Parents recreate closed Blockbuster store for son with autism

SHARYLAND, Texas (AP) — When an autistic Texas man’s favorite video store closed, his parents surprised him by bringing part of it home.

HuffPost reports 20-year-old Hector Zuniga visited the Blockbuster video store in Sharyland, Texas, twice a week since he was 13 to rent his favorite movies. When his parents were told the store was closing, they thought the news would be devastating to Hector. So, they decided buy some of the store’s inventory to recreate it at home.

Hector Zuniga Sr. brought his son to the store on its final day Sunday in order to give him closure. When they came home, Hector Jr. was surprised to find a Blockbuster rack stuffed with his favorite DVDs.

The moment has been heavily shared on Twitter after it was posted by his younger brother Javier, who posted photos of the happy surprise.

“My autistic brother was sad that Blockbuster was closing down,” Javier Zuniga wrote on Twitter. “So my parents made a mini one at home for him!”

The tweet quickly went viral, with over 32,000 retweets and 125,000 likes in just a few days.

And in case you were wondering, there are still 51 Blockbuster stores in existence, with the majority of stores located in Texas, Oregon, and Alaska. There is still one store operating in Florida.

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