RF Generation Message Board

I figured there's room for a bad video game store thread. Don't just post about the obvious (EB, Best Buy, blah). Just post about local stores that scream ripoff, have piss-poor staff, things of that nature. Post the store's info and why you think it's a bad store.


US: AR

Game X Change
Harrison, Arkansas
Submitted By: kamakazi20012

The store use to be cool in its early days and carried a LOT of selections from Atari to 360 including consoles.  But after an owner exchange the store owner purchased a beauty stores old inventory which now dominates the shelving.  Customer service is still top notch but seems to have very little gaming gear...at least the last time I visited the store over 5 years ago.


US: AZ

Games Plus
Mesa AZ
Submitted By: Tynstar


US: CA

SpaceCat Comics & Collectibles
North Bascom Avenue near I-280, San Jose, CA
Submitted By: Zagnorch

I know SpaceCat Comics & Collectibles on North Bascom Avenue near I-280 in San Jose, CA was mentioned here before it was washed away by the Great Outage of 2012. While they have cleaned up the place and reorganized their stock since that last post, the asking prices for their video games and hardware are still rather exorbitant, usually about 50% above the same goods on Amazon Marketplace. Their collectible toy prices are just as bad.

As for the people who work there: a few are at least fairly friendly and helpful, but most seem to be a bit... well, spaced-out as it were.


US: GA

Play N Trade
1880 Epps Bridge Parkway Suite 110 , Athens, Georgia, 30605
Submitted By: Moriya Hanzo

Ex. Silent Hill (GH) $79.99-----need i say more?


N2 Games
Social Circle, Ga
Submitted By: Moriya Hanzo

Ex. Super Mario All stars cart only $49.99


US: MO

Velocity
Moberly, MO
Submitted By: kamakazi20012

Advertises itself as a one-stop gaming store.  Has maybe a handful of games made up of some PS3 and 360 games.  Other than that, mostly empty shelves.


US: NJ

Gamers Gambit
Submitted By: A8scooter

You ask them if they have certain games older than NES, and they say make a list we have to check storage for them and will call you when we check. Even with follow ups you get the runaround. I dont mind a store not having something I want but it says alot about your company when you wont have the curtsey to call the customer back.


Quick Cash
Toms River, NJ
Submitted By: Flee

They'll sell you untested, broken games and refuse a refund. Their store is a mess and not yet priced inventory gets the ol' eBay look up sorted by highest price first. Old dude working there accuses people of stealing for no reason. They don't even have the initiative to update their new address on their website. Not worth going to if you're at the Jersey Shore.


Trade 1
Rt 1 in Edison, NJ
Submitted By: A8scooter

They are majorly over priced the owner isn't helpful things are a complete mess and the only reason I can come to see why they stay afloat cause every so often you'll see ads looking for young females to be actresses and models for him..... Reading between the lines he doesn't sell jack so how else does he stay in business you be the judge


US: NY

Game Craze
Destiny USA Mall, Syracuse, New York
Submitted By: ErbBetaPatched

New York may be large, but the prices are too high. I bought Devil May Cry 2 there for $12, and it only came with disc 2, the disc that didn't have Dante on it.


US: WA

Game Lobster
Federal Way, WA
Submitted By: RetroRage

greedy owners.  not interested in building a relationship with their customers.  here's why.

the other day I was hunting at Game Lobster and I ran across Maxi-15 and they wanted 100 bucks for it.  I couldn't buy it but I told a friend who was looking for it, so he called them up and ask if they still have the game and how much they wanted for it.  they said 100 dollars and he left to go pick it up immediately.  when he got there all the sudden they wanted 200 bucks for it....what?  they had a big white shiny sticker on it that said 100 dollars and now they want to jack the price up?  if they were smart they would have given him the lower price anyways because that kind of loyalty pays off in the long run with return business.  instead they decided to be greedy and tried squeeze in a few more bucks out of them..... well not a few, a hundred. 

and besides that incident they've always appeared to be just interested in making money and have very little appreciation or respect for the hobby and the collecting community.


