Local retro game stores

[spman]

What's the deal with the trend of the local retro game stores that have been popping up all over the place now? The ones locally here are all the same, they price everything with at least a 10% markup from the highest sold price on eBay, yet they still do decent business? Who are the people that are buying games from these places, is it the casual gamers that have bought into the hype of the retro gaming fad, and just get caught up in buying stuff on impulse?

For example this place: http://www.yelp.com/biz/video-games-new-york-new-york. I've seen people astonished by the videos of this store on Facebook, but the big secret is that the reason they have so much cool stuff in stock is because it's priced way way way above what they are actually work. The store only stays in business thanks to trust fund hipsters that don't care about paying $15 for a copy of SMB / Duckhunt and $120 for an NES to play it on.

[Daria]

Every once in a while a store like this opens up in my area. They never last more than a year. I don't understand why they all follow the same piss poor business models and expect to do well.

[The Adventurer]

I must be lucky, because I've got 4 local retro gaming stories within driving distance, and only 1 of them really over charges on everything. Another overcharges of rare games, but common and uncommon games are below ebay market price. I've found pretty good deals at all of them.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Unfortunately, my local game store recently closed after 14 years in business citing poor sales. It's bullshit, because that was the only retro game store within an hour's drive. They have a second location in the next city over which is about an hour and a half away, which is thriving, so if I want to buy anything now, I need to either look to find private sellers or drive over an hour.

I wish there were game stores popping up. But not here in southern Ontario.

[Sosage]

One part of your question is simple: online sellers and hobbyists don't have the overhead of a brick n' mortar location to pay for.

You and I may be able to pick up SMB for a cheaper price somewhere else. You and I may also be able to resell it for minimal profit. Hell...we have the luxury of not having to profit off the sale at all. Brick n' mortar stores *have* to make profit. It's why they can't offer you the "market rate" for what you're wanting to sell to them, and why some have to price items above market rate when they put it on the shelf.

As for who is buying this stuff, everyone. It's really tempting to tag someone paying higher prices for this stuff as "retro posers" who are "ruining the hobby". By all means, we've likely all met "that guy" who is a total douche that isn't into this for playing the games, yet wants everyone to check out his 20 NES games he doesn't enjoy. BUT the average person walking into a store isn't "that guy". They are likely not into prioritizing finding stuff online (or at swap meets/garage sales). They walk into a store, see SMB for 15 bucks and impulse off of it. Everyone loves SMB. Surely SMB, as an experience, is worth 15 bucks. If push came to shove, I think SMB...as a game experience...is worth every penny of that 15 bucks. Even though I could find the cart for much, much less at the "market" price.

As a consumer I've been that average customer, but for other mediums such as music, movies, and books. I'm sure I could find a copy of some popular novel for cheap if I tried, but if I find it while browsing at a used book store...and I think the experience of reading it is worth whatever the price tag is, why not swallow the price? So what if I could find it for cheaper if I just dug into the Internet for a week or two waiting for the right FS thread or eBay listing to pop up. I want to read it now. I have the cash now. I don't mind paying that price now. Does that make me a poser book enthusiast ruining the retro novel hobby? No. It makes me someone interested in reading a good book.

[ProjectCamaro]

There are two retro gaming stores by me. One has overly marked up prices, a piss poor selection, and staff that doesn't know gaming.

The other one is stuffed from floor to ceiling with games and consoles (including rare ones), has a husband a wife team who run the store and know their product inside and out, and have good prices.

One of these stores is empty every time I walk in and the other had to buy a warehouse to house all their games because they go through so many. I'll let you guess which is which.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

Theres a few around my area too, and sometimes they mark things well, sometimes they dn't. I think its a good thing cuz u can find a ton of games ur looking for in one place, rather then having to scower the flea markets and garage sales.

What I will say is that I prefer them a hell of a lot to Gamestop, not just cuz they have older stuff, but they're just better stores. Theyll have arcade machines, kiosks, all kindsa stuff u wont get at Gamestop.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

One part of your question is simple: online sellers and hobbyists don't have the overhead of a brick n' mortar location to pay for.

You and I may be able to pick up SMB for a cheaper price somewhere else. You and I may also be able to resell it for minimal profit. Hell...we have the luxury of not having to profit off the sale at all. Brick n' mortar stores *have* to make profit. It's why they can't offer you the "market rate" for what you're wanting to sell to them, and why some have to price items above market rate when they put it on the shelf.

As for who is buying this stuff, everyone. It's really tempting to tag someone paying higher prices for this stuff as "retro posers" who are "ruining the hobby". By all means, we've likely all met "that guy" who is a total douche that isn't into this for playing the games, yet wants everyone to check out his 20 NES games he doesn't enjoy. BUT the average person walking into a store isn't "that guy". They are likely not into prioritizing finding stuff online (or at swap meets/garage sales). They walk into a store, see SMB for 15 bucks and impulse off of it. Everyone loves SMB. Surely SMB, as an experience, is worth 15 bucks. If push came to shove, I think SMB...as a game experience...is worth every penny of that 15 bucks. Even though I could find the cart for much, much less at the "market" price.

