I found a brief, 2 second clip of a video game store, judging by the items on the walls I would say this was April or May 1997

Could be 98 or 99 if that gameboy sign in the back is for the gameboy color.

Could also be for the gameboy pocket though since that also came in multiple "colors"

Def game boy pocket "Colors" ad in that pic

Definitely a Game Boy Pocket poster.
February 1997 Nintendo Power on the wall
Fifa 64/Doom 64 seems to be the latest release N64 games (April '97)
SNES games like NBA Live '97 are on the shelf. DKC3, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3...
Virtual Boy console is still for sale
Starfox 64 artwork is visible, but Starfox 64 doesn't seem to be on the shelf (June '97)

Yeah that is what i was thinking as well. You can kind of just make out the "pocket" in the top right. 


 

Looks like a Babbage's.

 

I second that Babbages thought too

You are 100% right, all Babbage's I ever remember going to had zig-zag walls.
Here is the Saratoga, NY Babbages/Gamestop that still kept the same exact walls

Thank you for sharing this. Growing up, I'd go to this store all the time!
Just amazing. Arcade was just around the corner there in the picture.

Just found this thread, man what a blast from the past. Thanks for the hour long nostaliga trip. Great to see all the 90s-early 2000s stuff that I still have fond memories of.

I'll toss in a few photos to share. These are of my Toys R Us (4550 Meadows Lane, Las Vegas NV) I visted all the time as a kid during the 90s. I went for a visit a week before they started their bankruptcy sale, wanted to see it one last time before the store was plastered with bright yellow going out of business signs. Sure these are definitally modern era photos, but the store doesn't exist now and I'm sure someone will love these photos years from now.


The storefront. I don't 100% remember if the store was always blue, I think it may have been brown during the 90s.


The electronics department. Where that 3DS endcap kiosk is there used to be a Nintendo 64 kiosk, I still have memories of playing Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64 on it. The left wall where the PlayStation game cases are is where the register used to be to bring up your game slip and collect your game.


Nintendo Switch game case (along with some straggler Wii U titles).


Pokemon toys


And the section I spent a good chunk of my birthday money in, the LEGO section.

the good ole days =/

This is only vaguely related to video games in my context but does anyone remember Osco Drug Stores? I'm not sure if any are still around. We had some in Omaha/ Council Bluffs but they are gone now. The reason I mention it is because there was one blocks from my house and its the first place I ever got EGM/Tips & Tricks/Gamepro magazines, as well as comics like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Adventures ones. I miss that place.

Wow, yes I do remember Osco.  Man that's a blast from the past I had totally forgotten about that store. 

I think CVS put them out of business, at least around here.

 

Jewel Osco still exists in Illinois.

They exist in New England too, but the only ones I've ever seen are inside of Shaw's Supermarkets, not their own stores.
The big chains that I used to remember as a kid that are no longer around are Brooks Pharmacy, Eckerd, and Rexall Drugs.

The Jewel Oscos I've seen in Illinois are stand alone stores in mini malls.

Eckerd was big in FL when I was a kid, they were bought out by CVS around 2000 iirc. Walgreens just acquired Rite Aid last year, so there's another one down.

Not sure in over 20 pages if it ever came up, but it's been dead over a decade now but there was a chain in the US called The Good Guys. They were basically just a clone of Circuit City and Best Buy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goo...) There is an aussie chain by the name too but not related.

There was a street corner near me that had a Good Guys, a Best Buy, and a Circuit City on three of the four corners. And a Fry's Electronics down the road that could have counted as number four. Fry's and BB are still there, but the other two are long gone.

I thought Rite Aid bought out Eckard? I say that because at one time we had a Rite Aid directly next to an Eckard only separated by a small street. Then the buyout happened  and BOTH stores  were a Rite Aid for about a year then one building was made into a Salvation Army.
 

I checked wikipedia, looks like both are true.  CVS acquired 1269 stores in the southeast in 2004.  In 2007 Rite Aid purchased and converted the remaining stores.
 

Right now on eBay somebody is selling an unopened Easter basket from Bradlees Department Store
Who wants to go halves with me and test out some 90s candy?!?!?

Found this photo of a previously unphotographed Ames Department Store with a Fruitopia machine out front.
This one was in Reistertown, Maryland and was slated to be closed in Spring '93 in Chapter 11 but
for some reason this did not happen and the store remained open until the chain closed in 2002.

Here's a couple from waaaaay back in the 80s.

Richway...





...merged with Gold Circle...




...which was was then bought by Target. Many were converted to Targets in the late-80s and I remember this happening in Columbia, SC.

Sorry, one more most. I just fell in a rabbit hole. There's an entire site dedicated to listing and showing photos of closings of places in my home town. I have no idea how I can possibly feel so much nostalgia-induced happiness and sadness at once. If you've lived in Columbia or are familiar with the town, check it out. I've got to to admit, my childhood place-to-go was Redwing Rollerway on Decker Blvd. So sad to see that it's shutdown, but it was inevitable, considering that pretty much no one roller skates anymore.

http://columbiaclosings.com/wordp...

That is a really cool website. I wish there was something like that for my hometown.