i miss computer stores

[GhostWKD]

This reminds me of a computer shop my dad used to spend a lot of time in about 25-30 years ago...

Store front looks pretty much identical on a streetview from 2019

 

[GGizmo]

I remember going to Boots or WHSmith and they having computer games. I mainly went to WHSmiths for the computer magazines.

The main shop I liked was Vudata in Ashton-under-lyne. I went there when I was a kid. It changed locations. There were always lots of games on all the shelves. Each area of the shop focused on a different system. I remember the demo computers on the table playing different demos.

I once remember it was so busy one day, not sure why, people were queuing outside to get in.

Years later I was at a nearby college and asked them if I could do work experience at the shop. But when I got there it was literally the owners doing a stock check to sell the place. I did have a bittersweet moment of being able to sell a game to a customer.

The shop as since been knocked down.

The guy who owned it now runs a PC mobile repair computer. I like the PC. But back then very few gamers used them. This was in pre-Doom times.

 

[Maccy]

I used to enjoy going to Electronics Boutique back in the day, and even Staples!

I remember going into Staples in the 90s and out near the front they had PCs on display with the game MDK playing on them. I used to spend a lot of time marvelling at the Pcs there and hoping one day I could own a high spec PC that I could play every game on.

In the early 2000s I also used spend quite a bit of time at my local Internet Cafe, and I would go there purely to play Unreal Tournament 99 and Counter-strike.

Also I really miss the the big cardboard packaging for pc games. I used to sometimes buy a game solely based on the box art alone and found some real gems.

Fun times.

Oh man I loved EB, they were cheaper than anyone else for games back in the day!

 

[Deleted User 298457]

EB was great. I also used to go to GameStop in Bullring Link. Got my first Xbox 360 from there!

 

[1664kronenbourg]

GAME used to begood but now they've only gpt a foot of acutal PC gaming space. It used to have wall and shelves of it.

 

[1664kronenbourg]

Also I really miss the the big cardboard packaging for pc games. I used to sometimes buy a game solely based on the box art alone and found some real gems.

Fun times.

That was when for 20-30 quid yousometimes got:-
t-shirt
mousemat
poster
keyboard overlay
maps (the speccy version of F19 stealth fighter came with a decent manual and maps)
as well as a manual.

Now you're lucky if you just get the 12-16 digit code on a panthlet.

 

[Em3bbs]

I used to enjoy going to a couple of independent shops, one in Sidcup, just off the high street, Petts Wood, just off station square and one in Woolwich. Not to mention what others have said, PC World, WH Smith and Woolworths. Used to get the magazines with the demo games on cassette, used our stereo to copy games and exchange with friends. Had a Spectrum+2, Amiga 500 and then I got my first PC from a UK German startup called Escom in 1995/96 for £703. A 486 DX2 66. As it turns out, it was faulty and they had no replacement stock so they upgraded me to a PC with a CD-ROM drive.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escom_(computer_company)

I remember waiting to pick up a copy of Windows 95 from there, the Basingstoke branch. Although they weren't really a startup, they were a massive German company who expanded too quickly in the UK by taking all the Rumbelows stores over (Rumbelows had gone bust) and this ended up being too much for them and it took the whole company down.

 

[OspreyO]

Remember browsing all the game boxes. Good times.

 

[Junglist]

I used to love going to computer fairs back in the 90's, I don't know if they do them anymore, has anyone seen one recently?

We used to have a massive computer fair in Bristol years/decades ago. Was like every month or so. Going to that as a kid was the highlight of my day every single time. Looking and dreaming about VooDoo AGP cards that I would never be able to afford. Buying cheap bits for my super-duper cheap PC. It was a blast.

Sadly the internet has killed computer fairs. I last went to one about 10 years ago and it was just really sad. Nothing was as cheap as you could get it online and it mostly seemed to be 3rd party print cartridges and blank CD/DVD-RWs

 

[bagleyboy]

I do miss the old computer stores, game for the vast choice of games (like others have said, it's just game time and some accessories now a days), and a certain still existing electrical retail actually had a good choice of parts (remember picking up my first ever PC upgrade there, a AGP 6600).

Now it's online or nothing, little bit sad but guess that's how things evolved.

 

[arknor]

every city had independent game and computer stores in the 90s and early 00s Newcastle had a place running quake in the window, must have been on a voodoo card as it looked insanely smooth

then they all got wiped out by EB and GAME.

trading in games was something the independents started.

 

[Scougar]

Very fortunate to have a chain computer retailer near me, that are pretty decent.

I do wish OcUK would to OcUSA though.

 

[V F]

Remember browsing all the game boxes. Good times.

I do miss the old computer stores, game for the vast choice of games (like others have said, it's just game time and some accessories now a days), and a certain still existing electrical retail actually had a good choice of parts (remember picking up my first ever PC upgrade there, a AGP 6600).

