Article: Recycle Video Games levels up

[VectorGamer]

http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2009/11/16/business/doc4b0185033005a410812442.txt

[jboypacman]

Was just talking about something like this with the owner of a little "hole in the wall"game shop i go to.

 

While he is not moving into a larger space he says business has picked up for him and he thinks its because of people and lack of money after bills,gas,ect.

 

I said its true at lest for me because of my budget but it does help with the fact i love older games too lol.

[atarian63]

Was just talking about something like this with the owner of a little "hole in the wall"game shop i go to.

 

While he is not moving into a larger space he says business has picked up for him and he thinks its because of people and lack of money after bills,gas,ect.

 

I said its true at lest for me because of my budget but it does help with the fact i love older games too lol.

I have a friend here as well that owns a games store, since 1980! Still in business. He has also mentioned business has picked up with the economy being down, they are expecting things to get worse out there so are stockpiling older games. He did mention that sales for the current gen consoles are slipping though there is some improvement in PS3.

They expect a big Christmas, maybe not so much as gifts but as people buying some old classics for themselves.

[KIWASABI]

I've talked to some game store owners/employees and I've heard used PS2 games are a pretty big seller. Current gen consoles really are only so much better than the last gen (and by "so much better", I mean like 30%), and it's really hard for a lot of people to justify the upgrade (although that has been the case since the Atari 5200). There will always be a market for cheap games, especially now that we're in Great Depression 2.0.

 

-Adam

[STICH666]

All classic gaming stores are taking over Gamestops almost everywhere. In every location a Play-N-Trade has opened up, Gamestops have been shutting down. I talked to the CEO of Play-N-Trade when he was visiting the stores out here and he said that Gamestop's policy for not taking back games older than one generation is ironically outdated.

[akator]

All classic gaming stores are taking over Gamestops almost everywhere. In every location a Play-N-Trade has opened up, Gamestops have been shutting down. I talked to the CEO of Play-N-Trade when he was visiting the stores out here and he said that Gamestop's policy for not taking back games older than one generation is ironically outdated.

 

We have 3 PNTs and over 15 Gamestops (I stopped counting). None of the Gamestops are closing.

 

As with any franchise, not all PNTs are consistent. I've been to several (obviously including ones out of town), and I've found the store quality to be about 50/50. The good stores have owners and managers that actually care about gaming, especially classic gaming. Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of people with PNT franchises that see it as a cash cow and don't have much respect for the merchandise or customers. Thankfully, the other 50% of the stores are awesome

[KIWASABI]

Haha, Stitch is like the spokesmodel for Play-n-Trade. I've been to 2 or 3 of them and have never been that impressed with them.

 

Gamestop is taking a hit from digital distribution, but they're still making a killing by cannibalizing the game industry. Making a $30+ profit on a used game that they'd normally only get ~$8 for if they sold it new = win for them. I don't mind them too much because they sell PS2 and GBA games dirt cheap; just search on their website for a specific title, then tell it to find the nearest location that has it, and bam, you're in business.

 

-Adam

[Rev. Rob]

I wish we had some used game stores in the Phoenix area. We used to have a place called Gamers, which has since closed all locations. Occasionally a shop will pop up for a few months and then close down. We do have Bookman's, which aside from pawn shops and places like Goodwill or Savers, is the only real used video game store in town.

 

Of course, there's Games+, which is notorious. It's impressive to walk into and see Atari, Master System, Genesis, Xbox, Jaguar, Vectrex, et cetera, games and consoles from wall to wall. Then you take some items to the counter, that's where problem comes in. These fuckers don't put prices on their games, so when you want to buy something they straight look each item up on eBay and quote you the highest price they see for it. They don't even try to hide what they're doing. I told them if I wanted to pay eBay prices, I'd shop on eBay, and I've never been back and never will go back.

 

It's too bad, too. The original owner was much better, and they had three stores, not just one.

 

Gamestop used to sell used games all of the way back to the NES just five years ago. They stopped because they thought it took too much shelf space. That's the only reason. I can't imagine that this company will weather the recession well. They've self-cannibalized many of their stores. For example, I used to have just one Gamestop near me, which was at a local mall. Now there's one in the mall, and one it a satellite strip of shops right outside of the mall, in the same shopping complex. Obviously, they're both competing for the same business. Double the rent, double the staff, shrink, merch, and the same customer base.

 

Then they opened one a mile from where I live, and now they've got a newer one a mile from where I live in the other direction. They've basically got four stores in my area, within a few square miles, all competing for the same customer base. It's idiocy, and they'll fail.

[VectorGamer]

 

Of course, there's Games+, which is notorious. It's impressive to walk into and see Atari, Master System, Genesis, Xbox, Jaguar, Vectrex, et cetera, games and consoles from wall to wall. Then you take some items to the counter, that's where problem comes in. These fuckers don't put prices on their games, so when you want to buy something they straight look each item up on eBay and quote you the highest price they see for it. They don't even try to hide what they're doing. I told them if I wanted to pay eBay prices, I'd shop on eBay, and I've never been back and never will go back.

 

 

Wow - that's messed up.

 

I know it's been said that dealers do not like to put price stickers on their games because some folks swap them out. Is there a way to cost effectively price label carts that would make it difficult for someone to swap the price tag?

[SoulBlazer]

Just a side note -- it's true about there being a lot of Gamestops in one area, but here it's not as bad as it used to be.

 

And sure, I understand them not carrying anything older then PS2 and XBox stuff in their stores now. (Do they even carry PS1 and N64 stuff anymore?) Have you seen how SMALL those stores really are? I mean, I've had apartments bigger then those stores! With so little retail space available, they focus on the new stuff, the things that will bring them the most profit and are most popular.

 

Now, you could argue that they could make a spin off chain that's larger and have older things in it. But that's another topic.

 

The local Gamestop for me was totally redone in the inside a a year ago when it came under new management. It's amazing how much bigger that it seems now. They got rid of all the displays and racks in the center of the store, put in new shelves, and removed bulky displays. It's amazing how much stuff is in that little same sized store now.

[+RandomPerson]

Closest thing to a used game store in my area for anything is a single pawn shop that gets in NES to N64 era stuff on a half regular basis and it's all priced fairly also. The only thing they make way up is the 60gb PS3 cause they know (and have) sold them on ebay for what they ask in store.

[STICH666]

Haha, Stitch is like the spokesmodel for Play-n-Trade. I've been to 2 or 3 of them and have never been that impressed with them.

 

-Adam

You could say that All the ones here are awesome and run by people who are true gamers themselves except the one in Sayville which is alright but prices can be off the effing wall sometimes. $30 for Daytona USA. Are you shitting me?!?!?

[KIWASABI]

In the Denver area we have quite a few good used game stores. Game Force is a decent sized chain (one well-stocked store in each of the bigger cities). It's first store, which apparently isn't associated with the others, has tons of games but outrageous prices ($37 for games like Contra, Super Mario 2, Super Mario 3, Super Castlevania IV, etc). There's also Games Xplosion which has two pretty good stores. And there are a couple other stores that seem like they probably won't stay in business long...

 

There are some game stores down south in Colorado Springs and Pueblo called Games Express or something that have the most jam-packed stores I've ever seen; unfortunately they don't have anything priced below $10-15 (for stuff that should be a few bucks). But man, they must have 80%-90% of all NES games ever made...

 

-Adam