Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

What happened to Chipshop 2000 in Liverpool?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    #16
    Well a bit of interest in why chipshop 2000 closed. Check out the following Link : https://www.facebook.com/pages/ChipS...50651724947051 Thanks
    Last edited by EditMan; 04-07-2012, 11:17.

    Comment


      #17
      Whoops just spotted my (much) earlier post.
      Last edited by CMcK; 03-07-2012, 20:19. Reason: Ignore this one.

      Comment


        #18
        Originally posted by endo View Post
        There was a time just about when Chip Shop moved into that place opposite the Palace when there was loads of little games shops round that area (with bazillions of SNES carts mainly). Loads of record shops too. Big shame all that's gone. Chipshop finished a while ago. The main bloke was a raw scal- never knew his Andr? the Giant mate was called Dale though. I knew one lad that used to work in through skating. I remember one time he hung off the top of the fountain near St George's Hall by his fingertips. Mental bastard.

        Anyone used to go to Computer Adventure World in Birkenhead? They had that ad over the escalators at Central for years, even for ages after it closed down. Shee-it, buying games ain't what it used to be.
        Originally posted by hoolak View Post
        and I know who you mean when you say "Andre the Giant" lol Did he work there or just linger there?
        OI. Do you cnuts know how many times I got called that as a kid? The answer is "loads", and it stopped being funny when I left nursery school. I still get called that on occasion. I fcuking hate 80's WWF because of that.

        As for my work ethic, well, it depended on the day. Some days, I lingered like a bad smell. Other days, I lingered and smelled bad.

        And don't forget, I was the one (not the only one, but mostly me) who had to do the sign run. In all weathers. For hours at a time. Not fun.

        Overall, I loved that little shop, though. Yeah, in hindsight, everything was too expensive, and the layout was too cluttered and busy, but it was a truly unique place, and, to me, a part of my life that will - can - never be repeated. Best job I ever had, that one, even if it did pay peanuts.

        Comment


          #19
          Funny thing you mention chipshop 2000. I was back in Liverpool last week and walked past it seeing it had gone..
          I used to get all my stuff from there and spent a feck load of cash on dreamcast and all sorts.

          Those days can never come back.

          Comment


            #20
            Dash Crimson, you are the big guy, Dale? Man, I know you. I never worked in the Chip Shop but did part time work in Eric’s Swop Shop in the basement of the Palace. Him and Martian always had a bit of a grudge going. I remember when the original Chip Shop was burnt down too. I think it was just after they moved around the corner from Slater Street. It was about 18 years ago though so I don't remember too well. I'm sure you used to come in to HMV too when I worked there.
            Last edited by Yakumo; 05-07-2012, 11:29.

            Comment


              #21
              Wow, Dash Crimson! Sorry to call you that... It's amazing to see you here though. Small world and that. I remember Chip Shop when it was around the corner from Slater Street too. Do you remember the store that was in St John's Market?

              I'd like to hear more about what games you are/were into.

              Comment


                #22
                The store that was in Saint Johns was Microbytes. There was a guy called Lee Whally who worked there who was one of the main guys to see in the pirate scene of the time. The manager Ken apparently knew all about it but turned a blind eye. There was also Games Magik (yeah, that's how it was spelt) in Cavern Walks. They big guy, Doug that worked there went on to work in HMV which is how I got my job in there way back when I was 18.

                Comment


                  #23
                  Originally posted by Yakumo View Post
                  The store that was in Saint Johns was Microbytes. There was a guy called Lee Whally who worked there who was one of the main guys to see in the pirate scene of the time. The manager Ken apparently knew all about it but turned a blind eye. There was also Games Magik (yeah, that's how it was spelt) in Cavern Walks. They big guy, Doug that worked there went on to work in HMV which is how I got my job in there way back when I was 18.
                  I occasionally used to go to some computer club in Birkenhead and it was basically just a big room full of people pirating stuff. Mainly Amiga and ST (I think various members of demo scene crews used to go there), but I remember seeing people having SNES games on loads of floppies too.

                  Games Magik! I'd forgotten the name of that place in Cavern Walks. That's where I got my copy of Street Fighter 2. 80 quid I think it was, but possibly the best money spent on anything ever. Remember them having Super Star Wars in there for 120.

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Originally posted by Yakumo View Post
                    The store that was in Saint Johns was Microbytes. There was a guy called Lee Whally who worked there who was one of the main guys to see in the pirate scene of the time. The manager Ken apparently knew all about it but turned a blind eye. There was also Games Magik (yeah, that's how it was spelt) in Cavern Walks. They big guy, Doug that worked there went on to work in HMV which is how I got my job in there way back when I was 18.
                    Ah yeah, that's the one. I bought my first copy of Street Fighter 2 for SFC at the bargain price of 90 quid.