Now it's online or nothing, little bit sad but guess that's how things evolved.

Bringing a few game boxes home was always something special back then. Reading the game manuals waiting on it installing. I'm not saying it bad or good but now, you want a game? Pick a game service and download.

Though I always remember many PC shops locally never or were able to get what I wanted. That was the great aspect of online when I started with PC builds back in 2003/4.

Now the only somewhat excitement today, has it shipped? I miss that with even the likes of Blockbuster. Spending 30 to 45 minutes looking through all the video boxes and placing them back. Or maybe even purchasing a video poster with your rentals.

 

[baldmonk]

would always pop into tandy or dixons and a few local computer shops but they are a rare thing these day

 

[drakulton]

I wasn't really interested in any competitors because Overclockers was local to me anyway. The only exception was while at Staffs Uni (Stafford campus) from 1998 to 2000, where we had our own on-site computer shop next door to the canteen! It wasn't cheap but was good for emergencies if you needed a replacement keyboard or hard disk just a few minutes walk from your digs.

What I do miss though are the general electrical shops and radio shops e.g. Radio Shack that were common on the high street up until the late 90s.

I also miss HMV as me and my mates would spend half an hour in there checking out new music and movies. Then buying one of those silly A1 posters that you flick through and each poster had a number or code that you would pick. Stafford did finally get its own HMV store in 2004 but we only had it for about 10 years then we lost it when HMV sold off about 50% of their branches. The nearest we have in Stafford nowadays for browsing music and movies would be CEX.

Remember this? https://www.search.staffspasttrack.org.uk/Details.aspx?&ResourceID=31746&SearchType=2&ThemeID=350

 

[KiNgPiN83]

I disagree with this, Ive been in a few times recently (different stores) for business and you cant get a hold of anyone. When you finally track someone down questions turn into lookups on the computer or let me get a colleague who might know.

No product knowledge and a complete lack of willingness to do the job. Thats the mentality of the generation working there. Must be no sales incentives either.

This isn't new though. I worked for Staples years ago and because i knew about computers i became the 'expert'... They had zero training except other colleagues listening to me and the knowledge i had. I was also a terrible salesman as i only recommended stuff that people needed rather than milk them. As well as never selling warranties because i told them they weren't worth it! Haha! Oddly enough though i also had customers who'd come back to me all the time so i guess my sales technique kind of worked?!

 

[Deleted User 298457]

This isn't new though. I worked for Staples years ago and because i knew about computers i became the 'expert'... They had zero training except other colleagues listening to me and the knowledge i had. I was also a terrible salesman as i only recommended stuff that people needed rather than milk them. As well as never selling warranties because i told them they weren't worth it! Haha! Oddly enough though i also had customers who'd come back to me all the time so i guess my sales technique kind of worked?!

God reminds me when I was flogging Packard Bell laptops and got into a major row with the rep they sent. He was advising Customers so save the tenner and get the Pentium Dual Core version rather than the i3 version. He raged at me when I corrected him and then pointed to the higher Ghz

Enthusiasts as sales experts works really well... except when they get it wrong

 

[thenewoc]

I remember going to Boots or WHSmith and they having computer games. I mainly went to WHSmiths for the computer magazines.

The main shop I liked was Vudata in Ashton-under-lyne. I went there when I was a kid. It changed locations. There were always lots of games on all the shelves. Each area of the shop focused on a different system. I remember the demo computers on the table playing different demos.

I once remember it was so busy one day, not sure why, people were queuing outside to get in.

Years later I was at a nearby college and asked them if I could do work experience at the shop. But when I got there it was literally the owners doing a stock check to sell the place. I did have a bittersweet moment of being able to sell a game to a customer.

The shop as since been knocked down.

The guy who owned it now runs a PC mobile repair computer. I like the PC. But back then very few gamers used them. This was in pre-Doom times.

My ZX81 came from a Boots store and some years later my Hi-Fi came from there too.

 

[ShiWarrior]

used to work at Electronics Boutique before GAME took it over ..

 

[mmj_uk]

every city had independent game and computer stores in the 90s and early 00s Newcastle had a place running quake in the window, must have been on a voodoo card as it looked insanely smooth

then they all got wiped out by EB and GAME.

trading in games was something the independents started.

It's the same with most things nowadays, all of the little fish have been gobbled up by the big fish or put out of business by government lockdowns that don't apply to the big fish. Everything has become hugely centralised and there's fewer choices for the consumer.

I remember going into a computer shop in the 90s and playing on a Philips CDI that was set up for demo, it was some tennis game and the graphics were amazeballs at the time. How many companies were competing in the console market back then? how many now? how many good games developers were there back then? how many now? etc etc.

We must only be a few years away from a Robocop/OCP type scenario, I mean when social media companies have more soft power than all of the worlds countries combined and ban presidents you know the world is screwed.