As a consumer I've been that average customer, but for other mediums such as music, movies, and books. I'm sure I could find a copy of some popular novel for cheap if I tried, but if I find it while browsing at a used book store...and I think the experience of reading it is worth whatever the price tag is, why not swallow the price? So what if I could find it for cheaper if I just dug into the Internet for a week or two waiting for the right FS thread or eBay listing to pop up. I want to read it now. I have the cash now. I don't mind paying that price now. Does that make me a poser book enthusiast ruining the retro novel hobby? No. It makes me someone interested in reading a good book.

I agree. I have no problem paying a good $20 for a game I will enjoy. I really dnt see this as people r elitists in retro gaming, I see it as cheapness.

[Einzelherz]

I agree. I have no problem paying a good $20 for a game I will enjoy. I really dnt see this as people r elitists in retro gaming, I see it as cheapness.

Any time the C word comes out, it's elitism.

[Tanooki]

Adventurer you probably are just lucky. I moved back to KY 2 years ago so I was there still in CA with the boom and in both places there were/are stores. I've noticed something though between them is that the wave of greed at the local retail shops came at differing times. Back in CA around later 2011 through when i left in 2012 in the fall I saw a nasty little uptick. It wasn't exactly just retail but it was also the local craigslist and of course ebay. I think they're all just intertwined. The locals for awhile held out, but when they caught on to being poached by predators, they all heaved their prices nice and high to scare them off so they get paid well too.

When I got back to KY late in 2012 it wasn't for another 6 months that I saw the price game go bad here. I had been in CA for 3 years, had lived here through most of the 00s before that. Places like this local chain and the national Half Price Books really were half the price of online, except in the cases on the stuff that's so low in value you have to cap it at $5 or you get baked which was of course fine. HPB started to get really greedy early in 2013, they started to instead follow the store motto, change it to Buy it Now(or Full) Price Books and at times go 10-20% over ebay. People started to pick stuff up from the good local store and locals on the whole and taking it in there to get paid, or online with craiglist, and it all shot up in an insanely short amount of time (3-4mo) to being like CA(lifornia.) It's very hard to find a nice priced item anymore, a good day is going in 10% under ebay or matching it minus the shipping fee.

As it stands I took a stand and just quit buying local, let them die for all I care. I've know and do know locals (and not online) who run retail local shops and they seem to have a mix. Some will follow the trend, others buck it. I find those who follow they'll get by alright, but they find it harder to get the primo $50-300+ stuff in anymore as few are dumb enough to take 10% on that to see it on the shelf that day or a week later. There are others though who will sell for like 15-20% under ebay's average by condition factor, but they also will pay like 25-30%+ of the value, sometimes 50% or a hair over if it's super valuable and will flip fast. They sell quite well through stuff, have lots of happy one offs and regulars who return with the expensive games because the value gets them lots of cash or new stuff they desired. So it really can work both ways. There's no real reason to screw customers prison drama raw for video games, it's a choice, and a crappy one at that. Because I gave up, all I do now is stick with GBA and Famicom as they're not hosed, but I won't ignore a deal if I accident into it, but that's rare and I'm actually good with that. Recently I got back into Lego, buying a few sets here and there as it's relaxing unlike the gaming racket.

[ZeroCool]

Theres 3 I can think of. One is North of me and is pretty over priced. I would think such a small location wouldn't charge so much for common games. Another would be in downtown, The Gamechasers actually went into this store and browsed through their inventory which is massive! it was actually last year when they went to Con Bravo in Canada and stopped at that store in downtown Toronto. Store is over priced as well. The last one is more west and this guy has great inventory but his prices are freaking insane. One can understand why he has so much stock since he probably can't sell his stuff. Im pretty sure he gets those people who dont care for rip off prices. He usually puts his pick up vids on his Youtube channel. Stores called Toyratt

[Gameguy]

You and I may be able to pick up SMB for a cheaper price somewhere else. You and I may also be able to resell it for minimal profit. Hell...we have the luxury of not having to profit off the sale at all. Brick n' mortar stores *have* to make profit. It's why they can't offer you the "market rate" for what you're wanting to sell to them, and why some have to price items above market rate when they put it on the shelf.
In a way that's kind of a cop-out. I get offering less money for games with trade-ins but to do that and price games above market value when selling just seems greedy.

Using the excuse that they have to rip people off with both trade-ins and when selling just to pay the bills only goes so far. What if I said I had to sell broken lawn chairs or other freshly picked trash for $400 each to support myself financially? Would people gladly pay me my asking price to help me out?


