[ReaperXL07]

So I just found out that there is a game store near me in FL called Play N Trade. I've never heard of them before so I might head over to it here sometime today.

I was curious though if anyone here has any real experiences with shopping there? I've seen that they actually sell retro consoles, and might have some harder to find stuff so thats a huge plus since places like Gamestop don't really bother with anything thats not current for the most part.

Also I've noticed that they are a frachise, so their Trade in Values are set by each store seperately, but are they usually pretty good with trade-ins, or do they tend to nickle and dime you like GS?

I'm actually kind of excited that there is actually something close to me thats not gamestop...

[Macstorm]

I did, as a had a friend who owned one here in town, but it went out of business last year. He just couldn't compete with the twenty or so Gamestops in the area.

[JumpingTheGun]

We've got a great one down here in Ft Lauderdale. The guys know their shit and it's a excellent place to find old school stuff. Last time I went there I picked up Wild 9 for PSone =D. Also good to note that if the used game you want doesnt include the case or manual, they knock 10-15% off the price.

[BattleMonkey]

4 opened down here, all closed within 3 months.

Only got to go to two of them and really didn't think it was any better than gamestop. They still try to song and dance you into preorders. Also felt like a car dealer with sales people swarming you wanting to talk about games and such when I'm just trying to browse.

The only thing that was nice of course was the small selections of older systems and games.

[Alligatorjandro]

Where at in FL?

[Gravijah]

they've been popping up all over around here in south florida. i've only been in to one and they had a pretty reasonable selection of classic stuff. definitely worth checking out.

[Dragonzord]

I went to one in Orlando and found the prices to be about the same as Gamestop. I've been told their trade in values aren't great even for rare games, but I don't trade, so I'm really not sure.

They're still a pretty big company, so it's not like having a local mom and pop store or anything.

[superpickleman]

I've bought some good stuff at the one near me.
They had a new Famicon GBMicro which I snagged for around $60 a few years ago. Got some hard to find retro games there for cheap as well. Awesome store.

[ReaperXL07]

Where at in FL?

Broward county, around Margate/Coconut Creek area.

[digita1alchemy]

I used to shop there all the time, mainly for used games on older systems. Unfortunately both of the ones nearby closed down.

[IceDoesntHelp]

I think I went to the one in Toronto (though I'm not sure). It smelled rather terrible in there, so I left.

[Tadale]

They're all different, depends on the owner. The one in my hometown was rancid – maybe one to two copies of new releases, extremely over-priced used games, and smelled like funk. I think it finally closed down last year.

EDIT: This was in South Georgia.

[Lemon Crest]

I had my ps3 fixed at one of their shops.took them 2 weeks to fix it and it lasted another 2 and a half months before it died again.

[SpecX]

One opened nearby 5 years ago in a new shopping center, but it was always dead in there and when Gamestop moved into the area, they closed soon after.

[giancarlo123x]

Broward county, around Margate/Coconut Creek area.

I go there weekly with a friend to buy PS1 games, was there yesterday. I like the place. The manager there is cool to us and we talk everytime we come in. The prices are good on older games, I picked up Chrono Cross for 5 dollars, and Syphon Filter 1 for a dollar.

[Alligatorjandro]

I wish there were local game shops close to me.

[dancrane212]

I had heard that one had opened up in the city (Halifax) but by the time I figured I'd pop in to check it out it had closed. The people who did shop there spoke highly of it though.

[ReaperXL07]

I go there weekly with a friend to buy PS1 games, was there yesterday. I like the place. The manager there is cool to us and we talk everytime we come in. The prices are good on older games, I picked up Chrono Cross for 5 dollars, and Syphon Filter 1 for a dollar.

hmm thats pretty good to hear, hows their selection on older stuff? Probably going to head over there in alittle bit to see it myself. Couple of PS1 games i've been looking for that are not on PSN, i'd be curious to see if they have a copy of Breath of Fire 3.

[sixteen-bit]

I went there once for a game tournament. The next time I went it was closed down.

[Jasoneyu]

use to have one here in Richmond, BC. It was pretty decent, had a good collection of new/old stuff and ran several console LANs too. Sadly it closed down sometime last year as well. I just don't see these kind of stores thriving in areas with a abundance of Gamestop/futureshop/bestbuys around.

[RedSwirl]

I used to have one relatively close by before it closed down. That store is singlehandedly responsible for growing my SNES, Genesis, and PS1 libraries over the past few years.

Luckily I live near the main shipping center of eStarland and can shop there. Their store has a ridiculous amount of old games, systems, and paraphernalia crammed into a tiny room.

[JumpingTheGun]

hmm thats pretty good to hear, hows their selection on older stuff? Probably going to head over there in alittle bit to see it myself. Couple of PS1 games i've been looking for that are not on PSN, i'd be curious to see if they have a copy of Breath of Fire 3.

Pretty decent selection. They have a bunch of old NES, PSone games right out in the open and the more valuable ones are kept in a glass case right across from them. Def not disappointing.

