After months of feeling separated from their customers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the manager of the last Blockbuster created a clever way to bring community members back to the store.
What We Know:
- According to the AirBnB posting, for $4 per visit, the last Blockbuster will host up to 4 guests at a time for three separate nights in September for a 90’s-themed sleepover. The Blockbuster is located in Bend, Oregon, a small city located in Deschutes County.
…cause the last BLOCKBUSTER in the world will be offering movie lovers in Bend a 90s themed sleepover for a limited time—only on airbnb. who’s down? 👀https://t.co/dd4yz1UtZP pic.twitter.com/NJEZK2wxeW
— Airbnb (@Airbnb) August 11, 2020
- Sandi Harding has been managing the Blockbuster since 2004. When she first started, there were more than 9000 Blockbuster locations still in business. She has outlasted her fellow managers by more than a year as the second to last Blockbuster, located in Perth, Australia, closed in March 2019.
- In an interview with VICE in May of this year, Harding described the ways that she is keeping business running amidst the pandemic. This includes offering curbside pickup wherein folks could make their selection over the phone and an employee would “clean the DVD case with Clorox wipes, put it in a Ziplock bag, and take it to their car”.
- The AirBnB reservations will only be open to guests from Deschutes County due to COVID-19. The advertisement states that Blockbuster will follow U.S. Centers for Disease Control guidelines for similar businesses. After the final guests check out, the sleepover space will be available for viewing for a limited time during store hours.
If you can’t make it to the last Blockbuster, but are in need of a movie recommendation you can always call the store to take advantage of their Callgorithm, “Tell us what you like and don’t like, and a real human will give you tailored recommendations”.
