Post Your Local/Favorite Indie Game Stores

[Dub5279]

I just found a nice little place in Beaverton, OR (Suburb of Portland).

Game Trader
The Good - A great selection ranging from Atari to Present. I also noticed a lot of rare items lying about. And from the stack of NES games sitting behind the case they get a lot of trade ins.
The Bad - Not much, their prices are a bit high on the NES games, but average for everything else. I was slightly disappointed that the huge pile of Sega systems in the window were all broken though...

[blackmagepwns]

I have a feeling that GameAttack in Texas is going to be rather mediocre, but I suppose I will have to check it out for myself once it opens up, I do only live about a hour away from Dallas anyway.

That aside, does anyone know of any stores like mentioned above in Texas?

[equalsign]

I don't know how it is today because I haven't lived there for 7 years, but Graywhale CD by the University of Utah used to be a great place to get videogames in UT. You should also check different Deseret Industries and see if they carry any videogames.

I've been to that Graywhale. Their last gen selection is pretty good, but past that things get pretty sparse (especially on the Sega side). They've opened up a few other Graywhales around since then I believe (including one close to me in Provo) so their selection is pretty spread out. Sometimes I get lucky and find something awesome and retro, but not as often as I'd like.

Deseret Industries stocks games, but never have more than a couple (usually sports). However, I did score my Virtual Boy (complete, in very good condition only missing visor) there for only 8 USD so..... I'm not complaining too much .

Thanks for the suggestions though! Your response was much appreciated .

[Original_Name]

The Great Escape

There're three of these, one in downtown Nashville, one on the outskirts of downtown on Charlotte Ave., and another in a suburb of Nashville called Madison. The ones downtown and in Madison are great; they stock anything people trade-in, so you get em' as old and as new as they come and the prices are more than fair. The one on the outskirts was terrible last time I went there; all they had were a couple bins of video games with almost nothing in them. The Great Escape sells used collectibles of every sort, be it music, movies, comics, trading cards, toys, or video games. They restock their comics regularly to keep up-to-date, but besides that it's basically a thrift store that specializes in geeky things. And the employees are some of the friendliest and most knowledgeable you'll ever meet, expecially at the Madison GE.

Game Trader

Located in Madison. I fucking hate this place. They have the greatest selection of games known to man, but consistently price everything 35% more than you would ever consider paying for it. I mean, $20 for used copies of Space Channel 5 and Super Mario World? REALLY!?!? So you'd think they'd have good trade-in values, right? Wrong. I came to trade in a stack of 25 Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Gamecube games, and what did they offer me? $25. A dollar per game. And many of these were big-name games! Halo 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Knights of the Old Republic, Ninja Gaiden Black, Pikmin, and Super Mario Sunshine included. I was fucking livid. I just grabbed my games, told them I had no idea why they thought they should be running a business and left. I'm never going there again for any reason, and I don't recommend you do so either.

McKay's

Located on Charlotte Ave. These guys are HUGE, but great. Video games, music, movies, and TOMES of books in the back. Their books section is so massive they actually use the Dewey Decimal System. The employees are rather impersonal, but the selection is great, especially if you're going for more than just video games. The prices on video games are often a few bucks more than they should be, but you can find alot of deals there, too. I'd recommend you go there for books above all else; the selection is endless, and the prices are just stupidly good. $3.95 for the Portable Beat Reader? Yes, please! $9.95 for the Complete Prints of Yoshitaka Amano? You, sir, have earned my money! Ikaruga on Gamecube for $39.95? Fair, but I believe I'll pass. Castlevania: Bloodlines and Contra: Hard Corps for $3.95 apiece? Why, I'd love to! And so forth...

[samuraifez]

I have a feeling that GameAttack in Texas is going to be rather mediocre, but I suppose I will have to check it out for myself once it opens up, I do only live about a hour away from Dallas anyway.

That aside, does anyone know of any stores like mentioned above in Texas?

