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Thread: Local retro game stores

  1. #41
    Great Puma (Level 12) Steve W's Avatar
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    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.

  2. #42
    Alex (Level 15) Custom rank graphic
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    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.

  3. #43
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    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.

  4. #44
    Apple (Level 5) RPG_Fanatic's Avatar
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    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.

  5. #45
    Great Puma (Level 12) Niku-Sama's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RPG_Fanatic View Post
    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?

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