Ad by last Blockbuster in Bend, Oregon shows store surviving armageddon – as sales rocket 200% 

A commercial for the world’s last Blockbuster store that joked that it would stay open “all the way” has increased its sales by 200 percent.

The ad, set in post-apocalyptic Oregon, shows a cockroach traveling through a dystopian landscape before arriving at the video rental store, the only business that has survived.

Since the family store in Bend, Oregon couldn’t afford a $7 million Super Bowl commercial earlier this month, they decided to shoot something on a budget and post it on social media.

However, the old-style commercial resonated with nostalgic Americans who have been supporting the business by purchasing merchandise related to the commercial, including T-shirts featuring the cockroach, named Steve, and physical VHS tapes containing the 30-second ad.

Store manager Sandi Harding (pictured) said she wanted to show what a small business can accomplish on a shoestring budget.

Store manager Sandi Harding appeared on NewsNation to discuss the success of the ad, titled ‘Blockbuster: Until the Bitter End’ and the recent surge in sales. He also said that he wanted to show what small businesses can achieve with smaller budgets.

“We didn’t have that $7 million budget, but we wanted to do something fun,” he said. “It was a great experience filming it, posting it on social media, and seeing everyone appreciate our hard work.”

The post-Armageddon theme, he said, was a nod to the store’s history and its refusal to close when the era of online streaming wreaked havoc on DVD and video rental businesses.

“It was just making fun of the fact that we’ve survived everything else, we’re going to survive the apocalypse as well,” he told NewsNation.

The commercial also boosted sales at his online store, which sells various Blockbuster products and now an entire line dedicated to the viral cockroach affectionately named Steve.

It also caused an increase in visitors to the physical store. “President’s weekend was the weekend after the Super Bowl, so a lot of people came and saw the commercial, saw the new merchandise that goes along with the commercial,” Harding said.

‘We increased online sales by 200 per cent, which was fantastic. My mom and dad helped, my mom is no longer retired to help me with online orders,” she added.

Harding has said in the past that the store he runs hasn’t changed since Blockbuster’s heyday.

The store sells commercial and cockroach related merchandise through its online store.

Harding promoted the trailer on social media ahead of its release over Super Bowl weekend and even sold VHS copies at the store.

Harding has said in the past that the store he runs hasn’t changed since Blockbuster’s heyday. She started working at the store in 2004, when the chain had about 9,000 stores and 60,000 employees, according to Reuters.

Blockbuster, whose first store opened in Dallas in 1985, was once a thriving business.

In fact, in the early 2000s, Reed Hastings, who ultimately founded Netflix, traveled to the company’s Texas headquarters to pitch a new company that would rent DVDs to customers and deliver them by mail. Blockbuster refused.

In 2007, when Netflix launched, Blockbuster had revenue of $5 billion, but as the financial crisis loomed and stores like Target and Walmart began selling ever cheaper DVDs, business began to suffer.

As of early 2009, it was almost $780 million in debt, and a year later it filed for bankruptcy. With that he began closing stores and turning them into franchises.

Sandberg, who runs the final store, located in a strip mall in Bend, refused to close and has held on ever since.

By 2017, there were only 10 stores left in the US. While blockbusters from around the world have closed their doors, the Bend location appears to be doing well business-wise.

In 2019, after the closure of Blockbuster in Perth, Australia, his store went from being the last in the United States to the last in the world.