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The last Blockbuster store has a Twitter account and it's brilliant

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Gary Ogden
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I really miss Blockbuster – like, properly, actually miss it. Mainly because I fancied the girl that worked there and would impress her by standing in the horror section, running my fingers along the cases and loudly shouting “SEEN, SEEN, SEEN” until she looked up, but there were other reasons, too.

There was nothing like going into an actual shop and browsing all the VHS tapes, and later, DVDs – the physical act of picking things up, turning them around, reading the blurb, then saying “Might come back to this”, before repeating, ad infinitum, was a unique experience. Scrolling through Netflix just doesn’t cut it, in my opinion – it’s harder to find what you want, it’s not as fun, and also you can’t get any sweeties on the way out.

But alas, as with everything that I like, it came to an end – Blockbuster ceased to exist, and I was left to roam the barren aisles of the last few HMVs and Fopps in search of DVDs, before finally consigning myself to a life of online video.

But over in the US there are about 12 stores still left open – mainly in places like Alaska, where the Wi-Fi is bad and the winters are long. And the Twitter account of one branch is doing big numbers on the old internet. The location – the ‘Oak Lawn Shopping Center between 3rd and Main’ – may or may not actually exist, but it does look like the account is genuinely run by staff at one of the last stores, somewhere.

Either way, they’re banging out some top qual tweets:

And to finish off this round-up, a genuinely touching one that has made me quite upset, actually:

I really hope this is real, because it makes me happy that there’s someone still working at a Blockbuster, and having a good time. I tried on numerous occasions to apply for a job at my local store, but never got the gig (maybe something to do with scratching my phone number into the I Still Know What You Did Last Summer DVD), and I’ll be honest here – my life is incomplete because of it.

Either way: forever rent, Blockbusters, forever rent.

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Gary Ogden

Shortlist writer and "the least woke person in the office", Gary Ogden, likes horror movies, Cheestrings, tapping his leg under the desk, "having a drink", hiding from responsibility, screaming into the mirror whenever he is alone, and assorted other things. Mainly the screaming thing though. @garyblogden

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