I found a new game store in my area.

[guitargary75]

There is a game store in my area, outside of Akron, Ohio, that has one of the most amazing classic game selections I have ever seen. But, they make ebay look cheap.
For example.
Here is what they are asking, for cart only mind you, for their games
Snes Games
Secret of Mana 80.00
Chrono Trigger 99.00
Mega man X2 85.00
Final Fantasy III 85.00
Earthbound 90.00
Nes Games
Ninja Kid 8.00 by the way this was their cheapest NES game of about 300 different ones that I saw
Contra Force 80.00
Pac-Man Tengen version 35.00
They also had several Intellivision games. But, even the most common games were 8.00. They also had a decent Gameboy advance section, but Gamestop is cheaper by about 5.00 a game than they are. Do these people even have a soul?
I ask you, how can they stay in business?@_@

[Lee is Still Gaming]

Always depressing when I find a classic game room store amongst all the Gamestops in the world, and in turn they price gouge the crap out of everything because they have no competition offering the same games.

Sounds like the place is no better than Gamestop.

[TonyTheTiger]

I think it's obvious why they have such a great selection. They can't move the merchandise. Either they'll start to rethink their pricing strategy or they'll go out of business.

[Kevin H]

Wonder how much they will pay for some of those games? I have a few of them for sale.

[mailman187666]

stores that try to rape people of thier cash usually end up going out of business unless they are selling other things than videogames. I have a game store that is a bit overpriced around me, but not too too bad. They've been in business for a long time, and mostly what keeps them in business is not so much the collectors, but the random people who pull out thier old NESs from the basement and go "oh I remember Contra" so they go to the store and they have it for something like $25 cart only. Well somebody like that would buy it for that price if they didn't know.

[Roufuss]

Did you try haggling with them? It might be worthwhile to at least give it a try, because if they were smart they'd rather lower the price a few dollars and gain a customer then have you walk out of the door forever.

We had a store here a few years ago in St Pete, FL, Apeman Video Games, the guy had a pretty decent selection, charged below Ebay, *and* was willing to haggle a bit on prices if you were a decent customer.

The only problem was that he picked a horrible location for his store, and, IIRC, he had problems getting new games in on time. He was going to move his store to a better location, but his other business took off a lot better, so he just shelved the whole idea.

I wish it was still around =/

[bangtango]

Places like this are why I laugh out loud when people always champion small businesses over large corporations. With one exception, all of the "small" non-chain, mom and pop game stores I've ever visited either have inconsistent store hours, lousy prices, lousy service (since the guy at the counter is often the owner and has nobody to answer to) or all three.

Obviously that isn't the case across the country but I am never quick to celebrate coming across a non-Gamestop store until I've actually been inside a couple of times and it passes my test.

[Blitzwing256]

i'm almost afriad to ask, are those cart only or are they complete?

for complete its still a little high, but reasonable, cart only its pretty bad ;-)

[Coldguy]

You never been to Game Store have you? Contra for $49.99 loose...yea.

[guitargary75]

Those prices are for loose carts only. I don't understand it. Why not offer reasonable prices and you will do a lot of business.

[Sothy]

Take a big shit on the carpet in the middle of the store and then ask what the trade in value is.

[Bandicat]

I just found a new one near me. Some prices seemed alright, but some were outrageous. Super Mario All Stars loose for $50. Chrono Trigger loose for $90.

[boatofcar]

If they sell modern games at reasonable prices, having some classic games around for sale even at higher prices makes for a good conversation piece and setpiece for the store.

[Lerxstnj]

It sounds like some guy decided to open a store with his own collection, but isn't in a hurry to sell much of it.

[guitargary75]

If they sell modern games at reasonable prices, having some classic games around for sale even at higher prices makes for a good conversation piece and setpiece for the store.

That's the weird thing though. They don't really sell too many modern games. I mean they even have a complete Odyssey 2 collection for sell in there. I wish I could take some pictures for you guys, but I'm afraid I would get sued or something.

[Greg2600]

While those prices are insane, when you are operating a small store like that, you've always torn on pricing. Especially video games, where the market price is kind of difficult to determine for used games. It's the balance between moving the inventory and moving it too cheaply. In addition, you start to think, boy, if I actually sell these really high value items, I won't have any more in the store? Then what will people come in for? As idiotic as that sounds, take it from me, it happens. Again, we owned a baseball card store, but the similarities with games are many. There were a lot of people, young and old, who would come into the store and spend more time gazing at items they couldn't afford, and then wound up buying some cheap stuff almost out of habit.

[guitargary75]

While those prices are insane, when you are operating a small store like that, you've always torn on pricing. Especially video games, where the market price is kind of difficult to determine for used games. It's the balance between moving the inventory and moving it too cheaply. In addition, you start to think, boy, if I actually sell these really high value items, I won't have any more in the store? Then what will people come in for? As idiotic as that sounds, take it from me, it happens. Again, we owned a baseball card store, but the similarities with games are many. There were a lot of people, young and old, who would come into the store and spend more time gazing at items they couldn't afford, and then wound up buying some cheap stuff almost out of habit.

What you said makes sense. But, there are no cheap items in the entire store. Every item is double what it should be.

[Coldguy]

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/unions/read_article.php?topic_id=25842287&union_id=859

Who knew?