As for who is buying this stuff, everyone. It's really tempting to tag someone paying higher prices for this stuff as "retro posers" who are "ruining the hobby". By all means, we've likely all met "that guy" who is a total douche that isn't into this for playing the games, yet wants everyone to check out his 20 NES games he doesn't enjoy. BUT the average person walking into a store isn't "that guy". They are likely not into prioritizing finding stuff online (or at swap meets/garage sales). They walk into a store, see SMB for 15 bucks and impulse off of it. Everyone loves SMB. Surely SMB, as an experience, is worth 15 bucks. If push came to shove, I think SMB...as a game experience...is worth every penny of that 15 bucks. Even though I could find the cart for much, much less at the "market" price.
Honestly, from what I've seen it seems to be mostly parents or younger kids/teens that don't know any better. Now a high percentage of younger kids and teens think old games are cool(thanks to everyone using the internet now regardless of age), so when they ask their parents for a game for their birthday/any reason, parents just go to game stores and they'll buy it. Most parents don't want to waste too much time searching for things as they have better things to do, or they're not into games so they don't know where to buy them outside of searching the yellowpages for video game stores. Or it'll just be kids/teens, the ones too young to have credit cards or paypal accounts and can't purchase things online.

[Sosage]

In a way that's kind of a cop-out. I get offering less money for games with trade-ins but to do that and price games above market value when selling just seems greedy.

Using the excuse that they have to rip people off with both trade-ins and when selling just to pay the bills only goes so far. What if I said I had to sell broken lawn chairs or other freshly picked trash for $400 each to support myself financially? Would people gladly pay me my asking price to help me out?

If there were a market for broken lawn chairs and freshly picked trash, then your analogy would work...and my answer to you would then be, "Yes. You could." Would it sell? Would your price be outrageous? I dunno. What's the market price for a bag of trash in this imaginary world?


Honestly, from what I've seen it seems to be mostly parents or younger kids/teens that don't know any better. Now a high percentage of younger kids and teens think old games are cool(thanks to everyone using the internet now regardless of age), so when they ask their parents for a game for their birthday/any reason, parents just go to game stores and they'll buy it. Most parents don't want to waste too much time searching for things as they have better things to do, or they're not into games so they don't know where to buy them outside of searching the yellowpages for video game stores. Or it'll just be kids/teens, the ones too young to have credit cards or paypal accounts and can't purchase things online.

From what I've seen at the local used store, a lot of these customers do know better. We're in the age of having the Internet in your pocket. You can price check almost anything with 5-10 minutes of minimal effort. No one is capable of duping anyone over the value of anything these days.

The chunk of customers that purchase a slightly more expensive game just don't care about dealing with the Internet and shipping. They see a game they want, mull over the few bucks extra for having it now vs. waiting for it to be shipped out (plus shipping costs), then make their purchase. You and I may not be into that, but you and I aren't exactly the average game store customer, either.

[Gameguy]

From what I've seen at the local used store, a lot of these customers do know better. We're in the age of having the Internet in your pocket. You can price check almost anything with 5-10 minutes of minimal effort. No one is capable of duping anyone over the value of anything these days.

The chunk of customers that purchase a slightly more expensive game just don't care about dealing with the Internet and shipping. They see a game they want, mull over the few bucks extra for having it now vs. waiting for it to be shipped out (plus shipping costs), then make their purchase. You and I may not be into that, but you and I aren't exactly the average game store customer, either.
Depends on the game store. When a store close to me offered $5 trade in for a loose NES Action 52 yet asks $100 for a loose NES Contra I don't consider that to be just slightly overpriced. Most game stores around my general area have similar pricing.

The store I mentioned with the Contra mostly gets by with selling modern games for current systems or repairing consoles, the older stuff hardly moves. They just keep it to have their store stand out from the big box stores, it's the same view a previous nearby store had which went out of business years earlier. Whenever I've been there and actually seen old stuff sell, it's mostly just students or parents buying them. When a little kid broke his Gamecube controller, his mom bought a beat to shit yet working one for $25 as she couldn't find one anywhere else. She said she was just happy to find one.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

Depends on the game store. When a store close to me offered $5 trade in for a loose NES Action 52 yet asks $100 for a loose NES Contra I don't consider that to be just slightly overpriced. Most game stores around my general area have similar pricing.

The store I mentioned with the Contra mostly gets by with selling modern games for current systems or repairing consoles, the older stuff hardly moves. They just keep it to have their store stand out from the big box stores, it's the same view a previous nearby store had which went out of business years earlier. Whenever I've been there and actually seen old stuff sell, it's mostly just students or parents buying them. When a little kid broke his Gamecube controller, his mom bought a beat to shit yet working one for $25 as she couldn't find one anywhere else. She said she was just happy to find one.

Where on earth is Contra selling for $100?

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

Any time the C word comes out, it's elitism.

Well, it seems more elitist of people who scoff at ppl for paying a full price on a game. That seems to happen a lot more then the other way around. U see all these videos on youtube of "pickups," where ppl gloat about all the good deals they just found or an old lady they ripped off for a box of N64 stuff. Then they turn around and call the ppl who pay $20 for Contra the worst thing to happen to video game collecting cuz it makes it that much harder for them to rip people off.

I mean, I get it, I look for cheaper prices too, but why do people hafta look down on someone cuz they pay full price and call them chumps? Whats the big deal?

[Tanooki]

Well said, nothing wrong with no overpaying, and those who get mad over the deals, they're the elite and snobs, or just angry turds who didn't get it first to add it to the pile of stuff asking too much for.

