Local game shops

punkmaggit

punkmaggit

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I usually luv me some local stuff, but there is this one store in particular that I have a love/hate relationship with.

Gameworld - Las Vegas

They have a HUGE selection.... at ebay prices. Last time I went there they had 2, TWO Valkyrie Profiles for the PS1 for $110. A HUNDRED AND TEN DOLLARS!? fuck. It's a wonder they make any money at all. Secret of Mana for $50? Puh-leeze.

I'd hate to see them go out of business because it's practically the last store in town where you can actually buy PS1 and lower generation stuff, but at the same time if they don't start selling them for SANE prices, they could go belly-up soon.

Does anyone have anything similar? I'd love a Half Priced Books in Vegas.
 
Here in Tucson we have Bookman's and Metro Gnome Music.
Bookman's has good stuff at ebay prices, but it is so easy to get almost free trade credit that I do most shopping for games there.
Metro Gnome has average prices but doesn't get much in that's good.
 
Hit 'em up today and found some really cool stuff for decent prices:

These prices are about what they were asking, the lady running the store only gave me like a second to look at all of these.

Game Boy Color
Dragon Warrior 1 & 2 (complete) - $19.99
Azure Dreams (complete) - $19.99

Game Boy Advance
Riviera (complete) $24.99 (I believe)
Golden Sun (complete) $??.??
Super Mario Advance 4 (Super Mario 3) (sealed) $??.??

They also had some complete NES games, including box and instructions, as well as a couple sealed still. I picked up a sealed Solstice for $4.99

And of course, the cream of the crop - a sealed Mega Man X for $29.99. The seal is coming off a little on the side, and I believe this was the seal manufactured in Mexico. It's up on my trade list along with the Solstice.
 
indie stores survives by selling used games (and accessories). the new games they sell is just to get people in the store since they make very little money or no money at all. i recall my bro (who runs a store) tells me that some games cost closer to their MSRP to buy from certain distributors. i wouldn't be surprised to see those stores sell certain games at higher prices (comparable to ebay).
 
I love local stores, especially the ones I usually go to. They usually sell games at reasonable prices and most important of all I don't have to deal with the sales tax which always involves pennies. They lower the price enough to include the mandatory sales tax. And because they're situated in an Asian neighborhood, it pretty much forces them to offer deals or face some kind of social stigma.
And the store also doubles as a cell phone store... I guess that's how most of them pay the bills.
 
I've been to that Gameworld before, it's close to my house. I went there to look for Dreamcast games and controllers. Total rip. Wanted $15 for a used controller and the games weren't much cheaper either. But the selection was great.
 
Our local sotre is going down hill, the owner let a lady buy him half out...and she has no idea what she is doing(IMHO) They also used to have Ebay pricing, but realized that they cant sell that high so they lowered them. I find some good stuff there once in a while, but Garage saling is where it is here.
 
I went to Biloxi one time and saw a store named Games 4 Trade or something like that in the mall. They had everything from Intellivision (around Atari 2600 time period) to current systems and games. I was like "woah!!" as I love to find classic games complete (Snes, NES. etc.). Then I saw the prices. They used ebay to price the games and systems. I passed.
 
we have a store in town called Game Traders. When I first went there, I was pretty excited to see lots of NES/SNES/Gen games. They have a big bin full of "cheap" games including things like Duck Hunt for $7....I can't believe they're still in business...
 
I got a place called Digital Press near me, nice place and plenty of people know about it in the community.
 
I have a local store here that prices things at ebay prices + an additional $20.

Persona 2? $90
GH FF7? $80
Gameboy Player? $50
Earthbound (cart only)? $120

The guy has an absolute goldmine of old NES, SNES, PS1, Genesis, etc. games, but he absolutely refuses to sell for anything less than the absolute highest going price on ebay + a little extra. And he does not haggle. At all. I have absolutely no idea how he stays in business, but he must be doing well because he's opening a 2nd store a few towns over. Thing is, I never actually see his stock change. He just keeps getting more and more rare and expensive games, but none actually ever leave the store.
 
