Time-lapse Videos Show the Rise and Fall of Iconic American Retail Stores

The rise of major streaming services such as Netflix and online retailers such as Amazon have had a devastating impact on once-booming American classic retail establishments such as Blockbuster Video and Toys“R”Us. This phenomenon is precisely what today’s time-lapse density maps aim to visualize.

These videos come to us from Reddit user /u/V1Analytics. The user created them using Excel, Python, and Blender 2.8. They shared them on the /r/DataisBeautiful Subreddit here and here where they raked in an impressive number of Upvotes at over 90k and 57k respectively.

Blockbuster Video US store locations between 1986 and 2019

Blockbuster Video opened its first retail location in October of 1985, but this time-lapse starts 10 months later in August of 1986. At the time, the company boasted only 5 stores. The company almost immediately saw what can only be described as a viral spread of locations. One year later, there were 68 stores spanning coast to coast and by 2003, the company was hitting its peak at about 5,600 stores nationwide. But after nearly 20 years of steady growth and industry domination, the tides began to turn. The company lost over 80% of its stores with about 1,000 remaining by 2012, and was at about 350 stores at the same time the following year. Today, there is still 1 store (albeit privately owned) in operation in Bend, Oregon.

[OC] Blockbuster Video US store locations between 1986 and 2019 from r/dataisbeautiful

From August to August, here’s a quick yearly rundown of how fast the company spread and how fast it all came crumbling down.

• 1986 – 5 stores
• 1987 – 68
• 1988 – 290
• 1989 – 794
• 1990 – 1,234
• 1991 – 1,578
• 1992 – 1,899
• 1993 – 2,251
• 1994 – 2,587
• 1995 – 2,942
• 1996 – 3,285
• 1997 – 3,645
• 1998 – 3,934
• 1999 – 4,468
• 2000 – 4,978
• 2001 – 5,240
• 2002 – 5,433
• 2003 – 5,569 (notice the decrease in growth from ’02 to ’03)
• 2004 – 5,690 (still growing … but barely)
• 2005 – 5,678 (holding steady?)
• 2006 – 5,315 (over 300 stores lost in 1 year)
• 2007 – 4,914
• 2008 – 4,629 (consistently losing 300-400 stores per year; now falling as fast as it was once growing)
• 2009 – 4,188
• 2010 – 3,480 (not looking good)
• 2011 – 2,097 (yikes)
• 2012 – 1,097 (1,000 stores down in one year!)
• 2013 – 361
• 2014 – 44
• 2015 – 24 (the final stores certainly put up a fight)
• 2016 – 14 (still holding on)
• 2017 – 9 (back down to 1986 numbers 30 years later)
• 2018 – 2
• 2019 – 1 (and that store is still open today!)

In the end, its reliance on brick and mortar and inability to adjust with the times (Netflix DVD delivery and eventual streaming services) lead to its swift and painful demise.

Toys“R”Us Stores Across the US from 1957 to 2020

And here’s a similar tale from another classic bygone store. For those of you who are too young to remember, Toys“R”Us was the Shangri-La for kids; literally a full size department store FILLED with toys. The nostaliga is real!

It was glorious but simply could not compete with the major online retailers such as Amazon. See for yourself below:

[OC] Toys “R” Us Stores across the US from 1957 to 2020 from r/dataisbeautiful

Surprisingly, as of 2019, Toys“R”Us is trying to make a comeback in the United States.

Now hopefully we can convince V1Analytics to do the same with KB Toys and even Gamestop/EB Games now that they’re on the way out.