Eaton's Memories

[JHD]

The recent posting of the old Eaton's flyer has inspired me to share some video game-related memories of that store.

 

Eaton's was one of the only local stores to have demo system (Sears did not sell video games, Zellers did not have any demo consoles, I VERY rarely went to K-Mart or Woolco because they were located in far distant suburbs). When the Colecovision was launched, the store had a console with Donkey Kong;  that was the very first time I played the game (even before the arcade version). I remember it attracting quite a crowd. Several years later, the same store had a demo console for the Genesis with Sonic the Hedgehog. Oddly, I do not remember seeing any other game consoles at that store. Video games were considered part of the toy department (located on the ground floor), but the same store briefly sold PC hardware (and software) in a corner of the furniture department located upstairs on the third floor.  

 

Not related to gaming, but when I was about six years old, I managed to lose my Mother while browsing in the toy department. She was (apparently) panicking and searching for me, while I calmly went to the sales counter and had her paged.  

  

[E-Day]

Normally when I upload the odd non-gaming magazine it gets no attention, which is fine because I upload them for fun and to hopefully slightly bug some people

But I am glad that this catalogue is getting a little bit of attention, and even a whole post. Thank you for that. I have three more to release, all from the 70s. I also have several Sear's Canada Wishbooks from 2007 to 2012 I think.

The holy grail for me would be Consumer's Distributing. I think if you grew up in Canada while they were around, their catalogue was a cultural thing as a kid.

[mvangord]

If anyone had any Electronics Boutique catalogs that'd be great.  They were the only game-centric shop where I lived until GameStop unleashed their tendrils on everything.

[E-Day]

I never saw any of those back in the day. I don't know if they had them in Canada, or I just never paid attention.

On a side note, I picked up another Eaton's catalogue from the 70's, so that will be four more upcoming, along with a lot of other random stuff. And the usual game magazine releases.

I'm spending a lot of time doing this stuff 

[mvangord]

5 hours ago, E-Day said:

I never saw any of those back in the day. I don't know if they had them in Canada, or I just never paid attention.

On a side note, I picked up another Eaton's catalogue from the 70's, so that will be four more upcoming, along with a lot of other random stuff. And the usual game magazine releases.

I'm spending a lot of time doing this stuff 

I meant more like flyers, like the kind you'd get in the paper or at the kiosk at the front of the store.  That was where they'd put the GMR issues during their short-lived partnership.

[JHD]

 

The only thing I remember picking-up at EB Games was the PlayStation Quarterly "magazine". It profiled the new and upcoming games (PS, PS 2, PSP) and there was a section for promotional events -- invariably held only in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal.   It lasted for a few years between ca. 2000 and ca. 2005.

 

I do not presently have the capacity to scan these myself, but I can send my duplicate issues to someone (in Canada) who is willing to do so. 

[E-Day]

3 hours ago, JHD said:

 

The only thing I remember picking-up at EB Games was the PlayStation Quarterly "magazine". It profiled the new and upcoming games (PS, PS 2, PSP) and there was a section for promotional events -- invariably held only in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal.   It lasted for a few years between ca. 2000 and ca. 2005.

 

I do not presently have the capacity to scan these myself, but I can send my duplicate issues to someone (in Canada) who is willing to do so. 

That would be me I guess