Videogame Store Memories

[Nightingale]

I recently found out that one of the very last standing video-game stores around my area (and one of the hottest hanging out spots for my friends and I during the early 2000s) has finally closed down for good, inevitably forced to a corner by the ever-growing online market and its simple convenience. I know that's just the way it is and that I still have options for buying -or even trading- physical copies of games at second-hand shops and mall stores, but it just isn't the same (and whoever wants to pay thru the nose for a game that you can, indeed, find way cheaper after a bit of digging anyway?).

That store in particular (named after Gotham City) was kind of what I would expect every gaming store to look like: it was very small, but had a ton of personality to it. There were two shelves running across the walls and all the way the back -behind the counter- that were filled with NES, SNES, Genesis and N64 cartridges (and yes, these were good trade chips even as late as 2007). Then there was a comic book section, in which you could be served any random comic imaginable... man, did I get my hands on some weird ones indeed. And, finally, there was a section for trading cards and all that good junk.

They'd deal with anything as long as it was a card game of sorts... there were sections dedicated to Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and so on. They even hosted some tournaments in there, which I dared entering (with as much of a result as you can probably guess, meaning that I got my butt kicked across the board). Still, really fun times.

I should also mention that this was the store in which I bought my very first NES game and that started the way to retro-collecting for me... a beat up -but functional- copy of Rad Racer, bought by the mundane price of $5 (around twelve dollars at the time, if memory serves me well).

I don't know, man. I'm gonna miss stores like that one... they would take anything as a trade-in as long as it matched what the store was about. Seriously, in what other store could I buy a Gameboy Pocket using Yu-Gi-Oh! cards as part of the payment?

I would like to also mention a shop that still exists and it is still ran by the same people after all these years, but they have long abandoned the home-console market, choosing to go all Poundland instead. Can't say I blame them, it is really hard to make a living off gaming nowadays.

This one started as a video-store, then gradually moved into gaming; peaking at the 16-bit era. I must have rented thousands of Genesis games from there, and more than a couple of those movies that shaped my childhood... including the ever-traumatizing IT (seriously, who rents a horror film to a child? xD). I recently asked the owner why they would change course seemingly overnight and he just told me that, when the PsOne came about, it was really expensive to order games for it and it simply wasn't a very good business model, given that very few people owned the system at the time. I kind of wish they had at least kept selling VHS tapes, but there were a couple of Blockbusters like two miles down the lane, so... yeah.

I'm truly sad to see stores like those two go under, as they are wonderful wells of memories. And while alternatives do exist, I just can't feel right at home going about adding to my PS3 collection inside of a mall with twenty-five security cameras looking down on me at all times. There was a trust to be seen on the smaller shops mentioned above, but here you are just the costumer and God help you if they think you are up to something. It's unwelcoming and sterile. And really not much fun at all.

But anyway, I'm sure you guys have stories of your own about these places from times of yonder. And I'd really like to hear them if possible... who knows, maybe a good store like the ones I wrote about still exists somewhere in the US or UK. Feel free to share

PS: Did any of you happen to assist to one of the Blockbuster liquidation sales? I heard you could get awesome stuff on heavy discounts as they were shutting down all shops on the chain.

[Moonface]

I can't think of any independent game stores like what the one you're describing sounds to be like. The closest I've encountered would be the video-game vendors at conventions, which usually specialise in a lot of older titles that are hard to find and always manage to attract a crowd. I think a good approach these days is offer online browsing and then have a physical presence at conventions, as then you can move around a country and spread your name, and hiring a convention space is going to be cheaper than setting up a store that is locked to a single location. You'll also find that those vendors become frequent returners to a convention if you attend it multiple times, so you can still build up a feeling of familiarity with them.

[Nightingale]

I can't think of any independent game stores like what the one you're describing sounds to be like. The closest I've encountered would be the video-game vendors at conventions, which usually specialise in a lot of older titles that are hard to find and always manage to attract a crowd. I think a good approach these days is offer online browsing and then have a physical presence at conventions, as then you can move around a country and spread your name, and hiring a convention space is going to be cheaper than setting up a store that is locked to a single location. You'll also find that those vendors become frequent returners to a convention if you attend it multiple times, so you can still build up a feeling of familiarity with them.

Conventions? Gotta be honest, my friend... I really don't like those.

