It’s been a long time since anyone in New York City walked through the doors of a Blockbuster Video. Once ubiquitous, the chain shut its doors in the city years ago; the handful of video stores that remain around in New York generally have a more specific focus — often on the great movies that can’t be found on streaming or digital services. (Yes, there are plenty.)
But the residents of one Manhattan office have turned a vacant cubicle into a monument to Blockbuster Video in its glory days. At Gothamist, Ben Yakas has the story, which began with a video editor named Cory Bruce. Bruce works for Viacom; one day, he came across a group of discarded video tapes. He printed up some signs, found a vacant cubicle and an unused television, and the idea took off from there.
This DIY Blockbuster Video now houses DVDs, laserdiscs and snacks — and many of Bruce’s coworkers are now members. Yakas notes that the movie collection ballooned out from there:
Bruce started scouring thrift stores to fill out the VHS collection, and added more screens (they’re up to eight). He estimates the film library contains around 600 videos now, including around 400 VHS, 200 DVDs, and one very special laserdisc of Speed.
The relative success of this experiment has led Bruce and his coworkers to establish a few other working monuments to chain stores of the 1980s and 1990s, including Tower Records, Circuit City and KB Toys.
The DIY Blockbuster’s future remains uncertain: Yakas reports that some of the space currently used for it might be needed for actual desk space soon. But it’s an excellent reminder of the appeal of video stores — and of the unexpected joys that movies can bring.
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