I've been dealt a harsh blow ; both my local Game Crazy and my local Play and Trade have gone out of business. Some of you may not think that it's such a great loss, but here in Richmond, they were the last two dedicated competotors to the Evil Empire that is Gamestop. When I started gaming back in the 80's, your options for games in Richmond were Toy's R Us, KB Toys, Toy Works and Sears. Small stores that only sold games were nonexistant. In the early 90's we finally got Electronics Boutique, Funcoland and Babbages. Those were good times as a gamer since you could shop around and get the best deal. It also put the pinch on the toy and department stores that sold games. In the early 00's we got Gamestop, an innocuous little Trojan Horse of a store that looked mostly like the others. By 2006 it had swallowed every other dedicated retail chain we had, save for Game Crazy which was attached to Hollywood Video. Play and Trade, each location independently owned and operated, came on to the scene here in 2008. It was nice having a choice in game stores again and a staff that stayed around long enough for you to make a connection to.

I'd known since last October that my Game Crazy was on the chopping block, but it wasn't until they decided to close the Hollywood video it was attached to that it really hurt.



I rented far more games than I bought when I was young. A trip to the video store on Friday nights was almost a religious ritual in my house. The Hollywood video at Staples Mill and Glenside was our first choice due to price and selection.This was where I first got my hands on Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, Shadowrun and Mega Man X. The fact that the space that used to house the rental games became a game store later on felt like a natural evolution.



And now it's gone.

I went on vacation for 3 weeks last Dec.-Jan. and when I came back, my Play and Trade looked like this:





There was a closed sign on the door and a notice from the landlord saying that the locks had been changed, and if you were the former tenet to please contact them about removing any further property. I loved this place. The owner and I would spend time shooting the bull about gross video's we'd seen on the internet. If there weren't any kids in the store, he'd load it up and we'd watch from the side of the counter. There was a 4 foot tall pixel perfect Mario made out of laminated post-its hung above the NES games. If you wanted to play a game they had, any game, any system, they'd hook it up and let you play to your hearts content.The fact that there's still the Play and Trade in Carytown or Midlothian gives me no comfort. I've lost something special.