Another "remember that computer/video game shop" thread

I doubt anyone here will remember it but there used to be a shop near me called FC Computers and Fishing Tackle. Used to go up every week for a pint of maggots and to see if any new titles had been added to the second hand ZX Spectrum shelf.
 
Scania said:
Town Computers was at the top of Town Road next to the Potteries Shopping Centre, Computerama Stafford was on Foregate St (Number 59) opposite what was the old hospital.
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Hmm next to the potteries... cant remember that one :\

BUT I do remember the one you mentioned in Stafford, it was located where this barber shop is now.

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.811...4!1s6EiFw84rtcnNAAR3s7SjdA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Used to pop into Quasar back in the day across the street in the bowling alley opposite!

Still trying to remember the name of that place across from the Byron Cinema... its where I picked up a copy of Project X for the Amiga :)
 
Hades said:
I don't recall the name of the shop. But back in the early 1980's I would beg my parents to drive me to a small computer shop just off the main roundabout in Gants Hill which rented games.
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I lived in South Woodford for a while but I never checked out Gants Hill, I just went to WHSmiths in Ilford or Stratford for anything C64 related. Which then became my go-to places for DVD's in the early 2000's
 
Strategic Plus Software (SPS) specialised in importing US and other Flight Sims/Strategy/Wargames/RPGs and adventures etc in Hampton Hill, Middlesex (and online/mail order/catalogue)
 
I miss going to blockbusters on a Saturday morning with my mother after doing the weekly shop and checking out all the reduced PS2 games :) Also really miss Grainger Games here in the North East- Newcastle Upon Tyne oh and there was Gameststation.

Loved going to them all and having a look even preordaining games the excitement of release day was great!
 
I remember "another world" in Hanley, down a little arcade at the end. I'm sure it sold import games later on.
 
I remember the cyber cafe that we hung out at in the early noughties in Brighton by Preston Circus/ the viaduct called IGO. The guy who owned it (Keith) created a proper community for LAN gaming there and gave me some work experience teaching me how to build my first PC and adding to a network etc.
 
I was probably a bit it too young for the Boots, WH Smith era for 8 bits. I do however remember places like Software Plus(Palace Street - in Canterbury, Kent) and Virgin(High Street, Canterbury, Kent).

In the 16 bit days, I do remember an Atari ST specialist in Deal, Kent called Lighthouse. In Canterbury, Burgate Lane - there was a Commodore Amiga specialist called Computer World - they had an underground section with about 20 Amiga A500s for playing games on. You paid £1 an hour to to do that. I also remember they sold their A500s for £375 rather than the RRP of £399. Many a great time spent there. With the late great Jason Kelk(TMR - used to write for Retro Gamer magazine), Rem, Ian, Brian, etc. A great local shop. It expanded into the next store - next door around 1992. It also found some success during the 1990s DOS gaming era and CD-ROM. They started to produce PCs built to customers' specifications around that time. A great shop and business - now sadly missed. Ian(one of the co-owners) split after 1996 to start his own retro game shop(Play Away) in Folkestone, Kent - sadly the shop ended around 1999. Different times.
 
The one place that springs to mind for me is Special Reserve, I believe it was started by the same guy that formed Rainbird and Magnetic Scrolls (Tony Rainbird?). It was mainly mail order, but had a couple of shops at one point, one of which was close to me. Remember buying my Amiga 1200 there and then carrying it 5 miles back home - good times! Sadly, it closed its doors back in early 2000s I think.
 
My favourite shop was called Vudata in Ashton-under-Lyne. It moved from one place to another to expand the shop.

Ramsoft in Rochdale was where I bought my Amiga 500.

I also bought a CD32. But can't remember which place I got it from.

Does anyone else remember the none computer shops that used to sell games, but now don't? Boots, WHSmith comes to mind.
 
I did my work experience in wh smiths in 1984 and worked on the computer games section. I was given two free games for working there. I chose Give my regards to Broad St which was crap and I can't remember what the other one was. Good Times when shelves were filled with the latest exciting looking boxes which contained mostly crap games lol.
 
Remember going to a PC shop in Leicester and the games were in HUGE boxes which just held a CD-ROM and an instruction booklet.

Now downloaded on Steam and other platforms.

In Leicester it was Mays, PCstation, Gamestation and some shop on London Road which the name escapes me
 
BowdonUK said:
Does anyone else remember the none computer shops that used to sell games, but now don't? Boots, WHSmith comes to mind.
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Supermarkets used to sell games too. Bought a few Fifa and NBA games from them.

I remember my work used to sell console games - having the dummy boxes on the shelves and the actual games in a drawer in the kiosk. The last Friday in Sept for many years was the release of the latest Fifa. I was roped in coming in to work on Friday and having the Saturday off for this. One year we sold 120 Fifa games.
 
This thread has reminded me that I recently found my 80s pr0n collection in the loft...

sC1NmZHh.jpg
 
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mrk said:
Picture the scene, my teens were spent in Novatec in Forton Road, Gosport where they had every console plugged into multiple CRT screens along the top shelves around the shop. You had lazy boy bean couches etc in the middle and you basically sat in them and played for £1 an hour on whatever you wanted. You could also rent games for 50p.

What a time that was. The owner years later ran off with a whole bunch of money and that was that.
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I worked there :)
 
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