Over 20,000 games in one of California’s oldest vintage video game stores have turned into piles of charcoal.
“I got the call from the manager on duty and said, ‘Your barn’s on fire,'” Dave’s Retro Video Games owner David Smith said. “I said, ‘Yeah, right.’ It was on fire.”
It was a heartbreaking discovery for Smith, who has poured everything into his video game store at the Folsom Boulevard Flea Market for over 43 years.
“We had 33 years here and 10 years at Denio’s. Started out running around on a bicycle, picking up games around the neighborhood,” Smith explained. “It just grew and grew. I love to buy. I hate to sell because I’m a hoarder, but I’m a good hoarder.”
The fire broke out around 4:30 p.m. on Friday at the Folsom Boulevard Flea Market in Sacramento. The blaze completely destroyed countless items and memorabilia worth well over $500,000.
“Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii, everything,” he said. “This place was packed, and it was as far as you can reach, as I could reach inside the store. That’s how high they were piled.”
Smith was able to recover only a few items and is now trying to pick up the pieces.
“Although I’m not here right now, I think I’m going to have a presence in the future,” he said. “Get some tables, and maybe not this large, but at the same time, only the future will tell. I have no idea right now. I’m just kind of absorbing what’s going on here. It’s a lot to handle.”
He’s been getting support from customers who stopped by throughout the day on Saturday to offer comfort to Smith.
Despite all odds, he’s keeping a smile on his face, cracking some jokes and trying to look ahead.
“Somebody’s been telling me about GoFundMe. I’m not looking for charity. We just have a lot of cleanup to do. It’s going to be a mess and it’s going to be a lot of work trying to salvage whatever we can salvage and try to start up in a limited space, a limited amount,” Smith continued. “I don’t know what the future holds, but hopefully good things. Every door burns; another opens. Isn’t that how it goes?”
Cal Expo is sponsoring a table for Smith over Halloween weekend so he can have the chance to sell the remaining items he was able to recover.
