My Local Play N Trade shut down suddenly

[benevicious]

I have been to 3 or 4 in the Chicago area. Pretty much the same experience as mentioned here, minus the shitty employees. One store wants $20 for a disc only virtua cop saturn, while the other's usually have decent prices and seem to always have buy 2 get 2 on ps2/xbox/gc stuff.

Sometimes I walk out with nothing, sometimes I can spend $100 and feel like I just got away with robbery.

[thelolotov]

My local Play N Trade in Alexandria, VA was apparently shut down yesterday. I had only gone to this place a few times, because frankly the people there were unfriendly, appeared to make fun of you behind your back (you'd walk towards the door and hear boisterous laughter soon after you made a purchase), and the employees were just in general sketchy.

I'm not sure when it happened, but I know it was sudden because I was at the vacuum cleaner store next door last week, and they were open. No deep discounts, or sign stating a going of business sale. The only sign I had of this was the guy at EStarland told me the other day he thought they were going out of business soon.

To be honest, I have mixed feelings on this. As I've described the people there were unfriendly at best, and their prices were often ridiculous. One time I saw several games that had picked up at a thrift store I frequent about 0.5 mile down the road. How do I know this? They didn't take the $2.00 price tag off the games before they marked them up. One was Super Mario Bros 3 marked up to $35. Its a little disgusting when you know they paid $2.00 and they don't even have the decency to take off the old price. On the other hand they let you test the games, they had lots of random gaming accessories, such as power cords, and AV cables cheap. I would have like it more if the people were better. And I'm sad to see any retro store go under, as usually the rare hard to find games like Earthbound, are being sold at the same prices everyone else sells it for, so at least you know where to find it when you're ready to drop the cash.

So what are you experiences with Play N Trade? Is it this location that was bad, or is the company like this in general?

Wait, I live in Alexandria, VA, was it the one near the Chevy's Restaurant?

[GSZX1337]

NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

I was waiting so badly for one to open up in my area. Frankly I was starting to get irritated as to why they haven't. I'm in Northern California, not Montana. But if they're shutting down stores, I guess it makes sense.

You do realize that Play 'n' Trade is franchised, right? The one that closed doesn't affect any of the others (unless the owner of the PnT that closed down had more than one).

[Michi]

At my closed location anything with Mario in the title was $34.99. Bare bone Dreamcasts cost $60. Shaq-Fu was $9.99.

$9.99 for Shaq-Fu? That's just sad. They have one at a local thrift store for $1

I'm really glad a different retro store opened up where I live. I know what to expect from them. The only time I've seen them price their retro games over $10 has been for pretty rare titles or when they combined games with needed accessories. Like Time Crisis with the gun. And they put a lifetime warrantee on their games if you keep the receipt. They don't accept mangled games either and replace the broken PS1 boxes. It's a nice little store. I just wish their selection was a bit bigger

[BurningDoom]

NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

I was waiting so badly for one to open up in my area. Frankly I was starting to get irritated as to why they haven't. I'm in Northern California, not Montana. But if they're shutting down stores, I guess it makes sense.

You do realize that Play 'n' Trade is franchised, right? The one that closed doesn't affect any of the others (unless the owner of the PnT that closed down had more than one).

Oh, well good. There's still hope then.

Why hasn't anyone in Northern California opened a Play-N-Trade?

[Michi]

Why hasn't anyone in Northern California opened a Play-N-Trade?

You could always try to open one yourself if you were really desperate

[Jamisonia]

My local Play N Trade in Alexandria, VA was apparently shut down yesterday. I had only gone to this place a few times, because frankly the people there were unfriendly, appeared to make fun of you behind your back (you'd walk towards the door and hear boisterous laughter soon after you made a purchase), and the employees were just in general sketchy.

I'm not sure when it happened, but I know it was sudden because I was at the vacuum cleaner store next door last week, and they were open. No deep discounts, or sign stating a going of business sale. The only sign I had of this was the guy at EStarland told me the other day he thought they were going out of business soon.

To be honest, I have mixed feelings on this. As I've described the people there were unfriendly at best, and their prices were often ridiculous. One time I saw several games that had picked up at a thrift store I frequent about 0.5 mile down the road. How do I know this? They didn't take the $2.00 price tag off the games before they marked them up. One was Super Mario Bros 3 marked up to $35. Its a little disgusting when you know they paid $2.00 and they don't even have the decency to take off the old price. On the other hand they let you test the games, they had lots of random gaming accessories, such as power cords, and AV cables cheap. I would have like it more if the people were better. And I'm sad to see any retro store go under, as usually the rare hard to find games like Earthbound, are being sold at the same prices everyone else sells it for, so at least you know where to find it when you're ready to drop the cash.

So what are you experiences with Play N Trade? Is it this location that was bad, or is the company like this in general?

Wait, I live in Alexandria, VA, was it the one near the Chevy's Restaurant?

Yes, it's gone. eStarland seems better though, they're in Fairfax.

[Bradtemple87]

Why hasn't anyone in Northern California opened a Play-N-Trade?

You could always try to open one yourself if you were really desperate

My friend and his family operated one in San Leandro/lorenzo area but they closed last year or so.

[thelolotov]

My local Play N Trade in Alexandria, VA was apparently shut down yesterday. I had only gone to this place a few times, because frankly the people there were unfriendly, appeared to make fun of you behind your back (you'd walk towards the door and hear boisterous laughter soon after you made a purchase), and the employees were just in general sketchy.

I'm not sure when it happened, but I know it was sudden because I was at the vacuum cleaner store next door last week, and they were open. No deep discounts, or sign stating a going of business sale. The only sign I had of this was the guy at EStarland told me the other day he thought they were going out of business soon.

To be honest, I have mixed feelings on this. As I've described the people there were unfriendly at best, and their prices were often ridiculous. One time I saw several games that had picked up at a thrift store I frequent about 0.5 mile down the road. How do I know this? They didn't take the $2.00 price tag off the games before they marked them up. One was Super Mario Bros 3 marked up to $35. Its a little disgusting when you know they paid $2.00 and they don't even have the decency to take off the old price. On the other hand they let you test the games, they had lots of random gaming accessories, such as power cords, and AV cables cheap. I would have like it more if the people were better. And I'm sad to see any retro store go under, as usually the rare hard to find games like Earthbound, are being sold at the same prices everyone else sells it for, so at least you know where to find it when you're ready to drop the cash.

So what are you experiences with Play N Trade? Is it this location that was bad, or is the company like this in general?

Wait, I live in Alexandria, VA, was it the one near the Chevy's Restaurant?

Yes, it's gone. eStarland seems better though, they're in Fairfax.

Only reason I'll miss it is because it was the only close place, the manager was a *expletive removed* and the prices were high.

Well crap.....

[Jamisonia]

Maybe it will re-open under new management, but the store looks gutted.