“I tell ya, Netflix and Redbox may have movies, but they’ll never be Blockbusters,” said Paul Whitefield of the Los Angeles Times last month.

Starting in elementary school, family movie nights were a highlight of my week. My family and I headed over to the local Blockbuster, which was usually within a mile from our house wherever we lived. Each of the kids picked out their own movie and we would spend roughly 30-40 minutes in the store because of the huge selection.

One of my favorites was “Goosebumps.” My brother’s was “Pokémon.”

When we were done picking out our movies, we got to choose our own candy or snack to go with it and my little brother got a giant gum ball out of the machine near the door as we headed out. Then we got home, got into our pajamas, made some popcorn and popped the movie in our VHS player.

Little did I know that nearly 10 years later, Blockbuster would be announcing the closing of all its locations in the United States. Just last weekend I walked past the Blockbuster on 18th Avenue and Willamette Street in Eugene and saw that it was shut down. It makes me sad.

“The obvious reason for all this is the Internet. Blockbuster’s demise, for one, was inextricably linked to the success of Netflix,” said James Surowiecki in the New Yorker in October 2010, the year Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy. Netflix introduced its revolutionary way of movies and television in 1997 and now has more than 40 million members in more than 40 different countries enjoying instant streaming flicks and movies by mail.

Redbox came into the picture in 2002 after originally starting as a McDonald’s-exclusive rental kiosk. (How American, right?) Then in November 2005, Coinstar Inc., bought a piece of Redbox and began expanding the kiosks to all sorts of locations across the country.

According to its online Media Center, this was when they began “fighting for America’s right to get entertainment for cheap.”

Sure, Redbox and Netflix are relatively cheap and horribly convenient, but there was something special about having all your options in one store, ready for you to watch as soon as you get home. No mail involved, no 28-day wait before it gets to Redbox and no separate trip to the grocery store for your movie snacks.

Cody Dean, a former Blockbuster employee from Portland, said it’s bittersweet to see it go, although he is not surprised because they had plenty of chances to adapt to the changing industry. During his experience there, countless customers left Blockbuster for Netflix for various reasons.

“From taking away and then reinstating late fees to putting an emphasis on up-selling, it simply just left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths,” Dean said.

A self-proclaimed cinephile, Dean said going to a movie store was somewhat of a spiritual experience. “Part of the fun was talking with like-minded people, be it employees or other customers, about their love for movies and to catch great recommendations.”

It’s heartbreaking to think that our children won’t be able to experience movie nights like we did. The world of cinema used to be filled with wonder and glamour. Watching a movie was more than just looking at a screen for two hours. It was an experience.

Now it consists of hungover college students binging on six hours of Netflix reruns from their tiny laptop screens. We’re all guilty of it.

The loss of these nostalgic and family oriented establishments may seem out of our control, but is it really? Think about the amount of money you’ve spent on Redbox, Netflix and the movie theater in the past year. When you add it all up, it will probably be more than you think.

One ticket to a new release on a weeknight at Regal Cinemas at Valley River Center is currently priced at an astounding $14.50 for IMAX 3D, while one weekend-night ticket to the drive-in theater in Newberg, one of the few drive-ins left in Oregon, is $8 for two new release films. Instead of supporting these corporate businesses that clearly don’t need it, we should be using that money to support the local and independently owned businesses.

Otherwise, they’re going to end up in movie night heaven with Blockbuster, wondering where they went wrong. Meanwhile, our children will be asking us what it was like during those “olden days,” when we actually had to leave the couch to get a movie.