What became of your Amiga 'shop'?

[PortuguesePilot]

In the late '80s and early '90s, software piracy wasn't legal in Portugal but it wasn't illegal either so there was a sort of "grey area" in the legal system that allowed any dude with an Amiga and X-Copy to mount up a shop and sell games, provided he had privileged contacts with the most prolific crackers. Both shops I used to attend were of this kind.

My preferred Amiga shop became a PC-hardware shop in 1995 and, a few years later, a caffé, all managed by the same bloke. As far as I know, it's now closed.

My second-favourite Amiga shop closed doors in 1994, remained closed for almost 10 years and now re-opened as an home appliances shop.

[Starglider 2]

Mine was a Boots. Still there! But the computer section is now the optician's office. Perhaps I should get an eye check...

Cheers!

[Prosonic]

the gamesman in Sydney Australia I used to use mail order from another state, found some listings on ebay just last week by them kinda made me smile they are still going

[Frostie]

Can't remember the name of the store where I brought my first Amiga (a600) but it's a cafe now, brought my A1200 from CLR computers in town, it's a general store now. Remember buying the 1200 as I had to take it straight back as the floppy drive was dead.

Can remember where I brought my C64 too back in 1988, from Tandy electronics for £150, it's a book shop now. I was late to the commodore party as parents couldn't afford to buy me one, soon as I got my college grant I was straight down the store to get one

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

I was very happy for a long while to be the resident Amiga evangelist in that same Computer Corner store in Greenock. It's quite surprising to spot someone that remembers our little shop, the same one in fact that I purchased Spectrum, C64 and earlier Acorn Electron games years before I worked there. I hope that a few others have some fond memories too!

[DH]

Als, was our main local computer shop, he had everything you could wish for and eventually he simply couldn't compete with the larger stores. He's still there though, although in different premises, but now he sells more junk than anything else, very little in the way of anything computer related, which is a shame

He was my main source of games and joysticks + he was also my main source of the pirate games and software at a reasonable price, which he kept under the counter for the regulars. He was always cautious of anyone new and would ask us regulars if we knew them, and if we didn't it would take him months before any trust was ever gained, usually by means of the odd game etc.

He was also my main source of cover disks, he would descend upon all the local news agents for outdated Amiga magazines and rip the disks off them to offer to us, whether it be for cheap floppies to use, or to add to what was missing in our collections.

All he ever asked of us was not to spread anything about what he did etc, and to this day I don't think he ever got caught.

But with the eventual demise of his computer shop, due to these computer shows popping up, and the internet, he had to turn his attention elsewhere. Funnily enough, he started in the local market, where I bought my very first game for the Zx Spectrum, and it was complete trash, but he quickly moved on to better things until now.

[Steve]

There were three shops I used to frequent in Scunthorpe. There was 'The Computer Store' (original I know) located on Cole Street. That is now either a cafe or Heart Foundation charity shop. Can't remember what unit it was located at exactly. I mostly remember purchasing a copy of Blitz Basic 2.1 from there in 1995.

The other was a small computer shop located in the town centre which I remember from my C64 days as they had a copy of Castle Master for the Amiga 500 and I used to go in and drool over the graphics. Haha. Seems daft now, but compared to the C64 version it looked incredible. That closed down many years ago and is now a cheap mobile phone shop.

The last shop I use to frequent was called 'Bits 'n' Bytes' and they lasted the longest of the three closing down maybe 10 years ago. I don't recall ever buying anything from them though.

I also have memories of playing Oscar at Christmas time in 1993 on a brand new CD32 console in Rumbelows. I thought the CD32 was awesome after that (hey I was young). Around the same time period I recall playing Sonic the Hedgehog on the Game Gear in a shop called Dixons (now PC World I think) and being suitably impressed. They sure were fun times. I think there is only one game store left in my town now which is a bit sad.

[Steve T]

Comtazia on Mealcheapen street in Worcester, I bought most of my old big-box Amiga games from there. A shop assistant recommended Cannon Fodder as something they were going to buy (bet they got a sweet discount) before I really knew anything about games on the platform, and on an earlier visit I recall being mesmerised by a looping video of the Dune 2 intro animation - I had no idea what machine it was on but I suppose, thinking about it, that it must have been the PC version at that time, probably before that version was even released...

