Games Infinity in Sydney's Market City appears to have closed down now (may have happened yonks ago - I haven't been to Market City in ages ). If so, I wonder if this marks the end of specialist collectible stores in Sydney (is that little place near the Capitol Theatre still running? Haven't checked it out in many years ). Given Games Infinity's notorious rip-off prices (even for imports) I'm surprised that they managed to stay open as long as they have. Part of me is saddened to see the last vestige of brick and mortar import stores disappear from Sydney, although in reality they died off years ago when the good importers like Cartoon Gallery, Modeller's World etc. closed down. Games Infinity's prices were far beyond their competitors and we used to laugh at them and they earnt the nickname of "Games Insanity." It's odd that they should have been the last to go though.

It was an inevitability though. Brick and mortar importers are subject to government import taxes, levies, duties etc. A mate of mine used to work at Modeller's World and he explained to me that approximately 50% of their prices was in government imposed duties, which explained why their toys cost twice as much as what you paid in Japan. Basically, these import stores were charging the same RRP as what you'd pay in Japan, but once you add duties on top of it, you ended up paying about double. So a toy that cost $35 in Japan cost $70 here, with half of that being earnt by the store and the other half going into our government's coffers.

The rise of e-shopping has obviously out-competed brick and mortar specialist stores. It became all too easy for Aussies to pre-order Japanese imports from places like HLJ and pay the same RRP as people in Japan (or cheaper with early bird discounts), vs paying double RRP at the average import shop (or triple (or more) at places like Games Infinity ). And this was before Australian-based online dealers like Premium Collectables came along. Perhaps it's the rise of AU-based e-stores that are now pushing out the last of the import stores here.

I suppose that Aussie importers do still exist, but as online stores now rather than brick and mortar shop fronts. I was never really able to support the old brick and mortar shops in the old days (although I did often like window shopping there ) because as much as I want to support local business, I couldn't justify paying double prices for all my Japanese toys. But I'm more than happy to support online Aussie business like PC wherever possible.