So, I heard about this little gem through my research to rekindle my 8bit childhood. Since it is very near the train station, I decided to hit it up one day after work to scope it out.
Location: 3.5 Stars
Located on the south side of King street and 6th Ave. The location is not hard to find, through the sign is painted on the north side of the building and the shop itself is on the southside sharing an arcade with other stores (arcade as in mini shops, not video games). Since it is located in Chinatown, parking is pretty nonexistent, but you can do the bus or park at Uwijiamaya lot and spend a day in the district. Entrance is on the west side. You will see a staircase in front of you. To the south side is a travel dealer? and to your left will be either a mini cafe or a random shop. If you look up, there are more shops on the top floor. Now to find PG, you need to either walk to the right of the stairwell and the shop will be right there or take the left of the stairwell, fight some purple dragon, and head right and the shop will be there. (This is sounding like some Cobel text based game from the 80s.) OPEN the door to the shop which is brightly lit in neon and oddly a lot of pink
When you get inside you will feel like you are in a mix of hot topic, dasio, some 70s disco club, and a sanrio store. Neon lights and neon colored decor is all over. Mixed in the neon is video game decor and props with more neon and plushy things around. Oddly, with all the neon, the store is kind of dark, but dark as in midnight cafe dark, not the last dungeon of Vadis dark.
On the north wall are NES games hung in plastic Trolli wrappers (really the NES games are hung up like Trolli candies like at AM-PM or something. On the east side is the check out counter with a display case of very cool and rare Famicon games and other stuff in near mint condition; as well as game inspired candies and plushy things. The west side holds more modern things, as well as the south side, but I did not go there much as I was mainly looking for NES, SEGA Mastersystem, Atari 2600 stuff.
Selection is good and easy to navigate. (Not a HUGE selection like are a fleamarket, but about the same number of games an usual shop like Game Stop would have only this place has vintage stuff also) Everything is hung Trolli candy style or with newer stuff, in their usual CD cases. They also have some cool written material like old copies of Nintendo Power and stuff as well as various controllers and console copies. (no Nintoaster through) They will allow you to try and sample your wares if you request, so that is a bonus also. They also have NES cartridge covers for cheap sale !!!!
Service: 4-5 stars
Service was good. A happy Hello Kitty greeting when you enter the place and usual offers to help off and on, but not constantly like at a KIA dealer. Cute bop music in the background, flashy neon going on. Would be a nice place for a mini-rave or something. The staff are knowledgeable however, which is good for asking about stuff, but not as good if you want to sucker someone to sell you a mint in the box copy of Contra for under $5 or "About $5" as most of the items are labeled.
So a good place to look and hope for finding a treasure. Again, not a HUGE MEGA selection, but a good selection nevertheless. Staff are happy and they do have a lot of VG related merchandise also like pillows and candies, and stuff like that,
Pretty good. read more