US: WI

Video Gamestar
2533 E Clairemont Ave
Eau Claire, WI 54701
Submitted By: Barracuda

- Employees care more about playing games behind the counter than helping a   customer at the checkout.

- The prices are high enough that there are games that have been sitting there for years.

- Lastly the store forever stinks of ass. It's really hard to spend more than a few minutes inside.

The only reason this store is still in business is because they are near the college campus.


Preplayed
3868 East Washington Avenue
Madison, WI 53704
Submitted By: HypnosProjectHQ

There are two Preplayed game stores in Madison. This location on the east side, though fully in association with the store on the west side, has terribly unfriendly staff in comparison to the other store. Also, their prices, oddly, are significantly higher on many items in the store (ie. Zelda Twlight Princess (GCN) is $17.99 at the west side location but at this location is $42.99). They've also been unwilling to put me on the waiting list for many items, though the west side location is always willing to help you find any game you might be looking to find.


Game Quest 
River Falls, WI
Submitted By: renegadeviking

Don't expect any Sega Saturn, Sega Gamegear, Master System.  They charge double for the game Ebay purchases thru them.  They play Christian band (no awesome music) all the time, because actual rock scares away customers.  In store credit stinks.  98% of the games are run-of-the-mill, 2% rares.
NOTE: Edited out game titles they don't carry.


Toyrffic
The Hudson, WI
Submitted By: renegadeviking

Just as bad as Game Quest.  They have run-of-the mill titles, no rares at all.  Overpriced PS2  and Xbox games.   Ebay purchase thru them have 50% business added charge.


The Media Warehouse
Reedsburg, WI
Submitted By: Slowman

Owner was very rude to customers and his employee. They don't have any games out. You have to look through a database of prices, and then they change the prices on you before you purchase.  Apparently my friend is "a f***ing idiot" for not understanding how their pricing structure (scheme?) works.  This happened to a friend of mine, not myself, just passing along the info
Additional Information (http://www.reddit.com/r/gamecollecting/comments/2be86o/worst_experience_ever_at_a_game_store_midwest/)


CANADA: Manitoba

PNP Games
2-915 McLeod Avenue
Winnipeg, MB
R2G 0Y4
Submitted By: Antimind

1. Unfriendly staff - Staff completely ignored my friend and I. I do believe the fact that we're both female had a lot to do with that but so what. I had my damn Nintendo hoodie on when I was there. Let's not forget the fact that I probably know more about games and game history than the store's owner.

2. Extremely high prices - Who the hell charges $9.99 for a copy of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt? PNP does! The only good finds in the entire place are the instruction manuals ($0.25/each) and old issues of Nintendo Power ($0.50/each). Everything else is not worth the drive out there.

3. Poor selection - I just sold more games from my personal collection than they had in the entire shop.

4. Poor presentation - I always expect to find a few titles that aren't in alphabetical order on store shelves. It appeared to me that the shelves hadn't been reordered in ages. Everything was just jumbled together.

Bottom Line - PNP is only surviving because they're the only game in town. Unless you absolutely must have that certain game today, avoid. Even with high shipping costs it'll be cheaper online. Probably in better condition too.

Great idea Antimind!

Video Gamestar
2533 E Clairemont Ave
Eau Claire, WI 54701

- Employees care more about playing games behind the counter than helping a   customer at the checkout.

- The prices are high enough that there are games that have been sitting there for years.

- Lastly the store forever stinks of ass. It's really hard to spend more than a few minutes inside.

The only reason this store is still in business is because they are near the college campus.

Play N Trade
1880 Epps Bridge Parkway Suite 110 , Athens, Georgia, 30605

Ex. Silent Hill (GH) $79.99-----need i say more?


N2 Games
Social Circle, Ga

Ex. Super Mario All stars cart only $49.99

Posts prior to this have been added to the "catalog" in the first post :girl:

Games Plus

Mesa AZ 

Granted I dont know if there are still opened I haven't been there in so long.

Yeah, those stores sound awful.