[DK1105]

I'm kinda lucky because my go to store is good on prices and has an insane amount of imports. Anyone need a complete N64 DD collection? The other few stores are hit and miss nothing outrageous. One is quite high but still worth poping in for a look around when over that way to check is they have something that I have been searching for.

[Az]

The store I mentioned with the Contra mostly gets by with selling modern games for current systems or repairing consoles, the older stuff hardly moves.

Many, many years ago I helped run a Mom & Pop owned video store and although it may seem like apples and oranges, I can say that you're exactly right. New stuff rents/sells, old stuff sits gathering dust and any money brought in by it is just gravy on the top.

One store near me has two locations, one dedicated brick & mortar and another lot in an indoor flea market vendor's mall type setup. On new stuff, or new aftermarket retro stuff the prices are around the same as anywhere else. While I often pop in and see carts I'd love to pick up as an impulse buy their prices are insane. I get that you're not going to get yard sale prices there but there's a point where you price yourself out of a sale. $40 for a loose Contra or Legend of Zelda? $100 Super Metroid and $250 Earthbound? What's even stranger is shit that sold millions of copies (Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat) is priced at $25 and above.

In particular there's a beat up loose ratty copy of The Earth Defend for Genesis I'd love to pick up since I'm a sucker for unlicensed trash and it's 20 bucks. You can buy new, sealed copies all day on ebay for $12.

[Tanooki]

That's kind of the point. These places have other sources of income. They'll pay like ten cents to the dollar on the 'valued' old stuff and they don't give a crap if it sells or not as it won't have an effect on their bottom line. It's window dressing of the cruel and most wasteful kind. You get in stuff people really want, but you ask a margin a bit (10-20%) or a lot over ebay because no one can see the teeny price stickers through the window from outside. It's to bait people in, then they get sticker shock, some walk out and leave. A lot annoyingly don't. They won't buy that game, but they'll buy something far newer used (or new from the current) or the store carries movies, music, toys, food, comics, and other fan stuff and they get paid there. They're happy with that, and if they can find a dumb dumb with more cash than brains, then it's gravy time on the spendy game.

[Zthun]

I've said before that these B&M stores have prices way over the top and that is the norm. Online stores don't have the overhead that these stores have, so they are much more efficient, and thus, don't need to charge as much to keep the store running.

People can complain about them all they want, but this business model won't change unless there is something else holding the store together. For example, mixing a game shop with a comic shop might be a good idea, and then they could charge decent amounts for the games while subsidizing themselves with Magic, comics, RPGs, and action figures but most store owners seem to only work with one thing. I don't know why this attitude exists, but it does. Arcades have gone this route. It's rare to see just an arcade. Usually, you get a small arcade inside of an ice cream shop, or you go to a pizza place like Chucky's or Peter Piper.

I remember seeing this documentary about bringing back manufacturing to the US; the message stated that even if we did that, it wouldn't be the same because online stores like Amazon only employ a small number of workers because they are so efficient. In house stores just can't compete on prices in the long haul. The point is, you're almost always going to find better prices online than you will in a B&M store. You may every now and then have a one off experience where you get a great deal, but generally, online is the way to go if you want to save money.

[Tanooki]

Good points, definitely on wanting to save money. I think the issue here is how it's being done. Like you said, you can specialize or get a little more broad to subsidize the shop. But when you see a store that does broaden its reach, but still throws prices notably over the online price just because they can, that's I think where you get the bitching and it's fairly aimed. Like the Half Price Books store, their model has been 'half price' since they popped up on used goods, and the new they get in, that just depends. But in the last couple years they've been using online as a mark, then tacking on shipping and a premium to get one over on locals and they as a company are doing well and expanding, it's not necessary. Same can be said of the local chain I mentioned as they've been at it like 20 years now and games are just a 1/4 of the shop if that when you account for all the books, albums, cds, dvds, blu ray and other stuff yet they're doing it now too and again not necessary and in the last couple years opened a few more shops in the state or just over the river.

There's a right way and a wrong way, and if a store ONLY has games, clearly they can't compete they have to put the value up there to pay their expenses and combat being poached or whatever for online stuff. It's the many stores that do diversify that just hose people with ten cents to the dollar trade-in and prices over the roof.

[FrankSerpico]

A b&m store called Games Ahoy that's very good, both selection and price-wise, has two locations only a short drive from me. Judging from the responses here it sounds like I'm pretty lucky. There's another local place called Buy-Back games that sells new and used stuff, but their retro selection sucks. Typical line-up of 10-15 '90s era sports games for the 16-bit consoles, with maybe 1 or 2 MIB cult classics/nerd favorites like Ghouls N' Ghosts or Chrono Trigger with an inflated price cuz they know they'll get some college kid to buy it regardless.

