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Department Stores Remembered.


Rob Mitchell

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I remember Kiddie City. Still had 2600 titles into the early 90's here in the Baltimore area. Here's some more:

 

Kings

Toy Barn

Kay-Bee

Murphy's

Harmony Hut

Toys R Us

Video Concepts

Sound Waves (they even had the Mystique titles)

Games & Gadgets

BEST Products (NOT Best Buy)

Greetings & Readings

Now Playing

Bamburgers

Home Entertainment

Sears

Montgomery Ward

Drug Fair

K-Mart

Video Heaven

Camelot Music

Video Today

J&R Music

Circus World

Electronics Boutique

Record & Tape Collector

 

...and the dreaded Pleasant Valley Video.

 

I purchased at least one 2600 game from every one of these stores between 1981 and 1991. Never realized how many stores there were (27) until this topic made me go back and count. But 1982 was the best: White Marsh Mall had 14 stores selling Atari at the same time. That much competition made for some great price wars. Those were the days!

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I remember when the Sears Store opened near where I grew up. I thought it was wierd having a one level mall, with 2 level department stores. Oh the fun I had playing theAtari display.

 

Then a few years later, Toys R Us open. I remember buying Missle Command with my paper route money. Then the shock of having to pay TAX on it. I was $1 shy. Fortunately my older sister spotted me the dollar.

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Mindfield: That pic is awesome, almost brought a tear to my eye. If anyone has any more pics like that, POST 'EM!

 

I remember being with my parents when they bought me a 2600 in Hess' (PA) - this was WAY back, like in '79, when only the original 8 titles were available. Sigh, I remember it like it was yesterday...

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I can remember getting 2600 games at Sears, Toys R Us, and Kay-Bee. There were also some mom and pop stores that I can remember that used to carry 2600 games in the day and I can even remember some repair shops that fixed non-working Atari 2600s although I never entered to get a cost.

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Wow. I haven't thought about this in a while...

 

In Chicago (or more specifically the suburb that I grew up in - Berwyn), we had more or less the same stores to buy from that folks have mentioned here. Boy was I surprised to see that anyone else in the world has heard of Murphy's!

 

My 2600 was first prize in a local contest, and that was already pretty close to the crash. It was pretty easy to find games for under $10 at Zayre (.88 each for God's sake...), Child World, and Toys R Us.

 

Before I won the Atari I would play endlessly at stores like Musicland (they had all three systems set up in kiosks), Sears (eventually down to .99 each), and JC Penny. Another spot was Marshal Fields in downtown Chicago. they used to have a really elaborate toy department (lots of foreign toys and other really expensive stuff - no surprise) with all of the systems represented. I recall being there when an M Network representative was doing in-store demos.

 

this also reminds me once of being at Carson Pirie Scott (mind you, we never could afford to actually BUY anything at these fancy stores...) when Vectrex was being premiered. They weren't for sale yet, but they had a company representative demoing it. I thought it was the coolest thing back then... and not much has changed.

 

We also had some mom & pop stores carrying Atari stuff. the weirdest was "Jim's Stamps & Coins" who got into the murky world of being a toy dealer. He was kind of creepy, but in the late 80's he still had used carts in his window that you couldn't get anywhere else - and they were $3 with tax.

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  • 14 years later...

my k-mart burned up last october i remember buying games and transformers there they used to have a cafeteria in the middle they also had a little caesars for a while inside it was on its last legs when it burned roof leaks and the exterior was collapsing and fenced off

 

another weird store i remember was called "consumers" they had neat stuff i got a tripletapedeck boombox and devastator there but it was weird they had somethings but you had to order anything you really wanted but stuff came in quick like 3 days

 

"the good guys" was a neat store for electronics i bought my atari lynx there and my walkman

 

there was a store called "toy and model" i do not think they did video games but thats where i got my rc-10 and constant upgrades

 

our toys-r-us still stands i remember my parents buying the 2600 there and my sega genesis

 

also a clothing store called MERVINS used to have a little toy area my bro bought hordak slime while i was getting gi joes cant remember them ever having video games

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A list of places that didn't sell 2600 games would probably be shorter.

I bought games from...

 

Zayre

Venture

K-Mart

Wards

Sears

J.C. Penny

Service Merchandise

Tepes

Riss

Toys R Us

Kaybee

Child's World

Goldblatts

L.S. Ayers

Camelot Music

Playback

Ribordy Drugs

Harvey's Drug store

Save More grocery store

 

 

Last place would have been Big Lots in the early 90s.

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Aside from a Montgomey Wards in Fort Collins, CO, all of mine were from stores in the northern suburbs of Cincinnati: primarily Service Merchandise, VanLeunens and Swallens. Also had a couple from Shillito's, which didn't carry games for long and I only had these because my Mom had an employee discount there.

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I know I responded to this thread back in 2003 but did anyone else purchase games from a store named 3D? It stood for Danner's Discount Department Store and I believe they had locations in Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. I would describe it as a poor-man's version of K-mart (keep in mind that K-marts were a little nicer back then). They went out of business around 1985/1986 but we lived near one as a kid and I purchased lots of train supplies, music and video games there. I still remember being super excited when we purchased Pitfall. My brother won a huge 6 foot or 8 foot plush bunny in a raffle around Easter there in 1980. After they closed, a Big Lots moved in and I worked there for a year while I was in high school.

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A couple of places I remember buying games that haven't been mentioned so far are Otasco and Ardan. Ardan put out catalogs and I would basically memorize the toy and games sections. In the 90's, after the Otasco closed, that building became home to a short-lived flea market where I found some Atari and Coleco stuff. The only other store I definitely remember buying video games from was Wilson's, which later became Service Merchandise. We probably got some games at the two main toy stores in town at the time though, Toys By Roy and Toys Plus.

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