                    I also bought a couple of games just because of the cover art; Magical Flying Hat Turbo Adventure and Ringside Angel. The latter was a wrestling game (WWF all the rage back then) with women, and had a holographic cover.

                    I think I remember that Lee bloke. My "mate" always thought it would funny tocall him "quaver ears" and peg it. Leaving me in there pretending I wasn't with him, trying to contain a giggle.

                    Comment


                      #25
                      Used to love this shop as a kid. They had a stall in Stanley Dock Market too.

                      As others have said...very pricey, felt like they were ripping me off a lot of the time, & they were a bit arrogant.

                      But good shop, I often just looked, but picked up a few imports back in the day. SNES games in particular. Always remember pickup up Aerobiz Supersonic there then finding another import of it in Cash Converters for a quarter of the price a few weeks later, haha. Worth it though.

                      Comment


                        #26
                        Slightly off topic but does anyone remember the Computer and Video Games tournaments that were held in HMV in Liverpool years ago? I'm talking in the 90s. They had one each year. I remember they had, tomb raider 2, rage racer and sega rally 2 challenges. I actually won the sega rally Liverpool heat and went to the final in London. I rember being in C&VG magazine and then being interviewed on TV for the final.

                        Can anyone remember those?

                        Comment


                          #27
                          I do because I worked there at the time. I actually went home with a Sega Rally disc and two SNES PCBs being timed versions of Star Fox and Donkey Kong Country.

                          Comment


                            #28
                            Would be quite interesting to hear your impressions of HMV's games department in the 90s, Yakumo. My experience of it has seen it transform from a part of the business relatively ignored by management and left to its own devices into one dominated by the demands of major publishers and politics. Quite a few of us get wistful for the days when we used to wander in and see SNES carts on the shelves, but it'd be great to hear about what it was like to actually work there at the time.

                            Comment


                              #29
                              I changed that department around. You would have noticed that HMV Liverpool was one of the only big stores to heavily support Saturn and GameBoy while other store were reducing Gameboy and couldn't give a **** about Saturn. I ran up some good deals with a few distributors that allowed us to get cheap GameBoy games and sell them on at a reduced price to the public. The store actually made a lot off Gameboy.

                              The Games department was treated as a joke by the music loving staff which pissed me off being a music and game lover. Our processing was always left to us because "It wasn't important" so we were really rushed off our feet around new release time. To be honest, it was good that nobody gave a **** about our department because that enabled us to buy what we wanted. I was in charge of pretty much 80% of the games department's stock in my last year or so.

                              The games department went through a few staff originally being the guy from GameMagik and me. Then myself and another guy called Mark, then myself and a mate called Steve and finally another guy called Paul joined our team however he seemed to think he was the boss. Yeah right, I was. He ended up becoming a manager of GAME. Not sure what branch though.

                              One great thing about the other departments not being interested in games was that we got a lot of promo stuff to keep. Unfortunately the manager of the store at that time was a bit of a prick and kept a lot of it, especially if it was PlayStation. But you know, if he didn't know about it he couldn't nab it, hehehehe.

                              I can't remember the exact time I worked in HMV. I left in October 1998 to move to Japan. I started there about 1993 or 1994. I know Saturn and PlayStation weren't released when I started there.

                              Oh, did you ever enter HMV Liverpool on the Saturn or PlayStation launch and we had the systems running on EVERY screen in the shop including the video wall Oh man, the boss didn't like that. I did though.
                              Last edited by Yakumo; 11-07-2012, 12:02.

                              Comment


                                #30
                                Alas, I haven't been to the HMV in Liverpool. My experiences as a shopper were from the HMV in Oxford Circus (back when Games was on the first floor) and from the Bond Street store as a staff member. The Virgin Megastore was always better for PC games but HMV had a good little department back then, even if it was all PAL.

                                Your experience sounds a lot like it was when I first started. Games back then was pretty much a "shop within a shop", and we were allowed to run it as such because management didn't really know anything about it. There was a growing resentment among certain people when they saw how much money games were making but with a bit more of a renegade attitude. Having games knowledge also made you bulletproof for a while, as nobody else knew anything about what we were selling and management just didn't want to know at all for as long as we were making money. A lot of that disappeared (including lots of regular customers) once we had management that thought they knew something about games and started interfering. Lots of our ideas ended up being vetoed in favour of some really bizarre changes, and I ended up getting into countless arguments with my manager over the way the department was heading. I supported PC in almost exactly the same way that you supported Game Boy but the constant fighting just got too wearying after a while. Never got to go to any of the conferences or get much in the way of promos, unfortunately!

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X