Funcoland is dead...Long live Funcoland!

[Goodwill Hunter]

I know a lot of people have badmouthed them in the past, but I must take a moment to sadly note the passing (at least in name) of all of my local Funcolands. As I was making my rounds this weekend, each location's happy, multicolor sign had been replaced by the stark, black and red Gamestop logo.

There weren't any real changes inside (they've been slowly morphing into Gamestops since they were bought), but it still felt like I was losing a friend. I built up a large part of my collection buying rare games for next to nothing at blockbusters, trading them in for beefy credit slips (remember when they'd give you double the credit vs. cash value?), and buying up scads of cheap games for dying systems. (the only game I really regret selling there was Bubble Bobble 2 for the NES...all the others I've been able to find or buy cheaper since).

Guess this makes my collection of Funco price sheets (practically every one between 1992 and when they stopped giving them out...April of 2000, I think) more valuable, anyone else save these things? It's still kind of fun to look back through them and see Sega CD and 32X games listed for $50.00.

So did this carnage take place everywhere, or are there still some Funcolands outside of Milwaukee? Gamestop the world, I wanna get off!

Rich

[kainemaxwell]

I'll admit too I'm gonn amiss Funco's passing. At first they really established themselves a niche market with used an dold video games and systems tha tmost couldn't find anymore. That's when many of us started playing the older systems and collecting...then commericalism started taking over. The price guides were gone, we got less for used stuff and got charged more for new and used stuff and Gamestop got their grubby paws on them.

Gotta admit though, Funco did help many collectors get a start.

[IGotTheDot]

Guess this makes my collection of Funco price sheets (practically every one between 1992 and when they stopped giving them out...April of 2000, I think) more valuable, anyone else save these things? It's still kind of fun to look back through them and see Sega CD and 32X games listed for $50.00.

I have some of these. I was just looking at them today. I thought I was the only one who saved these. I wish I had more.

[udisi]

I've seen a lot of this lately....I just wanted to know if you all knew that Funcoland, Sofeware etc, babbage's, and Gamestop are all the same coporation....They higher ups decided last year that they were going to change all the stores gradually to Gamestop, which for the past say year to year and a half has been happening...Funcolands are gone in name only....I took this as common knowledge, but I guess a few people didn't know...anyway that's why every funcoland, etc has become a gamestop. They're all the same company.

[samuraiX]

And once the switch over is complete what's next? .... well time to phase out the rest of the old systems of course! Genesis gone... Game Gear gone... Saturn gone... next on the chopping block? NES... then SNES. And that leaves us with... nothing! (for classics at least) Oh how I miss you FuncoLand. A bit bitter I am.

All that they will carry soon is recent stuff and most of that can be had at cheaper prices elsewhere. Oh well. Now we have the rise of Disc Replay, Game Crazy, and Goodwill stores.

[kainemaxwell]

I first found out about Gamestop owning Babagges and Funco when I had my interview last yr, and found out then about the phasing out.

[hamburgler]

Funcoland did the right thing and it was close the store for good.now no one has to suffer from getting less credit for games ever agian.

[Oobgarm]

I've been an employee of Funco since shortly after the store opened up in my area. I still wear my green Funcoland polo shirt to work, even though we're technically not supposed to. It was a sad, sad day "they" came in and removed all of our Funcoland signage. One of our employees took the "F" from the storefront sign when they replaced it. I would have loved to have gotten the whole thing. I got all of the foam-esque signs that were above all of the sections: Playstation, Saturn, SNES, NES, etc.

It is indeed true that "they" are starting to phase out the old systems. Genesis is on a "Buy 2, get 1 free" sale, and has been for ages. My store only has a handful of carts left, and trade-in values are tremendously low. We're giving a whopping $2 in trade for Pirates Gold! X_x I've heard talk that SNES and NES are the next to go, but they're allowing store managers to keep them if choose to do so. If your local store is run by collectors, like mine, there's a good chance they'll keep them around. That also means less in-the-wild finds for collectors, though, since most of the employees will have already snatched them up. There’s a bright side, though. *most* Gamestop employees these days wouldn't know a Top-Loader if it hit them in the head.

All in all, though, I think that Funcoland/Gamestop is not even an option anymore when it comes to collecting. A few games will pop up here and there, but if you don't know someone on the inside, it'll be slim pickings.

And you don't even know how many people still ask for the newspaper price lists. LOL

[udisi]

Shit, you guys had Saturn games, my Funco's hadn't had those for years...it made me wonder..."if they're not here , then where are they?"

[samuraiX]

I've been an employee of Funco since shortly after the store opened up in my area. I still wear my green Funcoland polo shirt to work, even though we're technically not supposed to. It was a sad, sad day "they" came in and removed all of our Funcoland signage. One of our employees took the "F" from the storefront sign when they replaced it. I would have loved to have gotten the whole thing. I got all of the foam-esque signs that were above all of the sections: Playstation, Saturn, SNES, NES, etc.

Glad to see someone else snached those up. I have a set of them as well and the spiffy Funco neon sign.

The way I see it Funco is on a downhill slide as far as the collector market goes. Most the stores in my area have already phased out NES and Genesis. SNES is starting to go at a few stores too. I wish the stores were run by more collectors. But like you said, most don't know an NES 2 from a hole in the ground. Thus the reason I have 6 of 'em. =]

[Oobgarm]

Yeah, my manager got the cool neon sign. I cast baneful glares at him when he mentions it.

