ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska’s last two Blockbuster video-rental stores are closing, leaving just one store open in the U.S.

Kevin Daymude, general manager of Blockbuster Alaska, says the stores in Anchorage and Fairbanks will close for rentals after Sunday night and reopen Tuesday for video sales.

The closures come just two months after the host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” sent a jockstrap worn by Russell Crowe in the 2005 movie “Cinderella Man” to the Anchorage store, which displayed it in an effort to ramp up business. But Daymude said it wasn’t enough to counter a planned increase in the cost of his lease.

The Blockbuster in Bend, Oregon, is now the sole holdout.


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