The one store I recall that closed that was a big deal to me was Game Junkie of West Chester, Ohio. That place was the shit! Halo 1 and 2 tournaments which brought the famous "Ogres" (top midwest players) down from Michigan just to play in a tourney there. Friday Night Live, girls got in for free. DDR set up all the time. Smash Bros tourneys. And finally, all the Bawls sodas you could ever imagine. That place was awesome, but closed because they ran out of funds. I believe the owner was Matt Matson. He might even be on here, Idk.
Not to get too off topic, but there have been many claims against Sylvia Brown's authenticity as a psychic. As for the second video, you can say the re-enactments are more "overreactments"
Most of the K-Marts in Minnesota have closed shop.
The store locator notes that there are only 9 K-Marts still in operation in the state, and 3 of those are in the Twin Cities area. That may sound like a lot, but by comparison, we have 110 Wal-Marts, 37 Shopkos, and 50-60 Targets.
They don't sell games anymore (I hear), but when they did, it was a pretty good place to look (as far as retail is concerned). I also used to particpate in their K-Day events, which were fun and no other retailer does anything like it.
I probably mentioned it previously in this thread, but I also used to work at one. It was a pretty decent job, almost operated like a family. They treated their employees pretty well.
Yeah same here, my state only has four Kmart left and none of them are near me anymore. From 2002-2005 the three NH locations closest to me all shut down, and then a few years ago the Claremont NH location went out of business too. The "Music & Video" section of Kmart was fantastic 20 years ago.
Yeah same here, my state only has four Kmart left and none of them are near me anymore. From 2002-2005 the three NH locations closest to me all shut down, and then a few years ago the Claremont NH location went out of business too. The "Music & Video" section of Kmart was fantastic 20 years ago.
I just checked and it looks like there are a couple over the border in South Dakota that would be worth a drive. Unfortunately, I heard they all stopped selling games, which is a shame.
I should see if they are still running K-Day. Those things are a blast.
EDIT: Their video game section was pretty decent right up until the end. I had a couple nice scores with them.
They probably have to focus on more profitable sections of the store now that they're not doing as well. The margin on new games and systems is terrible and they lose value.
They probably have to focus on more profitable sections of the store now that they're not doing as well. The margin on new games and systems is terrible and they lose value.
Yeah. I've also noticed they aren't the only ones doing it either.
Kmart in my area used to sell preowned NES games in the early 2000s repackaged in cardboard trays and plastic wrapped, and before that in the late 90s I remember you could find them in the rotating glass cases cart only. I can remember the West Lebanon, NH Kmart having hundreds of NES cart only games at one point. I'm sure I got a few from there but I'm clueless these days which ones they might have been. Those are the only "preowned" items I can ever remember seeing in any major department store chain!
I've got a used David Crane's Amazing Tennis on SNES that is repackaged in one of those trays by a company called "Game Time". I remember seeing these in Big Bear Plus/Harts stores in the '90s and early 2000s. K-Mart might have been getting games from them as well. Actually, we got another one of those traded in within the last 6 months. I can't remember what game it was. Since none of my co-workers wanted it that way, I just opened it up, threw out the rest and put it out loose. It wasn't a big-name game.
I see this thread has popped up again. Here in the Bay Area we used to have a game store in the city of Newark called Knights Video Games. I wonder if any other members here know it? I'll share some memories just so some record of this place remains
They used to import a lot of stuff from Japan, one of the guys working there named James used to always import games that I'd request for him to look for. Well, I'd go with my brother and mom and she'd kind of ask for us (we were too damn shy back then). He'd always pull through and it was exciting on the drive there to pick up the latest import he found. They also sold tons of anime and other items, though I was never into that stuff.
My first trip there was when we bought a 32X when it first came out and couldn't figure out how to fit those damn metal connectors into the Genesis so you can attach the 32X onto it. Of course I learned much later in life those things were pointless and you can do without. But our mother found them in the phone book and we drove there and James set our Genesis with the 32X for us. Forget if he charged, but that places was amazing for a 9 year old. It was a pretty small and jam packed place full of everything you can imagine from gaming back then. Some time later they moved location within the same strip mall they were located to another side which was adjacent to the first location and only just a few doors down.
Once the PS2 era came the store moved location a second time to the store right next door which was attached to a cafe or something. This one was much wider which I guess they wanted. Also had glass walls, which changed the whole atmosphere of the place since the previous locations were sandwiched between other stores, so it would always feel like walking into some collectors treasure trove. I remember they also lost the carpeted floors at this point and had tiled floors now, which I thought was a grade down. Somewhat lost its charm, but it wasn't totally gone. One thing they had going for them was they had loads and loads of what was slowly becoming "retro" at that point. I don't think the Funcoland at the nearby Fremont Hub mall could compare to the variety that they offered in terms of used and new games. It was great. I remember the manager let me buy Conker's Bad Fur Day when it first came out despite the fact I wasn't 18 yet. He was a cool guy.