[giancarlo123x]

hmm thats pretty good to hear, hows their selection on older stuff? Probably going to head over there in alittle bit to see it myself. Couple of PS1 games i've been looking for that are not on PSN, i'd be curious to see if they have a copy of Breath of Fire 3.

Its great, you wont be disappointed. I go there exclusively for retro game shopping and I always leave happy. One of my happiest finds was getting Mortal Kombat Trilogy for 10 last week. In the past month my PS1 game collection has grown from about 5 to 20. Also bought NBA Jam on SNES for a dollar just for the hell of it.

[AwRy108]

I have one that's a few miles from where I live in Lancaster, PA--I used to love digging through their older PSOne games (got the original Parasite Eve (Black Label) for like $8 in mint condition), but they've stopped refreshing their stock of oldies, so I don't bother anymore. They do have a few dozen rare titles, but, with so many of them being available in digital form now, they just don't sell any of them.

The woman who owns it is super nice (and quite attractive, ironically), but she knows zero about the product; and business is so slow that she can only afford to employ a couple guys who know about games (one per shift). I like the friendly atmosphere, but their prices on current software (new and used) usually don't reflect the price drops that you see at most other outlets, so it'd be silly to buy from them.

Also, b/c of their lack of employees, they have a ton of shrink: they've had several full-scale robberies and they can't even let people try handhelds b/c, on several occasions, kids bolted out the door with them (remember, only one employee in the store at a time). The store isn't even in a bad neighborhood.

Frankly, I don't see the store staying open past the end of the year. The owner told me that a GOOD margin on the sale of a NEW game is $10; in other words, with low numbers and growing theft numbers, they're barely keeping the lights on.

[Cat Party]

I shopped at the one near me when it had a going out of business sale.

[Jasconius]

We had one open up here, but it lasted less than a year before closing down... I never actually went. ;p

[Hex]

Great one of these stores here in Largo area, the owner is awesome and alot of the local fighting game community support the place.
He throws fantastic tourneys there too.

[djtiesto]

All the time... they keep popping up like flies around here and then close down a little while later... there's a really good one about 20 min away, over in Bayshore/Islip... have copies of Snatcher, Keio Flying Squadron, FF6, Chrono Trigger, Albert Odyssey, nearly every PS1 RPG you can imagine... all in excellent condition. But all extremely costly. Bought some old strategy guides from there (including Wild Arms 2, Romancing SaGa PS2) and a copy of Quartet for Master System last time I went.

[Littlegator]

Pretty hilarious prices on a lot of things, but sometimes you get a random gem (like Pilotwings 64 JP boxed for $4 in my case).

Also, they don't differentiate in price between boxed and unboxed. I made a deal with the owner to buy just the boxes for games for $2. Really filled out my collection.

[ShockingAlberto]

Awful prices and then it closed down.

Worth perusing every so often to see if you can find a gem. Got Tales of Destiny for a fiver from them.

[Lactose_Intolerant]

I don't know why anyone would open up a gamestore now. Its not a long term business plus you are competing with bigger companies.

[CSX]

They just opened one where I live a few weeks ago. Actually set up 3 TVs with N64s outside of a campus building in my university

[Horns]

I had one in town for less than a year. There are no Gamestops within 20 minutes so I was a little surprised when it closed. The store near me was convenient if I needed something quick, but I usually avoided the store. The prices were high and they didn't always get new games in as quick as Gamestop. When I want a new game I want it as soon as possible.

[BattleMonkey]

I don't know why anyone would open up a gamestore now. Its not a long term business plus you are competing with bigger companies.

In some areas it might work, but I really don't see how Play N Trade even still exists as a franchise with how many close down. They must really sucker gamers into opening their own cool game store that they think is going to bring in the hardcore players... yet then they fail and shut down. Franchises usually depend greatly on having selling power of the brand to get people to buy in, yet Play N Trade is nothing but stories of store closures... yet more keep popping up.

[DrAndonuts]

I have one near me in Atlanta. The guys that work there are really cool, and a good place to get older games. I usually stop in once a month to check out their Dreamcast games and to just shoot the shit with the staffers.

[thekonamicode]

I don't know how anyone can open one of these things. Takes about 10 minutes worth of research to find out how terrible an idea it is.

http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/cat.../play-n-trade/

[Dresden]

had one that hung around for about two years before closing down. I went in once, the store was like a dimly lit cave, their selection wasn't that good, and their prices aren't that good as well. They just couldn't compete.

[BigTnaples]

The one in my town closed down recently.

[Mr.FortyFive]

There used to be three near me but they're all closed now. I think there's one left about 20 miles away though. My experiences were always mixed. One was great and always had an awesome selection of retro and modern games while the others were just shit in terms of selection and employees. Prices were all over the place and those giant stickers they put on everything frustrated me more than Gamestop. I wasn't too surprised to hear that they had closed. There was never anyone in there

[blizzardjesus]

We have one in Buffalo, the prices on rare retro (atari to ps2) games are more than they go on ebay. Most saturn game and Snes RPG prices are nearly double of what they should be.
I've seen the owner buy titles from other small game shops and put them in his display case for twice what he paid. I prefer the people at the other 2 local chains, Game Craze and Oogie games.(though Oogie is starting to go a little silly with their prices so the P-N-T guy doesn't snatch them up)

[ReaperXL07]

Damn, it sucks that it's not that successful. I really wish gamestop could get some genuine competition in their market, but they drowned out any upstarts before they have a chance.

i've seen tons of gamestores open and close, but gamestop keeps trucking despite alot of their issues.

