This Viking funeral will have no fire. But there will be horned helmets, a great feast and a bit of fierceness, along with some rather un-Norseman-like tears.

It will however be a fitting end to Bayshore Hobbies, the Valhalla for gamers everywhere for the past 33 years.

The Westdale store is closing Saturday with a hotdog barbecue, a big sale and some festivities, says its owner Rose Kriedemann.

The root of the longtime retailer's current troubles started about five years ago, she says, when people started to become more attached to their computers, to Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, eBay, downloading and surfing.

The store started as a specialty toy, board game and war game specialist and constantly had to shift with the times, which changed with each new trend, each new game.

For several years, back in the early 2000s, Bayshore had a second location on Concession Street, a bigger venue with more toys. It also hosted a trade show for 'geeks' for about four years.

Bayshore also stocked a large quantity of special Lego sets and Playmobil, but that, too, has changed.

It also held a massive used-game sale once a year, until eBay put an end to that.

"Believe it or not, we had 400 people lined up to go into the school where we had to move to because it had gotten so big," she said.

And each time there was a blow to business, Bayshore shifted its focus, trying to stay afloat. But then Rose realized she was spending more time at her husband's game and comic book distribution business, Lion Rampant, on Barton Street, because she couldn't bear to be in the store any more.

"It's not fun anymore," she said. "People are changing. Playmobil used to have up to age 10 on their sets. Now someone will come in and say they're not buying that for their six-year-old because it's a baby toy.

"In one year, (gaming) book sales decreased by 95 per cent when .pdfs became available on the Internet and they downloaded easier," she said. "When anime movies became available to download without a virus, that market disappeared."

The last couple of years have also seen more aggressive consumers, she said, taking away some of the excitement of a new person walking in the door. People tell her they can get her products cheaper online, or go through the store waving smartphones over her price tags so that an app can tell them where to get it more cheaply.

"If you can get it cheaper online, go for it. Don't come in this store and ask me to be your library, your price checker," she said.

At the same time, Kriedemann said she would have closed long before, but for her "good" customers — the kids who pop in for a quiet, earnest browse on their lunch breaks, the geeky guys who have been running in to give her a quick hug all week, tears welling in their eyes as they leave just as quickly.

"Bayshore's longtime customers have shared my life, my divorces, my kids, issues. They share their life with me, they move cabinets, build displays, change light bulbs, go for change, go for coffee, they never question it."

James Braund drove in from Brantford Wednesday when he heard the store was closing, with the car packed with kids.

"I've been coming here for more than 20 years. I'm a gamer. I don't know where we'll go now."

Kriedemann said these last few days have been happy and sad — postings are going up fast and furious on the store's Facebook page with people posting memories. (One to check out is the No Farting in the Store sign posted at the height of the Dungeons and Dragons days when the 16- to 22-year-old guys would come in, hang out and, well, fart.)

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As much as lots of things have gone wrong with the business, lots of things went right too — like the customers she loves to tell stories about.

She closes the doors Saturday knowing she gave it a good shot, maybe as good as any Viking warrior.

"What have I done right? I tried to keep on top of new things. I tried to grow myself."