I got a PC in 2002 and sort of stopped buying things and just emulated from then on, so I stopped seeing the store. I don't know when they closed, but once they left something about the whole area died. It felt like a main attraction for me. It's got a nice Asian market and some Asian stores there now, at least. The memories will always remain.
Their old website is still on archive.org if anyone that remembers it is curious. Here's the earliest archive. I think there may have been another address prior to this..
The first place I saw an NES kiosk, games, perhiperals, etc circa like 1989-1990ish. I can still see the inside set up in my mind's eye. Very nostalgic store!
Roller Palace, Beverly MA (still operating as far as I know):
This is one of the single-most nostalgic places for me. Many birthday parties and events were had here. The arcade (in the right on this picture) used to have MK1, MK2, UMK3, TMNT, etc. Whenever I think of classic games from the early 90's, I'm immediately met with memories of those neon lights against the arcade wall while I skated by. I can still smell the shitty roller rink pizza, too
The first place I saw an NES kiosk, games, perhiperals, etc circa like 1989-1990ish. I can still see the inside set up in my mind's eye. Very nostalgic store!
Roller Palace, Beverly MA (still operating as far as I know):
This is one of the single-most nostalgic places for me. Many birthday parties and events were had here. The arcade (in the right on this picture) used to have MK1, MK2, UMK3, TMNT, etc. Whenever I think of classic games from the early 90's, I'm immediately met with memories of those neon lights against the arcade wall while I skated by. I can still smell the shitty roller rink pizza, too
Hey, I live in Saugus now but grew up in East Boston.
Can't for the life of me remember where exactly in Saugus that Child World was. Maybe on RT1 in that strip mall up near the Salvation Army thrift store??
Does anyone remember Phar-Mor? I used to beg my mom to drive me there every Friday to rent games... they had a crazy good deal, like 75 cents or $1 per game rental for 3 days when everywhere else was $3 per game for 2 days. There was a limit of 6 at a time, and I got 6 every week with my paper route money... whatever halfway decent games they had in stock. Mostly genesis and SNES, as I remember. This was in the early 90's
It was a pharmacy store, but they also had discount deals a lot like Big Lots. I remember specifically once finding hot dog scented Nickelodeon Gak there. Once when I was with a friend of mine, we found these sound machines that made the Fred Flintstone running sound and chased each other around the store while constantly pushing the button. Ah, stupid youth... but nobody gave a flying fig. It was a fun store to just poke around in and see what you could find.
The first place I saw an NES kiosk, games, perhiperals, etc circa like 1989-1990ish. I can still see the inside set up in my mind's eye. Very nostalgic store!
Roller Palace, Beverly MA (still operating as far as I know):
This is one of the single-most nostalgic places for me. Many birthday parties and events were had here. The arcade (in the right on this picture) used to have MK1, MK2, UMK3, TMNT, etc. Whenever I think of classic games from the early 90's, I'm immediately met with memories of those neon lights against the arcade wall while I skated by. I can still smell the shitty roller rink pizza, too
Hey, I live in Saugus now but grew up in East Boston. Can't for the life of me remember where exactly in Saugus that Child World was. Maybe on RT1 in that strip mall up near the Salvation Army thrift store??
You're CLOSE, sir! You know where Hannaford ("Wild Harvest") is in that plaza? (I used Google Maps to be easy):
It was in the very back right, where Bed Bath and Beyond is now located:
I remember the Child World building staying in that lot for a few years after they closed, too! I love Saugus.
The first place I saw an NES kiosk, games, perhiperals, etc circa like 1989-1990ish. I can still see the inside set up in my mind's eye. Very nostalgic store!
Roller Palace, Beverly MA (still operating as far as I know):
This is one of the single-most nostalgic places for me. Many birthday parties and events were had here. The arcade (in the right on this picture) used to have MK1, MK2, UMK3, TMNT, etc. Whenever I think of classic games from the early 90's, I'm immediately met with memories of those neon lights against the arcade wall while I skated by. I can still smell the shitty roller rink pizza, too
Hey, I live in Saugus now but grew up in East Boston. Can't for the life of me remember where exactly in Saugus that Child World was. Maybe on RT1 in that strip mall up near the Salvation Army thrift store??
You're CLOSE, sir! You know where Hannaford ("Wild Harvest") is in that plaza? (I used Google Maps to be easy):
It was in the very back right, where Bed Bath and Beyond is now located:
I remember the Child World building staying in that lot for a few years after they closed, too! I love Saugus.
Yup, it's a great little town. Thanks bro for pointing out the location, brings back nice childhood memories.
