The show, helmed by Vanessa Ramos, is based on events that happened in the real last Blockbuster, located in Bend, Oregon.

Is the Last ‘Blockbuster’ Still Open?

Blockbuster used to be the place where film fans flocked to rent the latest releases or take out their old favorites for a movie night.

The first Blockbuster store opened on October 19, 1985 in Dallas and the chain expanded both nationally and internationally throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. At its peak there were 9,094 Blockbuster stores across the world, but with the advent of streaming services like Netflix, the demand for video rental shops quickly began to diminish.

The store in Bend, Oregon became the final Blockbuster in March, 2019 following the closure of two of the chain’s locations in Australia, and the store is still open.

Ken Tisher owns the store and through a licensing agreement with Dish Network, the company that owns Blockbuster, is able to sell merchandise with the brand’s name on. Items such as hats, shirts and even Blockbuster-themed gift bundles are available in-store and on the store’s website.

Bend’s Blockbuster was featured in the documentary The Last Blockbuster and has also appeared on shows like The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

The last Blockbuster store is also the home of several items of memorabilia from Russell Crowe movies, which were donated to the store from a Blockbuster in Anchorage, Alaska, that closed in July 2018.

The Anchorage store had originally been gifted items from iconic Crowe films, like his vest from Les Miserables, by John Oliver as part of a segment on Last Week Tonight in 2018.

Other items gifted to the store include the jockstrap, robe and shorts Crowe wore in Cinderella Man and his hood from 2010 film Robin Hood.

The last Blockbuster has remained open against all odds, with the store even keeping on all of its employees during the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2020 the store was listed on Airbnb for guests to rent for a 90s themed sleepover.

Now, with Netflix’s Blockbuster, the store in Bend will once again be in the public eye, although the show is set in a fictional shop in Michigan.

The series stars Randall Park as Timmy, the boss of the Blockbuster store, Melissa Fumero as his colleague Eliza, and Tyler Alvarez, Madeleine Arthur, Olga Merediz and Kamaia Fairburn as Carlos, Hannah, Connie and Kayla respectively, all of whom are employees of the store.

Blockbuster is out on Netflix now.