Local game shops
Just wanted to see how many different game shops still carry NES stuff around you guys. I'm in St. Louis. We have a chain (not sure if its national or just local) called Slackers CDs and Games. They carry just about everything, NES, SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, Saturn, DC, 3D0....but their prices are rediculous.
I hadn't been to the one by me in probably 6 months atleast, and they still had most of the same games they had then. They had probably 100 or so NES games, but almost all of them were $8-10. Some even higher. Then we also have Hollywood Videos with their small game store called Game Crazy. Usually they have decently priced games, but I went in yesterday to find a bin with a couple games NES games and some PS1 games....just about empty. They said they were told by corporate to clear out all the old games.
The only nice game store is a place called Trade N Games. He really knows his stuff and has fair prices, but its not like you are going to score any amazing deals because he knows what everything is really worth. A while back I was talking to someone on nesworld.com and they knew of the shop and were in town and went there...they got to talking to him and he has a Stadium Events.
I hadn't been to the one by me in probably 6 months atleast, and they still had most of the same games they had then. They had probably 100 or so NES games, but almost all of them were $8-10. Some even higher. Then we also have Hollywood Videos with their small game store called Game Crazy. Usually they have decently priced games, but I went in yesterday to find a bin with a couple games NES games and some PS1 games....just about empty. They said they were told by corporate to clear out all the old games.
The only nice game store is a place called Trade N Games. He really knows his stuff and has fair prices, but its not like you are going to score any amazing deals because he knows what everything is really worth. A while back I was talking to someone on nesworld.com and they knew of the shop and were in town and went there...they got to talking to him and he has a Stadium Events.
Comments
Im in Columbia, MO so I am familar with Slackers. Found out they send all there cib or rare games to ebay and just stock the store with common stuff, at least when it comes to older games. We also have a CD Tradepost that carries NES games, not a very big inventory, usually 40-50, but they get new stuff in a lot. I seen your avatar was a T/A, are you a member of FAST?
Yeah, I'm very active on FAST....are you on there?
Have you ever been to Trade N Games. Its down Gravois, about 2 miles south of 141. Its a really cool place if you are ever down in the Fenton/High Ridge area. There is also a Game eXchange in South County and Crestwood. I haven't been to either of those in a long time, I might swing by one of them today.
I have a user name on FAST, but not really active anymore. Good friend of mine Greg, wickedws6, is a user there, not sure if he is still active. I've been to tradengames a couple times, real nice guy, very knowledgeable.
You do realize that TradeNGames is owned by Jason Brassard one of the nicest guys around. I have had 2 hour phone conversations with him on NES stuff. He also of course has SE but it's not for sale, guy collects for every system ever made and has a huge a** collection. He is also the Senior Price Guide Advisor to Video Game Collector Magazine.
I haven't been there in a while, but I knew his first name was Jason. I wasn't aware there was a "Video Game Collector Magazine"...where can I subscribe?
http://www.vgcollector.com/
Above is the link to Video Game Collector Magazine website. Issue #7 is worth picking up for all NES fans as it has a complete photo checklist of "all" as they call it, NES games, including unlicensed stuff. Pretty cool!
~Erik~
Videogame Dungeon in Datona Beach Fl has a huge selection of boxed NES games for sale!!!! I stocked up while I was on Vacation. 10 bucks a piece!!!
Um...no offense intended, bro...but $10 a pop for boxed NES games? Unless you got a few medially scarce titles in the bunch...ouch (says the guy that usually encounters boxed NES games for $2-$5 each at flea markets
At least it's better than what my area usually offers... The only places to pick up NES games around me are through the Tennessee Trader (local classified ad paper), or at pawn shops or flea markets. There is a GameCrazy here, but its NES stock is quite standard fare (read: not more than a couple games out of 50 are actually worth the two bucks and a half).
For systems like 2600 and NES, it has both a cart only and a complete price. For systems like the Genesis and the Sega CD, where it is more likely to be found complete, it only lists the Complete price.
I find the prices to be generally pretty good, it's hard to be spot on with how quickly the market can fluctuate, and how sensitive pricing can be to condition.
And yes, Jason is a nice guy. When I first started collecting I stumbled across his shop and had a couple conversations with him. Sold me some of the boxes I needed when I firts decided to switch from cart only to CIB.
~E~
Actually the price guide is far from accurate. I would say it can give you a general background and I have complained to both the publisher and Jason (the senior price guide advisor) but the price guide part tends to take a back seat to the actual "magazine" of it. I could go on and say alot more, that I have been told by insiders there, but I don't want the wrong person to read this and get anyone into trouble. Anyways when CIB Chubby Cherub is listed in the price guide for $11 it's hard to say it's accurate!
~E~
Yeah, that was my main problem with the guide. Some of the Atari 2600 games were listed at 25-50% more than they're actually worth (cart-only, mind you), and many of the NES and some of the SNES games were quite a ways off, especially CIB (as you said, Chubby Cherub complete is not worth $11, no matter how you slice it, nor is a loose NTSC Stadium Events worth $275). Some listings are so inaccurate that I've actually written in where game prices have jumped around.
Incredible store, Game Crazy told me the same thing about their old games...
Makes me angry.