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Defunct retailers you miss the most
- Thread starter Squarehard
- Start date
Came here to say this as well. It was only a matter of time that a movie rental/book store would bite the dust, but goddamn did it hurt when they finally went under. I spent so much of my childhood in that store after school looking at comics and movies to rent.
I first played a Sega Saturn at "the good guys." It was one of the few retailers that carried it.
Phantasy Star 2 $79.99 in 1990. With sales tax and inflation that's $168.14 in 2019 money. Totally worth it!
KB Toys and old age Toys'r'us back when they had the long row of display units for games with the panels you could flip to see the front and backside of a box. Man I miss those.
My sister use to work at one. I use to get such great things because of it (Like Win2k for free and a Pentium 3 & board for a fraction of it's price). That was my favorite store for PC stuff.
Anyone remember Service Merchandise?
They had a pretty large video game presence and put out a demo console for everything they had and carried a lot of relatively fringe stuff. For example, that was the only place I ever played a CD-i.
They had a pretty large video game presence and put out a demo console for everything they had and carried a lot of relatively fringe stuff. For example, that was the only place I ever played a CD-i.
Gamestation. Great for new and retro games
Then GAME bought them and turned them into GAME in all but name and then they closed em down.
Then GAME bought them and turned them into GAME in all but name and then they closed em down.
I miss the old independent resellers that would pop up in the strip malls. They always looked the same. They even smelled the same. I could spend hours digging through the piles of games searching for that rare diamond.
I also miss when all the grocery stores would have a video rental section, sometimes it was nearly the size of a regular Blockbuster while other places would have the tiniest of nooks stuffed with movies and games. Some would even sell new games. I picked up a copy of Dragon Warrior 4 for next to nothing from one of those nooks. Even then I knew that was a great find.
I also miss when all the grocery stores would have a video rental section, sometimes it was nearly the size of a regular Blockbuster while other places would have the tiniest of nooks stuffed with movies and games. Some would even sell new games. I picked up a copy of Dragon Warrior 4 for next to nothing from one of those nooks. Even then I knew that was a great find.
I will always miss the Toys R Us wall of game tags
And bonus, anyone in the Fremont area of the Bay Area remember Knight's Video Games? Used to love that places.
And bonus, anyone in the Fremont area of the Bay Area remember Knight's Video Games? Used to love that places.
Any retailer?
I live in the netherlands and the dedicated game shops ran by passionate gamers themselves were the first to go, then electronic stores that had games for sale stopped selling them and now even toystores barely sell them anymore.
The only things they have on shelves anymore are the big ones like rows of FIFA, Call of Duty and other triple A exclusives. You're out of luck if you want anything for the Swich or 3DS because it's 90 procent shovelware and older games.
Oh and among the wastelands of physical games there was also a stack of Devil Third's for the Wii which I found quite hilarious.
I live in the netherlands and the dedicated game shops ran by passionate gamers themselves were the first to go, then electronic stores that had games for sale stopped selling them and now even toystores barely sell them anymore.
The only things they have on shelves anymore are the big ones like rows of FIFA, Call of Duty and other triple A exclusives. You're out of luck if you want anything for the Swich or 3DS because it's 90 procent shovelware and older games.
Oh and among the wastelands of physical games there was also a stack of Devil Third's for the Wii which I found quite hilarious.
Toys R us - bought NES
Circuit City - got the last Wii on launch day.
Software Etc - PC games
Funcoland - great place to hangout playing old school games
SunCoast - for Anime and Merch
Gamecrazy - same for Funcoland
That is my go-to place. Going to the Great Mall in Milpitas and just stayed there for hours.
Circuit City - got the last Wii on launch day.
Software Etc - PC games
Funcoland - great place to hangout playing old school games
SunCoast - for Anime and Merch
Gamecrazy - same for Funcoland
That is my go-to place. Going to the Great Mall in Milpitas and just stayed there for hours.
I was just going to ask if anyone missed media play. I am from Buffalo as well and while I think I was too young to have fond memories I do remember seeing n-gage games there and thinking that was a rare siting.
I loved KB Toys. Great spot to find games that were otherwise sold out during the holidays. Only complaint is that the games were more expensive, I think, compared to other retailers.
Also, unannounced clearance sales at Circuit City are a big reason my collection is the size it is today.
None. There was never a retailer I went to regularly. 30 years ago I had to travel to next city to get to a store and that did not change much in all the years (still living outside the big city). That was (and is) a 30-45 minute drive by car, 60+ minutes by bus & train and it was much more expensive than ordering by mail / phone. I can remember several times I tried to buy a game in the city, but in most cases it was a disasters because the game I wanted to buy was out of stock.
Once I started ordering by phone and later (since ~1998) online I never looked back. For me this is the best way to get most things. Fast (99% of all orders arriver the next day), cheap, no hassle and it also saves so much time.
Once I started ordering by phone and later (since ~1998) online I never looked back. For me this is the best way to get most things. Fast (99% of all orders arriver the next day), cheap, no hassle and it also saves so much time.
Media Play. It was a great hangout spot to check out Game guides and test out game demos. The overall vibe was really cool there.
