Parents build mini-Blockbuster store at home for autistic son after local branch closes down

'My autistic brother was sad that Blockbuster was closing down, so my parents made a mini one at home for him'

Hector's father shows his son the surprise new mini-Blockbuster store in their home (Twitter @Javiii_Zuniga)

The parents of an autistic man have built their own Blockbuster video store in their home after their son became upset about their local store closing down.

Javier Zuniga, 19, who lives with his family in south Texas, shared pictures on Twitter of his parents surprising his brother Hector with the new at-home Blockbuster store.

He wrote on Twitter: “My autistic brother was sad that Blockbuster was closing down, so my parents made a mini one at home for him.”

The pictures show his brother standing in front of a large display rack with Blockbuster signage at the top. The shelves are filled with DVDs of Elmo, Sesame Street, and Barney & Friends. Their father is holding his hands over Hector’s eyes in one picture, ready to surprise him. His brother is seen smiling in another photo.

Mr Zuniga told KDVR that his older brother is non-verbal, but that he was smiling and clapping and laughing with joy when he saw the mini-store, which was stacked with his favourite things to watch.

His father, also called Hector, told the Huffington Post that he and his wife have been taking their son to their local Blockbuster since he was 13. When they heard the store would be shutting down, they bought up some of the stock and the signage to build their own version at home.

Javier said his brother Hector was smiling and clapping with joy when he saw the mini-store in their home (Twitter @Javiii_Zuniga)

Mr Zuniga said the staff at Blockbuster knew how important the store was to Hector and helped to put certain items aside for him to buy when the store started to sell its inventory.

Mr Zuniga took his son to Blockbuster on the day it closed to make sure he understood it was shutting down for good, but promised him there was a surprise waiting for him at home to help him deal with the store closing.

“It’s hard for my son to express emotions,” Mr Zuniga told the site, “but when he saw the room [at home], his eyes were as big as saucers.”

“His way of saying ‘I love you,’ is by going up to you and grabbing your earlobe,” he said, which is exactly what his son did. “It was one of those moments that us parents live for.”

The original tweet showing the touching scene has now been liked more 125,000 times and shared more than 30,000 times.

Blockbuster went bankrupt in 2010 though some franchise-owned stores still remain in the US.