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(Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images) An attendee takes pictures of a mock up of the Crew Dragon spacecraft ahead of the NASA Commercial Crew Program (CCP) astronaut visit at the Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) headquarters in Hawthorne, California, U.S., on Monday, Aug. 13, 2018. Astronauts on SpaceX's Crew Dragon will be the first to fly on an American-made, commercial spacecraft to and from the International Space Station on their mission scheduled for April 2019. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images 7 things you should know about Aretha Franklin NYT editor on how Trump is harming the press MIAMI, UNITED STATES: A Blockbuster video rental store is shown 11 March 2005 in Miami, Florida. Blockbuster Inc., the world's largest video rental chain, reported a slim profit for the fourth quarter, in contrast to a loss a year ago, and said it would restate certain financials to correct lease accounting errors. The company will also extend it's nearly a 1 billion USD offer for rival Hollywood Entertainment until 11 March 2005. AFP Robert SULLIVAN (Photo credit should read ROBERT SULLIVAN/AFP/Getty Images) (CNN) — If movie-streaming seems like Goliath, Blockbuster video store owners are an industry’s Davids still fighting to keep the brand alive. This week, there are three stores remaining, but by next week there will only be one store open for business – in Bend, Oregon. Alaska’s last two Blockbuster stores – one in Anchorage and another in Fairbanks – announced they would officially close on Sunday. Sandi Harding, the Bend store’s general manager, told CNN she was surprised her store was the last one open. “It’s pretty exciting that we are the last holdout,” she said. A bit of nostalgia Bend’s Blockbuster looks just like stores from years ago – yellow on the inside and employees sporting blue shirts. They even have floppy disks and old computer systems, Harding told CNN. Chase Millsap After Sunday, this video store in Bend, Oregon, will be the last remaining Blockbuster in the US. “It’s very nostalgic,” she said. “We have a bunch of 19-year-olds working here – it’s fun explaining to them what a floppy disk is.” The shelves are stacked with movies, ranging from titles as old as “Citizen Kane” to as new as “The Quiet Place,” which was released on Tuesday. Every Tuesday morning Harding buys the newest titles to stock the store. “I go out at 6-7 o’clock in the morning buying the new movies, getting what people want, trying to stay relevant and keep our customers happy,” she told CNN. Sandi Harding The shelves in the store are stacked with old and new movie titles. She said loyal customers and tourists have helped to keep her store open. “Daily, we have people coming in and going, ‘Oh my gosh. you’re a Blockbuster. How are you still here?’” Harding said. And, she added, they plan on sticking around. “We all have licensing agreements and leases, but as of now we have no plans on closing,” she said. Alaska was the last frontier By April 2017, 10 stores existed across the entire US. While most states got rid of them years ago, Alaska was still holding onto the largest cluster of Blockbusters. Mark Thiessen/AP This Blockbuster video store in Anchorage, Alaska, will close on Sunday. Some credit its persistence to the state’s long, frigid winters or the expensive internet prices that leave residents looking for other options. Others say there’s just something nostalgic about renting a DVD. “It is sad to say goodbye to our dedicated customers. We have thought of you as family for the past 28 years,” Blockbuster Alaska wrote on its Facebook page on Thursday. “It just breaks your heart, you know?” Kevin Daymude, Blockbuster Alaska general manager Kevin Daymude told CNN affiliate KTVA. Five years ago, there were 13 stores across The Last Frontier state. Three years after that, four of the 13 had closed. And since then, its store count has continued to slowly dwindle. Alaska’s Wasilla, North Pole and Soldotna stores, along with another one in Anchorage, have all closed shop for good this year, the Anchorage Daily News reported. “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver wanted to help out, so in May, he sent the second Anchorage store some Russell Crowe movie memorabilia, including a leather jockstrap he wore in the 2005 film “Cinderella Man.” It brought a lot of national attention, but it wasn’t enough to keep the store afloat. Rewind to the 1990s Blockbuster was the king of movie and video game rentals in 1990s. The once-supreme rental chain was a staple in American strip