As recently as a few years ago there used to be several handfuls of mom&pop stores right next to Madison Square Garden, breaking street dates and haggling prices. I used to go to an awesome indie shop in Englewood, NJ that held Tekken Tag tourneys and introduced me to Project Justice on the DC. These stores are getting nearly impossible to find in the tri-state area (I'm from NJ, live in NYC), but every now and again I stumble on what I feel is the last remaining soldier in the indie game store circuit.
Clifton, NJ: Digital Press Videogames
http://digitpress.com/store/
This place looks pretty legit, I'm tempted to go later this week. Apparently the guy who opened it basically wrote the book on retro video game values, so I hear this store is extremely well priced. I'd imagine the problem with that would be that amazing deals are impossible to come by. Have any of you guys ever been here?
Lower Manhattan: Video Games New York
http://videogamesnewyork.com/
Never been here either, but they have lizardlick-esque prices on Sanwa/Seimitsu buttons/sticks, and lots of import stuff. Had I not found my HRAP 3-SA stick off of Craigslist, I would've been here in a heartbeat, that's for sure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eotq9IRDP4A&hd=1
Chinatown: J & L Game Trading 1 Inc
(not really a website at all...
http://jnlgame.com/)
This place I have been to - it's right next door to a famous and huge chinatown family style restaurant. They have tons of good stuff, lots of imports - basically anything you'd expect from a chinatown video game shop except for bootlegs.
East Village 14th & 1st: CEX
www.webuy.com
I've done tons of business with these guys, and they're great. Their trade-in prices are generally awesome if you take store credit, and they have lot of video game and electronics collectors constantly in and out of their stores, bringing in some gems now and again. I saw a SFIV Tournament stick for $55 there once, and I'm still kicking myself for letting it slide. There used to be a big store near NYU on Broadway, but it just went out of business a few months ago. The trade-in credits count on the website as well, but they require a pain-in-the-ass mailing voucher system to get reimbursed.
Does anybody else have good finds? Feedback on the above stores?
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Nobody else around the tri-state area?
My newest obsession:
My pickup:
I'm psyched.
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