I want to visit this physical PlayStation Store, circa 1999

RIP DisneyQuest and most Microsoft Stores

Back in the ’90s, corporations had tons of cash to toss at elaborate “store” concepts. Some of those still exist now, but this is when DisneyQuest reigned supreme, before the second location shut down in 2001. A physical PlayStation Store though? Never been. Though it looks like a place I wanted to be in 1999, and is appropriately era-elaborate.

This physical PlayStation Store existed at The Metreon in San Francisco, so some of you may have even been to it! It actually lived until 2009, so it had a good run. Three photos of the store have been floating around Twitter this week, traced back to the Shift-Suite blog: they are the most 1999-looking thing I’ve seen in a long time. Look, I’m a sucker for ’90s kitsch. Straight-up, this concept rules. This is just two years after the first Men in Black film, and it shows with some of the orb design in the third image.

The giant demo stations with the springing controller rods, the PlayStation merchandise on display, the bar-style atmosphere with tons of discs in a sealed case, and the clear window concept: it’s calling to me like a siren’s song. Obviously it would evolve over time, and the 2000s and the PS2 era were very different, but this snapshot will live in my memory forever.

The PlayStation Store (1999) pic.twitter.com/mrJd3Wj5z3

— eccö (@3CC0__) December 14, 2021