I was also able to get the 2 "Top 10" metal signs for Playstation and N64. They were designed to be hung on slatwall, and come with title strips. Bulky, but still cool.

[kainemaxwell]

Guess I'm lucky I can still find some games now...

[game_trek]

I havent been to Funco since they started pulling the used NES SNES boxes off the display. I got a lot of cool stuff that way. I once asked them, after the boxes were gone, what they did with them. She replied, "We just throw them out now." JUST THROW THEM OUT?!
That was the last day I went back. Athough I'll admit taking the NES boxes and such off the shelf was probably better, economically, for the company. Some Funcos still have NES games, but you couldnt beat the days when you could get a FF3 or Quest of the Avatar type game mint in the box with and maps and stuff. Simply couldnt beat it. Those days are long gone.(for Funco anyway)

[kevincure]

Wouldn't there still be a (growing) market for the type of business Funco was in? My bud works at an independent video game store, and he says NES systems at 40 bucks usually go out the day they come in.

I know, at least in Boston, that there is basically nothing for collectors. There's gold in these mines!

[The Clonus Horror]

Our Funcoland in Appleton, WI is now a Gamestop. They're also phasing out NES, SNES, and Genesis. However, there is a store called Video Game Star here and one in Eau Claire that has loads of 8 bit and 16 bit games, and for good prices, too. I bought a Genesis System 1, with AV cables there for $12.50, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, it was clean, too! So, the passing of Funcoland wasn't too sad for me. Most of the best finds I had was at the Funcoland in Duluth, MN, since far northern WI and upper MN are about 5 years behind and proud to be that way, damnit! Oh, how I long to live back there and be poor again--oh, wait...I teach, so I'm poor no matter where I live!

[Griking]

I've always had mixed feelings about Funcoland (which btw still exists here in Connecticut). On one hand I've always appreciated how they stocked games for older consoles such as the NES and Genesis. But on the other hand they're always frustrated me with their screwy pricing. They would routinely charge more for a popular game like Zelda for the NES than for a real prize like Bubble Bobble 2 (which I picked up about 4-5 of from them). That and I've always felt that they really rip people off with what they offer as trade in value. But hey, I guess if people are too dumb to know better then it's not Funcoland's fault. They've also always have pissed me off how they throw tons of perfectly good WORKING (despite what others here say) product away rather than lower their prices untill their stock was gone. What an absolute waste that is. The only other problem I've had with Funcoland is that since most employees are collectors most of the truely good stuff that gets traded in never makes it to the sales floor. I can't say that I blame them for that but it is frustrating.

On a side note, I just purchased one of the Dreamcast kiosks complete with the Dreamcast inside it for $100 from one of my local stores. I've always wanted one of those things. :)

[diskoboy]

I used to work for GameStop... Which owns FuncoLand.

I quit because the managers and District Managers were running the company into the toilet.

Turns out after I quit, all but 1 of the GameStop owned stores, where I lived, bit the big one.

They had potential... But were run by a bunch of blithering idiots.

[GENESISNES]

when my funco changed to gamestop, they actully hired a whole new staff! I still liked funco better. i knew the manager

[Brisco]

I can only agree with Oobgarm in regards to the day "they" came and took down the Funcoland sign from my store. That was the day Funco died to me. Gamestop had bought Funco almost two years prior to this, but never seemed to bother too much until I was told that my sign was going to changed into Gamestop.

It's also true that I get baneful glares from Oobgarm every time I mention that kickass neon Funco sign I have. heh[/quote]

[biggamer]

Does gamestop have higer trade in values than funco,and babbages?If so too bad we have both of these and no gamestop.I traded in 2 nes's and only got $10 each!Seems the trade in values are going down every week and the sale prices are going up!We also have a lame ass game store here called It's about games aka:Video game exchange.Does anyone else have this store in their town?This store sucks!,Although it was the first store here ever to give cash for trade in's back in 1995 they gave more for trades versus cash and stopped doing this in mid 98.Now i laugh at them every time I go in because it's always deserted cause everybodies at good old funcoland!!!!!!! LOL

[Six Switch]

I have always liked EB better but now GameStop has new higher prices.Super Mario/Duck Hunt is no longer $0.19,it is a crazy $0.89! :o Nothing but bad can come now. x_x

[RetroYoungen]

Wow, after reading some of the depressing statements about Funcos being bastardized on here I'm beginning to think that mine isn't as bad as I thought. The Funco in my hometown basically has only phased out three systems so far: Genesis (sad, oh so sad :( ), Game Gear (didn't care much for in the first place, still sad), and Saturn (depressing :( >:( ). It's still got a nice selection of NES and SNES titles, including a handful of rare and uncommon carts (SWAT Cats, anyone?), but it's where I started collecting in the first palce, so it still holds a special place in my heart. Funco, my friend, may you rest in peace. :-(

[Brisco]

Super Mario/Duck Hunt is only $.29 at my store. I've noticed both the trade in prices & the sell prices go down over the last year for NES, SNES, and Genesis games. I have an old Funco trade in sheet(the old Green sheets) and the Buy/Sell price for Dragon Warrior 4 at the time was Trade in: $26, and the sell price was: $40. Now the trade in price is: $6, and the sell price is $15. I'm was glad to see the price of games go down, but who wants to let go of the games for that when most believe they can get more for them on eBay?
The truly "rare" games are hardly ever brought in anymore, not even the Color Dreams games.

[biggamer]

I bought all of my color dream carts from funco but have'nt seen more since then(summer 2002)