The Blockbuster movie rental store near Safeway on Century Drive in Bend had its last day of business Sunday.

At the same time, the local franchise owner is planning to open a new Blockbuster in Madras as soon as this weekend.

Bend resident Ken Tisher, owner of the remaining three Blockbuster stores in Bend and one store in Redmond, said four Blockbusters was too many for Bend. Though all the Bend locations had comparable profits, Tisher said he chose to close the Century Drive location because the other three are closer to major shopping centers, like The Forum.

“It’s a great location for somebody,” Tisher said about his former store. “It’s about trying to find the right person (for it).”

Tisher chose to open in Madras because there is less competition in the area after the Hollywood Video store closed because of the company’s national liquidation. He said Hollywood Video was successful in Madras.

With the Bend closure, west-side movie renters are left with the Ray’s Food Place movie store, a couple of Redbox kiosks and the recently installed Blockbuster Express kiosks. Bend’s Westside Video, the other locally owned movie rental store, closed in early 2009.

That means most money spent on movie rentals on the west side is going out of the local economy, Tisher said.

“We actually employ people as opposed to the kiosks, who do not,” he said.

The increasing use of kiosks, as well as Netflix’s digital downloads, may be a reason to fill the vacant space with something other than a rental store, said Erich Schultz, a principal broker with Compass Commercial Real Estate Services who is searching to fill the building.

Schultz said he has found a few prospects, but nothing definite.

Blockbuster Inc. has been suffering for months, with falling stock prices that caused it to be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in July. The company has been talking about the possibility of filing for bankruptcy for months, and multiple news reports say that could happen this month.

About 12 percent of Blockbuster’s stores are franchises, locally owned by people like Tisher. Tisher said his stores would remain open if Blockbuster were to file for bankruptcy.

While the west-side Blockbuster store did help draw customers to other tenants in the complex, like Taco Del Mar, some are still uncertain how much impact the closure will have.

Chris Arathoon, owner of the two Bend Taco Del Mar franchises, said he has seen customers walk into his store to get dinner, with a Blockbuster movie in hand. But most of his business comes from lunch, with business people and students from Summit High School looking for a quick meal, so Arathoon is hopeful Blockbuster’s closure won’t hurt him.

“Maybe they’ll come down and get dinner and go home and watch a movie anyway,” said Arathoon, adding that Taco Del Mar had a busy evening the day after Blockbuster closed. “We’ll see how it plays out.”