07/01/2021
As posted by the great Alan Pritchard, we shut our doors for the last time 10 years ago this week.
Formed in 1996 as a mail order company on the back of the PlayStation launch, I was forced to open the shop when someone grassed me up for using my home for business purposes.The rest is history.
The one constant I had was a solid backbone of reliable, congenial and informative right hand men, and plenty of other very useful employees along the way. Thanks to all of them, and of course the customers, many of whom became friends.
We survived in the face of immense competition, often with a few dirty tricks, but business is business!
Ultimately, it was the demise of our niche markets, the advent of streaming and downloadable content, and online shopping which did for us. Not to mention the physical challenges of ever increasing operating costs, lower profit margins and overzealous parking restrictions on our side of the town centre.
And s**t management, of course!
In particular, our Tekken/Pro Evo game nights at the Newt & Cucumber were the highlight of our efforts. Over 100 people turned up at one of them, when I was cruelly denied a champions trophy by being too busy to enter!
Cheers, Geoff
