This building was originally built in 1998 to be a Blockbuster video store. It still stands today in its original form but of course missing the famous giant blue movie ticket Blockbuster logo. It’s no question that Blockbuster dominated the rental movie industry in the 90s but The millennium introduce new technology and would slowly kill the stores for good.

By Nisie

Blockbuster was founded October 1985 in Dallas Texas. At that time the most popular movies were The Breakfast Club, The Goonies  and Back to the Future. Families would load up the car and drive down to their local  Blockbuster where there was some thing for everyone. I still remember being infatuated with the giant Fight Club movie posters and the bright movie theatre style lights lining the walls.. Not  far long after blockbuster was founded, VHS tapes became outdated and replaced by DVDs. Unfortunately that simple change of technology would mark the beginning of the end for blockbuster. In 2002 Redbox began to pop up at grocery stores, gas stations and even fast food joints.. It wasn’t just the convenience of Redbox that drove customers away from movie rental stores. Redbox offered movies that were still in theater or that had not been released yet on DVD. Blockbuster didn’t give up immediately, they attempted their own version of the Redbox but their brand became outdated- it was too late. In 2014 the last blockbuster closed its doors for good. 

 Most of the old blockbuster stores have been repurposed as new storefronts but one Original Blockbuster building in North  Richland Hills  is still vacant and stands as a reminder of simpler times. Check out our video to get a closer look!