Cool retro game stores in the world

[Costello]

Do you have a "retro" game store in your neighborhood?
If so, tell us about it, show us some pics or something

Here's mine!
Shameless cross-group link: https://gbatemp.net/threads/retronutz-my-favorite-game-store-in-singapore.600409/
I just posted about my favorite game store in Singapore (on my group Singapore Gamers), which happens to be a "retro" game store.

Do such "retro" game stores exist in other countries? I imagine they must exist in Japan because well, it's Japan, but how about other countries?

 

[FAST6191]

CEX (international chain) and one of the pawn shops occasionally have a couple of examples of massively overpriced 16 bit era stuff, maybe the occasional NES game, and a handful of the cream of the crop PS2/GC/Xbox games behind glass (Skies of Arcadia gamecube for something like £110 the other week when I wandered through one).
For the most part though every game selling shop around here has nothing older than the PS3, 360 and Wii at this point and as of the last year or so those shelves have been shrinking at pace too. If there is any xbox or PS2 stuff then it is pretty much guaranteed to be sports games, the handful of pedestrian driving games, pedestrian shooting games or other games that you would expect to fill the shelves of charity shops and such like (you say share pictures I was actually thinking of making a thread for what features in your local charity shop/goodwill).

Handheld? Hahahaha. Maybe some loose GBA cartridges if you are lucky, few loose DS and 3ds too.

For retro stuff it is pretty much online, dedicated retro conventions/fayres, random chance in charity shops/antiques shops (see my master system pickups the other day https://gbatemp.net/threads/things-you-recently-bought-or-got.347639/page-692#post-9573817 ) or the occasional stall at a car boot sale when someone does not realise what they have and treats it like a similar vintage toaster (a rarity in this world of ebay making it easy to see, and you have to get up very early for the sharks as they are termed seem to aim to be the first there and through).
I would not really expect much in the way of shops in the UK these days either; difficulty in obtaining stock (days of people wanting shot of things from their attic/basement ended some 20 years ago), quality of stock (they are toys and also now decades old electronics), volatility of pricing, fairly high price of entry meaning you have a somewhat discerning market (adult with my own income sort of thing, you are not getting intro retro with a paper round where you can play all the second hand modern games you want on that) and also needing to do the usual overheads (rent + the council tax bump for year 2 means nothing cool lasts more than a year and any selling locations are chain shops, coffee shops and charity shops).

 

[Flame]

Pretty much what @FAST6191 said. CEX is the only thing close to it. I had one (retro gaming) pretty close to me but it close down and become a café. even a big store like GAME here in the UK close down pretty recently, which had like three "retro" stuff.

 

[Chary]

Game Over Videogames is one that's from my hometown, actually. Houston has a TON of retro game stores, but this one used to be local to me, and I loved being able to walk to it!

https://gameovervideogames.com/

Sadly, their prices have been mad stupid since the pandemic--I'm talking, like, $90 for a cart-only copy of Heart Gold, or such. But it's still fun to see what they get in stock.

They also have a little "gaming museum" in the back, where they have just about every console and revision ever, as well as a good lot of dorky accessories, especially for the NES.

 

[Hanafuda]

Nothing near me within a few hours. I think there is a retro store in Columbus, OH, but I've never checked it out.

I have been to the Super Potato stores in Akihabara (Tokyo) in 2013 and 2015, and DenDenTown (Osaka) in 2015. Also several other retro shops in Akihabara besides. I'm hoping to at least get to the Tokyo store again next summer, but I don't expect the visit to hold up to other times I was there. In 2013, Super Potato was still pretty much "real hardware" only. Practically any console you could think of was available, with more common ones like Famicom, SuFami, N64, Megadrive, Dreamcast, PC Engines of all sorts, being available in pedestrian shrink-wrap bundles (stacks of 'em) or in the original box, with serial# matching manual, etc. They even had a bunch of brand new, sealed Dreamcasts. And aisles of game carts for sale, like walking in a library. By the time I went back in 2015, most of the original consoles were still available but prices were up and selection was way down, and clone consoles like Retron5 were taking over. Same with controllers, you could still get OEM but 3rd party stuff was there in abundance too.

