Yeah, I used to have Funcoland, Gameco, a couple of small shops, EB, and Gamstop. Then it all became Gamestop and all the others just closed down. I no longer go anywhere to buy games I just buy them off the net anymore. It's depressing to walk in to Gamestop.... it brings back memories of all the store I used to love and I don't know about your Gamestops but mine comes complete with Dark Corners. It's were a system and games for it get lost never to see the light of day, unless you are actually looking for that particuler system and know where it is in the store you have to ask about it.... in addition the Gamestop staff are really pushy... and on occasions laugh at you if you don't own and buy a game of the system of their choice. (Last gen the Xbox supporters were really bad.) It's terrible.

I miss my local store called Game Corner, the people that ran it got old and retired but they had just about every game you could think of if they didn't have it they would find it for you and call you when it came in so you could pick it up, and also held trading card game tournaments, D&D nights, just about every form of game nerd imaginable shopped there, it was truly heaven but alas they retired and took the store with them.

Actually I rarely go there at all since Rhino's turned into GameStop in my local area. This is how my GameStop discount card ended up expired to my surprise since I barely entered the store in the past 2 years.

Online DOES seem to be my best bet now like I said in the post. I still like to shop in public and find new things in a shop but I don't have much chance for that anymore in this small area. I'm not a fan of shopping online but I have no choice now I suppose.

John Lucas

John Lucas, is there any chance that you speak of Savannah or Augusta Ga? If so, we've shopped at the same Rhino! We may be Rhino brothers!!

Close. How about Hinesville? Liberty County. From Chatham to Bryan to Liberty.

I would entertain the thought of going to Savannah to shop for some rare deals but after driving that I-95 to work back & forth for about 10 years I rather keep it close to home now that I don't have to travel that far anymore.

Maybe when I happen to be in town will I check out the selection in metropolis Savannah.

Anybody who shopped at Rhinos is a Rhino brother. That was a really good store.

John Lucas

I'd rather buy at an actual game store (no matter how commercial) rather than support the online monsters that have killed the downtowns in this country.

If we ever hope to get the small custom shops back, we first have to stop feeding the beasts truly responsible for their demise; Amazon, eBay, etc..

I am fortunate. I have three Gamestops (one in particular where I have known the manager for 12 years) with a fourth one being opened.

More to the point though, there are two independent stores .. and I know both owners. Both will deal in almost anything -- but it is getting harder and harder to move anything that is pre-N64/PS1/DC. Most people who want the older stuff have it and those who have it to sell remember the prices from a few years ago on eBay vs. what things are going for now (the market has crashed worse than stocks).

I remember going into a Rhino once in Gainesville, FL. I was not that impressed -- but then again, since I had access to local stores with great old stock -- I was biased. (And then again, since I was only at that store, it could have been a bad one or it could have had stock that was geared toward the college crowd).

I don't miss Funcoland, mainly because I never understood their use of display boxes. They would be for decoration and did not necessarily match stock -- which made it tough trying to get complete Saturn games.

I also knew someone who used a game store -- but decided that after about 10 years that installing cable TV was a better life. If you are a long time NES collector, the name Mike Etler (who did an early rarity list) might mean something. .He still runs a mail order business: http://www.videogameconnections.com/

Mike from Morgantown

I dont hate them...

Well, hating Gamestop is natural for a gamer. They nag you to buy more no matter how much you bought, their used games will break, they overprice everything and most of their trade-ins are bullshit. Believe me, if you are smart you DO NOT shop at Gamestop.

Yeah, I know how you feel. There used to be some really great video game stores around me until EB games and Gamestop came in. All the stores closed down and were like that for quite a few years. Now more recently a new video game store has moved into my town and they have everything. But, I won't shop at gamestop, or EB games anymore. They overprice a lot of their games.