It was a cramped location, but they had the most shelf space devoted to Amiga of all the shops in that area, I definitely remember it being more computer than console focused anyway. Always lots of schoolkids hanging around, often a bit older than me so i'd think carefully about going in or hanging around there sometimes, a certain amount of disk-swapping went on there and stories about copied disks being available on request from behind the counter.

Not sure if any of that was actually true but someone I knew was told off by staff for discussing it in the shop as FAST 'agents' (probably called BOB, complete with polymorphic rubber coating) had been knocking around there recently.

They also had an arcade machine with one of the hacked versions of Streetfighter 2
installed at one point, which was pretty special in a town basically devoid of Arcades.

In the pre-Amiga days a shop just up the road from there called Antics had a nice computer selection and like Comtazia, children would gather in and around it watching demos and talking about games.

Antics was more of a mixed bag with model kits, radio control stuff, all kinds of hobby and novelty stuff, I guess it worked because that shop was still there as of a couple of years ago, probably still is, while Comtazia disappeared in the mid 90's at the same time as the Amiga went out of fashion, as larger franchise stores like Game, or Gamestation, Electronics Boutique or whatever it was called, stole their market with a flash, spacious store in the newly renovated shopping centre which more suited the flashy new generation of more powerful machines than the medieval gloomyness of the older shop.

[golem]

If I had an Amiga shop it was called Tech Exchange on Forest Road in Nottingham. I came to find it in 2000 so I was very late to the party. It was owned, I think, by a guy called Drew and I remember a young guy called Moses who helped me get a copy of Rainbow Islands to run on my 1200. I bought a multiscan monitor there and a week or two later I got a 500+ with GVP sidecar hard drive very cheap. There always seemed to be a crowd of like minded people in there and it seemed a friendly atmosphere. It closed probably not more than a year or two later and I think it was the shop on the picture that now sells frocks (thats dresses to you and me).

Originally Posted by EnglishRob

In Newton Abbot there was the Games Cupboard. Now I can't remember exactly where it was, I thought it was nearer to the Austins department store in Newton Abbot but a friend of mine says it was on Union Street in Newton Abbot. I'm not sure, what I am glad of though is that I didn't dream it in my head as for a while no one knew what place I was talking about and I thought I was going nuts. I can't remember what happened to them but I remember the Games Cupboard being the best shop around for games, they always had a selection of machines on to test out the games (C64, Amiga, ST and I think NES and Master System too) and a friend of mine and I got free Thunderstrike T-shirts (which I wore a whole lot).

Rob

Yes! I was looking around for a reference to this place and found this thread. The Games Cupboard had this EDOS System at some point where they could legally duplicate games in store. I had a bunch of Amstrad CPC games from them. They also sold Warhammer stuff for a while too.

They were indeed near Austin’s—down a little side street on the right hand side.

[ath786]

Originally Posted by asm1

Mine (Was an Acorn User back in the day) was one of "The Computer Depot" stores. 205 Buchanan Street, Glasgow. Not sure if they were a "Scotland only" chain. They did All 8/16/32 bit machines: Miggies, ST's, Arcs and it sold a lot of games and other software as well. Was on 2 levels IIRC. Now of course long gone

I think this is where my dad got me my c64 and a500 , amazing place

[005AGIMA]

My main one was Megabytes of Royal Tunbridge Wells.

Their original location was on St Johns Road, and I HAD to walk past it on the way home from school every day. What a shame.

They later moved and that store became a Hifi store from memory. Now it's.....
oh it's still a hifi shop. Sevenoaks Home entertainment.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.13...7i13312!8i6656

32 St Johns Road, Tunbridge Wells.

So where did Megabytes go?

Well they moved down to the historic end of town. The High Street, near the Pantiles (the original spa the town was built around).

If memory serves me correctly, it's the white shop shown here as the The London Nail Company
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.12...7i13312!8i6656

Sadly what happened from there is, at the TOP end of town, early to mid 90's, they built a wonderful new shopping "mall" called Royal Victoria Place.
That was great for the town, but bad for anything not connected to it for quite a while.
"GAME" had a shop planned for inside the mall, and I kid you not, on the lead up, they had "spies" going to the local independent stores, taking notes on stock and prices.

