Thrift Store Thread 2011

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[quote name='Doomstink']Yes, even though it is hands down one of the worst game systems of all time. The unit itself looks to be worth at least $35 with games being various values. I honestly don't think there is a huge market for R-Zone stuff, though. It really is a God awful system.[/QUOTE]

I was already aware of the suckiness cus my friend had one back in the day and we always ripped on how bad it was. At $8 I took the chance. It hurts my eyes, thats if I can even get it to stay on. This is coming from someone who played Ocarina Of Time 3D on full 3D for 2hrs straight and was fine afterwards.
 
I saw a Genesis bundle with about 10 games wrapped in saran wrap. It had no price on it so I took it to the front and the person in charge priced it at $60. :/ I passed. I kinda wished I looked at which games were included now though!

I did get Pac-Man NES for $1.90 at another thrift store though.
 
I haven't been finding much but last Thur. I was near a GW that I don't often shop and stopped in to find a boxed N64 (complete) for $9.99. I found a couple games in a bin to be shelved (Mario Kart, Castlevania 64, and Namco) all with manuals for .99 each.

Later in the day, I had to pick up my daughter in Milwaukee (from a theater program) and I was early, so I stopped at Value Village on North Ave. This is a store with poor selection in a rough neighborhood but I had a few minutes to kill. In the glass case, I spot this baby:



Marked $15 and minty complete. So, I go to pay for it and its half off and comes out to $7.50!
 
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blob of gameboys $39.99
3 originals
2 gba first gen
one gba sp
2 of those huge battery packs that went with the original gb, and some other un-noteworthy odds and ends, AND every single one works perfect and none are missing their battery covers

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gameboy-blob-2.jpg
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']One thing I always wanted to find when Gamestop was clearing them out was the N-Gage. The thought of a phone that also played games was intriguing to me. But I heard that it didn't function well in either aspect.:cry:[/QUOTE]

I saw a guy on Cash Cab once actually calling someone on an N-Gage. Blew my mind.
 
10 bucks is more than a little steep for Comix Zone, that's just a rip off. It's a kinda sorta fun game, but the excruciating difficulty just sucks all the fun out of it.
 
Finally lucked out again at a local thrift store:

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:ps2: Wild Arms: Alter Code F - $5.00
Alpha Protocol Strategy Guide - $3.00

Wild Arms is lacking a manual, but I'm still excited to own it. It's in great shape otherwise!

The guide has a sticker on it and is in average condition. I don't care, it's just going to sit on my shelf...lol. :bouncy:
 
Picked up the following

Games Workshop case - 4
Silver PS2 Slim - 11
Conkers reloaded Xbox CIB - 5
Balloon flight - 2

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Anyone know any information about the balloon flight toy? I know its a NES game but i couldn't find any information about this toy.
 
[quote name='schultzed']I haven't been finding much but last Thur. I was near a GW that I don't often shop and stopped in to find a boxed N64 (complete) for $9.99. I found a couple games in a bin to be shelved (Mario Kart, Castlevania 64, and Namco) all with manuals for .99 each.

Later in the day, I had to pick up my daughter in Milwaukee (from a theater program) and I was early, so I stopped at Value Village on North Ave. This is a store with poor selection in a rough neighborhood but I had a few minutes to kill. In the glass case, I spot this baby:


Marked $15 and minty complete. So, I go to pay for it and its half off and comes out to $7.50![/QUOTE]

Shit! I drive past that value village every tuesday to play fighting games downtown.. it really is in a shitty area. LUCKY!
 
over the past couple of days i found these:

Xbox 360 wireless controller new in a beat up box for $9.99
Mario DDR in box with mat $9.99
Final Fight Sega CD disc only $2.99
 
I picked up a bunch of stuff today, including a couple really nice CD boxsets for $7 each.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Playback(6 CD's)
Eric Clapton: Live In The Seventies(4CD's)

The Gospel According To ESPN-big thick coffee table type book-$2.99
In Search Of America-big book too-$1.99

I left behind a Best Of Weird Al CD from some random company I'd never heard of for $1.99 and a bunch of other CD's I might've listened to.
 