[old_skoolin_jim]

I'e been pretty lucky in the greater Boston area the last 5-10 years, as most of the stores I frequent don't charge batshit insane prices, though a few places are starting to creep up a bit (though still not anywhere near outrageous). That being said, I have definitely come across my fair share of traps, too. Here's my $.02:

The good:
That's Entertainment (Fitchburg & Worcester, MA) - Reasonable prices on a frequently-rotating inventory of retro classics, though I've noticed a few absurdities as of late (like $200 for a CIB Secret of Mana?). I've bought tons of stuff from these folks as both locations, and have even had some really lucky finds (like Mr. Do's Castle on Atari 2600 for $1). Always worth a visit, even if I don't buy anything.

High Energy Vintage (Somerville, MA) - A small shop, but run by a really cool dude along with a really cool couple of other employees. Shop owner pays fair prices for trades, and always sells a little below market rate. Recently spotted Shining Force 1 with manual in good shape for $20, and I just bought Psycho Fox ($12 loose) and Warsong ($20 loose) from them the other day. Carries games from Atari to "Dreamcats."

The annoying:
Sudden Impact (Winthrop, MA) - This guy has a ton of inventory, but his prices are by far the most expensive around. Posts multiple times per day on local Craigslist, and his store is a total pain in the arse to get to, unless you happen to be one of the few people who actually live in Winthrop. He's got a ton of inventory, but if you see something you want you're gonna pay through the nose (read: higher than ebay) for it. Also doesn't help the shop is almost literally the size of a shoebox, so everything is piled on top of everything else.

Video Game Exchange (Plaistow, NH) - Just stopped in there last night, and saw they had a DuckTales 2 NES, loose, with writing on the cart, for $135. Asking $200 for a loose EarthBound. $18 for FIFA Street 2 on GameCube? Many other ludicrously priced games. They also have an eBay shop, with equally terrible prices.

The "faded glory":
Comically Speaking (Reading, MA) - When I moved to the neighborhood, this was a pretty cool shop with solid retro game selection, and would even have half-off sales from time to time (as a matter of fact, one of my frst times in this place was during a half-off sale where I scored a Tengen Tetris for $15!). I also got 95% of my Intellivision library from this place for practically a song. Now though, every time I go there the gaming section is smaller and smaller, and the prices are getting higher and higher, and the vibe of the store is just kind of... off. I dunno.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

We had a store recently go out of business, called Gaming Source in Southington, CT. The store had some cool stuff sometimes, I got my Sega Master System there with hookups, 2 controllers, light gun, and 2 fight sticks for $50, which is a fair price for a hard-to-find system, but some of their games were over-priced. They also had a lot of the same common NES and SNES sports games sitting around, with 10 Top Gun's, Gotcha!, Win Lose or Draw, etc. I got some NES games there, but for the most part I didn't get too much stuff there. They also did custom 360 controllers, which was cool, but expensive.

There is several Game Xchange chains in CT, in Wallingford, Branford, Waterbury, and I think 1 other location. These also sell lots of DVD's and have better prices on games, much more fair. I would pick up NES games there, some Atari games that were cheap, and sometimes I'd find Colecovision games in the Atari piles. I found Frogger on Colecovision there for maybe $2, and come to find out it's a $25 game. At least the last time I checked it was.

There's also a chain called Retro Games Plus, which now has 2 locations. One in Orange, and one in Newington, CT. The kids who worked at Gaming Source now work at this Newington location. They also sell action figures and legos, which is cool, and have some more uncommon games like Odyssey 2 games, boxed Vectrex games, and some NES games on the rarer side like Mega Man 1 which is getting hard to find, and Baby Boomer, which I may pick up. Lotsa great NES games which I like, lotsa Atari games, altho some are marked up to $5 each, which sounds pricey for Atari games. I did get a cool little Transformer that I had as a kid in '92 back in first grade. So crazy to find. It's an Air Raid action figure, and I don't collect action figures but it's cool to find a little slice of nostalgia I never thought I'd see ever again.

[peeingas]

I'e been pretty lucky in the greater Boston area the last 5-10 years, as most of the stores I frequent don't charge batshit insane prices, though a few places are starting to creep up a bit (though still not anywhere near outrageous). That being said, I have definitely come across my fair share of traps, too. Here's my $.02:

The good:
That's Entertainment (Fitchburg & Worcester, MA) - Reasonable prices on a frequently-rotating inventory of retro classics, though I've noticed a few absurdities as of late (like $200 for a CIB Secret of Mana?). I've bought tons of stuff from these folks as both locations, and have even had some really lucky finds (like Mr. Do's Castle on Atari 2600 for $1). Always worth a visit, even if I don't buy anything.

High Energy Vintage (Somerville, MA) - A small shop, but run by a really cool dude along with a really cool couple of other employees. Shop owner pays fair prices for trades, and always sells a little below market rate. Recently spotted Shining Force 1 with manual in good shape for $20, and I just bought Psycho Fox ($12 loose) and Warsong ($20 loose) from them the other day. Carries games from Atari to "Dreamcats."

