It's a pretty good place overall with some great positives for video game fans and collectors. The first thing you'll notice is the vast selection of old school games - Nintendo, Atari, Sega, handhelds, etc, it's all there. While most of the their inventory is retro games, fans of the present generation systems will still be able to find some decent, but very few games. Considering I grew up with mostly Nintendo systems, it was great to see not only old classics, but also ones kept in mostly excellent condition. If I was more of a collector I'd probably invest more into it, but more on that in a bit. Secondly, the store space isn't too big (could be bigger), but not too small either; a decent size displays all their items well, which goes to everything from games, to special edition box sets, to controllers, and even memorabilia knick-knacks. It's a welcoming atmosphere overall where you're not harassed annoyingly by the employees. Another positive is the great and easy location, which is way easier to find than their former hidden "dungeon"-like space... which was WAY more cramped. Everything is laid out well and prices are all prominently featured on each piece of merchandise. Lastly, employees are nice enough, not overly friendly but not bothersome. Pretty chill. They're glad to help and answer questions quickly, so I have no issue there.
The biggest negative I found were their prices. While I appreciate the fact that there are a good amount of very rare collectible games in stock, all displayed separately from the more common titles, even the prices of the common titles are far too high for a more price-wary customer to immediately jump into. It's understandable why a rare game would be priced alongside what internet charges are, BUT at the same time they aren't very competitive with internet prices. Yes, I understand stores need to sell games at their "worth," but why not go a little lower, in that case giving people more incentive to actually buy the games as opposed to the internet, where there is no sales tax charged? I've seen this done elsewhere, but even their normal titles (and just about everything else) are just too high. An example being 'Dark Sector' for the PS3. A first-generation game I've seen at Gamestop for about $3, whereas their price was a surprising $6. IMO very old titles which are neither rare nor popular should honestly never sell for more than $5. Even the Five Below stores know better than that. Another being a Street Fighter Ryu collectible statue that came out of the box set anniversary edition, and them asking a whopping $40, whereas the entire set sells online for about $80. Some cute game character custom magnets sold for $10, which seemed no more worth about $6 or $7 at most (personally I wouldn't even pay $7). To put it in short, I would see why less discriminate buyers would pay such prices, but those looking to get any sort of a deal should look elsewhere, even the internet. I also hear that when selling games to them, you're not exactly going to make out with anything great.
It's a nice place to visit and browse if you're very much into video games, even to see their selection, but for myself, I can't agree with how much they're asking for. read more