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Blockbuster

Also known as Blockbuster Video, Blockbuster LLC

Lasted

about 28 years

October 1985  →  January 2014

Cause of death
Killed by a successor
with killed by cost as a contributing factor
Made by
Blockbuster LLC

Mail-order and then streaming removed the entire reason to drive to a video shop.

At its peak Blockbuster ran more than 9,000 stores and made a meaningful share of its profit from late fees, which is a business model with a natural predator. The last company-owned stores closed in January 2014, four years after bankruptcy. One franchised location in Bend, Oregon is still trading, still renting discs, and has become a tourist destination in its own right, which makes Blockbuster officially dead and demonstrably still open.

Replaced by Streaming video.

Standing in the archive

Rank 54 of 127 by lifespan. Blockbuster outlasted 58% of everything else on file.

Cite this entry

"Blockbuster." How Long It Lasted, https://www.howlongitlasted.com/thing/blockbuster.

Died nearby

Sources

Last checked by a human on 24 July 2026