Comments
I'm surprised nobody pointed out this photo from the last page....there's like 100-million-billion dollars worth of soda here in 2016-cash!
Here is one of Seth Lawless' incredible pictures from Rolling Acres Mall in Akron:
There are a couple of great videos of the Mall on YouTube, this is Dan Bell's where he highlights some of those photos. They really are amazing.
We still have a Toys'R'Us in Augusta (Georgia) that has the exact same sign up since the 1970's.
That's a great looking store front. That's awesome it has been upheld so long.
My local Toys R Us was built in 1981 and was a fantastic place as a kid.
I remember it being the first place I ever saw Super Mario World in action.
The first place I ever found The Incredible Crash Dummies toy line I became so in love with.
There used to be an ancient K-Mart and Chuck-E-Cheese next door that we would stop at.
When I was a high school senior in 2005 it had gone downhill big!
We used to screw around as teenagers at night doing donuts and getting frisky with girls
and doing whatever else teenagers do. It was an abandoned area back then perfect for all of that. Like, ghetto for a toy store.
Here is what it looked like back in 2005. The Kids R Us was demolished by the time I was 20.
But these days it no longer reminds me of my younger days, they remodeled it all and it looks friendly again.
It now looks like a Bed Bath and Beyond though. Thanks Obama.
Who came up with the beige concept all of these stores seem to remodel to these days?
You can barely tell the difference with stores now, they all look so plain.
Here is a tv show clip from the 1980s about a Toys R Us that was supposedly haunted by a ghost
Not to get too off topic, but there have been many claims against Sylvia Brown's authenticity as a psychic. As for the second video, you can say the re-enactments are more "overreactments"
http://nathanbush.tripod.com/id47.html
I miss KMart so much...
What happened to KMart in Minnesota?
I miss KMart so much...
What happened to KMart in Minnesota?
Most of the K-Marts in Minnesota have closed shop.
The store locator notes that there are only 9 K-Marts still in operation in the state, and 3 of those are in the Twin Cities area. That may sound like a lot, but by comparison, we have 110 Wal-Marts, 37 Shopkos, and 50-60 Targets.
They don't sell games anymore (I hear), but when they did, it was a pretty good place to look (as far as retail is concerned). I also used to particpate in their K-Day events, which were fun and no other retailer does anything like it.
I probably mentioned it previously in this thread, but I also used to work at one. It was a pretty decent job, almost operated like a family. They treated their employees pretty well.
Yeah same here, my state only has four Kmart left and none of them are near me anymore. From 2002-2005 the three NH locations closest to me all shut down, and then a few years ago the Claremont NH location went out of business too. The "Music & Video" section of Kmart was fantastic 20 years ago.
I just checked and it looks like there are a couple over the border in South Dakota that would be worth a drive. Unfortunately, I heard they all stopped selling games, which is a shame.
I should see if they are still running K-Day. Those things are a blast.
EDIT: Their video game section was pretty decent right up until the end. I had a couple nice scores with them.
They probably have to focus on more profitable sections of the store now that they're not doing as well. The margin on new games and systems is terrible and they lose value.
Yeah. I've also noticed they aren't the only ones doing it either.
I see this thread has popped up again. Here in the Bay Area we used to have a game store in the city of Newark called Knights Video Games. I wonder if any other members here know it? I'll share some memories just so some record of this place remains
They used to import a lot of stuff from Japan, one of the guys working there named James used to always import games that I'd request for him to look for. Well, I'd go with my brother and mom and she'd kind of ask for us (we were too damn shy back then). He'd always pull through and it was exciting on the drive there to pick up the latest import he found. They also sold tons of anime and other items, though I was never into that stuff.
My first trip there was when we bought a 32X when it first came out and couldn't figure out how to fit those damn metal connectors into the Genesis so you can attach the 32X onto it. Of course I learned much later in life those things were pointless and you can do without. But our mother found them in the phone book and we drove there and James set our Genesis with the 32X for us. Forget if he charged, but that places was amazing for a 9 year old. It was a pretty small and jam packed place full of everything you can imagine from gaming back then. Some time later they moved location within the same strip mall they were located to another side which was adjacent to the first location and only just a few doors down.
Once the PS2 era came the store moved location a second time to the store right next door which was attached to a cafe or something. This one was much wider which I guess they wanted. Also had glass walls, which changed the whole atmosphere of the place since the previous locations were sandwiched between other stores, so it would always feel like walking into some collectors treasure trove. I remember they also lost the carpeted floors at this point and had tiled floors now, which I thought was a grade down. Somewhat lost its charm, but it wasn't totally gone. One thing they had going for them was they had loads and loads of what was slowly becoming "retro" at that point. I don't think the Funcoland at the nearby Fremont Hub mall could compare to the variety that they offered in terms of used and new games. It was great. I remember the manager let me buy Conker's Bad Fur Day when it first came out despite the fact I wasn't 18 yet. He was a cool guy.
