2B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
BUSINESS & AG LIFE
THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 2021
Bend Blockbuster booming after Netﬂ ix documentary goes viral
By KYLE SPURR
The Bulletin
BEND — The Block-
buster video rental store
in Bend already was pop-
ular when it became the last
location on Earth. It drew
visitors from across the
United States and as far as
Taiwan and London.
But in the past two
weeks, the store oﬀ North-
east Third Street has been
ﬂ ooded with even more vis-
itors and online orders after
Netﬂ ix boosted its visibility.
It was featured in “The Last
Blockbuster,” a documen-
tary about the store that
started trending in the top
10 most watched movies on
Netﬂ ix.
People have sent ﬂ owers
and called the store just to
say thank you for staying
open. Those visiting the
store wear masks and
keep their distance due to
the COVID-19 pandemic,
but are not deterred from
ﬁ nding a movie to rent.
In the backroom, staﬀ
members have been busy
packaging thousands of
online orders for Block-
buster T-shirts, hats and
face masks, which are all
made by Bend businesses.
“It’s a little bit crazy, but
it’s a very good thing,” said
Bend Blockbuster Manager
Sandi Harding. “We’ll take
a little crazy if it means
keeping the store open.”
Harding is the star of
the movie, which peaked
as high as the No. 4 movie
Dean Guernsey/Bend Bulletin
Milt McConnell of Bend takes a picture of Mark Style of Philadelphia and Ilene Style of Bend in front of the Bend
Blockbuster on Monday, March 29, 2021.
Dean Guernsey/Bend Bulletin
Lynne Zuckerman (left) and Carolyn Costa of Redmond shop for movies at
the Bend Blockbuster on Monday, March 29, 2021.
in the United States since
it appeared March 15 on
Netﬂ ix.
People have stopped
Harding in the grocery
store to take pictures with
her and one boy visited the
Bend Blockbuster and was
in awe of seeing Harding,
she said.
“It’s good for the store.
It’s good for the commu-
nity,” Harding said. “And
I can learn to live with my
newfound fame as long as it
doesn’t mess with what we
are doing every day.”
The two Bend ﬁ lm-
makers behind the docu-
mentary, Taylor Morden
and Zeke Kamm, had no
idea if the store would stay
open when they started
ﬁ lming in 2017. The movie
focuses on Harding’s day-
to-day eﬀ ort to run the
store, which became the
last in the world when the
Blockbuster in Perth, Aus-
tralia, closed in March
2019.
Morden said he’s heard
from people who call
Harding a national trea-
sure and say the store must
remain open at all costs.
He’s pleased to know the
ﬁ lm’s attention on Net-
ﬂ ix may be what keeps the
store open.
“For us to have some
small part in helping
the store stay open is
amazing,” Morden said.
“Not a lot of documentaries
actually accomplish the
goal of their story.”
The Bend Blockbuster
has no plans to close. It has
a steady lease agreement
with the building’s prop-
erty owner. The owners of
the local Blockbuster, Ken
and Debbie Tisher, have
leased the property since
1992, when it was a Paciﬁ c
Video store. The store was
franchised in 2000 and
became a Blockbuster.
In its heyday, Block-
buster had 9,000 stores.
The documentary reminds
people about those
years when Blockbuster
was the leader in home
entertainment.
Morden said many
viewers enjoy the irony of
watching the documentary
on Netﬂ ix, the streaming
service credited with
changing the way people
watch movies at home and
leading to the demise of
Blockbuster.
The ﬁ lm has also
brought viewers to tears,
especially those who have
fond memories of working
at a Blockbuster in their
childhood, Morden said.
“The best part is the
people who message us
and say they worked at
Blockbuster and were
crying watching the
movie,” Morden said. “It
brought back so many great
memories.”
Morden and Kamm are
still amazed their movie
has gone viral on Netﬂ ix,
staying in the top 10 for
two weeks. Kamm said he’s
heard from old high school
classmates and a childhood
crush, who all enjoyed the
ﬁ lm.
“It’s aﬀ ected people
emotionally,” Kamm said.
“I think it reminded people
that we had this thing that
was such an important part
of our lives. Hopefully it
reminds people to appre-
ciate the things they have
now.”
Both ﬁ lmmakers feel
connected with the Bend
Blockbuster, even though
they are done ﬁ lming
their movie. They con-
tact Harding regularly to
ﬁ nd out if she needs more
DVDs of their movies or
movie posters to sell at the
store.
“I’m sure I’ll be
involved with the folks at
the last Blockbuster until
they ever close,” Morden
said. “There is no way
we are not going to be
connected.”
State ﬁ nes Bend
President Biden boosts oﬀ shore wind
energy, wants to power 10 million homes coﬀ ee shop $27K for
COVID-19 violations
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The
Biden administration is
moving to sharply increase
oﬀ shore wind energy along
the East Coast, saying
Monday, March 29, it is
taking initial steps toward
approving a huge wind
farm oﬀ the New Jersey
coast as part of an eﬀ ort
to generate electricity
for more than 10 million
homes nationwide by 2030.
