Throwback Thursday: Do You Remember...?

ENFIELD, CT — In this weekly series, Enfield Patch publishes a photo of a business or landmark in town that is no longer in existence.

Today we won't go back very far, but we are returning to a bygone era when millions of people across the nation would run out to the video store and "make it a Blockbuster night."

Blockbuster Video came to a 5,292 square foot freestanding building at Brookside Plaza in 1990, at the height of the VCR boom, and for more than two decades, satisfied the needs of customers wanting to enjoy movies in their own homes.

The company had been founded in 1985 in Dallas, Texas, and by the early 1990s, was a multi-billion dollar corporation with thousands of locations across the country and abroad. Blockbuster's dominance of the home video market was so extensive that in 2000, the company opted to pass on an opportunity to purchase a fledgling young startup named Netflix.

As technology evolved and services like Netflix exploded in growth, the home video rental industry began to decline rapidly. Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in Sept. 2010, and began closing stores later that year and throughout 2011.

The building at 48 Hazard Avenue was vacant until the opening of Men's Wearhouse in Oct. 2012.

Enfield Patch invites readers to share their memories in the comments section below.

Do you have a photo of a former Enfield business or landmark? Email it to tim.jensen@patch.com and we’ll feature it in an upcoming column.

Photo credits: Enfield Town Assessor (Blockbuster); Google Maps (Men's Wearhouse)

Video credit: GloopTrekker via YouTube