I don't know what that store is, but there is an establishment here in Austin, Texas that has THREE area locations that is called

GAME OVER VIDEOGAMES

They stock everything from 2600 games to Xbox 360 stuff, literally. There is a decent selection, and while the prices are similar to what was said about VideoGamesNewYork, it is cool to just walk in and buy a boxed SNES game.

They also are holding a Classic Gaming Tournament this summer that is culminating with Super Smash Bros. for the N64. I can't freakin' wait!

Racketboy, check out this store.

www.gameovervideogames.com

[crux]

Digital Press Videogames is probably the most well-known and respected retro game store in New Jersey and in the tri-state area et al., partially due to their "video game database" website that probably many people around Racketboy know of (http://www.digitpress.com/).

(I visited the website before I realized the physical store was ten miles away from me.)

[equalsign]

Just found a place in Logan, Utah called Fun Infinity and am declaring it the best gaming store in the state. I've only been there once, but considering how well I've searched the rest of the state I feel prepared to say that. Some of their employees were more helpful than others, but isn't that always how it is ? They have some vinyls and dvds, but there isn't much doubt that games are their focus. Their selection was pretty damn good I'd say. They didn't have a TON of rare games, but I'd guess that's because their prices aren't bad for an independent game store.

As far as less common stuff goes they had Turbographx games, Saturn games, Atari Jaguar games and systems, Virtual Boy games and systems (for like 20 or 25 USD too!), NeoGeo Pocket Color games, and a ton of other stuff. Hell, they even had a Vectrex .

The only real negative I can think of is that they're pretty unorganized, although the adventurers among us might consider that a positive . I for example, ended up finding a yellow VMU (which god knows is the rarest of the plain colors) in a bin full of CRAPPY, ANCIENT third-party peripherals.

I severely limited my cash myself before going in so I only ended walking out with the previously mentioned yellow VMU (7.99 USD) and Die Hard Arcade (14.99 USD). Really wanted to pick up Hydro Thunder (14.99 USD), the Vectrex (99.99 USD), Red Alert (9.99 USD), Dynamite Cop 2 (9.99 USD), a boxed and complete Saturn Netlink cable (9.99 USD), and Bomberman 64 (19.99 USD) among a TON of other crap.

Hope to go again soon .



Side Note: With that VMU I finally have all the main colors; Blue, Red, Green, and Yellow. Now I'm only a green, red, and yellow controller away from completing my ULTIMATE DREAMCAST GAUNTLET LEGENDS SET!!!!!!!! All found in the wild, no less .

[cookie monster]

there is a retro game store in pa going outta business this month it's called Retro mikes it is in a small town called new oxford they still have alot of awesome stuff a turbo duo system,mint boxed jaguar cd unit and tons of games and systems there last day is november30th so if your looking to score some cool stuff check it out

[kikenovic]

Three Gamexchange stores in central Indiana

Lafayette
Kokomo
Noblesville

The three have a good selection on NES, SNES, N64, PSX, PS2, GC titles, a decent (but not impressive) selection of Genesis titles. A quite limited selection on other Sega systems like the Sega CD or the Saturn (but who does anyways). Also they pretty much always have accessories for the most common consoles.

Prices are not a bargain but fair enough for a brick and mortar store.

From time to time at the Lafayette store you may find some rarities at good prices (for example, I grabbed a Sega CDX for under $70).

The Noblesville store is the smallest of the three and lacks organization but curiously it seems they are better stocked on NES, SNES and specially Genesis titles. The prices are also lower than the other two.
The staff is friendlier, more knowledgeable and they polish your discs for free. The time I visited them I bought a lot of NES games and they gave me like ten sleeves for free. Unfortunately it is also the farthest of the three for me (I live in NWI). If you live in the Indy area give it shot, it is located in the middle of a nice neighborhood.

[Wolfgang]

There was a Play N' Trade in my area, but I had thought it went out of business or moved. Turned out they renamed it "GAMERS". I get most of my SNES carts and other merchandise from there.

Also, as terrin707 stated, I also go to Game Craze in Rochester. Every year when I visit.