A Store, Restaurant, Or Other Place You Once Loved That.....

Players Bench. It was just the one mum-and-dad store at my local shopping centre. They sold American sports stuff like caps, trading cards and jerseys and stuff. Trading cards were getting really popular in the mid- to late ‘90s. One time they even hosted a card-swapping night after hours.

Then after a while the fad ebbed away and the store eventually closed (perhaps for a variety of reasons, but the decline in popularity of swap cards surely would’ve been one).

When trying to find some images from DVDin aka DVDspesialisten aka Playcom Oslo, I suddenly saw a picture of the Playcom logo next to a sign which said: Rockline
Seems to be one which once were located in Kristiansand. 
Never heard of it, but 30 years, that is very impressive. I wonder if if was part of the same stores as the Playcom (Oslo, Bergen and Fredikstad).
By the way, did you visit often Videoteket? Which also were located in Kristiansand? I got a few used rental VHS tapes with the stamp or logo of Videoteket, and it seemed like it went out of business back around the same time as Rockline.

Would have loved to visit those shops, as I remember a few people on a horror forum, had many great stories of these big and cosy movie and music stores in Kristiansand.

Anyway, the closest I could get to a decent image, of my favorite movie store (Playcom Oslo) is this one:

But this image is of course not a very recent one, as you can see the Platekompaniet logo at Byporten shopping mall in the background, while most obvious is that the Clarion Hotel (the building which Playcom used to be located in) is no longer there, but has been rebuilt.
The store closed down in winter of 2012, and it happened rather fast.
I was very disappointed, as I had been a frequent customer (weekly I was there, sometimes twice a day) and always found something interesting, the guys behind the desk were always pleasant and informative with great and very fitting recommentadions within the horror and cult movie genre, and some really sure enjoyed a chat about their favorite movies.

I remember that I started shopping there back in 2004-05, but since I still had not got myself a region free DVD player, I prefered other places, which had mostly region 2 copies. But when I got a hold of a region free player, I would always look forward to their upcoming DVD releases, and they were way ahead of their movie rivals such as Platekompaniet.
For such a small sized store, they had pretty much everything a movie fan could want.
They also had huge and awesome looking movie posters (framed with glasses), and these huge Alien steelcreatures, standing around in the shop.

Hm, looking at the image I posted, I believe it could be around the end of 2011 (due to the sale poster in the window), but it seems warmer and since people are wearing t-shirts, this surely is not from the cold icy winter of 2012. 
Anyway, I get all nostalgic and I guess it comes from the knowledge and all the good memories I had, walking around the area, knowing that at least (during the early to mid 00s), there would be, at least somewhere between 8-10 music and movie stores, lying around the same place, with only a few minutes from each other.
These days, it is only Platekompaniet (located at Oslo City) and a few second hand stores left, that sells music and movies. Of course, that is better than nothing, but such a shame, how fast it all ended.

I think I only ate there once or twice, but they had truly delicious pizza, and it was also the very first time that I got to taste a Calzone (innbakt Pizza).
Mama or Mamma Leones, which was located in Torggata Oslo, and I visted it in 1997-98 with my mum. 
Kind of a nice way of making things up, as she had taken me to the hospital earlier, for some MR photos, and yeah, I sure did not enjoy being trapped inside that noisy machine. 

Also, just around the same corner/street, were the once huge movie and music store, known as Virgin Megastore, which I think lie just next to the classic cinema Eldorado.
However, Virgin Megastore did not live to be old, and disappeared in 1998.
I really liked that store, but I guess that was the price, for having far too many growing music and movie stores in one city, and few could really compete in the long run, with the biggest fishes in the pound, who also would vanish within the upcoming years as well.

A similar attempt on having a huge two or three stories record store set in Oslo, came with Free Record Shops and their shop located at Egertorget. Another one that I enjoyed much, because of the great location. The subway was not far off, and a whole bunch of other similar themed stores were just a few minutes away. But also this one, closed almost less than 1 year in the making. 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the most nostalgic toystore from the early 90s, which was Edwis Leker or Toys, and that was located in the second (or was it the third?) floor at Oslo City shopping mall. Damn, I must have visited that store, so many times with my parents. Half of my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures were from that store, and they always had the coolest and newest one, lying on wait for the kids. 
These days, the same location is used as a toystore, but of course, now with a whole different name/label behind it.

Not sure when Edwis faded out for good, but I believe somewhere during the early or mid 00s. But yeah, some absolute sweet nostalgic memories from seeing that green larvae appear on the toysign, knowing it was not long until the fun would start.

When I got a few years older, and my interest shifted towards watching and playing football, then the Football Shop, that was not far away, would be the more ideal place to go. Then onwards I would keep on going to that same floor, but this time in favor of Platekompaniet (Music and movie store), which is still there, as is the Football Store, I think. 

Okay then. 

From a few articles I found, it was probably overtaken/changed name to the MIX kiosk stores, but that one as well, closed down for good in 2013-14.
The owner (of Videoteket) was asked if she thought any similar shops focusing on movies would be able of surviving for much longer, and yeah, she did not think that was gonna happen.

Also found an article from Videomagasinet, about some of the very first DVD films which arrived in Norway. 
And among them, were these threee: New Jack City, Pressumed Inoccent and Witches of Eastwick. That and Peter and the Dragon (Disney film).

I remember the first time I saw a DVD movie, were probably around the early 2001, as before that, my focus were more directed towards CDs and videogames. 

Well since you brought up WI....Ice Chalet, Mayfair Mall.

For a minute, Al's Beef (which supposedly originated the wet Italian beef sandwich) expanded out of Chicago to a few locations including the city I live in. Guess it didn't catch on because they all shut down. Shame, those sandwiches were delicious.