Stopped at several Goodwill stores and a Savers today and found some decent (not great) finds to add to my PS1 collection

All Games are for PS1 and complete with original case in manual and non-greatest hits versions

WWF In Your House
WCW Nitro
WCW/nWo Thunder
WCW Mayhem
Battle Arena Toshinden 3
Vigilante 8
Caesar's Palace 2

Paid 2.99 each per game (that's my limit for crap PS1 games I don't own which I need to fill up the collection)

The Savers store really pissed me off. I don't know what that company's policy is on pricing, but it's just ridiculous. Today they put out a fairly large selection of video games, the problem was the prices were insane. Old Gamecube / PS2 / X-Box Sports titles were priced at $5 -$8 each. What really cheesed me off was that they had a decent selection of original Gameboy games, games I wanted and would have bought had they not all been between $4 and $6 each. A quick check on my phone revealed that they were simply looking the games up on Amazon, and subtracting a dollar from the lowest used price in order to figure out how much to charge, with nothing being cheaper than $3.

I know these stores A. Have overhead they need to cover and B. Want to deter resellers from cleaning them out and making a profit, but there is just no excuse for these high prices. If I want to pay Amazon or eBay prices for my classic games, I will buy them on Amazon or eBay. At least when people selling at Tag Sales get delusions about the value of their items, you can usually haggle and get their feet back on earth. With the thrift stores, the prices are what they are and there's nothing you can do about it.

Had the Gameboy games been more reasonable prices ($2 each would be reasonable for the titles they had), I would have walked out of there with a decent number of games that I would have enjoyed playing. Instead they will waste away on the shelf for a month, and which point Savers policy is to box them up, shuffle them to another store, and when they still don't sell at that point, they simply get junked.
 
[quote name='spmahn']Paid 2.99 each per game (that's my limit for crap PS1 games I don't own which I need to fill up the collection)

The Savers store really pissed me off. I don't know what that company's policy is on pricing, but it's just ridiculous. Today they put out a fairly large selection of video games, the problem was the prices were insane. Old Gamecube / PS2 / X-Box Sports titles were priced at $5 -$8 each. What really cheesed me off was that they had a decent selection of original Gameboy games, games I wanted and would have bought had they not all been between $4 and $6 each. A quick check on my phone revealed that they were simply looking the games up on Amazon, and subtracting a dollar from the lowest used price in order to figure out how much to charge, with nothing being cheaper than $3.

I know these stores A. Have overhead they need to cover and B. Want to deter resellers from cleaning them out and making a profit, but there is just no excuse for these high prices. If I want to pay Amazon or eBay prices for my classic games, I will buy them on Amazon or eBay. At least when people selling at Tag Sales get delusions about the value of their items, you can usually haggle and get their feet back on earth. With the thrift stores, the prices are what they are and there's nothing you can do about it.

Had the Gameboy games been more reasonable prices ($2 each would be reasonable for the titles they had), I would have walked out of there with a decent number of games that I would have enjoyed playing. Instead they will waste away on the shelf for a month, and which point Savers policy is to box them up, shuffle them to another store, and when they still don't sell at that point, they simply get junked.[/QUOTE]
:lol: That's how the thrift stores are around here. They overprice shit and it sits there for a month or two. Apparently they hired someone who thinks video games equals GOLD, so the prices are way out there.

I just kinda snicker and walk away. But if it's something I really want(this TF G1 'bootleg' Chinese set the one store had), then I'll ask a manager if they can do any better and keep coming back till they finally cave.

I was half tempted to mail letters to each of the nearby thrifts that are nuts on price with a copy of the definition of THRIFT being the only thing in there until they took a fuckin' hint. But they're just not worth the postage.:booty:
 
What makes me just want to pull my hair out is when I see shit that belongs in the garbage like NBA 2004 for X-Box with a $6 price tag on it, or DVD's that I can find brand new for $3 at Big Lots or the $5 bin at Wal-Mart priced at those same prices for crappy used copies.
 
Woke up this morning and I decided to drive to my nearest Goodwill store. I was able to find some rare games.

$3.99 - Mega Man Legends 2, Bust A Groove, and Front Mission 3

Also, I was told by the cashier that someone came in yesterday and bought like 20+ PS1 games from that lot. Sort of surprised that he/or she passed on this and crossing my fingers that lot didn't have a Tactics Ogre/Suikoden 2 in it, lol.

