Import/Specialist games shops in your Area

[Tychom]

In Paris I know of Trader and Squaregames in the Republique gaming area that are solely import. Akiba, Japan-Type and another who's name I forget are north east of Bastille and are again solely import. There's 2 more (well, 3 really) down in the Jussieu gaming area that are once more solely import.

Other than that, I think every store in the Republique & Jussieu area have at least a wall given over to imports, so that takes things up to around 24 stores total with imports and/or retro-import on sale.

It's pretty good I guess, they all get new titles in damn quick for if you can't wait for play-asia and they carry a number of rare, occasionally mint consoles hanging around just by by doorstep.

Of them all Japan-type is probably the best, it's a place where they have all the consoles out to play, so you can go in and play saturn titles all saturday if you want. They have a cab in the corner too and do shmups nights and fighting nights, at least on the shmups night i've been to they have about 8 different systems out with various games on each, it's all pretty sweet.

[Tychom]

So I just had a PM about the stores in Paris, wrote a response only to find the system doesnt like messages over 5000 characters in length, who'd of thunk!

There's 2 main areas that have indie game stores plus there's another couple scattered elsewhere.

Republique

The largest area is at the start of Boulevard Voltaire and some surrounding streets, this is the main street heading south-west just west of Place de la Republique (google maps) metro stops for Republique or Oberkampf will do you fine.

There are around 5 or 6 on Boulevard Voltaire, I reckon 2 before you hit Rue Rampon (Square Games, Maxxi-Games) and then the rest leading up to Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud (Hobby One etc), the un-named street between the two is just an impass but it has 2 more stores (Nintendo and Sega/MS respectively - the Nintendo one has lots of PAL NES/SNES on show). None of these first stores are too impressive in my opinion, they have a selection of current gen, some imports and a modest selection of PAL retro gear plus occasionally some imported stuff too.

If you get to Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud and take a right on to the southern end of it you'll find 2 more stores, the first is right there on the other side of the street called Trader (presumably after the Japanese video game chain of the same name) and is all retro-import gaming covering everything from current-gen back to the Famicom, covering niches like the Neo-Geo and Sega Mark III in the process. It probably just edges the award for best stock in the area. The second store on the street is a waste of space to be honest, it's on the same side half-way down and just has a bunch of PAL games and systems.

Last store is back up the street and on to Rue de Malte, about a door down from where it meets Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud. This one's called Square Games too (confusingly loads of stores seem to have this name, this is the better of the lot though, to save any confusion) and covers PAL and import retro along with a smattering of newer titles too, I don't think the stock is as good as Trader but it certainly has the shooter and RPG sections well covered. I think there may be another smaller place further along Rue de malte where it meets up with the impass I mentioned, used to sell DVDs, some Gamecube and AES games (odd mix).

There is one more store not truely at Republique, it's out on it's own and while it has a nice selection it is also fricken pricey from what I've seen. It's called Fantasy Zone and it's a lovely little boutique about 15 minutes on foot east of Republique along Avenue de la Republique (google maps). It has a cab in there and a great selection of over priced games

Jussieu

So that's the first area done I think, second main area is a bit of a trek as it's on the other side of the river in the Jussieu area, metro Cardinal Lemoine will be closest (google maps) allthough the Jussieu metro is just 2 minutes away and pretty much opposite an anime/manga store iirc. The stores here are situated on Rue des Ecoles and on that un-named street (actually called Rue D'arras) leading from the metro Cardinal Lemoine up to it.

As I don't get down here often I don't know any names so bare with me. On Rue D'arras there are I think 3 stores, possibly 4. The one furthest south is 100% retro and predominately import, has a good selection of Playstation and SFC at varying prices from what I recall but even covers as widely as the Wonderswan. On the same side of the street a bit further are the 1 or 2 other stores I recall selling current gen imports. There's one more store on the other side of the street that did have a nice balance between import, retro and current games too.