malls and shopping centers, encapsulating a labyrinth of at least 7,000 movies in each store. People would flock to the shop on Friday nights, hoping to get the last copy of their favorite film or the latest release before it got snagged by someone else. At its peak in 2004, the company boasted its 9,000 locations. But as Netflix, Redbox and other video-on-demand services began to pop up, the business struggled to compete in an age that favored digital. After all, some argue, why go to all the trouble if you can just rent a movie from your couch? Blockbuster gave in and declared bankruptcy in 2010, and its remaining 1,700 stores were bought by Dish Network in 2011. After that, things kept going downhill. In 2013, the store said it would shut down 300 stores and cut 3,000 jobs. The remaining Alaska stores will officially shut their doors for good on Sunday, but they will reopen on Monday for inventory sales that will run through July and August. CNN’s Dalila-Johari Paul contributed to this report.<doc-sep>“Every day, even before this, people would drive by and see the ‘Open’ sign and say, ‘Oh my gosh. How are you still here? Why are you still here?’ ” Harding told The Washington Post in a Saturday phone interview as her store buzzed with activity, including the arrival of the oblivious motorcyclist in the central Oregon city.<doc-sep>It had to happen sooner or later, right? With its video-rental business model pummeled for years by one new bit of emerging technology after another, Blockbuster has seen its once-sprawling chain shrink to nearly total extinction. With news this week that two of the three remaining Blockbuster video locations in the U.S. will soon close, the planet is now left with just one outlet, hanging on by the skin of its teeth in the lovely video-faithful Oregon town of Bend. Sandi Harding, general manager of that location, told USA Today that she knows there are still some Blockbuster video stores operating overseas. But to the best of her knowledge, after those two Alaska stores close, her location will be the only one left in the USA. How is she hanging on? Harding told the paper that she credited the store’s “amazing, loyal customers” for her survival when all the other stores have been rendered obsolete. She said she has been working at Blockbuster for 14 years and seen her share of heartache as stores closed. “She remembers when Netflix came out,” said the USA Today story. “‘Oh man, we need to get ahead of this,’ she remembers thinking.” Probably ten years too late for that. Start your day with the news you need from the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our Morning Report weekday newsletter. As the world of the American Blockbuster is busted down into one tiny pebble, people are taking to Twitter to reflect, to remember, and perhaps to wonder why it took so long for this day to come: Photo: This is not a drill This is not fake There is an open And thriving Blockbuster video In bend oregon… http://t.co/Mwt4gLpx0Z — Jenn (@kaliejay981) August 29, 2015 The Last Blockbuster "Alaska's last two Blockbuster video stores are calling it quits, leaving just one store open in the U.S.," AP reports. "The closures will leave the Blockbuster in Bend, Oregon, as the sole holdout." Maybe Netflix should buy it and encase it as a shrine. — Bansi Sharma (@bansisharma) July 13, 2018 Blockbuster Video's final remaining US store is in Bend, Oregon. About a quarter of the customers are tourists, seemingly nostalgic about the fact that a physical Blockbuster location still exists.https://t.co/cK88tGQt7s — Daveed Gartenstein-Ross (@DaveedGR) July 13, 2018 We’re down to just one—the very last Blockbuster Video store is in Bend, Oregon. If you’re ever in town, it’s just down the street from the Fotomat. #blockbuster — Tim Hunter (@timwack) July 13, 2018 it hurts my heart a bit that there is only one Blockbuster Video store left. I wish I could visit Bend, Oregon now — Blaaake (@BlakeLogan) July 13, 2018 You stay strong Bend, Oregon! 🙌🏼 https://t.co/DW3x8UkMeT — Shelby Danielsen (@NewsShelby) July 13, 2018 There is a Blockbuster video store alive & well in Bend #Oregon . What on earth? #LifeafterDeath pic.twitter.com/c2C5Nz33Gi — My Name is actually Reuben Gabriel (@ReubenGabriel) August 7, 2017 Bend, Oregon: my birthplace and the eventual resting place of Blockbuster Video https://t.co/imdg2Qq2wv — C Jackson Cowart (@CJacksonCowart) July 13, 2018 Just found out that there is in fact ONE #Blockbuster video store still standing in the United States, somewhere in Bend, Oregon to be exact. That is so amazing! Anyone remember when Ethan Hawke recited "To Be or Not To Be" in a Blockbuster store in "Hamlet (2000)"? pic.twitter.com/h4OmJZY8MK — Daniel William Clark (@DanielWClarkDWC) July 13, 2018 Bend, Oregon will soon have the last Blockbuster Video in the USA. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be over here feeling ancient and contemplating my mortality. 😂🤣 lolhttps://t.co/oCmyZPLpCw — Joshua Sweet (@JoshuaSweetXYZ) July 13, 2018<doc-sep>
