Comet Closes As An Old Memory Reopens

Comet, one of Britain's well-known electric goods shops, will close for good today in another dark day for British business.

The store was my first stop for Super Nintendo games back when I was a youngster. The reason is simple - it was the nearest store to my house and saved having to go into the centre of the City.

With that written - my favourite Comet memory involved a store miles away from my home on a Boxing Day and it involved an expedition to purchase Super Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo.

I wrote about this in April of 2008:

Boxing Day 1992.

I'll never forget that day. It was when I bought Super Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo. This game became one of the most popular franchises on the Nintendo systems.

Two of my friends and myself met up early that morning to go into town to buy Super NES games with our Christmas money. Both of them had intentions to purchase Super Mario Kart but I didn't feel any inclination to buy it.

At first.

We walked into town and noticed one thing. Everywhere was closed. To show how much this country has changed, I am not so sure we will be met with such a ghost town in the year 2008.

We ended up leaving town and gambling on the Comet on the outskirts of the City Centre. Luckily for us, it was open.

They both picked up the boxes for the game they wanted and - as usual - I was in more than two minds what to buy.

I was an impulsive buyer back then, too. When I had the cash I wanted to spend it there and then but just couldn't decide what to buy. I eventually landed on the strip of thought Chris and Michael had been on at the start of the day and I picked up my copy of the game.

It was the best decision I made that day. It was a game that didn't lose its appeal as time went on. Sure, I haven't played that version of it in a long, long time but - as an owner of a Super Nintendo for years afterwards - that game was never far from the console.

 

I can recall other purchases from Comet but this one stands head and shoulders above all the others because it involves two of my best friends from my childhood and there's also the small thing about it being where I bought one of the best video games to have ever been made.