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    independent videogame stores

    in a time where the only videogame stores seem to be either Gamestation or GAME do any independants actually still exsist? The charm of the independant store has been replaced by the samey multi national chains, so this thread is to pay respect to them, so tell us about any independant stores past and present, bad or good.

    Awsome games (i think that was the name) - opened near me a few years back now, didn't last long not that i'd miss them. First time i walked into the store i was confronted by some guy shouting at the guy behind the counter "you owe me the ****in money!" or something similar, browsing the games i think the guy apparently owed the other a couple of grand (dodgy buisnesses going on i presume). Anyways they had a decent selection of DC, GC, N64 games etc mainly all the consoles still around in 2002, staff were arsehols, always rude to the customer. I remember one time these kids came in and after browsing decided to on the demo pod in the store, the guy behind the counter just walked up to the pod and pulled the plug out (twat).

    can't remember the name but it was located in East Ham shopping mall about 10yrs ago - was quite cool, used to buy games from them during my early childhood years, they also had a small arcade at the side of the shop, i remember playing street fighter 2 turbo there. A bit steep if i remember, i rekindle looking for a copy of street fighter 2 turbo and being confronted with a ?35 price tag for a second hand copy.

    Gamesworld - opened about a decade ago, probably responsible for putting the latter shop out of buisness seeing a they were basically right next to eachother. Probably the shop i have better memories of seeing as they were around during my early teenage years, they had a great selection, of past and current games as well as imports. However they started getting arrogant, prices seemed to rise and prices for trade ins started going beyond the joke. About 2000 onwards you could tell the store was getting less and less buisness (not surprisingly), at one time they had a DC demo pod with a sign on it saying "?1 for 10 minutes" WTF!!!. Now (thankfully) the owner doesn't sell videogames, just pc parts and the usual ?1 for an hour internet access you seem to get every where now.

    #2
    All my local indies are ****e. I'm still wondering how one of them is still going as they have no new releases and their pre-owned stock is terrible. The other one is just plain dodgy. They have fruit machines in the corner where 10 year old kids smoking cigs come to play. Randomly they also used to sell chocolate when it first opened around 8-9 years ago. I remember going in one lunch time with a work colleague and asked how much trade in I'd get for a Twix and a Curly Wurly against a new Mars bar

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      #3
      death to the indie!, long live the internet!

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        #4
        Best indie I've seen is Game Focus on Goodge Street. Very nice shop with large selection of games (imports too) and DVDs, and at prices rivalling CEX/Gamestation.

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          #5
          The only independant shop i ever liked was microbyte in leeds, they refurbished after only selling 8bit computer stuff & turned into a 16bit mecca.

          Shelves full of new decently priced imports as far as the eye could see. There was also a glass case opposite the counter full of import gamegear & gameboy games. It was one of the few places that got me into importing, i used to special order lots of weird import gb games & i loved it.

          Others were total **** like new generation consoles (search for past rants about these crooks)

          Nowdays im glad i can order all my imports online, sure i cant go & look in a shop & see the imports in person, but so what. I dont have to put up with a dirty smelly shop & rude staff. Plus the days of paying obscene prices for imports has ended thank god.

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            #6
            I've been there a couple of times when I've been down in London. Not too bad, but pretty expensive.

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              #7
              CA Games in Glasgows West End - been about so long it's a ****in institution and I'm sure there'll be many people on here who'll hold their hand up and be counted as having been turned to the dark side (importing) by it.

              Top, top shop - I've some great memories stuck in my head from that place - Seeing RidgeRacer running on PS1 for the first time and wishing I had the insane ?'s necessary to take it home - or seeing Shenmue running and feeling the hairs on the back of my neck all stand on end at the though of getting it home for a blast.

              Also, see G-Force - They're not bad either.

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                #8
                Software Box in Poole used to be the bog's dollocks, it's where I used to get all my import SNES carts back in the day. Plus despite being a shoebox it was one of those places where people would go and hang out for hours on end talking **** with the staff and playing videogames.

                Gamefocus is pretty nice but it falls into the category of being one of the places where I'd go and just look at stuff that I will later go and buy for about half the price online :/

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                  #9
                  Wasnt too impressed with gamefocus myself, went down a few years back & although they had a lot of playstation 2 stuff there were only a handful of gc games & a few tatty N64 boxes downstairs.

