There’s a new museum in town, not the typical kind, either.

It’s Bend’s Blockbuster video store, the last store of its kind on Earth. The store hearkens back to the 1990s and early 2000s when the once robust chain had more than 9,000 video stores.

And despite what viral social media posts might say, this store is not going away, said Sandi Harding, Bend Blockbuster general manager.

“Our plans are to still stay here,” said Harding. “We still are able to get movies to renters. We can still pay our employees. We can still do our thing.”

In fact, now students can come in to the store for class trips and learn about an archaic movie delivery system called VHS or DVDs.

Recently, a first grade class at Seven Peaks School led by Maria Runk toured the store on NE Third Street. They took in the rows of colorful titles, the clothing racks filled with T-shirts, hoodies and sweatpants, which all suit the “Blockbuster and chill” lifestyle.

“(The students) are currently learning about their personal heritage: where their family comes from, what life was like when their parents or grandparents were growing up, and how their heritage helps them to understand their life in the present and how it has changed over time,” Runk said. “To explore the idea that the past affects the present, Sandi Harding at Blockbuster was so gracious in sharing with us the history of Blockbuster and digital media and how they have evolved.”

Bend is home to the last remaining Blockbuster video store in the lower 48 states

Bend is home to the last remaining Blockbuster video store in the lower 48 states

Staff explained how VCRs worked and the once prevalent existence of movies in a physical, rentable format rather than bytes that are streamed online directly to TVs.

In today’s world of social media, sometimes inaccurate news travels fast. In the days that followed a hoax social media post that the store was closing at the end of October, Harding said the demand for merchandise increased threefold. In a span of under an hour, 20 people called to find out if it was true, she said.

The Bend store became the last Blockbuster in existence in 2019 when news that the Blockbuster in Perth, Australia, had shuttered. Now all that remains of the once-massive video empire is the store in Bend. In 2011, Blockbuster became part of Dish Network, and just three years later, there were only 300 U.S.-based retail stores under the vivid blue and yellow Blockbuster banner.

Daily, people come by the Bend store and take their picture in front of the sign. Streaming service Netflix boosted Bend’s position in the 2020 documentary “The Last Blockbuster.”

Bend Blockbuster booming after Netflix documentary goes viral

Bend Blockbuster booming after Netflix documentary goes viral

The Bend location is able to stay open because Bend business owner Ken Tisher also owns the portion of the building where the store is located.

“Things have calmed down now since that post went viral,” Harding said. “It’s a double-edged sword to get this kind of attention. You don’t want people to think about us closing. We keep renting movies every day.”