Another "remember that computer/video game shop" thread

[Cavallino]

So a few whiskies tonight has made me a little nostalgic

I remember visiting a shop on this road in my younger years here (on the left side) in Hanley/Stoke area.
But I cannot remember what it was called for the life of me....

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.027...4!1sU1kFqZdBzw3E2AYAVKjTdw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

There was also a shop in Stafford here:

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.803...4!1svIV3YsBj1s76kcQdeMrn3g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

On the left side as well... I used to buy my amiga games from there! Does anybody remember the name?

Cheers folks

 

[Vinno]

So a few whiskies tonight has made me a little nostalgic

I remember visiting a shop on this road in my younger years here (on the left side) in Hanley/Stoke area.
But I cannot remember what it was called for the life of me....

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.027...4!1sU1kFqZdBzw3E2AYAVKjTdw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Cheers folks

You absolute bugger!! When I saw the name of this thread the first thing that came into my mind was the name of this shop! Now that I clicked the link and saw it, my mind has gone totally blank. It's on the tip of my tongue and I just can't place it AAaaaaaAAAAAAaaaH!

Edit: I think it was called Powerdome? Am I making that up? lol.

 

[Hades]

I still miss The Playing Fields in London.

https://dondeq2.com/2018/01/05/gaming-pub-the-playing-fields/

 

[LizardKing]

I still miss The Playing Fields in London.

https://dondeq2.com/2018/01/05/gaming-pub-the-playing-fields/

Thats amazing, those pictures are exactly what you'd expect from that era and settings! I attended a few lan partys in those years that just have that same look, feel, fashion. thankfully camera's were not prevalent back then

 

[XeNoN89]

I still miss The Playing Fields in London.

https://dondeq2.com/2018/01/05/gaming-pub-the-playing-fields/

There's still a few similar things around:

https://www.experienceplatform.co.uk/

 

[Cavallino]

You absolute bugger!! When I saw the name of this thread the first thing that came into my mind was the name of this shop! Now that I clicked the link and saw it, my mind has gone totally blank. It's on the tip of my tongue and I just can't place it AAaaaaaAAAAAAaaaH!

Edit: I think it was called Powerdome? Am I making that up? lol.

I honestly cant remember, I want to say that sounds familiar.... Powerdome.... hmm maybe....
Any other ideas?

Anyone come across the shop in Stafford I mentioned above?

 

[1664kronenbourg]

Can't believe I missed the DOS/Amiga era.
But thanks to GOG/Steam I'm able to play
Both Elvira games
Carmageddon (What's the bonus for running a politician over?)
The original DOOM
QUAKE
DUKE NUKEM 3D
PREHISTORIK
WETLANDS

 

[BUDFORCE]

Adams World in North Finchley.

 

[LeoK]

Hedgehog records in Ely, Cambs. Must have spent a fortune there

 

[V F]

Sometimes I forget how awesome Google maps/street view really is. Though some areas can be 10 - 20 years old, then you go down a few yards and it's magically 5 - 10 years newer.

 

[BananaDunka]

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.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

I only found out about Google's time machine (on Street View) recently. Seems like the OP has tried it already as he set it to 2011, but it may help others find other computer / games shops in the 2000s. Flickr is also be worth a shot for historic photos as you can find old pictures of streets, shops, cinemas, all sorts old vs now. Just search for 'Stafford' or 'Stoke' + the street name if you know it.

The Google's time machine by the way will go back as far as the so-called Google cars allow in that particular area. So for my example, I was looking for the Futurist Cinema in Birmingham which then became a nightclub called DNA which I went to several times in the early 2000s. Then it got sold and changed several times over the next 20 years and it's now a shisha bar! On this particular building, the time machine went as far back as 2009, so 2009 was presumably when the Google cars started to scan the area.

 

[Scania]

I remember Town Computers in Hanley along with Computerama (who had branches in Stafford and Shrewsbury as well) a few others but the names escape me…

Kirkland’s in Stoke, bought my Acorn Electron Plus 3 disk drive from them, another one that was on Charles St, bought my BBC Model B from them too.

Almost a computer shop on every corner, they were the days….

