Any memories of the old shops we used to visit?

[lex524]

I grew up in Southend-On-Sea and we had a decent mix of computer shops in the 80s and 90s.

Software Plus - Use to visit this in the late 80s and I remember the big wall of Sega Master System and Amiga games at the time.
Estuary Computers - Bought my first PC RAM upgrade here, two sticks of 32MB EDO RAM to bring my PC to a might 80MB.
Silica Systems - This was based in a big department store called Keddies and had a mix of consoles and PCs, I spent many an hour playing on the Game Boy/Mega Drive/SNES kiosk setups and lusting over the PCs and high powered Amigas.
Games HQ - Now this was where I spent most of my time when it opened in a department store called In Shops, it started off as a fairly small shop with a couple of arcade machines and a bunch of games/consoles for sale but they probably opened at just the right time in the early 90s as they quickly had to expand to new premises 5 or 6 times before their unfortunate but inevitable closure many years later. This was where I'd spend hours playing Mutant Fighter/Street Fighter 2: Turbo/King of Fighters etc on the arcades or playing the latest import console games on the variety of different systems that were all set up and lusting after Neo Geo systems behind the counter and in glass cases.

Some honourable mentions as they're not pure computer shops were Argos which had a Sega Megadrive kiosk where I remember first playing Sonic the Hedgehog and Beatties (again in Keddies) which had a NES kiosk machine which I remember playing Batman on and also one of those Virtuality VR rigs (plus it had a ton of cool models/remote control cars, planes etc). Such a shame that the highstreets just don't have these types of stores anymore, I feel pretty lucky to have lived as a kid through this time.

Ha v old thread, but remember most of these. Computerama I got BBC games, Silica i got a couple of Gfx cards (Voodoo?!), Solidisk my first custom PC (Pentium with EDO RAM), and lots of games from EB (and whatever it was before??) and HMV.

 

[Retro6]

I have fond memories of Southend, there was plenty of arcade stuff there too.

 

[thepigf@rmer]

Speccy years it would have been most high street shops, Boots, WHSmiths, Woolworths etc.

When I moved over the Megadrive/SNES, I tended to frequent Raven Games in Bromley also there was a small independent game shop in Epsom indoor market, run by a very nice lady, both great for second hand games and imports.

 

[acharris]

I remember in Cardiff back in the 90's there used to be a game store called Live Wire. It was upstairs in the Arcade that used to be above where Poundland and Sports Direct is now on Queen St. They used to stock import games and consoles like the Neo Geo, 3DO, and various other as well as import games for the SNES and Mega Drive and the import cartridges from Datel. It was a fun store and loved visiting it most saturdays

 

[Chabsy]

I remember buying spectrum games on cassette tapes from the local newsagent. Who knew all those years ago how big thing would get.

 

[BananaDunka]

At the main road where I live there used to be a shop called Novatec. It was the Blockbuster of videogames, they had all the consoles of the 90s and early 2000s until the owner tookall the money and ran off abroad

You could hire out the latest games for as little as 50p and for up to a week IN the store they had banks of #TVTOOHIGH connected to consoles and beanbags and couches in the middle where you could sit and play for 30p or so.

Needless to say much of my time was spent there until the vanishing

 

[niggyg]

Used to love browsing PC big box games in Electronics Boutique in Medowhall, Sheffield. There was a smaller independent store off The Moor that I use to use too, i cant remember the name of it though.

 

[picnic]

I bought my BBC Micro from a small computer shop in Sheffield back in 83 but I can't remember the name of the place or exactly where it was.

 

[Uncle_Gravy]

Gamestation I miss, always loved looking at their "retro" display cases, managed to grab Lylat Wars from them before they disappeared.

 

[JDR82]

Electronic Boutique in the Bon Accord centre in Aberdeen was the main shop I remember going to for Megadrive games when I was young.

As a teenager and older a small independent shop called Solid Gold games was my first place I remember being able to trade games. Owner and other staff were very friendly with multiple consoles setup to demo stuff.

 

[Guest2]

Electronic Boutique and Game at Meadowhall in the early-mid 90s were a highlight. There was also a shop close to game I think (maybe next door) called 'The gadget shop' which had lots of cool stuff for that time. Things like those electro static balls spy equipment like mini cameras and sound listening devices.

Those shops followed by a McDonalds, then the big arcade (Namco arcade I think it was - Namco Wonderpark) Ridge racer full size car with mind blowing and cinema in the 'Oasis' area where there used to be something like 8 x 8 big CRT TVs linked together showing sports, sometimes films and MTV

Incredible times as a ~10 year old child with my friends in and around 1994

21 nostalgic photos show Meadowhall's Oasis food hall in the 90s and noughties

The Oasis dining quarter at Meadowhall in Sheffield has been a place for shoppers to relax and refuel for since the mall opened in 1990.

www.thestar.co.uk

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Yoyotech on Windmill Street, Fitzrovia (just off Tottenham Court Road). Has been closed for years now, but they’re still around online building Esports PCs.

I guess the growth of online retailers undercutting them did their legs in the end.

Always had a good stock of high-end components and staff that knew stuff. Despite being an hour away from me, they saved my bacon several times when something died (usually with my help) on a Saturday and Herself or the kids informed my that they needed the PC to do something for Monday morning.

Never, ever have your home built gaming PC as the sole PC in a household.

 

[Noxia]

In Bath we used to have Electronics Boutique, death later became game of course and his moved about quite a few times. It's now in House of Fraser.

HMV used to have a big game section downstairs as well. From what I recall this was around late 90s early noughties.

Then there was games exchange which went through a lot of rebranding over the years. It was there I sort of randomly picked a PlayStation game called breath of fire 3 which became one of my favourite ever RPGs.

Was an independent in my current town which I got my PS3 from but it closed down. I recall WHSMITHS used to have a fair few pc games and also recall visiting pc world when they used to stock lots of games. One trip there after Xmas I recall getting Quake 3, Janes USAF and Wargasm.

Oh and I recall a trip to peak Toys'r'us in 1997, pain £20 for a memory card for my PlayStation.