--- title: DIY Blockbuster for Autistic Son Goes Viral description: After the local Blockbuster planned to shut down, the family of Hector Andres Zuniga decided to re-create his favorite store at their home. canonical: https://time.com/4755823/blockbuster-diy-autistic-son/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-26T16:05:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:43:08.252Z og:title: A Family Built an At-Home Blockbuster for Their Autistic Son og:description: With his favorite shop due to close, they re-created the store experience og:url: https://time.com/4755823/blockbuster-diy-autistic-son/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Family Built an At-Home Blockbuster for Their Autistic Son twitter:description: With his favorite shop due to close, they re-created the store experience twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Family Built an At-Home Blockbuster for Their Movie-Loving Autistic Son > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Apr 26, 2017 4:05 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Apr 26, 2017 4:05 PM UTC For Hector Andres Zuniga, a 20-year-old autistic Texan, regular trips to Blockbuster have been part of his life since he was young. But with the [classic movie rental chain](http://time.com/4527937/blockbuster-member-drinking-age/) finding its existence in jeopardy, declaring [bankruptcy in 2010](http://time.com/4245146/biggest-retail-bankruptcies/) and shutting down most of its stores in the years since, Hector’s favorite weekly activity has been at risk. A few months ago, employees of his local shop told his parents that their outpost would be closing its doors. They had watched Hector come through for years, picking up favorite titles like _Barney_ and _Blue’s Clues_. (According to his father, “Barney” is one of the few words he articulates.) Concerned about losing their son’s beloved hobby, the family crafted a plan: they would buy up many pieces of the inventory that Blockbuster was selling, from their son’s preferred DVDs to official Blockbuster signs. “Those employees really came out to bat for my son,” Zuniga’s father [told the Huffington Post.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/blockbuster-home-son-autism%5Fus%5F58ff9cf0e4b0073d3e79fb23) “They really paid attention and did a hell of a job.” So when the shop finally shuttered on April 23, the Zuniga family was able to bring Hector Andres to his very own at-home DVD collection, complete with Blockbuster branding. It was a great success. And to top it off, his younger brother’s Tweet about the family project quickly picked up attention online, turning viral as well-wishers appreciated the thoughtfulness that went into this unusual project. > [](https://twitter.com/Javiii%5FZuniga/status/856244914409148416) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4755823/blockbuster-diy-autistic-son/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4755823/blockbuster-diy-autistic-son/"},"headline":"This Family Built an At-Home Blockbuster for Their Movie-Loving Autistic Son","datePublished":"2017-04-26T16:05:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:43:08.252Z","description":"With his favorite shop due to close, they re-created the store experience","url":"https://time.com/4755823/blockbuster-diy-autistic-son/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4755823/blockbuster-diy-autistic-son/","name":"This Family Built an At-Home Blockbuster for Their Movie-Loving Autistic Son"}}]}] ```