This may be an oddball one, but Hastings Entertainment. They were like an everything entertainment store that also did rentals, and I was in there constantly. It was one of the only places I could find a decent selection of manga in my relatively small town (Jonesboro, AR). Also, the people the worked there were friendly and I also liked being able to rent something on an impulse when a new game came out that I didn't want to sink $60 on. They were great.
They went belly up around 2016 and I think that was the most depressing closure of a store I've experienced. I had literally been shopping there since I could even remember (I'm talking about late 80's/early 90's, they were around in my town for decades). Not to mention they were the last physical rental place around so having that lack of convenience also hurt, on top of losing my manga buying place. I felt even worse for people that lost their job that had been there forever.
I still drive past the building today (Occupied now by a wholefood store) and I feel a wave of nostalgia and depression wash over me. Never thought I'd feel that way about a retail/rental store.
They went belly up around 2016 and I think that was the most depressing closure of a store I've experienced. I had literally been shopping there since I could even remember (I'm talking about late 80's/early 90's, they were around in my town for decades). Not to mention they were the last physical rental place around so having that lack of convenience also hurt, on top of losing my manga buying place. I felt even worse for people that lost their job that had been there forever.
I still drive past the building today (Occupied now by a wholefood store) and I feel a wave of nostalgia and depression wash over me. Never thought I'd feel that way about a retail/rental store.
Seriously, nobody who says blockbuster? At least here in Italy it was the only large...
So many good memories, it really felt like being in America in their stores with movies, video games and food
I miss all the ones Gamestop bought out and killed, Babbages, funcoland, software etc.., EB (in the states, I know they are in in Canada). I even miss some of the smaller, local chains like Game Champ in NYC and in Philly.
CompUSA hands down my first couple of pc's were 3rd generation hand me downs. I bought my first cd burner and 3DFX card from them.
Loved reading the local paper to see what was in stock. That sentence is getting really old now that I think about it.
FuncoLand.
I also really miss the Toys R Us experience as a kid where all the systems had kiosks and you can pull the piece of paper and hand it to the cashier for a game.
I also really miss the Toys R Us experience as a kid where all the systems had kiosks and you can pull the piece of paper and hand it to the cashier for a game.
Circuit City was a really cool place. I got my GameCube from there, I think, and I played the Sonic Adventure 2 demo there and got a Dreamcast.
I'll always miss Toys 'R' Us the most, though. It was a huge part of my childhood. Action figures, Legos, video games, you name it. Even when I got older, I would go in there just to browse what their video game section looked like and what kind of video game-related toys they had.
I'll always miss Toys 'R' Us the most, though. It was a huge part of my childhood. Action figures, Legos, video games, you name it. Even when I got older, I would go in there just to browse what their video game section looked like and what kind of video game-related toys they had.
Oh, man. They had an exclusive variant of an old GI Joe tank. It was hell tracking down one of those things in good condition.
I have not read all of this thread so I am sure these retailers were mentioned but some of my favorites -
Toys R Us - in the NES era they carried a TON of Nintendo stuff and not just games. I had this black sweatshirt from there with the Nintendo logo in neon green. (Hey, it was the 80s). If you wanted a game you picked up a paper tag with the title and price printed on it and paid at the register. Then you had to go to another window to pick up the game. When the employee was rummaging for it back there you would crane your neck to see what other games and toys they had stocked up inside that little room.
KB Toys - They just had crazy cheap deals on offbeat games. I remember getting Dungeon Magic and Captain Skyhawk for less than $10 each. That doesn't seem like a deal these days but back then getting brand new games so cheaply was huge.
Software ETC - Before GameStop took over, that was just a really cool that actually had more games than crappy action figures. They got some cool preorder bonuses for games and the employees really knew what they were talking about.
Game Crazy - Kind of a fenced off area inside of Hollywood Video. The employees would almost always play games with you if it wasn't busy in the store.
Toys R Us - in the NES era they carried a TON of Nintendo stuff and not just games. I had this black sweatshirt from there with the Nintendo logo in neon green. (Hey, it was the 80s). If you wanted a game you picked up a paper tag with the title and price printed on it and paid at the register. Then you had to go to another window to pick up the game. When the employee was rummaging for it back there you would crane your neck to see what other games and toys they had stocked up inside that little room.
KB Toys - They just had crazy cheap deals on offbeat games. I remember getting Dungeon Magic and Captain Skyhawk for less than $10 each. That doesn't seem like a deal these days but back then getting brand new games so cheaply was huge.
Software ETC - Before GameStop took over, that was just a really cool that actually had more games than crappy action figures. They got some cool preorder bonuses for games and the employees really knew what they were talking about.
Game Crazy - Kind of a fenced off area inside of Hollywood Video. The employees would almost always play games with you if it wasn't busy in the store.
Seriously, nobody who says blockbuster? At least here in Italy it was the only large...
So many good memories, it really felt like being in America in their stores with movies, video games and food
Blockbuster was before I became a germaphobe so now I think I'd view it as a Petri dish. This would be dumb but it wouldn't stop me.
This is the big one for me. I purchased a lot of anime, CDs, and collectibles there. As well renting games and movies.
FuncoLand and it's bin of games, especially when games back there were like $70 new which I didn't realize till years later. Of course I'm all digital now so it doesn't matter, but the nostalgia still gets me