 

[the_randomizer]

There's a place called Mario's in a mall and another called DVD Xchange, both have lots of retro stuff in good condition.

 

[Bagel Le Stinky]

In BC there's a really good one called "Epic Games and More" but I don't have a picture

 

[Foxi4]

If you're looking for a slice of that "Japanese video game store" experience in the UK, there's a store in Cardiff, Wales that plays off of the "Super Potato" brand called "Super Tomato". Their Facebook page will give you an idea on what kind of business they run.

https://www.facebook.com/HAUSOFSEGA/

This is not my go-to spot to get my retro goodies, the prices sure are "up there", but so is the quality. If you're looking for something very specific and rare, you want your goods to be about as "mint" as they can be and price is no object, "Super Tomato" is your destination. I personally prefer to pick up consoles and computers that aren't in the best of shape and refurbish them back to their former glory, but not everyone has the skills, the means, or the will to go through that kind of hassle. If you're not into refurbishing and just want the genuine retro experience, swing by - you'll find something cool. These guys clearly know what they're doing, and they know their products.

 

[blue-moon]

Store called BITz, not in my hometown but is located in Bridlington (UK) and is quite bizarre to have an independent game store in a coastal town like this but is a lovely store with plenty of games and consoles spanning many generation. There is a great selection of ps1 games, i even bought my first ps1 game here. the owner gives great service and is very approachable. Prices were pretty decent as well

really a shame, this shop is a little out of the way of the main harbour and has very limited online presence
but i always love to drop by when visiting the area

 

[Costello]

Store called BITz, not in my hometown but is located in Bridlington (UK) and is quite bizarre to have an independent game store in a coastal town like this but is a lovely store with plenty of games and consoles spanning many generation. There is a great selection of ps1 games, i even bought my first ps1 game here. the owner gives great service and is very approachable. Prices were pretty decent as well
View attachment 283711
really a shame, this shop is a little out of the way of the main harbour and has very limited online presence
but i always love to drop by when visiting the area

this is the sort of place I've always imagined @FAST6191 runs

 

[FAST6191]

Me speak to/interact with members of the general public? Ew. Some say everybody should get a job in a public facing role to experience just how awful it is, I figured a truly wise man learns from the mistakes of others and have done everything in my power ever since to avoid it.

Not to mention I would struggle with the collector aspect, and possibly investment as well. If you had about rent for a month when you were 18 and an hour in even an average game shop, no particular knowledge of what would be heralded as a classic today then how much would your return be today, never mind the sorts of detailed lists and heuristics those reading this thread likely have in place of whatever it is functioning members of society keep in their mind? Do you think it is going to go down in years to come (if you were 10 in 1990 you are still only in your 40s and have a nice midlife/youth recapture thing and retirement to go)? To that end why would I not bank everything that is not a common sports game or annual shooter, and you can't pay rent on sports games. Getting stock is also tricky; there is probably always going to be old furniture pulled out of houses and varied enough in it that yeah. Getting old games, much less the good stuff, consistently is way harder.

I have toyed often with doing a business repairing consoles, making up custom leads/making new versions of classic connectors, making up custom adapters and all the rest but gamers are also notoriously cheap so easier to use all the same skills fixing cars*, motorbikes, general electronics, machine tools, antique things and save the game stuff for a hobby or those that might know to ask.

*nobody is going to pay me £30 for a NES extension cable or set of connectors, I make up a custom adapter for some gary boy to attach a reliably sourced/better turbo or something in place of a now rare and hard to come by/badly engineered original to an existing loom and they look shocked, pay me the money and then run away like they stole it in case I realise my mistake. Either way connectors, pins and a few wires get thrown around.

 

[Shroudednightmare]

we got gamez in ajax easy asnwer