Sony is closing down its one-and-only U.S. PlayStation store at the Metreon mall in San Francisco. The recession is clearly to blame, but it’s happening at time when Microsoft - which opened and shut its own Microsoft store at the Metreon - is going to open a chain of its own stores.

Sony will also close the Sony Style store in the Metreon. The Sony Style stores are peppered throughout the country. But the PlayStation store was the flagship location for Sony’s game business in the U.S. It will be sad to see the store close just ahead of another Game Developers Conference. Where will the game geeks go now during their breaks?

I’ve spent a lot of hours over the years in the PlayStation store. It opened in 1999 and occupied 350,000-square feet. Sony sold off its interest to the Westfield Group and Forest City Enterprises in 2006, according to GameSpot. You could always see the latest games at the PlayStation bar or watch demos on a big-screen TV.

I was there in 2004 when Sony launched its PlayStation Portable at the store. I was also there when Sony launched the PlayStation 3 at the store in 2006. People lined the streets for the midnight launches. Can a store really create an emotional connection with its users? Yes, if you look at Apple’s stores and yes if you believe what Microsoft wants to achieve with its new chain of stores. But apparently the PlayStation store’s decline is an emblem of bigger problems with Sony, which has seen its fortunes turn from first place in the console business to third place. The news about the PlayStation store closing surfaced a day after Sony announced it has sold 50 million PSPs.