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Checked out a goodwill the other day only looking for a n64. I'll take another trip back looking for games some time this this week. I've never looked around a thrift store for games so what should I keep an eye out for? I'm assuming games are just mixed in with DVD's and cd's right?
 
[quote name='jab1235']Checked out a goodwill the other day only looking for a n64. I'll take another trip back looking for games some time this this week. I've never looked around a thrift store for games so what should I keep an eye out for? I'm assuming games are just mixed in with DVD's and cd's right?[/QUOTE]
Pretty much. I'd look through books and wherever they stow electronics/odds and ends stuff too, sometimes you can find hardware there.

Also, look for seperate sections of DVDs/VHS/CDs, I never realized there was a whole section of them shoved in the women's clothing section at my goodwill, first time I noticed it I found a few decent complete genesis games.
 
[quote name='postaboy']Woke up this morning and I decided to drive to my nearest Goodwill store. I was able to find some rare games.

$3.99 - Mega Man Legends 2, Bust A Groove, and Front Mission 3

Also, I was told by the cashier that someone came in yesterday and bought like 20+ PS1 games from that lot. Sort of surprised that he/or she passed on this and crossing my fingers that lot didn't have a Tactics Ogre/Suikoden 2 in it, lol.

dscn0428y.jpg
[/QUOTE]



nice pickup on the front mission 3 game. I loved that when it came out, and i would love to play it again if i still had a ps1...
 
[quote name='aptanor']Pretty much. I'd look through books and wherever they stow electronics/odds and ends stuff too, sometimes you can find hardware there.

Also, look for seperate sections of DVDs/VHS/CDs, I never realized there was a whole section of them shoved in the women's clothing section at my goodwill, first time I noticed it I found a few decent complete genesis games.[/QUOTE]
Alright thanks, I looked around the store really quickly last time and it seems like the back is devoted to cd's, dvd's and board games but I didn't see a section of games so I wasn't sure if someone else got them or if they were just mixed in. The electronics seemed pretty picked through though i did see a magnavox tv converter I think it was which i thought was pretty cool.
 
Yeah it can take a lot of searching some times. I'd also check out the glass "special finds" case in the front if your store has one, sometimes they'll stow all the games in there.

..why am I saying "stow" so much?
 
Went to a thrift today and saw Yoshi's cookie on GB for 1.99 and a sealed official gameboy advance link cable for 2.99.

I also saw on of the guys with scanners walk in as I was leaving. That means 2 of them hit that location regularly.
 
I saw a copy of Shenmue and Phantasy Star Online for DC the other day. They had a 25 and 10 price tag respectively. The Shenmue game has a busted up case and I didnt bother to check the discs.

They had printed out an ebay listing with $65( for an unopened copy ) marked through with black marker, with $25 next to it. For one, if youre going to check and price games at a GOODWILL via ebay, at least know how to honestly price them:???:



Also - the 2 goodwills around here that have an electronics section always have the video games in a large case around there. Before the electronics section was there, they would throw the games into large tubs full of computer parts=/
 
[quote name='jab1235']Checked out a goodwill the other day only looking for a n64. I'll take another trip back looking for games some time this this week. I've never looked around a thrift store for games so what should I keep an eye out for? I'm assuming games are just mixed in with DVD's and cd's right?[/QUOTE]


Also, never assume that the store designates specific areas for specific items. In the Good Will stores that I go to, I walk up and down every single isle before I leave. I found a Einhänder on a small CD rack that had overflow from the main shelf once. That small rack was located in the middle of women's shoes. There is no rhyme or reason to the "organization" in a Good Will. The only thing you can really count on is there being some sections mostly designated by color, and half the time they fuck that up too.
 
[quote name='Potatoeman']I saw a copy of Shenmue and Phantasy Star Online for DC the other day. They had a 25 and 10 price tag respectively. The Shenmue game has a busted up case and I didnt bother to check the discs.