I love local game shops! I've gotten some MONSTER DEALS outta the ones I go to. I used to work at one back in the day, and, let me tell ya, that is the BEST way to get rarities for a low price. I usually get in pretty good with the managers at local stores, so I can usually get them to cut me a deal or call me when they get something bad ass in. I have gotten the following at some local shops:

Mega Man X3 - $30
Earthbound - $30
Albert Odyssey - $2
Popful Mail - $40 (kinda pricey, but worth it and MINT)
EVO: Search for Eden $8
Bubble Bobble Part 2 $3
Aero Fighters $8
Guardian Heroes $20 (In a bundle with 15 other Saturn games including Marvel Super Heroes)
Shining Wisdom $8

These are all I can think of. These were over years of searching, mind you. I haven't seen a rare game at a good price point in a while (except for Shining Wisdom, which was like a month ago)
 
[quote name='NismoZZzz']I got a place called Digital Press near me, nice place and plenty of people know about it in the community.[/quote]its a good store, huge and clean. i probably like the basement more than i like the actual store.. they have hidden gems there. they recently sold a sealed chrono trigger for $900+.

[quote name='Sinnbox']Our local sotre is going down hill, the owner let a lady buy him half out...and she has no idea what she is doing(IMHO) They also used to have Ebay pricing, but realized that they cant sell that high so they lowered them. I find some good stuff there once in a while, but Garage saling is where it is here.[/quote]some stores thinks that pricing them at ebay prices is the way to sell those games. what they don't realize is that ebay is a global market. unless you have a store in new york city where you can get alot lof traffic, you could probably sell them at high prices.

[quote name='davyd']
The guy has an absolute goldmine of old NES, SNES, PS1, Genesis, etc. games, but he absolutely refuses to sell for anything less than the absolute highest going price on ebay + a little extra. And he does not haggle. At all. I have absolutely no idea how he stays in business, but he must be doing well because he's opening a 2nd store a few towns over. Thing is, I never actually see his stock change. He just keeps getting more and more rare and expensive games, but none actually ever leave the store.[/quote]he probably does things on the side like maybe he ebays some of the games he has. either that or his mortgage is low and he makes just enough to stay open. often indie stores have only 3 or less employees not including the owner.
 
I have a store that is a mixed bag. It's called Games All the Time and they know about some prices (FF7 black label for $60) but some of the games they haven't found out the prices yet. I just got a Metal Gear Twin Snakes without manual from them for $20. They probably thought they were ripping me off by selling a gamecube game for so much but the joke is on them
 
I have what probably sounds like a very stupid question, but I'll ask it anyway. For those of you who have local game shops, how did you find out about them? I've always wanted to see if I had any where I live, but I don't really know the best way to start looking.
 
[quote name='Drizzt']I have what probably sounds like a very stupid question, but I'll ask it anyway. For those of you who have local game shops, how did you find out about them? I've always wanted to see if I had any where I live, but I don't really know the best way to start looking.[/quote]

www.yellowpages.com
 
I also have a local store that sells a bunch of bootleg fake games. I might go to them when I need another copy of pokemon quartz or Pokemon Advance : Fridos return (it has some random anime character on it)
 
[quote name='MikeHoncho']I also have a local store that sells a bunch of bootleg fake games. I might go to them when I need another copy of pokemon quartz or Pokemon Advance : Fridos return (it has some random anime character on it)[/quote]

LOL, I hate stores like that. we had a store here that was taking in burnt Dreamcast games. They realized that the guy was making them himslef so they just started duplicating them in-store!! Lately though all my local stores have been going down hill, last summer It seemed they were getting in tons of rare PS1 games but this year its all ultra common PS2 stuff.
 
[quote name='Sinnbox']LOL, I hate stores like that. we had a store here that was taking in burnt Dreamcast games. They realized that the guy was making them himslef so they just started duplicating them in-store!! Lately though all my local stores have been going down hill, last summer It seemed they were getting in tons of rare PS1 games but this year its all ultra common PS2 stuff.[/quote] For every summer of Suidokens there is a summer of scratched to shit GTA IIIs. ^_^
 
[quote name='LeafPanda']I haven't ever been to a local game shop.Does anyone know if there are any in San Francisco?[/quote] yellowpages.com
I'm sure there's some, its a big city.
 
[quote name='phear3d']its a good store, huge and clean. i probably like the basement more than i like the actual store.. they have hidden gems there. they recently sold a sealed chrono trigger for $900+.[/quote]


Yeah, I've seen pics of this basement and such, but I've never been in it. Is it public or no?
 
[quote name='darkslime']yellowpages.com
I'm sure there's some, its a big city.[/quote]
Still don't really see any 100% possibilities. There are some that could be though.
 
[quote name='LeafPanda']Still don't really see any 100% possibilities. There are some that could be though.[/quote] You could call them and ask.
 
[quote name='darkslime']yellowpages.com
I'm sure there's some, its a big city.[/quote]

I find that dig city's have fewer local Gamestores because the big ones put them out of business, and if there are some they are worse than EB/GS when it comes to pricing, and service.
 
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