That's easy:

Game X Change
Harrison, Arkansas

The store use to be cool in its early days and carried a LOT of selections from Atari to 360 including consoles.  But after an owner exchange the store owner purchased a beauty stores old inventory which now dominates the shelving.  Customer service is still top notch but seems to have very little gaming gear...at least the last time I visited the store over 5 years ago. 

Velocity
Moberly, MO

Advertises itself as a one-stop gaming store.  Has maybe a handful of games made up of some PS3 and 360 games.  Other than that, mostly empty shelves.

Federal Way, WA

game lobster.

greedy owners.  not interested in building a relationship with their customers.  here's why.

the other day I was hunting at Game Lobster and I ran across Maxi-15 and they wanted 100 bucks for it.  I couldn't buy it but I told a friend who was looking for it, so he called them up and ask if they still have the game and how much they wanted for it.  they said 100 dollars and he left to go pick it up immediately.  when he got there all the sudden they wanted 200 bucks for it....what?  they had a big white shiny sticker on it that said 100 dollars and now they want to jack the price up?  if they were smart they would have given him the lower price anyways because that kind of loyalty pays off in the long run with return business.  instead they decided to be greedy and tried squeeze in a few more bucks out of them..... well not a few, a hundred. 

and besides that incident they've always appeared to be just interested in making money and have very little appreciation or respect for the hobby and the collecting community. 

Preplayed
3868 East Washington Avenue
Madison, WI 53704

There are two Preplayed game stores in Madison. This location on the east side, though fully in association with the store on the west side, has terribly unfriendly staff in comparison to the other store. Also, their prices, oddly, are significantly higher on many items in the store (ie. Zelda Twlight Princess (GCN) is $17.99 at the west side location but at this location is $42.99). They've also been unwilling to put me on the waiting list for many items, though the west side location is always willing to help you find any game you might be looking to find.

All posts prior to this have been added to the list. Thanks for the submissions, keep em coming!

I two more, Game Quest  River Falls, WI

Game Quest only consoles besides NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, Sega Dreamcast, Playstation, PS2, Gamecube, Xbox, Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, DS, NDS, PSP, Vita.  Don't expect any Sega Saturn, Sega Gamegear, Master System.   They charge double for the game Ebay purchases thru them.   They play Christian band (no awesome music) all the time, because actual rock scares away customers.  In store credit stinks.  98% of the games are run-of-the-mill, 2% rares.  They didn't have Shining Force II or Phantasy Star IV, Thunderforce III.    The rarest game in the building was Chrono Trigger for SNES.  

The Hudson, WI  location of Toyrffic  is just as bad as Game Quest.  They have run-of-the mill titles, no rares at all.  Overpriced PS2  and Xbox games.   Ebay purchase thru them have 50% business added charge.  

Both these stores are littered with   Magic the Gathering high schoolers, because they need somewhere "safe" to combat.

Theres a store in Jersey, Gamers Gambit. You ask them if they have certain games older than NES, and they say make a list we have to check storage for them and will call you when we check. Even with follow ups you get the runaround. I dont mind a store not having something I want but it says alot about your company when you wont have the curtsey to call the customer back.

There was a Play N Trade in Chalfont, PA with the most pompous owner I've ever met. They had terrible customer service and at times were outright belligerent. Well, recently they went out of business so I cleaned out tons of his overstock stuff, shelves, and promotional items for dirt cheap. Vengeance feels oh so goooood....

I know SpaceCat Comics & Collectibles on North Bascom Avenue near I-280 in San Jose, CA was mentioned here before it was washed away by the Great Outage of 2012. While they have cleaned up the place and reorganized their stock since that last post, the asking prices for their video games and hardware are still rather exorbitant, usually about 50% above the same goods on Amazon Marketplace. Their collectible toy prices are just as bad.

As for the people who work there: a few are at least fairly friendly and helpful, but most seem to be a bit... well, spaced-out as it were. Maybe that's why it's called SpaceCat...  :cat:

⠀

Game Craze at the Destiny USA Mall in Syracuse, New York may be large, but the prices are too high. I bought Devil May Cry 2 there for $12, and it only came with disc 2, the disc that didn't have Dante on it.

I even saw Hey you, Pikachu! on sale there for $5. No one even wants that game for $1.