They had printed out an ebay listing with $65( for an unopened copy ) marked through with black marker, with $25 next to it. For one, if youre going to check and price games at a GOODWILL via ebay, at least know how to honestly price them:???:/[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't say that is dishonest. Some people just have NO idea how to use eBay and on top of that have no ability to comprehend that a sealed game is worth more than an open one. The Play N Trade store near me rcently changed owners and the new owner is a prime example of this. The fir day he was in the store he priced a CIB (but not sealed or mint) Mario World 2 at $239.99. When an intelligent employee tried to fix his mistake, he fired her. Now the idiot has a disc only Power Stone in the case marked for $99.99 (among other equally ridiculous things). #-o People are just inept a pricing from eBay properly.
 
its a god dam crying shame that businesses selling to "LOCAL" markets base prices off of "NATIONAL" to "INTERNATIONAL" markets

you just cant do that, every region is different, if you're going to price compare against ebay, then take your shit to ebay, thats what i say

after fees, shipping, shipping supplies, time, hassle..........????

but i mean a sucker is born every minute so thats why its such a mess out there

thrift stores EDIT *mainly goodwills* have turned into glorified rip off artists

also 50% of my "electrical" item purchases from goodwills are bad/broken/not worth repairing
 
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[quote name='thegreatjuanito']but i mean a sucker is born every minute so thats why its such a mess out there[/QUOTE]

No, their prices are such because most people, unlike yourself, apparently, aren't horribly offended at the idea of giving money to charity.
 
[quote name='Survivalism']No, their prices are such because most people, unlike yourself, apparently, aren't horribly offended at the idea of giving money to charity.[/QUOTE]
If I wanna give to charity, I'll throw a buck or two in one of the Salvation Army's kettles during Christmas time. But pricing shit stained/markered up/beat ass games and systems at eBay prices just makes me laugh.

I've passed up many a game due to that before.

Like I said, I have no problem giving to their fund drives, but if I'm buying stuff outta one of their thrift stores I expect to get a deal on something for CHEAP.:whistle2:#
 
[quote name='postaboy']Woke up this morning and I decided to drive to my nearest Goodwill store. I was able to find some rare games.

$3.99 - Mega Man Legends 2, Bust A Groove, and Front Mission 3

Also, I was told by the cashier that someone came in yesterday and bought like 20+ PS1 games from that lot. Sort of surprised that he/or she passed on this and crossing my fingers that lot didn't have a Tactics Ogre/Suikoden 2 in it, lol.

dscn0428y.jpg
[/QUOTE]

Wow...nice finds!! They look like their in great shape too. Only one i dont have out of those 3 is Bust a Groove. Im surprised whoever got the other 20+ didn't grab those either....that would be eating me up inside wondering what those 20+ games were, lol. You gotta figure tho...atleast u got those three.
 
[quote name='lude21']Wow...nice finds!! They look like their in great shape too. Only one i dont have out of those 3 is Bust a Groove. Im surprised whoever got the other 20+ didn't grab those either....that would be eating me up inside wondering what those 20+ games were, lol. You gotta figure tho...atleast u got those three.[/QUOTE]

Thanks. Oh well, it was not meant to be. It was karma since I've already got my share of luck (In Nov. 10, I was able to find 20+ PS2, GameCube, PS1's RPG lot at a local thrift store http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/8458/sd533745.jpg). Anyway, Tactics Orge and Suikoden 2 are the only 2 games I need to complete my PS1's RPG Collection. Well, it used to be Tactics Orge, but when I saw how much Suikoden 2 was fetching for back in the days, I had to let it go, lol.
 
I had to pick up my mother-in-law from work yesterday, so I figured I'd hit up the Goodwill out that way - could never justify the trip otherwise.

I may have to stop in there again sometime, it looks like retro gaming stuff is largely ignored there. Anyway, picked up an SNES, Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario Kart and a Sega MK-2103 AC adapter for $31.98. Not great, but the SNES and games were in a pack - plan to sell the SNES, SMW and DKC and will hopefully get most of the cost back - I needed Mario Kart. :)
 
Nothing game related for me yesterday, but I did manage to find a plethora of WWE/WWF published books including ones written by Eric Bischoff, Shawn Michaels, William Regal, The Rock, Mankind, and Kurt Angle. Someone must have dumped their whole collection. Good for fans like me who don't wanna pay full retail for books like these.
 