Beebug St Albans.

Watford Electronics in Watford.

Technomatic London.

Micro Power Leeds.

Visited them all in my Acorn days….

 

[Cavallino]

I remember Town Computers in Hanley along with Computerama (who had branches in Stafford and Shrewsbury as well) a few others but the names escape me…

Kirkland’s in Stoke, bought my Acorn Electron Plus 3 disk drive from them, another one that was on Charles St, bought my BBC Model B from them too.

Almost a computer shop on every corner, they were the days….

Beebug St Albans.

Watford Electronics in Watford.

Technomatic London.

Micro Power Leeds.

Visited them all in my Acorn days….

Town Computers.. that sounds familiar, where was that exactly?
Computerama in Stafford.... dont suppose that was the one infront of the then Byron Cinema?

 

[mjt]

Not a computer game shop, but what ever happened to BEATTIES?
I used to go to one whenever I visited the UK in the 90s and buy some models...

-edit: Oh. Ironic given the thread

The chain ran into financial trouble after an attempt to break into the already well-served video games market, where they struggled against well-established competitors.

 

[HangTime]

Mid-90s my friend and I used to get the bus to Southampton and play on consoles they had set up in some stores there there. Game in the Marlands had the original FIFA International Soccer when it came out in '93 and even in the short space of time we were able to play there (EA Allstars vs Hong Kong natch) managed to figure out the exploit where you could block the goalkeeper doing a kick from hands and score every time
Then there was EB round the corner near Games Workshop.
Tyrell and Green (I think, some massive department store anyway) also had a SNES with Streetfighter 2 buried away somewhere.

Back in Salisbury there was a small independent store on Endless Street, think it was imaginatively titled "Video Games Centre", a cornershop slightly off the beaten track from the main town centre but I would walk past it on my way too and from town/school. They used to sell second hand games and did trade-ins which was pretty rare in those days, wasn't an option with high street shops. Their prices were quite erratic but they'd have the odd good deal, towards the end I remember buying Unreal and Carmageddon there on PC (the latter I think I was 17 so technically underage but it was a bit like the 'local' where you could get served).
They also hosted a small PC business doing repairs and builds etc where my first PC game from, I still remember the guy bringing it round in the evening and using Quake to test the soundcard, he left it installed so technically I had a 'dodgy' copy of Quake, still playing it 25 years later

I still miss The Playing Fields in London.

https://dondeq2.com/2018/01/05/gaming-pub-the-playing-fields/

Nice article, I always wanted to go there but did somewhere similar called "shoot'n'surf" in 1999.

 

[Scania]

Town Computers.. that sounds familiar, where was that exactly?
Computerama in Stafford.... dont suppose that was the one infront of the then Byron Cinema?

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.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Not a computer game shop, but what ever happened to BEATTIES?
I used to go to one whenever I visited the UK in the 90s and buy some models...

-edit: Oh. Ironic given the thread

I’m guessing a combination of interest in scale modelling declining and the rise of online retailers.

 

[Hades]

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.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

Almost a computer shop on every corner, they were the days….

Beebug St Albans.

Watford Electronics in Watford.

Technomatic London.

Micro Power Leeds.

Visited them all in my Acorn days….

Not around here there weren't bought my electron in some shop that I can't remember the name of it wasn't a "small computer shop" it was a larger store with a range of small computers on sale, was it Boots? Some kind of larger retail store anyway so long ago I honestly can't remember. Other than that and a visit to a guy who sold sellf built PC's from his house and the odd visit to the purple shirt guys I've never been in stores its all been purchase from home, mail order originally used to get the computer mags and scour the classifieds and I remember all those stores you listed bought from all of them even spoke to the Watford Electronics guy direct on the phone once but never visited any of them, all too far away. Even used to buy all the acorn games direct from the adverts in the mags, phone the sales hotline used to really look forward to the latest mag landing on the doormat. Those were the days. None of the later "small PC shops" scattered around town were up to much i remember popping into the odd one and being unimpressed too expensive and not much choice and got the feeling they knew less than i did ask some technical question and be met with blank stares by that point I sourced almost everyting online wider choice and better value