Play N Trade

[Cronson]

We have 2 Play N Trade's here in Richmond, Va and I know they're fanchised (so each one is owned by different people) but what do you guys think of them?

At first glance I was so pumped to see a retailer of true retro games, but I've had bad experiences with their pricing, quality of merchandise (I bought Doom for 32x and it was broken, maybe thats an improvement though) and honesty from the employees.

[fast]

Depends on the locations. I have one near work were the boss is awesome and all but the staff that comes here is great...take that toredauei (I did not tell him about the site either, thats the odd part). However I have another one near home that is soso, stock for retro titles is about the same, but the staff is uninterested and usually aloof. And while that sounds bad, its a step up from the Gamestop I use to go to (I was in the store for thirty minutes and they never got off their cellphone).

So like most stores, yes they are hit or miss. But since these are usually locally owned, I will say that if the manager is cool, stick with it.

[Cassidy]

A new one just opened in my town (outside of Toronto) and I am very impressed with them.

So much so that I now forgo Best Buy (which I buy all my games at due to the Rewards card) and go straight to PNT because of my experiences.

The trade-in value is so much more than other retailers, their retro section is growing all the time (I just saw a boxed Dreamcast for $30) and the staff are pretty cool. They're definitely not like the douchebags at EB/GS.

As an aside, when SFIV released I traded in Valkyria Chronicles to help bankroll the new game. When I got home I immediately regretted it because I hadn't given VC enough time to grow on me.

Over that weekend I saw it at EB used for $75 and saw the prices on eBay for it. My intention was to always buy it back at some point when the price dropped. Dumb move.

So I went back into PNT and they still had my original copy there that I traded in. The store manager was gracious and sold it back to me for my $10 store credit.

FYI they have lots of small parts like cables and power cords for older systems, which is a boon if you break yours or buy a retro console without one.

[toredauei]

Hooray for publicity! Opinions on Play N Trade are varied and, like Fast says, it depends on the quality of the managers/employees really. Atleast if the people working there are pleasant you leave the store having had a good experiance even if you didn't buy anything.

[Cassidy]

True enough - methinks I'll take a trip over there today to look at the $5.99 N64 games. With any luck there'll be a Goldeneye so that I can safely store my original.

[Xonticus]

Hey guys, I wanted to concur with everyone else about giving play n trade a chance, because each one is independently owned.

I'll tell you right now, I might be bias because I work at the one that just opened in Danbury, CT, but my customers aren't. I helped open the store before day one, and the experience has been amazing. People come back all the time over Gamestop... hell, we even hired 3 people who "defected" from gamestop, and all of their old coworkers come here all the time!

Services and inventory obviously vary, but at this one, we do console repairs (including 360's RRod), disc repairs, and preorder for free. And if you swear you saw a game at Gamestop for cheaper, we'll match the price based on their website value.

I just got a customer come in here 15 minutes ago gleaming because he bought a used Wii (we actually got one traded in) and loved that we actually set it up, showed them how to use it and even made their Miis on their system. We get people like that every day. To all of you who have one locally and haven't stopped by, id at least recommend a visit. Give us a shot! I don't normally promote things unless I'd shop there myself, and being a retro gamer, im hooked.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

There was one in Castle Rock, CO that carried only Retro games and was the best experience ive had, then they went out of buisness. The one up here in Denver is incredibly bad. If you even ask for Genesis or even Playstation games they ask you how old you are and if you know what the damn thing is in the first place. Needless to say, I just smiled and said bye and walked out. Never been back since. Also one in Colorado Springs robbed me of 30 dollars . Stupid Visa gift card.

[kingdomheights777]

I have always said that I love the store, but my god their prices are all over the freaking board. its so annoying. My local one is kinda stupid also they had a guy bring in every megaman ever made on every console in CIB. I wanted about 6 of em, but they wouldn't sell them cause they want to put them up on ebay for 1200 bucks for the whole lot. I told them they are complete idiots and that they would make more money breaking them up. And now they are trying to do the same thing with the Resident Evils, the had the one on the Saturn and they wouldn't sell it to me. It really pissed me off

[Cronson]

Yeah, it sucks how many times these stores that should be fun end up pissing us off. Why can't video game stores be fun again? I want info on conventions, tournaments (places are getting better about that) and no more fear tactics to get me to preorder! I'm tired of shaddy dudes who over price everything, thus force themselves out of business because of Game Stop.

[Scooter]

This was all about my experience with the local PnT. The corporate office never replied to my inquiry/complaint. That should tell you something.

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