game stores out of business

[fiddlepaddle]

Another thread showing some old stock from a cartridge game store got me wondering about something.

 

I've noticed a couple of used game stores disappear recently (prob. due to virus) and thought about how many stores I've shopped at over the years are no longer there.  It's a lot.

 

I know a few were liquidated (Game Crazy comes to mind), but I always just assumed that most of these unsold lots would have been dispersed quickly, but maybe the most common result is they somehow always get swept away into storage of some kind.

 

I'd be curious how many games are out there, shrink-wrapped in boxes, forgotton, abandoned, or just on ice from once-thriving businesses...

[HoshiChiri]

I remember once seeing a video online of a rental store that went under, & the owner basically just locked the door & disappeared. Years later, that's how it sat- someone managed to break the door open, so you could go in & look around. All I could think watching the video, was that I'd show up with a big bag & grab ALL the rental games. Even if the carts were long gone, you could see a shelf of Genesis boxes just sitting there I'd happily grab!

[jhd]

It would really depend on what resources the former store operator has: if he/she/it owns a warehouse or other large storage space, then the stock may still be stored somewhere. On the other hand, I cannot imagine a rational person paying money to rent space to store unsold stock from a failed business indefinitely. 

 

As for the video store referenced above, I am very surprised that the landlord did not empty the space (either dump the contents or retain a liquidator) and try to re-rent the premises. 

 

This thread reminds me of my Grandfather. He was something of a hoarder. In the 1950s, he had a business to sell oil filters for cars that used rolls of toilet paper. It was a colossal failure.   The remaining stock from the business went into the attic of his house. Some 50 years later, as my parents prepared the house for sale, they sold the lot to a scrap dealer.    

[pacman000]

The video store owner might own the building too. Or it's in a bad area, where no one cares to rent/buy the building. 

 

Urban explorers usually frown on taking things. I still won't recommend breaking & entering.

[fiddlepaddle]

Yeah.

Or I can easily imagine mom & pop business inventory getting shoved into the garage when pop goes into the nursing home and mom ignores it for 20 years after that until the kids eventually open it up and say "what's this".

[Video]

People have a bad habit of forgetting. I could see an owner shuffling stuff to storage, and it gets forgotten until the storage decides to clear house and discovers a huge stash of games (or whatever) having worked for a storage place, it was surprising what I've found when told to clean one out, including original art, guns, MoNeY and precious metals. With the exception of guns, most not obviously valuable things either go to auction (a huge bin with everything in it) or is discarded. Before I got into collecting junk myself ? I threw away tons of movies, vinyl, weird format stuff, computers, all kinds of stuff. Never found much games though, this was back in the 90's and most of that stuff had fallen out of favor, and was considered worthless, including games.