Some interesting finds in my travels this weekend.

- Found a GameCube retail demo disc (#16) with case for $1.50 at a Salvation Army.
- Thrift store had a random box with an Atari 2600 and 44 carts (34 different games) for $10. The 2600 doesn't have an AC adapter, but I have one from an older 2600 with a frayed A/V wire, so it works out for me!
- Goodwills are fairly lackluster in the area, but I did find a decent X-Men Legends (PS2) for $2 at one.

Then there was the big find. I walked into a thrift store that didn't seem to have much, but there was a back room with all the unsorted electronics and a guy that had asked to get in there to see what they had. That guy took about 70 games, and he wasn't exactly in a sharing mood, but I'm trying to let that go, since even with that I had one of my best thrifting finds in a while, and I wouldn't have known to look back there without him.

Anyway:
- Super Mario Kart, Donkey Kong Country, Super Bomberman 2, Earthworm Jim, Turtles in Time, P.T.O., three Mickey games, Super Star Wars, NBA Jam (all SNES)
- Alex Kidd, Aladdin, Mortal Kombat 3, Double Dragon V (Genesis)
- Tetris 2, Contra (NES), Mario Party (N64), Sword of Mana (GBA)
Most game-only, and a few in bad condition, but still. All those and a decent-condition NES Power Pad for $15.

[quote name='Doomstink'] Now the idiot has a disc only Power Stone in the case marked for $99.99 (among other equally ridiculous things).[/QUOTE]

Now I have no idea where you live and this is a long shot, but are you talking about the Cary, NC Crossroads PnT? Because I can't imagine the disc-only-Power-Stone-for-$100 thing could be that common, and though I only stop by there occasionally, it seems their deals just completely vanished recently.
 
[quote name='colorninja']

Now I have no idea where you live and this is a long shot, but are you talking about the Cary, NC Crossroads PnT? Because I can't imagine the disc-only-Power-Stone-for-$100 thing could be that common, and though I only stop by there occasionally, it seems their deals just completely vanished recently.[/QUOTE]

Yep, that's the one, haha. The old owner (Joe, the guy who owns the Garner store) sold the Cary store to the guy who owns the other (equally bad) Cary store in May of 2010. Things have been declining at that store ever since then. Which is a damn shame as I had most of my best finds there.

What was the thrift store you were talking about? I've always wondered if there wasvany places that would let you in the back... the Cause for Paws store on S Saunders in Raleigh looks like it would have a treasure trove in the back.
 
[quote name='Tsel']Nothing game related for me yesterday, but I did manage to find a plethora of WWE/WWF published books including ones written by Eric Bischoff, Shawn Michaels, William Regal, The Rock, Mankind, and Kurt Angle. Someone must have dumped their whole collection. Good for fans like me who don't wanna pay full retail for books like these.[/QUOTE]
That's what happened around here at the one Salvation Army store(same one I snagged a 'bootleg' Transformers set from China at a month ago). They had stuff from Mick Foley, Kurt Angle, Eric Bischoff and The Rock there among others.

But this is one of the SA stores that wants 20% of cover price and I still can't justify paying $5 a book for something I'll likely read eventually and then just let sit there collecting dust.:cry:
 
Not too much good at Goodwill today. I found a copy of Star Wars Battlefront 2 for X-Box for $3. It came with the disc which is a little scratched, and the manual, no box, just the case from Blockbuster. I'll test it tomorrow to make sure it's not too scratched, but as long as it works I should be able to flip it for around $30
 
Went back to Goodwill today, didn't find much. There was an old Xbox without a price on it, two individual controllers were laying next to it priced $7 so i didn't even bother asking. Didn't find any games except for some Sims 2 expansion packs and a Diablo 2 expansion pack, which I would have picked up if I had Diablo 2.

I caved and ended up going across the street to the Play N trade and buying an N64 with Banjo Kazoie and Turok 2 for $40 (Terrible price but i want one -__-). I have to go back tomorrow and exchange the composite cable because im getting a No Signle when i plug it in. Should i pick up a Sega Dreamcast for $25 and an incomplete JetGrind radio for $3?
 
