Whats your favourite defunct retailer?

[Frankie Crisp]

Kwik Save Vs Nevins was the Monday Night Wars of bargain supermarkets around ours in the 80s. Proper allegiances with mates’ families. 

But Toy & Hobby was the big day out when you wanted to see all the best toys in the world, eyes gaping and full of excitement, only to come out two hours later with a 20p bubble blower because your Dad was on strike and took you there because it was cheaper than going to watch Gremlins.

[gmoney]

The Gadget Shop was great for wandering about, looking at the mad and wacky shit and spending ages pissing about with Magic 8 Balls and the like. The one in Sutton had a massive inflatable rhino for a while, and me and my mates used to see how far we could push it out of the shop before someone bollocked us. I don't I ever spent any money in there though, maybe that's why it went bust, because it was filled with tight scroates like us. 

[PunkStep]

You'd imagine Hawkins Bazaar will end up the same someday. I walk in there, look at loads of things and then think "ooh I think I'll buy that from someplace affordable online"

[Bellenda Carlisle]

The independent toy shops that dotted North London in the 80s, they were amazing, you never knew what you'd see. There was also a huge toy shop called Children's world which I assume had sister stores, that was cool too.

Brent Cross Toys R Us R.I.P. 

[simonworden]

First place that jumped into my head was Borders, we had a massive one in the center of Bournemouth. It was fantastic, had a great range of books including loads of independent wrestling publications when places like smith's only stocked WWF published ones. I bought a copy of 'The Wrestling' by Simon Garfield in there which I then took for 2 years to any British shows I went to and got about a dozen or so signatures and had some really good conversations with people from the World of Sport days. My mother then threw it out with a bout half a dozen other publications accidentily. Still hurts to this day. 

 

Aside from that the music and games sections were pretty good and they had playboy magazines on lower shelves meaning 14 year old me could pick one up, pop it inside a copy of Power Slam and have a good half hour read.

 

 

[jazzygeofferz]

I'm almost surprised nobody's mentioned Dixon's. It was a little expensive, but they sometimes had some decent kit in there. I remember having to practically beg my mum to let me spend £60 of my birthday money for a copy of Super Street Fighter 2 on Megadrive in there. 

"only if you'll actually play it." She challenged. 

25 years later I still have it, and it still gets played now and again. Great value for money. 

[Ronnie]

1 hour ago, jazzygeofferz said:

"only if you'll actually play it." She challenged. 

I reckon I cleared the cost at £1 per hour within the first 60 hours of getting home with the game! Couldn't get me off it for years!

[SuperBacon]

2 hours ago, jazzygeofferz said:

I'm almost surprised nobody's mentioned Dixon's. It was a little expensive, but they sometimes had some decent kit in there. I remember having to practically beg my mum to let me spend £60 of my birthday money for a copy of Super Street Fighter 2 on Megadrive in there. 

"only if you'll actually play it." She challenged. 

25 years later I still have it, and it still gets played now and again. Great value for money. 

Dixon’s was also crucial in finding out football scores on Saturday afternoons.

I’d just stand in front of the bank of TVs for an hour until my Dad had finished whatever he was arsing around with and come and get me. 

[HarmonicGenerator]

2 hours ago, jazzygeofferz said:

I'm almost surprised nobody's mentioned Dixon's. It was a little expensive, but they sometimes had some decent kit in there. I remember having to practically beg my mum to let me spend £60 of my birthday money for a copy of Super Street Fighter 2 on Megadrive in there. 

"only if you'll actually play it." She challenged. 

25 years later I still have it, and it still gets played now and again. Great value for money. 

Could be because Dixon’s aren’t defunct! They’re in most airports at the very least.

[BomberPat]

9 hours ago, gmoney said:

The Gadget Shop was great for wandering about, looking at the mad and wacky shit and spending ages pissing about with Magic 8 Balls and the like. The one in Sutton had a massive inflatable rhino for a while, and me and my mates used to see how far we could push it out of the shop before someone bollocked us. I don't I ever spent any money in there though, maybe that's why it went bust, because it was filled with tight scroates like us. 

I hadn't even realised the Gadget Shop was a proper chain. I bought a lava lamp in there at some point in the mid-90s, and it's still going at my parents' place some four or five house moves later.

[Daaaaaad!]

