Video game store

A video game store is a store established primarily for the sale of video games. Many video game stores sell both new and used video games, strategy guides and other game-related merchandise.

History

The first popular retail video game (game inside a system) that sparked interest in a possible video game market was Pong in 1975. In the past when Atari arrived video games were sold and distributed through major retailers in electronics departments such as Sears. The ever-popular Pong took the market by surprise and introduced the possibilities of a market to come. Many more games allowed a future in the market of video game retailing as more than just a part of an electronics store.

Corporations

Since the expansion of the line of products in the video game industry (ex. Atari, Nes, Snes N64, PSx product line) the amount of video games available for collection and play has increased. Corporations such as Funcoland, EBGames, and GameStop formed with a great and powerful force. With recent merging of these companies into GameStop many other corporations disappeared.

Independent stores

An independent game store is usually classified as a store that holds no affiliation toward an organized company. Many independent stores are in the form of partnerships or sole-proprietorships. However, notable companies have risen in forms of LLCs, S-Corps, and Corps. Independents stores account for nearly 75% of the market share for video game retail shops.^[1]

Akihabara Electronic Town

Many little stores opened during 1950 in Tokyo, Japan. Today only one of that stores is still open, the Tokiwamusen Store. Opened in 1953, it started to be a central point in Akihabara for turists and video game lovers. May be the oldest video game store of the world still operative. It's still managed by the Horie family. ^[2]

References