London indie Game Focus closes doors

Iconic central London indie games retailer Game Focus has closed its doors, it has been confirmed.

It comes after a gradual reduction in its floor space, starting first with the closure of its basement shop and a spate of heavy discounting.

After almost 10 years of business, Game Focus has had to close,” a hand written notice on the front shutters reads.

We would like to thank all of our loyal customers over the years for their support and wish you all well. So on behalf of Chi and rest of the crew (past and present) we bid you farewell.

As one of the last indie retro and import stores in London, we held on and fought as long as we could. It is a sad day.

Bye, Scottish guy”

Game Focus, which was located near Tottenham Court Road, was one of a dying breed. With dedicated sections for imports, retro and collectibles, it was a gamer’s game shop.

It was also popular due to its willingness to bend the rules. Anyone friendly with the store staff could be sure of getting games ahead of release – and many a London game journo made a tidy sum trading in their promotional games at the store. Which, MCV should add, is very naughty and is certainly not condoned.

One of the Intent team fondly refers to Game Focus as being as dodgy as fuck”. But that’s part of the reason why we loved them.

It marks the near death of retro games on the High Street, with Beckenham’s Raven Games one of the few outlets left that appeals to die-hard collectors.

Image credit: Huffington Post