I don't know... If you collect Pokemon things, then you'd want it.

I don't know... Yelling obscenities at Pikachu is worth at least $1 to me.

$5 isn't too bad for loose, but there are way better games you could spend $5 on

I wouldn't waste 5 bucks on it, I love Pokémon and grew up on it but it's starting to get old and a little repetitive.

The Media Warehouse - Reedsburg, WI

Owner was very rude to customers and his employee. They don't have any games out. You have to look through a database of prices, and then they change the prices on you before you purchase.  Apparently my friend is "a f***ing idiot" for not understanding how their pricing structure (scheme?) works.  This happened to a friend of mine, not myself, just passing along the info  More info (http://www.reddit.com/r/gamecollecting/comments/2be86o/worst_experience_ever_at_a_game_store_midwest/)

Yeah, I'd pay $1 for any non sports N64 game really.

Local stores around here are all Quarterback Club and the AKI wrestlers.

That's very good to know as I am from the Milwaukee area.

Arn't we all forgetting to add a very horrible store to our list? Gamestop!

The Charges:
Ruining millions of games with hard to remove stickers including stickers on the inserts of the games
$55 for a standard newer used game is pretty bad, I mean come on your not really getting any discount especially if games have online pass or features missing.
Lack of a variety of games within the stores, all I seem to see is the same bland shooters all over the stores.

You know in all the years I've heard about Gamestop sticker horror stories I've never run into a copy that had the sticker directly on an insert. Managers around here tend to use the technique of leaving the sticker on its paper and just sliding it into the spine. They might be annoying to remove but they don't compare to Vintage Stock stickers, those are horrible. I'll never forget the hour long battle I had with a Vintage Stock sticker so I could have a pristine Saturn case for Iron Storm or something.

My local stores tend to have a varied selection for both new and pre-owned games, and I've been picking up a few older RPGs and platformers in the $20-30 range lately when I visit them. Their Buy 2 Get 1 Under $20 pre-owned sale is rather popular around here when it pops up. You'll see people load up on $5 or less games on the small scores thread when its on, and I'll grab a handful of those $19.99 games.

I agree with you on the price of new games that are played and traded back in within a few days of release. That's the main reason I either buy games brand new from time to time or wait until they inevitably hit the $10-30 area or the inevitable 90% off Steam sale. I know I'm not really missing much by waiting on 'Random Shooter #19865213984' of the generation.

gamestop/EB Games' new stickers are wonderful, i have no complaints anymore but sometimes you still have the old ones to deal with occasionally. i used to buy a lot more from them but now i rarely do. they're great for pre-orders if you're into that, but buying "new" from them is stupid because of their open everything policy. though if you ask they often have a sealed copy in the back room that you can swap the floor copy for.

on some slightly older modern games they tend to be cheaper than ebay, especially when you get into the under $10 games. i've never had any issues with variety either, they tend to have a lot of obscure RPGs and other niche titles at the locations near me, maybe your specific location is just bad for that.

they have their place and they're great for the non-collector.

One of the local Gamestops here is great with marked down PS2 games and accessories. A whopping 75% off!

I'm not gonna read through this entire thread to see if this has already been laid to rest, but...

If a store tells its customers that a video game's price is X and they change the price to >X at the register, isn't this illegal?

I've never had anyone do it to me, but I think if it happened, I would tell them to forget it and leave.

If your down the edision nj way avoid trade 1 on rt 1 in Edison. They are majorly over priced the owner isn't helpful things are a complete mess and the only reason I can come to see why they stay afloat cause every so often you'll see ads looking for young females to be actresses and models for him..... Reading between the lines he doesn't sell jack so how else does he stay in business you be the judge

All posts prior to this one have been added to the first post. VERY sorry for the delay on that folks. I'm just getting old and neglectful.