I got a PC in 2002 and sort of stopped buying things and just emulated from then on, so I stopped seeing the store. I don't know when they closed, but once they left something about the whole area died. It felt like a main attraction for me. It's got a nice Asian market and some Asian stores there now, at least. The memories will always remain.
Their old website is still on archive.org if anyone that remembers it is curious. Here's the earliest archive. I think there may have been another address prior to this..
http://web.archive.org/web/20010203230000/http://knightsvideo.com/
I might still have one of their bags somewhere. They'd have blue bags with the knight mascot on the front. Oh man, do I miss that place.
The first place I saw an NES kiosk, games, perhiperals, etc circa like 1989-1990ish. I can still see the inside set up in my mind's eye. Very nostalgic store!
Roller Palace, Beverly MA (still operating as far as I know):
This is one of the single-most nostalgic places for me. Many birthday parties and events were had here. The arcade (in the right on this picture) used to have MK1, MK2, UMK3, TMNT, etc. Whenever I think of classic games from the early 90's, I'm immediately met with memories of those neon lights against the arcade wall while I skated by. I can still smell the shitty roller rink pizza, too
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/09/20/list-64-kmart-stores-closing-sears/90721256/
Childworld in Saugus, MA (closed down in 1993):
The first place I saw an NES kiosk, games, perhiperals, etc circa like 1989-1990ish. I can still see the inside set up in my mind's eye. Very nostalgic store!
Roller Palace, Beverly MA (still operating as far as I know):
This is one of the single-most nostalgic places for me. Many birthday parties and events were had here. The arcade (in the right on this picture) used to have MK1, MK2, UMK3, TMNT, etc. Whenever I think of classic games from the early 90's, I'm immediately met with memories of those neon lights against the arcade wall while I skated by. I can still smell the shitty roller rink pizza, too
Hey, I live in Saugus now but grew up in East Boston.
Can't for the life of me remember where exactly in Saugus that Child World was. Maybe on RT1 in that strip mall up near the Salvation Army thrift store??
It was a pharmacy store, but they also had discount deals a lot like Big Lots. I remember specifically once finding hot dog scented Nickelodeon Gak there. Once when I was with a friend of mine, we found these sound machines that made the Fred Flintstone running sound and chased each other around the store while constantly pushing the button. Ah, stupid youth... but nobody gave a flying fig. It was a fun store to just poke around in and see what you could find.
Childworld in Saugus, MA (closed down in 1993):
The first place I saw an NES kiosk, games, perhiperals, etc circa like 1989-1990ish. I can still see the inside set up in my mind's eye. Very nostalgic store!
Roller Palace, Beverly MA (still operating as far as I know):
This is one of the single-most nostalgic places for me. Many birthday parties and events were had here. The arcade (in the right on this picture) used to have MK1, MK2, UMK3, TMNT, etc. Whenever I think of classic games from the early 90's, I'm immediately met with memories of those neon lights against the arcade wall while I skated by. I can still smell the shitty roller rink pizza, too
Hey, I live in Saugus now but grew up in East Boston. Can't for the life of me remember where exactly in Saugus that Child World was. Maybe on RT1 in that strip mall up near the Salvation Army thrift store??
You're CLOSE, sir! You know where Hannaford ("Wild Harvest") is in that plaza? (I used Google Maps to be easy):
It was in the very back right, where Bed Bath and Beyond is now located:
I remember the Child World building staying in that lot for a few years after they closed, too! I love Saugus.
Childworld in Saugus, MA (closed down in 1993):
The first place I saw an NES kiosk, games, perhiperals, etc circa like 1989-1990ish. I can still see the inside set up in my mind's eye. Very nostalgic store!
Roller Palace, Beverly MA (still operating as far as I know):
This is one of the single-most nostalgic places for me. Many birthday parties and events were had here. The arcade (in the right on this picture) used to have MK1, MK2, UMK3, TMNT, etc. Whenever I think of classic games from the early 90's, I'm immediately met with memories of those neon lights against the arcade wall while I skated by. I can still smell the shitty roller rink pizza, too
Hey, I live in Saugus now but grew up in East Boston. Can't for the life of me remember where exactly in Saugus that Child World was. Maybe on RT1 in that strip mall up near the Salvation Army thrift store??
You're CLOSE, sir! You know where Hannaford ("Wild Harvest") is in that plaza? (I used Google Maps to be easy):
It was in the very back right, where Bed Bath and Beyond is now located:
I remember the Child World building staying in that lot for a few years after they closed, too! I love Saugus.
Yup, it's a great little town. Thanks bro for pointing out the location, brings back nice childhood memories.