The RAGE: An Excellent Record and Games Shop
With both music and video games alike becoming more and more digitised, shops like The RAGE are becoming few and far between. The RAGE (Record, Art, and Game Emporium) is a shop with its right-hand side as you enter downstairs being an assortment of vintage games and consoles, and then a left-hand side record shop called The Record Spot. Opening over a decade ago back in 2010 on Fade Street, The RAGE was shortlisted by The Irish Times in 2013 as the “Best Specialist Shop in Ireland” that year. To this day, The RAGE is a specialist shop for video games and records with an avid fan base and a nostalgic hook into the past of games themselves, now located on Crow Street since early 2020.
The RAGE (Record, Art, and Game Emporium)
The right-hand side of The RAGE is where a handful of its stock of games and gaming consoles/handhelds can be seen on display as you walk in through the front door. They also have their stock spread out between what’s available in-store and on their website for customers to pick up here. From the NES era (1986), up until the Wii U era (2012), The RAGE sells hardware and software that is no longer in circulation in mainstream shops like Currys PC World and Smyths. Their games can come either fully boxed or with solely the cartridge/disc sealed over depending on the stock at any given day. They always have games coming and going from their shelves, such as a boxed version of Final Fantasy IV Advance (2005) with the packaging, cartridge, artwork booklet, and game manual all intact, as seen in the images below (while stocks last).
Handheld consoles and video game consoles alike can also be sold boxed or unboxed, like the games compatible for them are. These can be sold with their standard editions, special editions, and differing models of the same console/handheld. One such example is their selection between being able to buy a standard PlayStation 1 model or a PlayStation 1 slim model, with a smaller, sleeker build. The RAGE also regularly does bundle deals with their handhelds and consoles, paired with extra controllers/peripherals and/or games, like their Wii bundle with a Nintendo GameCube memory card and controller pictured below. These deals are subject to change depending on their stock and ongoing promotions at the time.
The Other Half of The RAGE: The Record Spot
As for its left-hand side, The RAGE also houses a record shop known as The Record Spot. The Record Spot sells records and music cassette tapes to its customers from a wide range of genres and decades within the music scene, which also continually come and go from its shelves. These products come sold in both new and second-hand condition, being displayed alphabetically from A to Z under their respective genre or rock/pop, punk, and folk to name a few of the genres. There’s even overlap from the video game-oriented focus of The RAGE in the fact that The Record Spot sells video game soundtracks, like the soundtrack of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night depicted below (while stocks last).
Record accessories, headphones, and Polaroid cameras and film (sparingly) are also sold in The Record Spot. An example of one of the record accessories they sell is storage cases for growing record collections. Currently, they have a 12” Steel & Aluminum Storage Case on sale for €49.99 (while stock lasts) to store up to 50 records in one storage case (shown below). The Record Spot also has a number of accessories for record players and records themselves to keep them both in good condition. Headphones and Polaroid cameras and film meanwhile, are smaller in selection comparatively to the record accessories on offer.
The RAGE: In Summary
The RAGE with its array of vintage games and its record shop at its basement level brilliantly merges music and video games together under one roof. Its ongoing deals, variety of retro finds in video games and music, and friendly and well-versed staff in everything music and video games make The RAGE indeed an excellent record and games shop. All music and video game fans in Ireland owe it to themselves to come to their shop and experience it for themselves.
Address: 8 Crow St, Temple Bar, Dublin, D02 HX78
Opening Hours:
Mon – Sat: 11am – 7pm
Sun: 12pm – 6pm
