If you visited a Gamestation store in the UK a mere 2 years ago, you would have been confronted by a large area of the shop floor dedicated to retro games, complimented by a front window display showcasing a selection of retro hardware and peripherals.
If you were a retro enthusiast – walking into one of their stores was indeed a thrilling and captivating experience.
As the underground retro scene spilled into commercial world, Gamestation became renowned for sweeping up retro goodies in car boot sales, often hunting in organised packs, and selling on their finds at bizarrely high profit margins. And, so it seemed, the gaming public bought the retro Gamestaion stock in abundance, thus fuelling the companies desire to further rip off, some would say, the average store visitor.
Of course, E-bay was the first point of call for anyone retro enthusiast in the know, yet sometimes bargains were to be found in the GS stores where un-knowledgeable staff under priced some rarer items.
Over the last couple of years the retro scene has returned back to its underground roots and reports are now coming in of Gamestation destroying retro game stock en masse and clearing the shelf space once occupied by Gameboy and Neo Geo Pocket cartridges for I-Pods and their accessories.
I spoke with a local Gamestation manager and asked where all their retro stock had gone. “In the basement”, was the reply, “awaiting a return to GS HQ”. I asked if I could take a look. And lo and behold I was confronted by boxes and boxes of Playstation games, gamepad controllers, memory cartridges and various consoles awaiting irradiation. It was a sad sight. I asked if maybe some of the stock could be donated to a loving and caring home. The answer was a resounding no can do.
So Gamestation is now turning its back on retro. Is this a good thing? Let us know your thoughts.
200 days ago
In all honesty, I used to like the anticipation of visiting GS and seeing their retro.......but more often than not, the stock rarely changed and all they seemed to have were piles of fifa carts for the MD.
In the last 2 years I think I bought 1 DC game (Samba De Amigo box set for £60) and that was it.........they never really had anything I was looking for. Anything I did fancy was usually overpriced and not in collectors condition!
Also, they told me a few weeks ago that they are no longer licenced to sell imports!.....:-(