STEINBACH, MB
An old Blockbuster Video building was carefully hoisted onto the back of a semi trailer this week before winding up at a Mennonite open air museum in Steinbach.
“When our grandchildren ask about the ‘olden days’ we’ll finally be able to show them how hard we really had it,” said museum curator Erin Neufeld. “Back in the ’90s, if you wanted to watch Terminator 2: Judgement Day or Back to the Future 3, you had to bundle up in your winter clothes, hop in the back seat of your parents ’88 Cutlass station wagon and drive all the way to the local video rental store. Then you had wander the aisles, inspecting the films, hoping to find one that Dad would approve … only to discover all the copies were gone.”
The old Blockbuster store will find a prominent spot on the museum Main Street beside other relics of the past such as the old saw mill and sod hut.
“And when you were done watching your movie, you had to rewind it and bring it back to the store,” said Neufeld. “You know, we went through some really tough times in those days, but struggles like these have always been part of the Mennonite story.”
The Blockbuster store is already a popular attraction, although Steinbach residents are wondering why they didn’t preserve the old Adi’s Video building instead.
(photo credit: Mike Kalasnik/CC)