Your Best Local Game Store - What's It Like?

[SpaceBooger]

We have a local place that I kinda like... at least I did like until Friday when I stopped in the owner was restocking the PS3, XBOX360, and WiiPlay on his shelf with items he just purchased at Target. He even used the Target receipt to price the items... Good thing I only trade stuff in and buy used stuff there.
Oh, and he was scalping $190 Cavs tickets for the game that night (vs Boston - which was an awesome game by the way) for $400 each right in the store... heh.

what is the name of that store?
do you shop at the exchange, they are good for north eastern ohio too

Its a local chain one one main street in akron and the other in the ellet area... i go to both since i drive down main to and from work and live in ellet.
I do like the exchange - back in the day I got a complete copy of lunar for the sega cd for $5... right before the holiday I got a complete copy of Rocket Knight Adventures for $2... other than that the retro supply is limited.

The best place was the one that used to be in Rolling Acres Mall next to Aladin's Castle(the arcade) in the early '90s...

[The Apprentice]

There's two gamestops in my hometown and one place called Vintage Games. Their prices are horrible- $50 for Soul Calibur on DC, without a case. Both the owners are about 50 years old, both are smokers who smoke their cigarettes right there in the store around the shoppers. The lady tried to sell me Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for $60, and after she got done telling me "it's a collector's item," "it will be worth a lot in a few years," and "you won't find this anywhere else," I told her "I'm the only buyer of Saturn games in the entire town," "I'm well aware I can get this cheap on ebay," and "it's too common to get any more valuable- you even have two copies in your store."

I bought it for $30, about what you'd pay on ebay plus shipping, and half what she tried to trick a 13 year old (me, 2 and a half years ago) into paying.

[Ramatut4001]

There's two gamestops in my hometown and one place called Vintage Games. Their prices are horrible- $50 for Soul Calibur on DC, without a case. Both the owners are about 50 years old, both are smokers who smoke their cigarettes right there in the store around the shoppers. The lady tried to sell me Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for $60, and after she got done telling me "it's a collector's item," "it will be worth a lot in a few years," and "you won't find this anywhere else," I told her "I'm the only buyer of Saturn games in the entire town," "I'm well aware I can get this cheap on ebay," and "it's too common to get any more valuable- you even have two copies in your store."

I bought it for $30, about what you'd pay on ebay plus shipping, and half what she tried to trick a 13 year old (me, 2 and a half years ago) into paying.

That's funny. We have a chain called Power Gamer around here that's kind of like Gamestop but better and with old games and imports. Their prices are a bit better than Gamestop too.

[FreshChurros]

We've got a GameStop, with the typical jerky employees and mess of used games.

We've got a Play N Trade, with a so-so selection of games. This store's advantage over GameStop is that they carry stuff all the way back to the 2600, and they will let to play nearly any game in the store. I do most of my game shopping here.

And then we've got a store called Dimple Records. As the name would suggest, they primarily sell music. But they also have quite a good selection of newer and older video games. Their employees are kind of creepy though.

[glynnahab]

Over here we have:

3 Gamestops within a 10 mile radius (one of which is within walking distance from my apartment)
1 Play N Trade about 5 miles from here

There's also another Play N Trade about 30 minutes away in a neighboring city.

I'll let you guys figure out where I'd rather go.

[gradualmeltdown]

We have 2 :

Videogame Wizards :

The game rental shop I've been going off and on since 1991. I was account number 20! They started renting games just when the home console business went nuclear. Bottom line is the owner there offered Turbo Graphics 16, Neo geo, Jaguar, 3DO and everything else for rental, systems and all. Every system day one and I was on a short list who got first dibs! He bought duplicates of every title for his personal collection and was able to make a lot of money as well.

Fast forward to 2007 and somehow he sold the business. I hadn't been there in a decade but I figure he burnt out and wanted to do something else. A young business owner bought the inventory, space, and name. They turned it into a used, import, and dvd shop. The staff are helpful and the owner organizes the sweet local Retro Gaming Convention/ glorified swap meet.

They actually have a huge selection of games. Lots of Genesis, NES, PS2, Sega CD, even Saturn and Dreamcast (lots of commons). Only problem, they don't price items on the shelf. Instead they price using Ebay every transaction. What fun is rummaging the bottoms of bins if there is no real prize? Makes it hard to pick up commons or filler titles, I have to barter every time.


Game Trader :

These guys have been in business at this location forever. Its family owned and they simply have an insane collection. Neo Geo, Sega CD, Master System, 32X, JVC X'Eye, you might see any of these lying in a heap of consoles. They actually have several thousand "display" boxes for SNES and Genesis. They will sell you games with manual and case only if they have a display already. Just fine by me, kind of rough sometimes to see really rare titles for sale loose and the box is right there!

The prices here are not cheap, but fair and labeled. If they have something in stock I buy it, why not better than some ebay guy or Gamestop.

[Kevman]

None is my town but in the next town over there are a few. One is "We got freakin' video games". They have pretty good selection. A nice balance between new and old. They tend to seem pretty pricey when it comes to older consoles like Genesis and Super Nintendo.

Funny thing is they also have a stand at the flea market I always go to every sunday. I've bought from that stand for years and just found out recently that it's their stand. Small world right. They really don't bring a lot of different types of games. I've noticed they're actually bringing less retro games and selling more Gamecube and PS2 games. There are also permanent stores inside an indoor complex near the front of the flea market area. There is another independent store in there too called "Video Nutz". I don't buy from them often because of their high prices. They do sell new Wii games for $47 dollars.

Of course there are some Gamestops and Play N Trades by me but I don't visit those stores often.

[spin the demon]

We have Gamers Planet (best for Ol' School) 2 Game Stops and 3 Game Dudes and Word on the Street is that Game dude is Going under. I hope to get some super sweet deals. The Gamers Planet has alot of great games, Rare games like Megaman on the game Gear I Picked up for 3.00 and would cost me 30-50.00 on ebay but some ps1 and saturn games are a joke most run from 9.99-19.99 no matter what they are (Like Sewer shark for the Sega Cd 10.00 for just the disc) I feel very lucking because the last place I lived only had over priced pawn shops and yard sales.

[Snickerd00dle]

We have a local place that I kinda like... at least I did like until Friday when I stopped in the owner was restocking the PS3, XBOX360, and WiiPlay on his shelf with items he just purchased at Target. He even used the Target receipt to price the items... Good thing I only trade stuff in and buy used stuff there.
Oh, and he was scalping $190 Cavs tickets for the game that night (vs Boston - which was an awesome game by the way) for $400 each right in the store... heh.

what is the name of that store?
do you shop at the exchange, they are good for north eastern ohio too

Its a local chain one one main street in akron and the other in the ellet area... i go to both since i drive down main to and from work and live in ellet.
I do like the exchange - back in the day I got a complete copy of lunar for the sega cd for $5... right before the holiday I got a complete copy of Rocket Knight Adventures for $2... other than that the retro supply is limited.

The best place was the one that used to be in Rolling Acres Mall next to Aladin's Castle(the arcade) in the early '90s...

i actually work for the exchange, and thats how i get my games!
thats so cool, another ohio person, i will have to check out the others
and if you havent checked it out in cleveland, video game connection is a good store

[SpaceBooger]

i actually work for the exchange, and thats how i get my games!
thats so cool, another ohio person, i will have to check out the others
and if you havent checked it out in cleveland, video game connection is a good store

Which Exchange - Chapel Hill, Farilawn, or ??