[quote name='jab1235'] Should i pick up a Sega Dreamcast for $25 and an incomplete JetGrind radio for $3?[/QUOTE]

Absolutely not, that is a total rip off, maybe not as bad as the price you paid for the N64 today, but not too far off.
 
[quote name='spmahn']Absolutely not, that is a total rip off, maybe not as bad as the price you paid for the N64 today, but not too far off.[/QUOTE]
Might be returning the N64 anyway, it was the only one they had and the composite cable is broken, I'll return the games with it if they don't have a new cable. It was a gift anyway so I don't have to feel like i got to ripped off :whistle2:#. Unless someone on here wants to sell me a N64 everyone i've seen people are selling it for $30+ so i just got tired of waiting.
 
[quote name='Doomstink']What was the thrift store you were talking about? I've always wondered if there wasvany places that would let you in the back... the Cause for Paws store on S Saunders in Raleigh looks like it would have a treasure trove in the back.[/QUOTE]

Ha! I've been in that Cause for Paws, and the only thing I tend to find in there is a big pile of third-party Genesis controllers.

The one with the back room is the PTA Thrift Shop in Carrboro, but I went back there today and it appears they only let you get back into that room when the guy is there, which is apparently not incredibly often. Hrm. The PTA branch over in Chapel Hill had the 2600, the Salvation Army in N. Durham had the demo disc and the downtown Raleigh Goodwill had the X-Men.

You know, full disclosure. Now I expect I'll never find anything again.
 
[quote name='postaboy']how come you didn't check craigslist? n64 and dreamcast goes for about $10-$20 on craigslist.[/QUOTE]
I've been checking often seems like everyone thinks it's rare and is selling the consol alone for $40+ with games at +$10. I guess I'll just return it and see if i can buy my neighbors with his games for $25 ( I doubt it -_-)
 
$30 retail for an n64 is not a terrible price, given the convenience factor of getting it right then and there (assuming it was about $30 for the console and $10 for the games that you bought). You might pay just a few bucks less than that for one on ebay, with shipping. You can find a n64 at a yard sale fairly often though. I buy pretty much any n64 I can find for $5 or less (or I make a lowball offer on an entire n64 bundle, console included) and bundle it with some mediocre games all the time.

On a semi-related note, this past weekend I bought two n64s at a yard sale, but one was console only with no power unit or av cable (I have several extra of these so this was no problem). For the last month, I have seen an n64 power supply at the Goodwill near my work mixed in the "wires" bin, but have not had the need for it, so I've just left it. Well, I went in to buy it today, since now I had the need for it, and hoped it would still be there. Luckily, it was. I guess it was just meant to be!
 
The Salvation Army back in my hometown is a treasure trove, apparently. It's the same place I found Mario RPG for $0.99 last week. This week I found:

Final Fantasy 7 Greatest Hits (no manual) - $4.49
Chrono Cross Greatest Hits Complete - $3.74
Final Fantasy Tactics Greatest Hits Complete - $2.99
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest Complete w/ box, manual, and two posters - $0.84

As well as a ton of other random, semi-crappy titles. I had no desire to get any of the others, but just seeing that many games in one thrift store when I'm used to my local store having NOTHING was exciting to me.

They were having a 25% off sale on all white-stickered merchandise, which included all four of the games mentioned above so I got them all. I don't particularly like the green labeled games so now I don't know what to do with them. :lol: I just couldn't pass them up!
 
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[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']That's what happened around here at the one Salvation Army store(same one I snagged a 'bootleg' Transformers set from China at a month ago). They had stuff from Mick Foley, Kurt Angle, Eric Bischoff and The Rock there among others.

But this is one of the SA stores that wants 20% of cover price and I still can't justify paying $5 a book for something I'll likely read eventually and then just let sit there collecting dust.:cry:[/QUOTE]

I got all these at Goodwill where all paperbacks are .50 cents and hardcovers are $1. I have no problems paying those prices.
 
[quote name='colorninja']
You know, full disclosure. Now I expect I'll never find anything again.[/QUOTE]

Don't worry about it, I rarely ever travel west on 40, so Durham and Carrboro aren't places I ever find myself in. I tend to stick to the Raleigh area. I can't speak for others on the thread, though. ;)
 
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