Gameshop Downstairs offers customers a different look than a typical game shop and creates an environment of nostalgia that keeps drawing back its customers.
Gameshop Downstairs is a local business located in downtown San José that hosts a large variety of comic books, video games, figurines and a variety of VHS tapes, according to a Aug. 28, 2023 SiliconValley.com article.
When entering the game store from the outside, customers go through an electronics store, FixLaptop.com, to reach it.
Anthony Guarino, owner of Gameshop Downstairs, said the game shop started nearly a decade ago with a small selection of video games inside of the electronics store.
Owned by Anthony Guarino and his wife Hannah Yo, the store’s manager, this local business is located in the basement of FixLaptop.com on East Santa Clara Street, less than a mile off campus, making it easy for SJSU students to visit.
Giuliana Samonte, a fourth-year public relations student at San José State, visited the shop before and was surprised by the layout that the shop had.
“It’s definitely a hidden gem, they’ve got a huge selection and their prices are very competitive,” Samonte said. “Their shelves are lined with everything from games to VHS to gaming accessories.”
However, this large array of inventory was not always how the shop operated. Guarino said the shop started with him selling from a small inventory.
“I was selling very small amounts of video game systems I had repaired and modified while taking in video games to trade towards them,” Guarino said. “Since then I have amassed an incredible library of games from every era and genre.”
Downtown San José is home to approximately 3,000 businesses, 1,350 being small businesses that employ around two to 35 employees, according to a San José economy webpage.
With this in mind, Guarino, along with his wife, tries to keep the store appealing to those who visit.
“Our customers like to stop by frequently because we are always moving things around and stocking something new,” Guarino said. “We buy and sell items every day so we're always trying to figure out where to display it all. Now that we've developed a reputation throughout the years we buy and sell a lot of stuff so the landscape of Gameshop is always changing.”
Some gamers find retro and vintage games to provide a break from the stress of the internet, with 74% of gamers agreeing that nostalgic games are more relaxing, according to a Fast Company webpage.
Beyond having a wide inventory that customers are able to select from, some visitors turn into frequent customers because of the nostalgia that the video games and VHS tapes can bring.
Joseph Delgado, a frequent customer of Gameshop Downstairs and a San José resident, said that entering this shop is like entering a different time period.
“This is definitely the spot to go to when I'm feeling nostalgic of my childhood,” Delgado said.
“I think it is super cool that there is a store that offers all of this and I often see the younger kids look interested at the figurines and VHS they have.”
Another reason why the shop holds so many vintage items is because of the historical ties it holds to San José itself, Guarino said.
“We like to showcase a lot of this old technology because it is historically and locally significant,” Guarino said. “Many of these pieces we developed in the Bay Area and in some cases, were brought to us by the very people who worked on them back in the day.”
Guarino’s hope for the shop is to continue fostering an environment of nostalgia and retro that can include a broader community.
“The big idea that I want people to have when they visit Gameshop is to see all of this retro technology as more than items of nostalgia to use to relive our past and look at them more as something novel to draw inspiration from and to encourage people to make new art, music and technology from there,” Guarino said. “To me, it is that ethos (that) embodies the culture of San José as a whole.”
