ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. — For years, it remained high above the corner of Electric and Starkey roads — painted over, faded and no longer advertising movies, but still unmistakably shaped like the iconic Blockbuster Video ticket.
Now, that final roadside reminder is gone.
A boom truck was spotted lowering the massive former Blockbuster Video sign from its tall pole at the old location at 4014 Electric Road, near Tanglewood Mall. Even beneath layers of paint, portions of Blockbuster’s familiar branding could still be seen peeking through.
For people who grew up in the 1980s, ’90s and early 2000s, Blockbuster was more than a place to rent a movie. A Friday-night trip to Blockbuster was an event. Families wandered the aisles looking at VHS and DVD covers, kids argued over which movie or video game to rent, and customers grabbed candy, popcorn and other movie-night snacks before heading home.
FROM ONE STORE TO MORE THAN 9,000
The first Blockbuster opened in Dallas, Texas, on October 19, 1985, with roughly 8,000 videotapes and a computerized checkout system that was unusual for video stores at the time. The chain expanded rapidly and, at its peak in 2004, operated more than 9,000 stores worldwide.
Roanoke was very much part of that era. Historical Roanoke Times coverage shows that by 1994, Blockbuster already operated four video locations in the Roanoke Valley, including the store near the intersection of Virginia 419/Electric Road and Starkey Road.
The Electric Road location appears to have opened around 1990 and closed in January 2010, according to retail-history records. Today, the address is divided among other businesses, but the towering old Blockbuster-style sign remained long after the movies were gone.
The location was also remembered locally as an especially expensive Blockbuster development — sometimes referred to as the “Million Dollar Store” because of the investment in the prominent corner property, site work and retaining wall.
WHAT HAPPENED TO BLOCKBUSTER?
Blockbuster’s dominance faded as movie habits changed. DVD-by-mail services, Redbox kiosks, video-on-demand and eventually streaming eliminated much of the reason to make a separate trip to a rental store.
The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010. Dish Network acquired Blockbuster in 2011, and the remaining corporate-owned U.S. stores were closed by January 2014.
But Blockbuster never completely disappeared. After the final two Alaska locations stopped rentals in July 2018, the independently owned Blockbuster in Bend, Oregon, became the last Blockbuster in the United States. By 2019, it was regarded as the last remaining Blockbuster retail store in the world, and remarkably, it is still operating today. opb
PHYSICAL MEDIA ISN’T DEAD IN ROANOKE
While the days of Blockbuster may largely be over, there are still places for movie collectors who miss browsing shelves of actual movies instead of scrolling through a streaming menu.
One local example is The Vintage Reseller, located at 521 Hardy Road in Vinton, which buys and sells physical media including VHS tapes, DVDs, Blu-rays and video games, along with comics, vintage toys and other pop-culture collectibles.
The store is especially known for its rotating selection of horror, sci-fi and cult-classic movies, with inventory changing as new collections and estates are purchased.
It may not be Blockbuster, but for those who still enjoy finding a movie on a shelf, holding the case in their hands and taking something home, that experience isn’t completely gone.
Still, seeing that giant ticket-shaped sign lowered from the Roanoke skyline feels like the removal of one of the area’s final physical reminders of an entirely different era of movie night.
Do you remember going to this Blockbuster? What was the movie or game you rented over and over again?