Remember when renting a movie was an adventure in and of itself? You would get in the car with your parents or older siblings and drive to a store that housed shelves of DVDs (or VHS if you’re really a hag), scour the outer perimeter for the ‘new releases,’ wait in a line being tempted with candy and popcorn, sometimes settling for your third or fourth top choice for the movie you wanted to see, only to come home to find out that the little, yellow plastic DVD lock was still intact, or a scratch on the disc made it impossible to watch. Yeah, those were the days. Well, the days that are now gone forever.

On Saturday, November 9th, the last Blockbuster movies from the movie rental chain were rented. The last movie was rented in Hawaii. The title: “This is the End.” And it truly is the end of an era.

We all knew this day was coming, when the company declared bankruptcy three years ago. Rental sales were streaming (too soon?) down. It seems the Onion’s 2008 video mocking Blockbuster’s archaic business model is still relevant today.

As much hassle as it seemed to be, renting a movie was part and parcel of the movie watching experience. Running through the DVD-lined aisles, fighting with your siblings over which Adam Sandler movie would make it home that night, begging your parents for the double-priced sour candies as you waited in line to pay for your movie on a Saturday night, all helped to build up the anticipation and excitement even before the movie came close to sliding into the slot on your DVD player.

Thanks for the good times, Blockbuster. Your logo had a nice color scheme. Let the nostalgia begin.

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