Blockbuster Memorabilia Collector Guide

A short history for collectors

David Cook opened the first Blockbuster Video in Dallas in October 1985. It stocked 8,000 tapes covering 6,500 titles on shelves throughout the store, and a laser scanning system read barcodes on the tapes and on members’ cards to speed up transactions. Membership cards were part of the business from the first store.

By 1993, its bright blue and yellow logo was on more than 3,400 stores worldwide. Blockbuster merged into Viacom in 1994 and became a fully independent company in October 2004. At the end of 2004, near the chain’s peak, its annual report counted 9,094 stores: 7,265 operated by the company and 1,829 run by franchisees, in the United States and abroad.

Bankruptcy, store closures and the last store

On September 23, 2010, Blockbuster Inc. and its domestic subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Franchise stores, which the company described as independently owned, operated and funded, were not part of the filing. In April 2011, DISH Network won the bankruptcy auction for substantially all of Blockbuster’s assets with a bid valued at about $320 million. DISH cited more than 1,700 store locations at the time.

DISH closed stores in waves. About 300 closed earlier in 2013, and in November of that year DISH announced that Blockbuster would close its approximately 300 remaining U.S. stores by early January 2014 and end its by-mail DVD service. DISH kept the licensing rights to the Blockbuster brand and said it would continue to support franchise operations. The Bend store’s own history says the final corporate location closed in January 2014.

Franchise stores lasted longer. When the last two stores in Alaska closed in 2018, the Associated Press reported one U.S. store remaining, in Bend, Oregon. That store began as a locally owned Pacific Video shop, and its owners became a Blockbuster franchise in June 2000. Since the end of March 2019, it has been the only Blockbuster left.

Why Blockbuster items are collected

For many collectors the draw is nostalgia. A 2022 WorthPoint article on Blockbuster collecting ties the market to people’s fond memories of the stores, and the Bend store says its merchandise sales help keep it open.

The objects are also business history. When DISH closed the remaining company stores, its chief executive said consumer demand was “clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment.” A store sign, rental case or membership card is a physical record of the rental model that gave way to streaming.

Closing sales moved store equipment into private hands. A 2013 closing sale at a store in Clinton Township, Michigan, offered wire shelving, neon “open” signs, magazine racks, coming-attraction panels and a gumball machine. When Alaska’s last two stores closed in 2018, their general manager said the display cases and store fixtures were for sale.

What collectors find

WorthPoint’s survey names membership cards, VHS tapes, cups and mugs, promotional decorations and signs as the most common Blockbuster items for sale. The main categories:

• Membership cards: one of the most common items, and part of the barcode checkout system from the first store. The Bend store also sells new souvenir cards, covered below.
• Rental cases and media: empty VHS clamshell cases, cases with the tape still inside, DVDs in Blockbuster cases, and Blockbuster-exclusive titles, such as a Barney on the Move VHS and the Nintendo 64 game ClayFighter: Sculptor’s Cut.
• Store signage: marquee signs, light-up signs, restroom signs and smaller in-store rental signs.
• Fixtures: shelving, display cases, magazine racks, coming-attraction panels and gumball machines, all of which were offered at closing sales.
• Promotional displays: store display standees for movie releases, such as a 1992 Addams Family display.
• Branded goods: keychains, mugs, popcorn bowls, puzzles, magnets, plastic bags and back issues of the Blockbuster Video Catalog.
• Employee items: lapel pins, including pins handed out to employees on their first anniversary.

Recorded sales

Completed sales vary widely, so a single result is not a price guide. Compare several completed sales of the same kind of item in similar condition, and do not treat asking prices as sale results. These results come from a July 2022 article by the price-guide site WorthPoint:

• Employee lapel pins given out on a first work anniversary sold for $53 in 2019.
• A store restroom sign sold for $250 in 2020.
• A 1992 Addams Family store display sold for $800 in 2021.

Store-era originals and later merchandise

DISH kept the licensing rights to the brand when it closed the company stores, so a Blockbuster logo by itself does not date an item.

The Bend store sells new Blockbuster merchandise online. It says the proceeds help keep the store open and that most of its products are made in Bend. These are legitimate souvenirs, but they are not store-era pieces, and several closely resemble what collectors look for:

• Pre-laminated membership cards, sold as a nostalgia item
• Name tags made with whatever name the buyer requests
• An “Employee Uniform” bundle with a polo shirt, name tag, hat, socks, lanyard and membership card
• A Blockbuster polo shirt described as locally made in Bend
• T-shirts, hoodies, hats, stickers, magnets, pins and the Blockbuster Game

What to check before buying

Ask for clear photos and the item’s history, then check the details that matter for each category.

• Provenance: which store it came from, when it left the store and how the seller got it. Look for evidence the item was used in a store rather than bought as a souvenir. A closing-sale receipt, a photo or an employee connection helps; an unsupported story is not proof.
• Membership cards and name tags: photos of both sides, wear consistent with use, and a comparison with the Bend store’s current souvenir versions.
• Rental cases: whether a tape or disc is inside, whether it matches the case label, and any cracks, fading or sticker residue.
• Signs: exact dimensions, weight, mounting hardware, the condition of any lighting or wiring, and freight or pickup costs before you bid.
• Standees and displays: whether every piece is present and how much creasing, fading or water damage the photos show.
• Sale evidence: completed sales of comparable items, not asking prices or one outlier result.

Where to find current listings

Store-era Blockbuster items now change hands on the resale market. The Blockbuster company page on I ♥ Capitalism collects relevance-checked resale listings in its Vintage & Secondhand tab and links each item to the marketplace selling it. Its Official Store tab links to the Bend store’s shop. Listings change as sellers add and remove items.