The annoying:
Sudden Impact (Winthrop, MA) - This guy has a ton of inventory, but his prices are by far the most expensive around. Posts multiple times per day on local Craigslist, and his store is a total pain in the arse to get to, unless you happen to be one of the few people who actually live in Winthrop. He's got a ton of inventory, but if you see something you want you're gonna pay through the nose (read: higher than ebay) for it. Also doesn't help the shop is almost literally the size of a shoebox, so everything is piled on top of everything else.

Video Game Exchange (Plaistow, NH) - Just stopped in there last night, and saw they had a DuckTales 2 NES, loose, with writing on the cart, for $135. Asking $200 for a loose EarthBound. $18 for FIFA Street 2 on GameCube? Many other ludicrously priced games. They also have an eBay shop, with equally terrible prices.

The "faded glory":
Comically Speaking (Reading, MA) - When I moved to the neighborhood, this was a pretty cool shop with solid retro game selection, and would even have half-off sales from time to time (as a matter of fact, one of my frst times in this place was during a half-off sale where I scored a Tengen Tetris for $15!). I also got 95% of my Intellivision library from this place for practically a song. Now though, every time I go there the gaming section is smaller and smaller, and the prices are getting higher and higher, and the vibe of the store is just kind of... off. I dunno.
Funny you should mention Sudden Impact. I have been there and definately agree on the high prices. but if you go on Yelp or some other such site, all you get are glowing reviews of the place, saying it has great prices blah blah blah, and the few (accurate) reviews that say the place has high prices are hidden.

[The Adventurer]

.

There is several Game Xchange chains in CT, in Wallingford, Branford, Waterbury, and I think 1 other location. These also sell lots of DVD's and have better prices on games, much more fair. I would pick up NES games there, some Atari games that were cheap, and sometimes I'd find Colecovision games in the Atari piles. I found Frogger on Colecovision there for maybe $2, and come to find out it's a $25 game. At least the last time I checked it was.

GameXchange in Norwich, CT is my primary retro game store. They are a very fair store in my experience. Though I did find out recently they don't gave individual trade in pricing for Turbographix games. They only pay $1 per game regardless of what is. It's the same policy they use for Jaguar, 3DO, and any other obscure/failed console.

It's kind of weird.

I just picked up a complete Samurai Warriors 3 on Wii for $8 this afternoon, which is $4 below eBay average. Came with 20 club nintendo points too!

[Flam]

What's the deal with the trend of the local retro game stores that have been popping up all over the place now? The ones locally here are all the same, they price everything with at least a 10% markup from the highest sold price on eBay, yet they still do decent business? Who are the people that are buying games from these places, is it the casual gamers that have bought into the hype of the retro gaming fad, and just get caught up in buying stuff on impulse?

For example this place: http://www.yelp.com/biz/video-games-new-york-new-york. I've seen people astonished by the videos of this store on Facebook, but the big secret is that the reason they have so much cool stuff in stock is because it's priced way way way above what they are actually work. The store only stays in business thanks to trust fund hipsters that don't care about paying $15 for a copy of SMB / Duckhunt and $120 for an NES to play it on.

Long story short without reading this whole thread, I don't mind paying a few extra dollars to help the local shop. Unless they are absolutely resellers, I like supporting the local stores.

[old_skoolin_jim]

Funny you should mention Sudden Impact. I have been there and definately agree on the high prices. but if you go on Yelp or some other such site, all you get are glowing reviews of the place, saying it has great prices blah blah blah, and the few (accurate) reviews that say the place has high prices are hidden.

Yeah, I was one of those "accurate" Yelp reviewers, and the guy totally lashed out at me. I gave in and updated my review, but I should have stuck to my guns. I lived in Chelsea for 4 years, and his shop was a pain to get to (his frequent Craigslist ads that mention being "easy to get to" are total BS)— even living just a few miles away, it was a solid 30 minute drive. I think I went there maybe a grand total of 2 times.

As for all the positive reviews, Winthrop is essentially an island full of well-to-do yuppies who probably don't care what they have to pay to get their Nintendo 64 games. :p

[OrdinaryOtaku]

What's the deal with the trend of the local retro game stores that have been popping up all over the place now? The ones locally here are all the same, they price everything with at least a 10% markup from the highest sold price on eBay, yet they still do decent business?

I knoooooow! My local store is pretty good though, you can find some R5-R7 Atari carts for like $2. However, really popular games like FFVI are like $120 used. O_O

[Tanooki]

That's the problem here too as I already said. I got fed up trying to find anything in there anymore and keeping a credit on file with them ($35, some of it from a decade ago almost.) I was told they started carrying new sealed games super limited so I picked up Smash Bros 3DS for $6. I took stuff in that day to get rid of (mostly not games) and ended up walking out with CIB Mario Paint and a blu ray along with a $20. I used to hit that place every week (or 2 if busy) but now it's like every couple of months maybe because the prices are repulsive on almost all of it. If you price at or above ebay I hope you go out of business as I'll save the 30min round trip drive, the wasted time, and the added wasted money of the mark up + gas and click something online because I never need it that day that badly to eat it.

[GhostDog]

Retro game stores take the fun out of collecting retro games. What was fun about retro games was you used to be able to buy them cheap at garage sales, flea markets or even record stores that sold games. Paying eBay prices or higher takes away the fun out of collecting.