There used to be a gamestore in Palm beach, I think in the PGA mall, called Gamers. It was awesome because not only did they carry new releases, but they also had a large selection of older stuff, Imported titles, and all kinds of collectible game paraphernalia, they have been gone for years though, same with Software etc, Rhino games, and various others.

Still if I can check this one out, and find some older games I've been looking for it could be worth it anyway.

[linkboy]

It really just depends on the store because due to them being franchised.

I live in Great Falls, MT and I have no problems with my Play N Trade. The owner has been awesome and has gone out of her way to help with some stuff that she really didn't have to, like holding a copy of Suikoden II for me when I was out of town, or doing a case replacement for my Wii free of charge. I also haven't paid for a 10-10-10 membership in three years they've been open.

I've pretty much completed my retro gaming collection because of that store, so I'm thankful for that.

[diffusionx]

The one near me closed after GameStop opened up a store across the street.

[giancarlo123x]

Damn, it sucks that it's not that successful. I really wish gamestop could get some genuine competition in their market, but they drowned out any upstarts before they have a chance. i've seen tons of gamestores open and close, but gamestop keeps trucking despite alot of their issues. There used to be a gamestore in Palm beach, I think in the PGA mall, called Gamers. It was awesome because not only did they carry new releases, but they also had a large selection of older stuff, Imported titles, and all kinds of collectible game paraphernalia, they have been gone for years though, same with Software etc, Rhino games, and various others. Still if I can check this one out, and find some older games I've been looking for it could be worth it anyway.

You know anywhere else that sells older games around here? The only place I know is Guerrilla games but that place is a crock of shit with their prices. I remember seeing Mega Man x5 for about 20, and Banjo Kazooie for 30.

[Dave Long]

I have one that's a few miles from where I live in Lancaster, PA--I used to love digging through their older PSOne games (got the original Parasite Eve (Black Label) for like $8 in mint condition), but they've stopped refreshing their stock of oldies, so I don't bother anymore. They do have a few dozen rare titles, but, with so many of them being available in digital form now, they just don't sell any of them. The woman who owns it is super nice (and quite attractive, ironically), but she knows zero about the product; and business is so slow that she can only afford to employ a couple guys who know about games (one per shift). I like the friendly atmosphere, but their prices on current software (new and used) usually don't reflect the price drops that you see at most other outlets, so it'd be silly to buy from them. Also, b/c of their lack of employees, they have a ton of shrink: they've had several full-scale robberies and they can't even let people try handhelds b/c, on several occasions, kids bolted out the door with them (remember, only one employee in the store at a time). The store isn't even in a bad neighborhood. Frankly, I don't see the store staying open past the end of the year. The owner told me that a GOOD margin on the sale of a NEW game is $10; in other words, with low numbers and growing theft numbers, they're barely keeping the lights on.

It doesn't help this store that they have semi-local competition from an independent retailer that kicks ass with retro and modern games and systems.

[ReaperXL07]

You know anywhere else that sells older games around here? The only place I know is Guerrilla games but that place is a crock of shit with their prices. I remember seeing Mega Man x5 for about 20, and Banjo Kazooie for 30.

no the only two places I knew of anywhere even close were Gamers in PGA, and Rhino Games in Port St Lucie, but both of those have been gone for quite a long time. I think Rhino was bought by gamestop IIRC.

IT's a shame that alot of these gamestores that sell older stuff don't seem to be able to stay open for long. However the one in margate off lions seems to be in a decent spot. I think the closest gamestop to them is off of State rd 7 by target.

[JumpingTheGun]

Gorilla games is the absolute worst game store. We had one down here, and last time I was there the PS3 version fo Far Cry 2 was being sold USED for 40 bucks and this was about a year ago.

They closed down not soon afterwards.

[jam287]

There was one near me in Southern Illinois. It opened up about the time Call of Duty 4 came out as I started going there because they held a lot of tournaments for Call of Duty. It closed recently shortly after Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 came out (I was there for their midnight launch tournament). It was a neat place but couldn't really compete with Gamestop or Walmart as it's prices were never the cheapest and they often were out of stock on new games. I only ever went there for the tournaments which I won almost every single time scoring me a few games for free or store credit. I think I only actually ever bought 1 game there and that was Dead Rising: Off The Record and I just happened to be working a couple miles away at the time and wanted to actually support them because I knew they weren't doing good and were having less and less tournaments.

[riskVSreward]

There was one near me but some dude drove a car into it before I could ever check it out.

[GringoJB]

They're usually alright... the one near me is pretty good, and my friend's Dad actually just opened one a couple of towns over!

They seem to do more with tournaments/events and random weekend sales than GS ever does... kind of a cool change.