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Silica Shop (UK)


Zarxx

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I seem to remember buying a US Doubler for my 1050 from them, and possibly an RTC cartridge for my ST later on. Always had an ad in either Atari User or Page 6, from what I recall.

 

Never got to visit their shop any time I was in the UK, though. Would love to see some photos of it if anyone has them floating around, though I imagine it mostly looks like a late-1980s computer store on the inside ;)

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Sorry folks, the best Silica Shop was its original shop in Sidcup Kent, for an Atarian it was a piece of heaven..

 

And for trivia, Silica has more ties to Atari, Noel Daniel who was one of the programmers of Sidewinder and the sole programmer of Thunderfox worked in the Tottenham Court road branch, really nice guy and a good friend back then. Also in the same shop was Eroll Elliston who co-wrote Foundations Waste on the ST. But on the dubious side was a guy nicknamed Splatt (I could be mixing the name up with another BBS guy) who ran a pirate BBS selling access to Amiga software.

 

Yep, all true...

 

Sadly Silica in Tottenham Court Road went bust and pulled the firm down because some staff later on were selling stock out the back door to order when it was already struggling with the huge number of other computer sellers in the same road.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...

Not the way I'd want to remember the shop but sorry to hear...

 

Many of us have our sad memories of losing our Atari gear, mine went when stored in my mothers house when she died, others have suffered break in's like Matt on here when people stole his stuff from storage..

 

Some heartless gits out there that care nothing about other people, be it stealing, trashing the place or just destroying memories for fun or gain....

 

At least we can get back the material stuff....

 

Paul..

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Did anyone here ever take that "100 Free Programs with any Atari 400 or Atari 800" promotion that Silica Shop used to promote every month back in 82/83?

 

Often wondered what those 100 free programs were. Probably type-in listings on a cassette tape.

 

Here is what I am talking about:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/andysretrocomputers/3311860691

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Yes and yes....

 

User club stuff, nothing 'amazing' but it was free, aimed at the brand new users to give them something to play with after that big splurge of cash....The hardware was already top dollar let alone getting a few games :)

 

More of a "Shut up (insert name), we got you something to play with as well didn't we!"

Edited by Mclaneinc
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I managed to visit the Silica Shop in Sidcup once in my mid-teens and it was simply the best Atari place I had been too.  There weren't many places that were true Atari supporters in the UK but they were and for many years I recall.   I originally had an Atari 400 16K and I posted it to them for a 48K upgrade.   I remember as they got bigger they started having branches in department stores like Debenhams, and although from the ones I saw they were good, none of them seem to match that Aladdin's cave in Sidcup :).

 

 

Edited by SectorWars
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That PDF is like opening a treasure chest of great memories, its from a shop I spent a LOT of time in, has a genuinely lovely time period in my life and just the look and feel of the booklet just screams joy to me...

 

I look at it and wish I could go back and get all those titles again as new, sadly my Delorean does not hit 88mph any more and Doc Brown just isn't around...

Edited by Mclaneinc
spelling...as always
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