Beerbusters, a nostalgic movie rental bar, opens this week in Pinellas Park | Openings & Closings | Tampa
If anyone in the Tampa Bay area still has their frayed Blockbuster card, there’s a Pinellas Park business created with you in mind.
Adorned with those familiar yellow walls and blue rugs, multiple shelves of DVDs and movie posters on every corner, Beerbusters is a nostalgia-focused space that attracts movie buffs, craft beer lovers and nerds alike. .
Beerbusters, soon to open at 6836 N Park Boulevard, is filled with hundreds of movies, a craft beer bar, a kitchen that will serve movie snacks, and plenty of seating. There’s even a “haunted hallway” to the bathroom that features old horror movie posters and a handmade coffin shelf that holds a slew of scary movies available to rent.
If Beerbusters passes a final inspection this week, owner (and only employee) William Dieli tells Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that his niche business can open smoothly as early as Thursday, September 1.
“There’s not really a theme with the movies I’m going to rent, it’s just going to be a little cheesy and feature the things that I’m really interested in,” Dieli says. “I really focus on movies that I personally like, because it’s easier to talk about them.”
He worked at a Tampa Blockbuster on the corner of Hillsborough Avenue and N 22nd St. from 2002 to 2009, and still has his original membership card.
Hillsborough County’s last blockbuster stayed open until 2013, but the once-popular movie rental store’s newest Florida location closed in Fort Pierce in 2015. The last remaining Blockbuster in the country, located in Bend, Oregon, can now be rented on Airbnb.
And although Dieli is following in the footsteps of his former employer, some aspects of Beerbusters will be quite unique. Dieli tells CL that the movie rental aspect is secondary to the craft beer, movie snacks, games and relaxing atmosphere that Beerbusters offers.
The store’s huge stock of movies came mostly from the personal DVD collections of Dieli and his family members. The hundreds of movies range from mid-2000s comedies to superhero action flicks and full seasons of popular TV shows. It will cost $1 a day to rent any movie in the store, but it also plans to offer a movie pass, where people can rent unlimited movies for $10 a month.
And yes, you will be charged $1 for each day you do not return the rented movie.
Beerbusters’ “Grayskull” kitchen – a tribute to the popular fantasy role-playing game – will serve movie snacks like popcorn, hot dogs and pizza, while the bar will offer a list of local beers as well as imports canned and bottled, wines and seltzers. Once her business is fully operational, Dieli also plans to expand the menu to offer more made-to-order dishes.
“I want to have draft beers from local breweries like Magnanimous and Angry Chair, some of the most popular places here,” Dieli says.
In addition to movie rentals and its craft beer bar, Pinellas Park will host events such as movie nights, Dungeons and Dragons nights, and other media-focused gatherings. Video games connected to Beerbusters’ various TVs allow patrons to play while sipping craft beer.
Beerbusters was originally located in Largo, but after initiating the opening process, Dieli said the city would not approve his business because it was near church-owned property. Municipal Code of Largo prohibits the sale of alcohol within 300 feet of any church, county-licensed day care center or public school site, although a bar had already been opened in the same building before Dieli moved in.
Dieli originally wanted to open Beerbusters in St. Petersburg, but was put off by high rent.
Follow Beerbusters on Facebook and instagram for the latest news on its upcoming soft opening, both at @beerbusters cinema bar.
When Beerbusters debuts, it will be open 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 2 p.m. to midnight Friday, noon to midnight Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.
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