A man parked his motorcycle on the sidewalk Saturday morning, ruining the aesthetic of the last remaining Blockbuster in the continental United States. "You can't park there," general manager Sandi Harding told the man as he walked into the store in Bend, Oregon. "People are trying to take pictures." The man paused for a beat. There was confusion in his response. "Trying to take pictures?" Somehow he had missed the past decade, when Blockbuster the video rental behemoth became Blockbuster the fallen victim of modernity. In 2004, at the company's peak, 9,000 Blockbuster outlets studded city blocks and suburban strip malls nationwide, a one-time indelible fixture of the family movie night. But soon after, Netflix, Redbox and the cold march of digital progress eroded the customer base at each store. Thousands of Blockbuster stores were closed through July 2018, leaving only three: two in Alaska, and Harding's store in Bend. "Every day, even before this, people would drive by and see the 'Open' sign and say, 'Oh my gosh. How are you still here? Why are you still here?'" Harding told The Washington Post in a Saturday phone interview as her store buzzed with activity, including the arrival of the oblivious motorcyclist. Now gawkers and tourists stop in Bend and line up to take photos in front of the store. There is, in a literal sense, nothing else quite like it in the lower 48. And after Sunday, when the stores in Anchorage and Fairbanks close for the last time, the location on NE Revere Avenue will be the sole Blockbuster in the entire country. Harding has been with the company for 14 years and joined the Bend location on Revere in May 2005. She insisted that nothing big changed. Customer service keeps people coming back, and new titles, such as NBC's current show "The Good Place," are available for rent. Even the IBM computers are running the same floppy disks from the 1990s, she said, shocking the younger employees. "No one can hack these computers, so that's a good thing," she said. But Harding conceded that the Internet and streaming services forever changed the way people consume entertainment, describing a "curve" from when Redbox and Netflix began to deliver more options. It has been quite the fall from movie rental primacy. In 1989, a Blockbuster store opened every 17 hours, The Post's Samantha Schmidt reported last year. But in the late 2000s, it seemed stores closed at that same pace. Just a handful survived in the last few years after Dish Network bought the company in 2011 and dismantled remaining locations. And yet, some stores persevered. Harding said many of her customers have been loyal for years. Others come in for the nostalgic stroll between aisles, picking feverishly through the inventory to find an obscure film. And snagging the last copy of a new and popular release provides a small thrill you cannot get from a download button. It was no coincidence that two of the remaining three Blockbuster stores were in Alaska. As Schmidt reported, an older population, long and dark winters and unusually high Internet usage fees conspired for the rental store business model to thrive there as it died elsewhere. For a time, anyway. The stores in Alaska announced their closures on Thursday. "[I]t is sad to say goodbye to our dedicated customers. We have thought of you as family for the past 28 years," Kevin Daymude, the general manager of Blockbuster Alaska, said on Facebook. In a follow-up video on the page, two people dressed in black place a candle in a store parking space. Even John Oliver could not save the Anchorage location. The host of HBO's "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" sent a jockstrap worn by Russell Crowe in the 2005 film "Cinderella Man" to the store. It displayed the unique piece of memorabilia since May, the Associated Press reported. While some might view Blockbuster's fate as comeuppance - a big chain that displaced small, family-owned stores only to be destroyed by innovation - Harding sees her store as a mainstay of the Bend community. Ken and Debbie Tisher are local owners, she said, and they pay a licensing fee to Dish Network to use the name. It is the local video store for many in Bend, and now, the entire country. And once in while, the Blockbuster is a godsend.