[sfchakan]

Retro game stores take the fun out of collecting retro games. What was fun about retro games was you used to be able to buy them cheap at garage sales, flea markets or even record stores that sold games. Paying eBay prices or higher takes away the fun out of collecting.

You can still avoid paying ebay prices often if you check garage sales, thrift stores, and network on CL/FB/etc. Sure, sometimes people will ask for them, but if you are good at negotiating, you can avoid it quite often.

[Tanooki]

You can still avoid paying ebay prices often if you check garage sales, thrift stores, and network on CL/FB/etc. Sure, sometimes people will ask for them, but if you are good at negotiating, you can avoid it quite often.

That's all entirely relative to your home town. Back out in CA I could hit a flea market every single Sunday morning with a $20 bill and bring home at least one or two things, more the farther back in time things went as greed grew, but garage sales were worthless due to gas costs and distances between. There were at least a half dozen or more predators buying up peoples games for pennies so craigslist was a shark tank and pointless, most thrifts rarely got stuff and if they did it was almost gone immediately. Here in KY though, less predators, most flea markets around here dont have games or if they do it's inconsistent as is the pricing and usually it's not the 'good stuff' outside of first party games, and retail in the last year or so went over ebay pricing so that's out, and it's down to community garage sales mostly here so it's all spotty. Yet if you read posts bitching about this over at NA, you'll often find in their finds area a disproportionate amount of goodies with good old style prices seem to come out of the midwest, texas in parts, and north carolina along with california in some spots yet a lot of other states are just given dead zones.

[T]

Here's a good store in Champaign Il.

https://www.facebook.com/LiveActionChampaign

[Flam]

I guess I'm lucky. Have a really good store about 30 min away. Price are fair, variety is good, owner is cool and will hook up his regulars with discounts and free-be's

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

GameXchange in Norwich, CT is my primary retro game store. They are a very fair store in my experience. Though I did find out recently they don't gave individual trade in pricing for Turbographix games. They only pay $1 per game regardless of what is. It's the same policy they use for Jaguar, 3DO, and any other obscure/failed console.

It's kind of weird.

I just picked up a complete Samurai Warriors 3 on Wii for $8 this afternoon, which is $4 below eBay average. Came with 20 club nintendo points too!

GameXchange has really fair prices, for sure. I go to the Wallingford location, cuz its closest, but they all seem to have the same prices for things. It's hard to find a store that actually sells things a little below Ebay prices, many people charge above the average Ebay prices nowadays, its crazy. Sure, ur still gonna pay $20 for Super Mario Kart, but they also have the buy-3-get-one-free deal which is great cuz I can get a nice stack of cheap NES games and get a few for free.

I've been going to a new store called Retro Game Plus in Newington, it's got some great hard to find games, prices are not as good as GameXchange, but still not bad. Lotsa tough to find games, and they also have action figures and legos, which isn't really my thing but still pretty cool.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

Retro game stores take the fun out of collecting retro games. What was fun about retro games was you used to be able to buy them cheap at garage sales, flea markets or even record stores that sold games. Paying eBay prices or higher takes away the fun out of collecting.

I still prefer to troll thru Goodwills and other thrift stores around the area then the game stores. But even with the game stores, theres still kind of a gamble of wat u'll find.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

There used to be a video game store called Video Games Etc. in Gallatin, TN. It opened in 2004. Later they opened a location in Hendersonville around 2007. These stores had GREAT selections and great prices. I started going there in March 2006, used to load up on all kinds of games, could usually get 5-7 games for 50 bucks (most of that being CIB stuff for various systems from Atari 2600 to Dreamcast). Most Atari 2600 games were $1-3, even CIB NES stuff was usually under $10. They also had system packages with the system and all the hookups included, and 1-3 free games, usually at $40-50. Some stuff like a PS1 was around $25. Keep in mind these are late 2000s prices.

Until they moved stores in late 2007, their main Gallatin location was a rather bare-bones looking affair. Little decoration on the walls, no demo units, stuff like that. But it didn't matter. It had GAMES. New and old. I got my PS3 from there, launch year as well. I know that not spending a lot of money on frills meant cheaper games.

July 10, 2009 was a horrible day. My mom took me to Video Games Etc. that day, as she frequently had for 3 years. I was 16 at the time, didn't drive until 2012. I'll never forget the big yellow sign that said "GOING OUT OF BUSINESS". The man who owned it was only 32 years old. The store was a recession victim, simple as that. They closed on July 14, 2009.

We had other local retro game stores like Great Escape and Game Trader. Game Trader is still around, at least it was in about 2019 when I last went to that part of town (it's sketchy as fuck now). Their prices were higher than Video Games Etc. (about 25-40% higher, if I remember correctly), and they were flashier (especially Game Trader). Still, even Game Trader's late-2000s prices were low enough that they would make a 2022 collector turn Incredible Hulk green with envy.

