Kicker: Blockbuster holdout

MEGAN BASHAM, HOST: A small town on the edge of a national forest in Oregon is home to a one-of-a-kind endangered species.

But probably not the kind you were thinking of. Don’t think reptile. Think retail.

AUDIO: We’ve already had a bunch of people come in this morning saying that their kids had never been in a Blockbuster, so they came here just to let their kids see what a Blockbuster looks like.

Dan Montgomery, speaking there with local station KTVZ, is store manager of the very last Blockbuster video store in the United States.

At its height the video rental giant had more than 9,000 stores.

But after Blockbuster locations in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska, closed this week, the store in Bend, Oregon is the chain’s last link.

General Manager Sandi Harding told CNN the locals take pride in their holdout Blockbuster and they’re determined to keep it alive.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

(Ryan Brennecke /The Bulletin via AP) Scott Thornton takes a selfie in front of the Bend, Ore., Blockbuster on Friday, July 13, 2018. 

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.