Free Record Shop was a chain of home entertainment stores selling products such as
CDs,
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
s and
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
s, founded by
Hans Breukhoven
Johannes Arie "Hans" Breukhoven (31 October 1946 – 20 January 2017) was a Dutch businessman. He was the founder and president of Free Record Shop. He was the son of Adry Hermans, father of five children and ex-husband of Connie Breukhoven ...
. Its first store opened on October 15, 1971 in
Schiedam
Schiedam () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of Rotterdam, east of Vlaardingen, and south of Delft. In the south the city is connected with the village ...
,
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. At its peak, the franchise had more than 200 stores in the Netherlands and Belgium, but online available music and media supplanted the sale of physical media carriers.
It owned the entertainment products retail chain vanLeest, an
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
-based flagship entertainment store called FAME, a gamestore chain called GameMania and several
Build-a-Bear Workshop
Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. is an American retailer headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri that sells teddy bears and other stuffed animals and characters. Customers go through an interactive process in which the stuffed animal of their choice ...
stores. The company operated multiple online stores using the different brand names.
In March 2008 the company announced that they had sold off the
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, f