Tell us what you remember about Alaska’s Blockbuster days

Updated: July 18, 2018 Published: July 17, 2018

Shawn Fortune heads to the end of the line with a basket full of action and horror movies that he purchased from the Blockbuster store on DeBarr Road on Tuesday, July 17, 2018. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Alaskans held on to their Blockbuster stores longer than residents of almost any other state. Heading to the video store and wandering the aisles, once a regular weekend pastime, has now been supplanted by scrolling through Netflix, and our last Blockbusters are set to close, leaving just one in America, in Bend, Oregon. What do you remember about the era of DVD, VHS and video game rentals in Alaska? Maybe it was the first time you watched a PG film? Or it was where you had your first job? Did a movie-rental date lead to your wedding? Why do you think it took so long for us to let go of Blockbuster here? Share your Blockbuster story in the form below. Feel free to share photos if you have them.

Pricey internet and nostalgia keep Alaska video stores alive

Julia O'Malley

Anchorage-based Julia O'Malley is a former ADN reporter, columnist and editor. She received James Beard national food writing awards in 2024 and 2018, and a collection of her work, "The Whale and the Cupcake: Stories of Subsistence, Longing, and Community in Alaska," was published in 2019. She's currently a guest curator at the Anchorage Museum.