Gamestation for me. In Doncaster we only ever had two game shops - Cool Spot, an independent which is still going today but was too far away from the market for me to go without my Dad, and Electronics Boutique. So when Gamestation opened right next to the market, just opposite where they sold the cockles and prawns, it was a massive, massive deal. Now not only could I go in and browse every week while Dad slurped down seafood, but the games were always at least a fiver cheaper there than EB so I could actually afford to buy some. Just from memory, I bought Metal Gear Solid 2, Championship Manager 03/04  and even my entire GameCube console on the day The Wind Waker came out from that shop. I still have all of these in my house to this day.  Plus Gamestation offered a loyalty card which actually benefited me as it gave you lower prices on games, unlike the later Game loyalty card I got which I never seem to use.

Overall, I can’t even properly qualify it, but the whole shop just felt a lot more friendly and welcoming than the cold EB and Game stores that arrived in the Frenchgate Centre later on. When I discovered that Game had bought Gamestation and all their stores, I was gutted, even though I think by that point the Doncaster one had been shut for a few months. 

Edited May 30, 2019 by Daaaaaad!

[gmoney]

4 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I hadn't even realised the Gadget Shop was a proper chain. I bought a lava lamp in there at some point in the mid-90s, and it's still going at my parents' place some four or five house moves later.

It went bust in 2005! The news might not have reached the Channel Islands. 

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/gadget-shop-goes-bust-7169724.html

[Hannibal Scorch]

9 hours ago, Bellenda Carlisle said:

The independent toy shops that dotted North London in the 80s, they were amazing, you never knew what you'd see. There was also a huge toy shop called Children's world which I assume had sister stores, that was cool too.

Brent Cross Toys R Us R.I.P. 

There was one in Enfield I was trying to locate again recently. I last went in there about 10 years or so ago, but I was a mix of brand new toys and toys from the 80’s and 90’s they still sold. They had James Bond Jr, Captain Planet and Gladiators toys for about £5, and in the shelves had things like that Tiger Afterburner LCD cabnet game for £20. It was an absolute treasure trove but found it by accident and cannot find out if it’s still there or as I imagine it’s now extinct 

[Thunderplex]

10 hours ago, Frankie Crisp said:

But Toy & Hobby was the big day out when you wanted to see all the best toys in the world, eyes gaping and full of excitement, only to come out two hours later with a 20p bubble blower because your Dad was on strike and took you there because it was cheaper than going to watch Gremlins.

Forgot all about Toy and Hobby.  We had a massive one in Stockport, 4 levels of toy beauty.  Also had a Zodiac Toys which was smaller but cheaper, so I used to flit between the 2 to get the best bargains.  Saved a full 50p on the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century playset once, that I spent on an egg full of silly putty.

[Accident Prone]

1 hour ago, Daaaaaad! said:

Gamestation for me. In Doncaster we only ever had two game shops - Cool Spot, an independent which is still going today but was too far away from the market for me to go without my Dad, and Electronics Boutique. So when Gamestation opened right next to the market, just opposite where they sold the cockles and prawns, it was a massive, massive deal. Now not only could I go in and browse every week while Dad slurped down seafood, but the games were always at least a fiver cheaper there than EB so I could actually afford to buy some. Just from memory, I bought Metal Gear Solid 2, Championship Manager 03/04  and even my entire GameCube console on the day The Wind Waker came out from that shop. I still have all of these in my house to this day.  Plus Gamestation offered a loyalty card which actually benefited me as it gave you lower prices on games, unlike the later Game loyalty card I got which I never seem to use.

Overall, I can’t even properly qualify it, but the whole shop just felt a lot more friendly and welcoming than the cold EB and Game stores that arrived in the Frenchgate Centre later on. When I discovered that Game had bought Gamestation and all their stores, I was gutted, even though I think by that point the Doncaster one had been shut for a few months. 

I used to love GameStation. The character and charm about the place may have been corporately manufactured, but it was better than nothing.

I did lose a lot of love for that place when it closed down though. A mate of mine used to work there, and during the final day when they were tearing stuff down, palleting all modern stuff and dumping everything else, he wanted to buy some of the leftover retro consoles and games. He got told by the manager that everything now belonged to the liquidation company and the instructions were to bin everything left. He had to watch in horror as the manager stuffed SNES games and GameBoys and Megadrives into their giant dumpster round back.

Proper nightmare fuel.