-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson
Keenan Evans, of Fort Dodge, walks with a stack of movies at Family Video Tuesday afternoon. The Fort Dodge store announced on Monday that it would be closing. Dozens of shoppers entered the store Tuesday in search of the best bargains.

Family Video, the last video rental chain in the U.S., has announced it is closing its Fort Dodge store.

The company made the announcement on Monday.

District Manager Matt Rose said 25% of the inventory was sold within 8 hours of the announcement.

The store will be selling nearly everything it has in the coming weeks, Rose said.

According to Rose, the impact of COVID-19 was detrimental to the business.

“COVID killed the video store,” Rose said. “No new releases. Hard to bring customers in with nothing new coming out and you do that for six months, it’s hard.”

The sale will continue for at least the next few weeks, Rose said.

Full story in Wednesday’s Messenger.