Press Start Video Games Closes Front Royal Store (Chantilly, Winchester: sales, cabinets)

[venture2000]

The retro video game retailer (formally Play and Trade) had four locations Front Royal, Winchester, Warrenton and Martinsburg.

They seemed to be thriving as other locations here in Northern Virginia have shut down. That doesn't seem to be the case. Over the last few years the Warrenton location closed and now just this past December the Front Royal location as seem to be as well. Only the Winchester and Martinsburg locations remain.

I guess there is always Estarland in Chantilly, I suppose.

[venture2000]

UPDATE:

All for locations of the chain have closed. Apparently 2016 was a bad year for them; they are out of business.

[Flamingo13]

Okay.........

[Bigfoot424]

I've worked in Front Royal since 2010 and never knew this store existed.

[jobber123rd]

The video game retail business has been pretty tough for independent stores and smaller chains since the turn of the century. Play N Trade was burgeoning a few years back; its Wikipedia article still lists 116 locations across the nation, but after a massive wave of store closures (or possibly ownership changes like the Press Start locations), its own website now lists only 36 stores. 2016 was in fact really bad for retailers, as even the industry juggernaut Gamestop saw a 16% drop in year-to-year sales in the crucial holiday period. On top of having to compete with big box stores and online retailers for new games sales, the specialty brick-and-mortar stores also have to deal with digital distribution of software via the current generation of consoles biting into the market.

I'm friends with a couple of people who own independent video game stores in MD (one in Westminster, another just outside of Baltimore). Both stores have a significant focus on "retro" gaming consoles (as well as imports), and also have arcade cabinets for customers to play. It's amazing that a store like Starland has been able to survive for 20+ years in the face of all the changes in the industry. (I'll always think of it as just "Starland"...the "e" was added because that's the domain they purchased for their web store.)