I've suspended retro collecting, because these prices are ridiculous now. Rich hipsters (I wonder if any of them are named Kukai*)?
*Bill Wurtz reference

Enjoy these retro 2008 pictures of Video Games Etc.'s Hendersonville location. Sadly I never got pictures of the Gallatin location but the first (2004-2007) version looked pretty similar, but was bigger and better stocked. The 2007-2009 version looked more similar to Game Trader, still had the same great low prices though. Unfortunately, I didn't have much room on my SD card on my digital camera when I took those, so they're low-res.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimmyyyy1992/albums/72157628804768541

And here's Game Trader, for comparison. Not quite late-2000s, but still February 2012, and high-res, taken on my Canon Rebel:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimmyyyy1992/albums/72157629536191625

[Niku-Sama]

interesting, one of the places i've been lookin for work at was Tennessee, some where around Memphis or Nashville. I visited both last year.

good to know theres something, my friends and i looked and asked around in Memphis and no one knew of any game shops. Didnt have much time to look when we ere in Nashville, they were interested in looking at homes to buy there... and getting drunk on boradway

[Steve W]

For a while, the Dallas area was absolutely crawling with stores where you could buy old games. There were a bunch of Play N Trade stores around - the main company went bankrupt many years ago, I only know of the Lafayette, LA area locations that are still open. All the Dallas area ones would close within a year or two due to unrealistic sales quotas getting raised yearly. There were a couple little indie shops, some that were part of small chains, and shops in flea markets. The majority of them have all gone away.

There's a chain called Vintage Stock that owns a bunch of stores around here called Movie Trading Company, and they sell retro games, but they don't seem to be bringing in too much truly old stuff anymore. And Game X Change stores have spread across the outskirts of the Dallas/Fort Worth area and in little towns dotting the landscape, and those are my favorite.

Now the trend is for little hole-in-the-wall game stores to phase out video games and start selling tabletop games. There was a store called Game Master that used to have decent stuff, but they seemed to find selling video games more of an annoyance than anything, and kept cutting down space for it. The last time I stopped by, I walked in, went to one end of the store and back to the front door without seeing any video games, and left after maybe 40 seconds. So disappointing - especially when the logo on their sign is a D-pad, making me think they still had video games. And recently a two location chain called Game Trade is going the same way, they're marking down all their video game stuff and going full tabletop. It's just so sad to see really good stores change focus away from what I want them for.

There were, at one point, three or four locations of Game Over Videogames in the area. There's only one left now, and they never seem to have anything I want. There also used to be a few locations of a chain sort of/kind of related to Movie Trading Company called Entertainmart that was great for old games, the nearest location is probably a two hour drive away now.

[Gameguy]

I guess I should give an update to the store I mentioned previously with the $100 Contra carts. It's now out of business and has been for maybe a year or two, possibly longer. It was bought out years earlier by an employee since I last posted here, the new owner was really nice and I got along with him, often I would just visit to see how he was doing and say hello, but the store wasn't exactly run that well. Plenty of times he wouldn't be open during the hours posted, and really would just be open a few hours for a few days a week. I've run into other local collectors who were actively searching for specific expensive titles and were willing to pay for them, and I would mention this store as I've seen copies in stock, only to be told that they did try to visit a few times and every time it was closed, so they just bought the games elsewhere. The stock eventually got worse as well, with very few new games coming in, and the ones in stock I mostly didn't need personally.

I can't really think of any other game stores near my area that are still open. There is one north of where I am but I haven't been in it for many years so I'm not sure how it is currently, they did raise prices the last time I visited which is why I stopped going. They used to have plenty of cheap NES and Genesis games in a $5 bargain bin, or a buy 2 get 1 free promotion, but those days are long over. There's probably other stores open south of my area in the city, but I rarely ever travel that way.

I still visit thrift stores but rarely find anything game related, just recently the closest Salvation Army to me got in a SNES console and it was priced $100, yellowed and missing video cables. With it being untested and there's no refunds, I wouldn't even consider buying it anywhere near that price.

[todesengel]

There aren’t many retro game stores out where I’m at. About 15 minutes from me in Kenner, LA there’s a nice store called Spawn Point Gaming, decent selection of games with decent prices and the owner is a really nice guy and gives his regulars discounts. Only other places selling retro games are a 2nd And Charles location in Covington, LA and a local record store, also in Covington, called Retro Music Co., it’s about an hour drive from my place to those stores so only go every few months. 2nd And Charles has a small retro selection and the rare stuff is overpriced and I’ve seen them try to sell a repro SNES Dracula X for $200. Retro Music is a great store, nice selection of music across vinyl/cassette/CD and the other half of the store is comics/games/toys, they even have a Simpsons arcade cab and an old Spider-Man pinball table to play. Retro Music also has a great owner that has cut me deals a few times.

[RPG_Fanatic]

Game stores here are just to expensive for retro games. Ebay is actually cheaper. I know everyone says support mom & pop stores but if it's cheaper online then I'm buying online.

[Niku-Sama]

Game stores here are just to expensive for retro games. Ebay is actually cheaper. I know everyone says support mom & pop stores but if it's cheaper online then I'm buying online.

where is here?