Department Stores Remembered.

[ZippyRedPlumber]

On 9/16/2003 at 12:48 AM, Rob Mitchell said:

Big Lots (1997)

Wait, Big Lots sold 2600 games in 1997? 

[TrekMD]

Hmm, I lived in Puerto Rico then.  Some of the stores I got games from were:

- The New York Department Store

- Barker's

- B&B

- Woolworth's

- Kay-Bee Toys

- Sears

[Atariboy2600]

Woolworth's 14th St - NYC Union Square, from the 1970s, 1980s until  its shutdown in October of 1997. GOD I missed it so much every Atari, Coleco, Intellivision NES and Sega from that store

 

 

[+D Train]

11 hours ago, Atariboy2600 said:

Woolworth's 14th St

ah, I miss that woolworth's.  I bought a lot of mickey mouse watches there.  Kept losing them and needed to replace them.

[kermit73]

I recall getting cartridges at Toys R Us, K-Mart, and Jafco.

 

Two specific games I remember getting at Toys R Us are Night Driver and Pac-man.  Night Driver was the 4th game I got (after Combat, Air Sea Battle, and Asteroids when I got the console on my 9th birthday).  We chose Night Driver because I wanted a paddle game.  I recall getting Pac-man not too long after it was released.  The poor quality of the port didn't matter to me at the time - I was just happy to have Pac-man at home.

 

I remember that K-Mart locations had a large kiosk where you could load up and play/demo several different games.  I always asked my mom to shop at the K-Mart which didn't set a time limit on their kiosk.

 

I specifically remember playing the 2600 version of Donkey Kong on as a demo in Jafco and then talking my mom into buying the cartridge.

[+sramirez2008]

5 hours ago, D Train said:

ah, I miss that woolworth's.  I bought a lot of mickey mouse watches there.  Kept losing them and needed to replace them.

Not Atari related, but in addition to this Woolworth's, I miss the old Tower Records (4th & Broadway).  Literally floors of records BITD. 

[+bcombee]

On 11/17/2021 at 6:17 PM, ZippyRedPlumber said:

Wait, Big Lots sold 2600 games in 1997? 

Yep - they were part of a big Atari inventory liquidation in the mid-90s along with Radio Shack.  They had a bunch of Atari Corp 2600 and 7800 cartridges.  See this old thread on the rec.games.video.classic newsgroup from back then: https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.video.classic/c/CJ0actTPQAs/m/g6pMJvqRQ2sJ

[Atari_Bill]

15 hours ago, bcombee said:

Yep - they were part of a big Atari inventory liquidation in the mid-90s along with Radio Shack.  They had a bunch of Atari Corp 2600 and 7800 cartridges.  See this old thread on the rec.games.video.classic newsgroup from back then: https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.video.classic/c/CJ0actTPQAs/m/g6pMJvqRQ2sJ

Thanks for the link to rec.games.video.classic.  I was a big follower back in the day while on dial up Prodigy service LOL.  I was just looking at many of my posts from the late 90s.  Cool memories of when I picked up some of cooler items. 

[Flojomojo]

Boscov’s had a great electronics section for the time, and lots of games. I remember when they were blowing out Times Sinclair 1000 and Vectrex sets for $40 each. I wanted both. My parents only wanted me to have the educational product. 

[zzip]

2 hours ago, Flojomojo said:

Boscov’s had a great electronics section for the time, and lots of games. I remember when they were blowing out Times Sinclair 1000 and Vectrex sets for $40 each. I wanted both. My parents only wanted me to have the educational product. 

So you got the Vectrex? :)

[Keatah]

Sears

TurnStyle

Venture

Precision Video

K-Mart

Toys'R'Us

Minnesota Fats

Osco Drugs

Dispensa's Castle of Toys

Kay-Bee

Edited November 20, 2021 by Keatah

[ctelkin19]

Wow, this is a relic of a thread!  Des Moines Iowa

Richman Gordman (Had around 6 Atari 2600's so you could try before you buy)

Arden's or Ardan's?

Sears (Had an arcade too with Zaxxon, Congo Bongo & others I can't recall)

JC Penney

K-Mart

Montgomery Wards

Service Merchandise

Turnstyle

[Crazy Climber]

Pretty much all the games I bought myself came from the children's palace bargain bin.  

 

I got games as Birthday/etc gifts, mostly Parker bros stuff that I'm assuming came from Sears since my parents bought EVERYTHING there back in the day.

