn by actor Russell Crowe in the movie at a Blockbuster video store in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen) In this May 2, 2018 file photo, Blockbuster Alaska General Manager Kevin Daymude moves a display case featuring the jockstrap worn by actor Russell Crowe in the 2005 movie "Cinderella Man" at a Blockbuster video store in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen) ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska’s last two Blockbuster video stores are calling it quits, leaving just one store open in the U.S. The stores in Anchorage and Fairbanks will close for rentals after Sunday night and reopen Tuesday for video liquidation sales through the end of August, said Kevin Daymude, general manager of Blockbuster Alaska. “It’s going to be crazy,” Daymude said of the temporary reopening. He said residents were sad when they heard the news and many people have been reminiscing about their Blockbuster memories. The news was announced to Alaskans on Blockbuster Alaska’s Facebook page. The closures come just two months after the host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” sent a jockstrap worn by Russell Crowe in the 2005 movie “Cinderella Man” and other items to the Anchorage store, which displayed it in an effort to ramp up business. Daymude says the buzz from the Oliver connection brought more people to the store. “You would not believe how much business we got just from that memorabilia alone,” he said. “I can’t thank John Oliver or his show enough.” But it wasn’t enough to counter a planned lease increase at both Alaska locations. The jockstrap will probably go to the franchise owner, Alan Payne, who lives outside Austin, Texas. A request for comment from HBO was not immediately returned. In its heyday, Blockbuster had 15 stores in Alaska, Daymude said. Some stores in more remote, less populated parts of the state began closing in the early 2000s. In recent years, Blockbuster stores have vanished in most of the U.S. But their survival lasted longer in Alaska, with some crediting expensive internet as a factor in keeping many people renting videos rather than streaming. The closures will leave the Blockbuster in Bend, Oregon, as the sole holdout. “How exciting,” said the Bend store’s general manager Sandi Harding. “It might end up being a little chaotic for a couple of weeks.” As for the fate of that store, the future looks good. “We have no plans on closing anytime soon,” Harding said.