Yeah, I rarely go to the Gamestops around here any more. I only go there if I'm already in the area doing other shopping, or if I'm looking for a more niche title. I despise being pestered to pre-order games, buy strategy guides, or get their crappy Game Informer magazine(advertisement). I know it's not the employees fault, so I don't get pissy with them, but it has really driven me away from the store.
For years here in the Birmingham, Alabama area there were a few GamXchange stores. Sadly the last one closed about a year ago, but last I spoke to the workers they said the store was doing well, just not spectacular. They also told me the owner had other businesses he was operating and opening up, so maybe that's why they closed the last one, along with the ever-increasing crime in that area.
But GameXchange was a dream. They had stuff for all of the current systems, but most importantly they had legacy games, systems, peripherals, and often times the instruction manuals and original cases. I'd spend roughly 2 hours there on each trip going through each game they had for the systems I owned. Let's face it, there's not a lot of game stores that have a copy of Ogre Battle 64 and multiple copies of unopened NiGHTS Into Dreams just sitting behind the counter.
I do have on last safe haven for legacy game shopping not 5 minutes from my house. The store focuses mostly on the newer stuff, but they still have lots of NES, SNES, N64, GB/GBC, and Genesis stuff. They even have some TG-16, Saturn, and Atari stuff sprinkled throughout the place. I don't know what I'd do without them. :)
"I feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself."
