Beware franchising a Play N Trade

[Jrecee]

But at the same time, gamestops are all over the place and I haven't watched a single one go out of business. I'm not sure that people opening a gamestop are so much smarter than those opening play n trades.

Gamestop doesn't franchise. All the stores are company-owned.

This explains why Gamestops seldom close. Even if an individual store is losing money, corporate management might opt to keep it open for strategic reasons, in an attempt to preemptively choke out competition. And as long as the stores in that area are profitable in aggregate, the corporation is happy.

Ah, that further explains why gamestop sucks and why play n trades will fail against it.

[dedalusdedalus]

Ah, that further explains why gamestop sucks and why play n trades will fail against it.

Yeah, quite honestly I prefer Play N Trade.

Not all Gamestops are of equal quality, but even the jazziest Gamestop will still be mediocre. Even if the most passionate and knowledgeable video game enthusaist were to manage a Gamestop store, his or her best managerial impulses would be stifled by corporate management's shitty ideas on how to run a store.

With Play N Trade, there's at least a chance that corporate management won't get in the way of running a good store.

But if some PnT's are closing, good. Let competition weed out the mediocre stores, and the good ones will be in better shape for it.

[Hobie-wan]

I found that there used to be 4 of these Play N Trade stores in the Houston/Conroe area; however 2 of them have since closed. Now that I know that a couple Play N Trade stores exist in my area I think I'll have to make a trip to try and visit one to see what it's like. What are the prices like at Play N Trade?

There's a PnT over on my side of town on Highway 6. Prices seem to pretty much be retail on new games. Some used stuff is ok prices, but nothign special. They have a few retro things in a cabinet, but it's definitely not the focus of the store at all. I was there about a month ago and I think they were about to dump a bunch of old and broken stuff. There were 2 boxes on the floor and I asked to look through the games. I picked up Pitfall for 2600, a pirate famicom cart, and Action Fighter for SMS. I asked what they were going to do with the other box of hardware and he said he thought they were broken but didn't know. I tried to see if I could have them for free or cheap, but he didn't know anything and didn't seem to care about finding out at all. They have a disc polisher that did a really good job on a game I bought from them that needed a touch up, but they want $5 to buff a disc you bring in which is ridiculous. So I stop by if I'm passing it and have time, but it's 20 minutes out of my way so I don't make special trips usually.

There are only a couple other game stores in Houston I know of that sell games older than Gamecube/XBox/PS2; one is Player 1 Video Games (just opened this year) and Games Plus. I have only been to Games Plus (since Player 1 is over a 2 hr round trip) but they jack the prices up on almost any older game that is good or somewhat uncommon. They were selling Battletoads for NES that was in a black NES sleeve for $35; think I'll pass on that lol. I am finding that Houston is one of the hardest cities to grow a retro gaming collection for the older systems because there aren't very many game stores around (aside from Gamestop).

I haven't been to Player 1 yet as that's far for me. There were 2 Games Plus on Highway 6, but the one that was really close to me closed and merged with the one 20 minutes away. So I go less than I did before. Some things are good prices, but I agree, some of the retro stuff they put in the case is overpriced. I have gotten some things pretty cheap there though.

I agree with you that for the size of Houston, we seem to have pretty crappy options for retro game stuff. Austin has Game Over and Gamefellas which are fantastic on selection if sometimes just ok price wise.

[the7k]

Honestly, Play N Trades vary so much in quality, it's like a huge gamble every time you walk in.

In my college town, we used to have an awesome Play N Trade about 30 minutes away. They had a whole bunch of retro systems and games - even had a very large import section, with Metal Slug on the Sega Saturn in mint condition. It was one of the best looking stores I had been in.

Now, the closest Play N Trade to where I live is about 90 minutes away. It's awful. One of the worst stores I've ever been in. Wanna get a loose copy of Super Mario RPG with significant label damage? That'll be $80, please. And seriously, that is THE ONLY game of note in the entire store. Everything else is mass-produced crap for the NES and PS1 (Wanna get old as hell Madden iterations? There's your place!).

[JordanPlayer]

What cities have you lived in that have had many game stores around that aren't Gamestop? I'm pretty sure what you describe is the case for most of the United States.

For being a very large metropolitan city (one of the largest in the US); Houston is pretty barren when it comes to the number of stores that sell retro game stuff... Shops are usually very spread out and the drive usually isn't worth it.

They (Play N Trade) have a disc polisher that did a really good job on a game I bought from them that needed a touch up, but they want $5 to buff a disc you bring in which is ridiculous.... There were 2 Games Plus on Highway 6, but the one that was really close to me closed and merged with the one 20 minutes away. So I go less than I did before. Some things are good prices, but I agree, some of the retro stuff they put in the case is overpriced. I have gotten some things pretty cheap there though.

I've been to the Games Plus in Copperfield; I actually overheard that they do disc cleaning/buffing for free... do you have any idea what kind of quality they provide? I've been wondering for a while where would be a good place to go to get some discs cleaned up so any recommendations would be welcome (I live North of town near I-45 in Spring/Woodlands)

I was thinking of checking out the Play N Trade that is up in Conroe sometime in the near future; I'll PM you whether or not it was worth it

[Hobie-wan]

I've been to the Games Plus in Copperfield; I actually overheard that they do disc cleaning/buffing for free... do you have any idea what kind of quality they provide? I've been wondering for a while where would be a good place to go to get some discs cleaned up so any recommendations would be welcome (I live North of town near I-45 in Spring/Woodlands)

I was thinking of checking out the Play N Trade that is up in Conroe sometime in the near future; I'll PM you whether or not it was worth it

Yeah, the Games Plus will do it for free, though they just use a buffing wheel on a bench grinder by hand. I've had them do a few cheap game discs and music CDs a few times when I was there and buying a few things. The PnT has a nice machine that I would trust with pricier discs, but $5 is nuts to me unless it is a really rare expensive game that needs to be saved.

[AppleQueso]

the Play N Trade here has a nice buffer machine, and they only charge a buck for it. They're the cheapest place in town by far to get disc repairs done AND they do an excellent job of it.

[oxymoron]

So you guys think that for the most part opening your own gaming store is a safer option than a franchise PNT?

[MulishaSoldier929]

Had a couple play 'n' trades around me. 2 still in operation that I can think of. Can't say I am a fan. Not sure if its there business model but they have a hard time just letting me browse. Its like i'm dealing with best buy employees but on crack.

They also like to get me excited by having a game I want then when I pick up the case I find that there is no manual and that they printed off a cheap paper copy of the game cover then taped to the inside of the case. Shame shame.

The way they price games is also very weird. Some games are way over priced while others that should be higher are below market value. Seems to me like they are flying by the seats of ther pants running these stores.

[aaron]

all of the play 'n trades in indianapolis closed within a year of each other, probably about 2 years ago now. there were 3 or 4, i think. we have a couple successful resale chains here, though (Disc Replay, The Exchange) so i'm not really hurting for places to find overpriced retro games.