The other 2 or so stores are on Rue des Ecoles between Rue Monge to the west and the tip of Rue D'arras. One, on the southern side of the street, is ****e from what I remember it had lots of really bad overpriced PAL titles. The other store is right up by the junction with Rue Monge on the north side on the street. This one is really cool to look around in but also it's easy to mistake it for a toy shop at first look as you can't actually see inside for all the posters and junk. But it is there, just before a book shop iirc. Inside its all retro covering PAL and import gaming basically all formats, it's a very big store by comparison to many of the others listed but it doesnt really put that space to good use.

There's also a Game if you go back east, it's on Rue des Foss?s Saint-Bernard at the southern tip where it comes together with Rue Jussieu and Rue des Ecoles. Game sell what Game usually sell, but in French

Bastille (ish)

The east-Bastille area is just two stores but two of the best, they're situated east of Bastille (google maps) on Rue Keller (google maps) and on Rue Trousseau (google maps), so they're 5 minutes walk from each other tops, the metro at Bastille or Ledru-Rollin will get you close to them.

Rue Keller is quite a neat little street, there's a few specialist music stores (punk, ambient/electronic), a few manga/anime stores, some clothes stores and one game store (actually if you go to the northern end there's a Cash Converters style store on Rue de la Roquette with a bunch of games in to), I think the game store is called Tokyo Eyes (at number 23). It has pretty major collections of Dreamcast, Saturn and Playstation games as well as everything else, I seem to remember it having some cheap accessories (bought a Japanese Sega Saturn arcade joystick for 10?/?7 - usually cost about ?30 on ebay) and a number of PAL items too.

Rue Trousseau has just the one game store, two manga/anime stores and an anglo-bar, the store is called Retrogame Shop, it's at number 18 and it is absolutely tiny, don't let it fool you though as it's jam packed. If you've ever been to a Japanese video game shop then this'll immediately bring back memories, if you havent and you don't expect to get to Japan then this is about the closest you'll come to seeing what they're like. It's packed top to bottom with games, loose systems like Neo-Geo CDs and super famicoms on the floor, filling space between games, you can pretty much play anything you want too. They have pretty much every system be it arcade (Neo-Geo, CPS2, etc) through to portables, mainly Japanese but there's a number of PAL 16bit titles around too. They speak English and Regis the owner is a very nice dude (though in Japan right now buying more stock).

There's also another Game at the tip of Rue de Faubourg Saint-Antoine where it's about to reach Bastille.

Almost done

Riiiight, now the downside - although there's lots of stores, lots of games, lots of competion, there's also plenty of price attached if you're used to ebay or trading on forums. Though I've certainly seen a number of deals around in my time browsing I think for the most part I've never been too impressed and worse still, for every time I've been impressed there's been a time I've been shocked too . Usually what you'll often see is an ebay dollar price converted to euros and then with a little added on top. If you do look hard and frequently though you do see some nice things going though. Still, they're not out of line with what you'll find in stores in the UK.

Assuming you don't have time to do everything I'll just give my recommendations on where to go - top of the list will be Retrogame-shop on Rue Trousseau, it has some good prices and is just a really exciting place to be in, it's what all videogame stores should be like, they're friendly and do have more stock than what's on show - asking was how I ended up with a Dimahoo PCB The store on Rue Keller is also well worth looking at as it is very near and I've seen a number of very competitive prices in there, the large stock doesnt hurt either. After those I'd suggest moving up to the Republique area and looking in Trader and Square Games on Timbaud and Malte, having 6 or so more stores right there too doesnt hurt either. If you have time then the Jussieu area is worth a quick look (especially the store on Ecoles who's name I don't know)

It's worth noting that many small/independant stores will not open at 9am, think more like 11-11:30 and they'll stay open until perhaps 7pm-ish so there's no point getting up and about too early.