The independents didn't stand a chance.

The mall opened. GAME opened, and most of the independents just threw in the towel without a fight, rather than suffer a slow death.

I never got a Job at Megabytes although I always wanted one.

One Christmas, I ended up with a Job at GAME. I was there for 2 weeks, and then again, I "kid you not", I was sacked because...I didn't know the release date of Mrs Doubt Fire (Secret customer on the phone quoted me as being rude, which anyone who knows me laughs at the very suggestion).

I was young. I didn't know my rights. And with that one and only mistake, I lost that "dream job", and instead worked at Woolworths which was better, and better conditions and better pay.

I'm not bitter and it was a loooooong time ago. But I do note.....GAME is no longer in the shopping mall. The shop is still there, branded, but it's doors are closed and it sits empty, failed. They've closed down left right and centre, and yes that puts a smile on my face.

To go full circle, if i EVER end up with my own computer store, it will be called Megabytes.

[Tigerskunk]

For me that was "COM Computers", which was like a small department store in that it had 4 floors (they also called themselves "the first computer department store".
On the second floor there were the Amigas and STs, and a bunch of teenagers, some of them crackers and demosceners hanging around each saturday, and copying disks and playing games when nobody was watching.

These days that building is a huge shop selling all kinds of lamps...

[power]

it was a computer shop for ages, but in the last few years it became a Carpet Store

[JonSick]

I grew up in Walthamstow. Mine were Erol's Computers in the market and another Computer World down near Boys from Rathbone Street (a card shop). I believe both are now knock off phone shops. The real loss was Cavern Records; a myriad of rarities for us metal heads. Rave and House fans also had a great time too. Shame that went, most of my CD collection came from there. I spent a LOT in there. The girls in there were brilliant, would happily order in anything no matter how hard to get hold of it was and always cheaper than anywhere else.

[DofD]

For me it was Moebius Computers, a dedicated Amiga shop. It closed down in the mid '90's. I was so displeased. When they liquidated their stock, everything went at cost, but at that point I had no money to spare on anything.

[Firthy2002]

Back in the day it was First Computers down Armley. We bought quite a bit from them over the years. I remember playing with the store demo A4000 and wishing one was coming home with us.

They shut up shop around 2000. I guess the commercial death of the Amiga platform and the end of Acorn in the education market was too difficult a transition for them.

My local Amiga place was called Park Computers , which dealt with all things Amiga and PC , games, upgrades etc.
The shop is still going and has actually moved into a bigger place across the road, altho now it only does PC and related things

They also have a website: https://www.parkcomputers.co.uk/

I dont go in much these days to be honest , but they come in handy when something on my rather old PC fails on occasion

But back in the day when they did Amiga stuff, i was in there at least a couple of times a week checking out games etc

[005AGIMA]

Originally Posted by Starglider 2

Mine was a Boots. Still there! But the computer section is now the optician's office. Perhaps I should get an eye check...

Cheers!

Keeping in mind, living in Australia, it's not often I get to see Boots or WHS...

But when I am visiting "home" and I do pop into both of the above, I kid you not, I walk around looking, and I know part of me is looking for the computer games section lol.

Originally Posted by xubidoo

My local Amiga place was called Park Computers , which dealt with all things Amiga and PC , games, upgrades etc.
The shop is still going and has actually moved into a bigger place across the road, altho now it only does PC and related things

I think that's awesome that they are still going. Adapt or die. They've done it right! Sure it's sad they moved from Amiga to PC, but that's the right thing to do.

I'd add to that, the right thing for any "traditional" store to do (or have done about 10 years ago) is to have an online store (not just website) to subsidize face to face sales. Again, those that failed to do so, are those that now fail to exist sadly.

[Paul_s]

33 years later and my original shop sign makes an appearance (yes, I almost crashed my car when I drove by). I remember the same shop having a make over with an updated sign during the mid-1990s after a make-over.. (around the time I upgraded to a 1200) nice to see it again if a little worse for wear.. the roller shutter looks safe as houses being propped up with those planks of wood Next door is what would've been 'Computer World' - a carpet shop now.