I probably don't give off that impression here, but I'm really introverted in real life... seriously, very few people get to get complete sentences out of me (unless you get violent, then you get a full voyage thru the Spanish language xD). Thanks a bunch for the suggestion, though

Now, since I'm on topic, I would like to share one of my biggest regrets ever regarding the first store I mentioned on the post: the time I completely missed a once-in-a-life chance of getting my hands on one of the N64 Zelda games (I think Majora's Mask) for the insultingly low price of 2006's $50 pesos (really cheap). I didn't have the cash with me, that's true, but I could have gotten it really easily, and I instead chose to wait on it, assuming the game would remain on there until my next visit (spoilers: of course it freaking didn't). I don't feel too bad, though, as I got to pick up three SNES games, a Genesis cart and an NES game that day. Still, it kind of blows.

[Hotspot]

I used to mainly get my games from Toys R us's game section, I didn't start going to Gamestop, Hollywood Video, EB games etc.. until I was like 18.
I'll never forget the time, I went to Toys R us with my dad, April 2004. I picked up, what would end up being one of my favorite games of all time, Kya Dark Lineage!
In fact, I remember getting a few of my favorite games. Suikoden III, I also got at Toys R us, when I was like 13, and I was with my favorite aunt and she got it for me.
Back around 1999, I was with my dad at a Toys R us location in Queens NY, and we saw the first or the second Suikoden game, and I had been eyeballing it, but I wasn't sure if I wanted it or not.. and then my parents came back at another time to get it for me. (Which ended up being my favorite game series of course.) I think this was the same scenario for my other favorite game, Chrono Cross, which I actually didn't like at first, because I didn't know what to do.

I remember purchasing Suikoden IV and V, IV was also Toys R us, and I remember I got home at like 8pm, and I had school the next day, but I just had to play it!! Suikoden V I think I got at Gamestop, where I also purchased the guide (Which I still missed some things, even with it. lol)
IV and V came out when I was in highschool, and I have a note in one of my old notebooks, specifically asking future me, how Suikoden V is, and I answered that it's great or something. XD
Suikoden V hype was so intense for me, probably because I had played I and II roughly around the same time.. and III and IV came out when I was starting to get into the series, so like by the time V came out, I was a pro at Suikoden.

I have a funny story about this one place that used to exist.. It was called Hollywood Video, and it was like a Blockbuster, I guess... but they also had an EB games attached.. That place is long gone, and now it's a pet store, or something..
Anyways, so my mom borrowed a bunch of videos from HollyWood Video, and then never returned them (Not intentionally, she's just terrible at things like that). Then, Hollywood video closed down, so... We don't have to give them back anymore, I guess. That was probably 10 years ago. lmao

[Nightingale]

@Hotspot: I adored every single part of your post, man (good stuff!) bur especially this part:

Anyways, so my mom borrowed a bunch of videos from HollyWood Video, and then never returned them (Not intentionally, she's just terrible at things like that). Then, Hollywood video closed down, so... We don't have to give them back anymore, I guess. That was probably 10 years ago. lmao

Our parents must have been alike, for my copy of Nightmare of Elm Street 6 was supposed to be returned twenty years ago   

(And I'm sure it's not the only one).

[ShiraNoMai]

I did the same thing with Blockbuster, though my mom actually wound up buying their used games for super cheap. The majority of my N64 games are from that, and that included the box and manuals, too It unfortunately means I can't take off the Blockbuster taping they've put on it, but it's fine. It's just a lovely reminder of those times XD

One of my earliest memories was going into my local Albertson's (a supermarket chain which have all but died in Florida now) had a small media rental service center in their stores that I would always run to when my parents were checking out to see what SNES games I could play. My usual one I'd rent was a game called "Out to Lunch" which was a cute little side-scrolling action game I adored. =3

[Mr EliteL]

I don't have much memories of it, but the local store we had aeons ago (not literally, just in 90's, possibly very early 2000's) called Video Tech (name may have been spelt/formed differently), which there is no record of it online. Or at least not to my knowledge other than whoever ran or worked for it. Video games, CDs, VHS and what have you were there to borrow and return like a library for a low price, or buy to keep for a higher price. May be remembering incorrectly with the latter bit, but I swear that's what could happen. Good old place my dad, brother, sister and I visited mainly for games and VCRs. Borrowed Crash, Spyro, among other games to play and see how far we got. Doubt we completed anything. May have been some we sampled and later bought somewhere else. I know this kind of shop wouldn't last now, but was a real shame hearing the closure of the store. Think we found out after it happened.

A bit more recent, although not really, was a memory I have of buying my Nintendo DS. Was from HMV, and I spent a long time in store deciding whether or not I should get it. Was the most I've spent in one hit at the time, also the first console I bought with my own money. Got the starter kit and Mario Kart DS. Was a great joyous feeling when I made the purchase.

[WR91]

Blockbuster and Hollywood Video were amazing as a kid. From picking up my favorite games to watching the latest wrestling PPVs as they came out. It's honestly something I miss dearly and wish my (future) kids could experience.