Meeting the target could
mean jobs for more than
44,000 workers and for
33,000 others in related
employment, the White
House said. The eﬀ ort also
would help avoid 78 mil-
lion metric tons of carbon
dioxide emissions per year,
a key step in the admin-
istration’s ﬁ ght to slow
global warming.
President Joe Biden
“believes we have an
enormous opportunity
in front of us to not only
address the threats of cli-
mate change, but use it as
a chance to create millions
of good-paying, union
jobs that will fuel Ameri-
ca’s economic recovery,’’
said White House climate
adviser Gina McCarthy.
“Nowhere is the scale of
that opportunity clearer
than for oﬀ shore wind.’’
The administration’s
commitment to the still
untapped industry “will
create pathways to the
middle class for people
from all backgrounds
and communities,” she
added. “We are ready to
rock-and-roll.”
The administration
said it intends to pre-
pare a formal environ-
mental analysis for the
Ocean Wind project oﬀ
New Jersey. That would
move Ocean Wind toward
becoming the third com-
mercial-scale oﬀ shore
wind project in the U.S.
The Interior Depart-
ment’s Bureau of Ocean
Michael Dwye/Associated Press, File
Three of Deepwater Wind’s turbines stand in the water oﬀ Block Island, Block Island, Rhode Island, on Aug. 15,
2016. Though this is only one of two operational U.S. oﬀ shore wind farms in 2021, members of the wind power
industry and clean energy advocates are hoping President Joe Biden’s administration can transform the country
into a leader in oﬀ shore wind power.
Energy Management said it
is targeting oﬀ shore wind
projects in shallow waters
between Long Island and
the New Jersey coast. A
recent study shows the area
can support up to 25,000
development and construc-
tion jobs by 2030, Interior
said.
The ocean energy
bureau said it will push
to sell commercial leases
in the area in late 2021 or
early 2022.
The administration also
pledged to invest $230 mil-
lion to upgrade U.S. ports
and provide up to $3 bil-
lion in loan guarantees
for oﬀ shore wind proj-
ects through the Energy
Department’s recently
revived clean-energy loan
program.
“It is going to be a full-
force gale of good-paying,
union jobs that lift people
up,’’ said Energy Secretary
Jennifer Granholm.
Ocean Wind, 15 miles
oﬀ the coast of southern
New Jersey, is projected
to produce about 1,100
megawatts a year, enough
to power 500,000 homes,
once it becomes opera-
tional in 2024.
The Interior Depart-
ment has previously
announced environ-
mental reviews for Vine-
yard Wind in Massachu-
setts and South Fork wind
farm about 35 miles east
of Montauk Point in Long
Island, N.Y. Vineyard
Wind is expected to pro-
duce about 800 megawatts
of power and South Fork
about 132 megawatts.
Biden has vowed to
double oﬀ shore wind pro-
duction by 2030 as part
of his eﬀ ort to slow cli-
mate change. The likely
approval of the Atlantic
Coast projects — the
leading edge of at least
16 oﬀ shore wind proj-
ects along the East Coast
— marks a sharp turn-
around from the Trump
administration.
As president, Donald
Trump frequently derided
wind power as an expen-
sive, bird-slaughtering
way to make electricity,
and his administration
resisted or opposed wind
projects nationwide.
FAMILY
OWNED
BEND — Oregon
Occupational Safety and
Health has ﬁ ned a Bend
coﬀ ee shop more than
$27,000 for violating
three standards meant to
protect employees from
the coronavirus disease.
State oﬃ cials said in
a news release Tuesday,
March 29, that Kev-
ista willfully con-
tinued to potentially
expose workers to the
virus, despite a public
health order limiting the
capacity of indoor dining
to zero.
The citation resulted
from an inspection after
multiple complaints. The
inspection documented
the company began
allowing indoor dining
on Dec. 3 and there-
after. During that time,
Deschutes County was
designated an “extreme
risk” for transmission of
the disease.
During the inspection,
owners Krista and Kevin
Lauinger said they chose
to reopen even though
they were aware it went
against workplace health
requirements, state oﬃ -
cials said.
The coﬀ ee shop
plans to appeal the ﬁ ne,
KTVZ-TV reported.
The ﬁ ne is three times
the minimum penalty for
such a violation and the
decision reﬂ ects the need
to ensure a more appro-
priate deterrent eﬀ ect
where employers insist
on disregarding health
and safety standards,
according to Oregon
OSHA Administrator
Michael Wood.
Such behavior puts
employees at risk and
enables the employer
to achieve a competi-
tive advantage over busi-
nesses that comply with
the requirements, oﬃ cials
said.
Last July, OSHA issued
an $8,900 citation to Kev-
ista for failing to imple-
ment face coverings in
line with guidance for
restaurants and bars. Kev-
ista’s appeal of that ﬁ ne is
pending, the agency said.
— Associated Press
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