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                    #10
                    There's a town where I live that has independants are actually quite decent. I don't know if anyone else will know of them in a town called 'Keighley'. Which is near leeds. They are actually quite good everytime I go because they have alot of different and more obscure than normal PAL pre-owned stuff, and the occasional import aswell, but I only go on the odd occasion, so I expect for people who frequent these places they will seem the same as everywhere else. They do compete over price though, so its not too bad if you want some cheap and that bit more obscure PAL stuff. Which most people have bought online on import or PAL now anyway.

                    I do buy my stuff off the internet anyway, but there is another shop near me who's ok aswell, but he and his partner have moved more into PC fixing to keep themselves in business. I personally think its a bit sad that these bigger places have taken over myself, and there's no way the littler shops can compete with places like Asda and the like, but this has been a massive problem in my area for every type of shop not just game shops.

                    Its a shame but the internet has made it hard for these places aswell, but the worst culprits are the super stores imo. I'd rather keep the little man in business even if it means payng an extra ?1 or 2 just to keep them going especially when I buy any PAL games. Which is rare these days anyway.
                    Last edited by AdamJW; 09-07-2006, 14:17.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by importaku
                      The only independant shop i ever liked was microbyte in leeds, they refurbished after only selling 8bit computer stuff & turned into a 16bit mecca.

                      Shelves full of new decently priced imports as far as the eye could see. There was also a glass case opposite the counter full of import gamegear & gameboy games. It was one of the few places that got me into importing, i used to special order lots of weird import gb games & i loved it.

                      Others were total **** like new generation consoles (search for past rants about these crooks)

                      Nowdays im glad i can order all my imports online, sure i cant go & look in a shop & see the imports in person, but so what. I dont have to put up with a dirty smelly shop & rude staff. Plus the days of paying obscene prices for imports has ended thank god.
                      nah i would always take the experience of going to a shop over the internet any day. Its just that there isn't many great videogame shops in exsistence in the UK, the best we had was CEX rathbone place back in the day.

                      I'll take going to a place like this, than the internet anyday, even if the prices were more expensive:

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                        #12
                        Japanese games shops dont count (^_^)

                        Id glady use those if they were over here but theres no way in hell you'd find a shop over here with that much good import stuff.

                        I was talking about shops over here that arent a shadow of japanese games shops.

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                          #13
                          There's still an Awesome Games near me in Walthamstow, East London. But they've gone totally mainstream now and hardly deal with any importing like they used to with past gaming generations. Obviously, this is in a vain effort to compete with GAME and the like.

                          Walthamstow was also home to the "legendary" Erol Computers, but it closed down a year or two ago, after 20 years of trading.

                          There were other smaller Indie and Retro Gaming stores near me, but they've pretty much all gone under as well, as did Jason Moore's Retrogames store in Hendon, and Retro Gamer X in Shepherd's Bush.

                          I think we can all agree that our gaming needs are pretty much catered for online these days. That said, I would totally recommend stores like Raven Games in Beckenham, Skill 2000 Games in Ealing and of course, Game Focus in the West End. These are the stores that I frequent for all things game-related, be it importing, retro, buying/selling or even repairs.

                          Honestly, the less said about CEX these days, the better.
                          Last edited by Nu-Eclipse; 09-07-2006, 14:26.

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                            #14
                            I love my local indie - Interactive in Bolton - gets in imported DS and PSP titles, gets 360/Xbox games in early-ish ... might be a bit more expensive than Tesco or Game but at least all my games are still sealed, and their customer service is exemplary.

                            Highly recommended for anyone in the Bolton area

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by fuse
                              Software Box in Poole used to be the bog's dollocks, it's where I used to get all my import SNES carts back in the day. Plus despite being a shoebox it was one of those places where people would go and hang out for hours on end talking **** with the staff and playing videogames.

                              Gamefocus is pretty nice but it falls into the category of being one of the places where I'd go and just look at stuff that I will later go and buy for about half the price online :/
                              Ah software box, I remeber that place well. My cousin was good friends with one of the staff there and I ended up buying a Saturn and around 50 games (inlcuding all three panzers) for ?70

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