In the height of the 16bit era when the Amiga and ST ruled supreme, we had two computer shops in our home town - Topsoft and Chips.
These used to be packed every weekend, full of kids fighting for space and a chance to play on the various computers and consoles setup around the store. The machines, which changed from year to year depending on popularity (Amiga, ST, Master System, Megadrive for example), were sat on what resembled kitchen worktops around the perimeter of the store, with games, hardware and goodies in cabinets behind locked glass sliding windows.
In these cabinets that adorned the walls, new and old releases were presented proudly. There were even one or two arcade machines setup in store and in later years PC's with CDROMS! Man I longed for one those 386's at the time!
Slowly but surely, these stores died a death as the golden era closed on local gaming stores. Topsoft shut down and whenever I'm home and walk past the restaurant that once used to be it's home, I'm presented with a huge wave of nostalgia and memories of the packed out store in years gone by.
Chips still exists, but the kitchen worktops and glass cabinets have all but gone, replaced with stacks of games and DVDs. It's now mainly a game trading centre, but they do still have a TMNT arcade machine set up gathering dust in the corner and a single tall glass cabinet with second hand consoles. The store is a shadow of its former self, but walking up the alley and inside still floods me with memories. They have a website and a few stores nationally, but I'd imagine most trade is online these days.
Yes, there are the big stores like GAME kicking around, but they don't have the same feel especially now I'm older. The old stores had a kind of club atmosphere, where exited faces would turn up every week and we'd discuss the latest games. The staff were run off their feet trying to control the packed out store of rampaging kids! LOL!
Anyone else remember local stores being packed out, but have now gone downhill in modern gaming times?