One final thing, if you like Japanese style arcades then La Tete Dans Les Nuages is a place not to be missed out (google maps). This is a pretty big place with it's own McDonalds and game store attached. It has an original 8-player Daytona setup still going, it has 4-player Outrun 2 Special Tour (or whatever it's called), last time it has 2-player Sega Rally 2 and Manx TT there too. All the non-dedicated cabs are in superb condition, all Astro/Aero city along with Naomi and Megalo with Sanwa/Seimitsu sticks and buttons. A number of shooters, lots of fighters, sega sports and some newer light gun games.

Holy crap I wrote a lot

[SuperDanX]

That puts london to shame.

[oldskool]

Game Focus on Goodge St have a new shop layout but don't particularly like it much any more and got rid of the cab. The Jap Saturn selection seems to have gone downhill with all lackluster titles, but I suppose they can only sell what they have. There is just nothing exciting anymore in there. Import prices still too high, with Mario Bros DS for ?39.99 when released! no thanks. ft:

[Gorf]

Paris has a fantastic selection of import shops as Tychom says. I had a very enjoyable morning and afternoon looking around the shops in Republique in late February. I made the mistake of getting there for 9am though and most of them didn't open until half 10!

[Team Andromeda]

VGI may be ok..but the prices are a joke, everything seems to be described as mint (well ok the 2 items I have ever bought from there were described as mint..and clearly were far from it)..they seem to over hype the rarity of many items (scope out the md section)..and I have heard that some peeps have been screwed over in the past. Not one for me tbh.

Well they'll never ripped me off, and every item that was described as mint, was. Never had any trouble with then at all, in some 15 years of shopping there . I think they're by far the best Importer inthe UK and thats been the case for me for over 15 years now

Mind you, I've seen slag off the likes of Gameplay when I never once had a problem there either

[wheelaa]

Lol, that post is well over a year old. (Who keeps digging up dead threads..please STOP).

Anyway I'm glad you have never had a problem. I can only speak of my one experience (which was soso) and I can only trust in the accounts of others (some of whom are people I respect the most in the gaming/collecting sphere).

(Funnily enough about 2 months ago I emailed the place about a couple of homecarts I was after and was ready to do a deal. I logged on here and the first thread I saw was one started that day with people complaining about VGIs customer service!)

[Duddyroar]

Lol, that post is well over a year old. (Who keeps digging up dead threads..please STOP).

Heh, I was thinking the same thing myself...actually, it was Tychom, and his summary of stores in Paris was worth reviving this topic for.

Blimey. How come Paris has such an excellent selection of shops? Do the French really take retro and import gaming more seriously than us? It would seem so.

[Team Andromeda]

Lol, that post is well over a year old. (Who keeps digging up dead threads..please STOP).

Anyway I'm glad you have never had a problem. I can only speak of my one experience (which was soso) and I can only trust in the accounts of others (some of whom are people I respect the most in the gaming/collecting sphere).

(Funnily enough about 2 months ago I emailed the place about a couple of homecarts I was after and was ready to do a deal. I logged on here and the first thread I saw was one started that day with people complaining about VGIs customer service!)

Hey only becasue some one dug up the thread I read the post. Didn't even see the topic 1st time around . Just making the point that I never once had any trouble .
But like I said I've seen people on here bash the likes of Digtial Direct or Gameplay and I've never once had a problems with them either

[Kubrick]

Actually had a console delivered from VGI today. That's about 3 or 4 I've bought from them over the years, plus umpteen games. Only problems I've had with them have been down to the couriers they use "losing" stuff.
A lot of prices are a bit high, but Lee is very good at finding specific wants from Japan if you can't be bothered with the hassle of using Yahoo! JP via one of those bidding services.

[buster_broon]

yeah i like Lee as well

started buying from him when i was out in Gibraltar

spoke to him and since Gibraltar has its own Vat he sold me the stuff Vat free

and buying Neo games it brought the price right down to under eBay prices

dealt with him solidly for 3 years, since then i've bought a few things, normally when he has a wee sale on

only 1 problem in the past and it was with a snaplock case that was smashed in transit - the problem was it took him about a year to replace it

Jason