 

I remember winning a school raffle ($20) and immediately buying Berzerk from K mart (along with a bag of doritos and 6 pack of soda) 

 

The last new game I bought was snoopy. Me and a buddy took a bus to Kaybee toys. He bought little Nemo dream master (I think?) for $40, I bought snoopy 2600 for $5 ? 

 

Shortly after that I made the NES switch IIRC

[schuwalker]

I'll tie some purchases with some of the stores mentioned. 

 

All Chicagoland area...

 

Sears: Atari 2600 system itself came from here, majority of the Telegames releases, Chopper Command

Kmart: Donkey Kong, Smurfs, Berzerk, Mattel Air Raiders (this was in Aurora, Il.)

Zayre: Swordquest Fire & Earthworld

Jewel/Osco: Mrs. Pacman

Dominicks Foods: Defender

Montgomery Wards: Deadly Duck

Woolco: Checkers, Star Raiders

Gaylords Department Store: Pacman (this was also in Aurora, Il.)

Mcdades Catalog House: Venture

Hornsbys: Seaquest (this was in Yorkville Il.)

K&B Toys: Name this Game, Firefly (lol)

Toys by Rizzi: Imagic games: Riddle of the Sphinx, Firefighter and Trick shot (anybody else recall this toy store?)

Toys r Us: Empire Strikes Back, Keystone Kapers

Camelot Music Store: this is where most of my Activision titles came from..., Frankenstein's Monster and Frontline

 

I'm not sure if I've ever purchased a game through JC Penny. Not even sure if the stores I came across had a videogame section. Service Merchandise is another one I don't think I purchased anything till the Sega Master System days.

 

It's incredible how I remember some of these after ALL these years

[Keatah]

Want to add

Montgomery Wards

Zayre

Dominicks

 

I usually don't remember what games I got where except for a few highly anticipated ones. I was amassing carts like nobody's business and they all seemed to blur together. One after another after another.

 

I also don't recall getting any carts or consoles from JC Penny. Don't recall if they carried the stuff or not. Likely not because, if they did, I'm sure I'd have been right there in the thick of it. At lease the one in Woodfield didn't.

 

Edited November 20, 2021 by Keatah

[pacman000]

White’s Home & Auto, a regional chain which sold to hardware & auto goods stores. Carried more than hardware tho, like WesternAuto they sold appliances & the like. Most stores were franchises.

[RJ]

I remember Target starting to close out Atari carts for $6, my story of almost getting to know a female Atari fan is on episode 6 of the Atari 2600GBG podcast at 20:24.

 

During the crash at this same Target store I remember waist-high stacks of Donkey Kong, Basketball, & Video Olympics at .50 per cart.

Edited November 22, 2021 by RJ

[+cvga]

I saw an article today in the Detroit Free Press stating that the last Kmart in Michigan has closed. Evidently there are only 6 stores remaining in the whole chain. I remember buying music (Def Leppard Pyromania), my first computer (Commodore Vic 20) and several Atari games (Space War and more) at our local Kmart growing up.

[+frankodragon]

I remember getting a few NES titles as gifts from the defunct Phar-Mor store.  That was before all the Walmarts started moving in. 

[classicgamesnut]

     I visited many of the stores already listed here, like Toys-R-Us, Kay-Bee, Sears, Kmart...

     Some others I didn't see listed (or missed) that had a good Atari selection were Broadway, Thrifty Drug, Gemco, and Sav-On Drugs.

     My best experience EVER was in 1985 at Pamida, the closest thing to a big box store in tiny Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  They were blowing out their Atari stock at ALL titles for $1.99 each.  The five bucks I had landed me Circus Atari and Star Raiders, which included the keypad controller at that price...hog heaven!

 

     Larry

[+cvga]

On 11/22/2021 at 10:49 PM, frankodragon said:

I remember getting a few NES titles as gifts from the defunct Phar-Mor store.  That was before all the Walmarts started moving in. 

I had almost forgotten about Phar-Mor. I don't remember buying any games there but my wife loved that store.

 

23 hours ago, classicgamesnut said:

     My best experience EVER was in 1985 at Pamida, the closest thing to a big box store in tiny Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  They were blowing out their Atari stock at ALL titles for $1.99 each.  The five bucks I had landed me Circus Atari and Star Raiders, which included the keypad controller at that price...hog heaven!

 

I wish I had taken more advantage of the closeouts. I was just looking at my Star Raiders with a 99 cent price tag from Revco!