GameTraders

New Port Richey and Hudson FL

Practically every employee is a complete dick. There was one guy that was nice and would make deals with you.  But his boss forces him to now run the business like a retail giant that has 0 chance of bargaining.  My biggest problem was they used to label things with prices.  And the owner would then 'change his mind' on selling it to you and then charge a much higher price.  I've been to a store that wouldn't change the price even if they knew they could sell it for more.  But this guy would tell you straight to your face that he was doing this.  They also got into the habit of charging slightly above amazon and eBay.  They literally look the items up and then price them at the register.  I can understand not underselling.  But when I can look it up myself and see they are doing this, I would rather just buy it online.

And they're so ignorant on certain games.  Some of the Final Fantasy games on PS1 can be purchased new on amazon for around $15. And the rest never seem to go over $20 anymore for a used copy. And yet they're still asking $40 for their one copy of FF8 that has been there for over a year.

Amazon.com

For those that saw my 3DS Miku game in Small Scores I got my replacement today! Its also crushed because it was just tossed into a bubble mailer.

So in frustration I spend part of my lunch hour on their customer service line, so I could talk to somebody and request a replacement with specific instructions that it gets put into a box (which I also did for this first replacement). Instead of going with a simple replacement that's tossed into a box and taped up, they gave me a refund and told me to re-order the item. I totally believe, after 2 strikes, that a simple re-order would lead to me having a pristine copy of this game, it would probably be the standard release and not the launch edition by now anyway. I'm done with them.

@SirPsycho: That sucks. Can you find a copy at Gamestop or Best Buy?

Best Buy's too far, but Gamestop still has stock. I'll still be gambling on a Launch Edition until I'm in the store.

*Edit: Just went to the phone again since my replacement ticket is still open. Apparently I'm getting another replacement on top of the refund. I'm still sour about it, as this should have just been tossed into a bubble mailer, then that mailer tossed into a little box and taped up the first time, not the third time.

Did you have to send the others back?

I should use this thread more often.

GOOD STORES:
Retro Games Plus
267 Main Avenue    
 Norwalk, CT 06880

Retro Games Plus
350 Boston Post Rd
Orange CT 06477

Retro Games Plus
2453 Berlin Turnpike
Newington CT 06111

AVOID
Gamers Gambit
67 Newtown Road
Danbury, CT 06810

This is actually a VERY GOOD Tabletop Gaming store and a decent Comic/Graphic Novel store.  The video game prices are unbelievably high.  Loose NES $100, Loose N64 $100, Loose SNES $100, etc.

there's a separate thread for the "Good Stores"

also i don't know where to put this one but:
Dark Side Games in Chilliwack, BC - not bad, but not great either. prices were very high on all hardware, i wouldn't recommend them for that, and many games were insane ($40 for loose SMB 3, $100 for smash bros melee, etc). but on the flip side i managed to find 5 games that were below the lowest end of my price range for them. so i would say they're worth browsing through for the occasional good deal, but on the whole their prices are too high.

Here's an awful one:

Retros
Route 1
Lawrenceville/Princeton NJ

I decided after this new store cropped up, in what used to be a house next to a AAA building and a seedy motel, to finally check it out - and brought some old dupes I had that wouldn't have fetched much on eBay anyway.

Wow was this place a dump and the guy was the most aggressive deal maker (in a bad way) I've maybe ever seen. I listened to him go around in circles with a contractor on paying for licenses almost the entire time I was there. so I took store credit vs cash because my intent was to get something out of this trip - had $35 in store credit.

Nothing was in good condition, there were a ton of - what looked like - re-seals of stuff like GameCube games that he had $80+ stickers (common Nintendo selects versions too). I ended up getting two original Xbox games for that credit - that's right, oXbox (which he had a ton of) were all mainly $15/$20 (complete at least). Grabbed Burnout 3 and Burnout Revenge. I have no idea how that guy will ever make a sale, the prices on everything else was astronomical. $40 for N64 games that would be $15 tops online, just bad. Strong recommendation to avoid.

Not sure how many people are in the St Louis area but here is a custom google map of the STL area with all the game stores on it and some additional locations I created a while back.  I do update it every now and then when something changes.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UaSFp8A5JwtgUxpy3Qef1ITnXbM&usp=sharing

 KW vintage games (Kitchener Ontario Canada) the store owner is a thief.  A lot of the merchandise is stolen as well.