Rant about local retailer

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Achilles
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Rant about local retailer

Post by Achilles » Wed Jan 17, 2007 12:51 pm

I live in a fairly small town in New Hampshire, were most towns are small. There is a locally owned and operated gaming retailer in my town, it has been open for the better part of 15 years I would say. I have been going to this place off and on since it opened, trading games, buying games and just browsing. It has lots of great games, for every system, all the accessories and hookups and other things to go with a system you could ever want. Since I have been back over winter break I have gone in a few times, a bought a few games, traded in some DS games and looked around a few times, clearly they had seen me in there a bunch.

Now to my issue. Every time I go into the store I am treated like a thief or crook or something, the guy comes out from the back, follows me around, never lets me out of his sight. Every game I touch he stares at me like I am going to walk out with it. I am 23 years old, I do not look like a little kid who might come in a break everything or steal anything, I have been in many times before, yet I get the same treatment every time. Like I said, I have been going since the place opened, and from what I can remember, whoever has been in the store working ,usually one of two guys that owns it, has treated me, or anyone else who walks in the same way.

I continue to go back, because I hope the service gets better, or I get treated better, but I never do. They also have good prices on some things, and tend to give fair trade in values, so that keeps me coming back as well. Although, there are many items that I feel are way overpriced, such as a Nomad for $190, or Saturns for $90 and so on. There is also the brand new PS3 60gig they are selling for $800. I asked the guy about it, and mentioned that Best Buys and Gamestops in the area have them for retail, $699, and in stock. He claims they didn't and that $800 is a fair price for it.

I know some of you guys frequent these types of places, the locally owned gaming retailer, and I have to ask, are all owners of these types of shops like this? Do they treat everyone this poorly? Do they all act like you are out to get them, and rip them off when in reality it is them who are ripping you off? It really bothers me when I am treated like this by a retailer, but more importantly it bugs me that they have such high prices on some of these things. A mom or dad that comes into the store, because it's one of the only gaming retailers within 30 minutes, will see the PS3 and get talked into paying the $200 markup by the guy claiming that you can't get it anywhere else. These just seem like horrible business practices to me.

Kind of a long rant, sorry, but I wanted to get this off my chest, they really bug me. Hope it all makes sense, I kind of typed it in anger. If it doesn't just ask I will clarify.
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LimitZer0

Post by LimitZer0 » Thu Jan 18, 2007 12:29 am

There are no individually owned video game stores around here, but I don't often get followed around.

Sounds like the store owner found some games missing and now everyone is suspect... A small store owner can't afford have things stolen.

As for the Saturn and Nomad, I don't think they are rip-offs, especially if they are new... Consider them collectors items. If you are smart you can get them cheaper... if you aren't then you don't deserve to keep your money. I sold my Nomad for about $130 on Amazon a few months back.

As for the PS3s, he most likely paid retail for it and is hoping someone buys it before it becomes more widely available. Again, if you are too stupid to check around then you don't deserve your money. :wink:

My favorite places to buy games are Wal-Mart and Target. I can't stand getting harrassed at Best Buy by the salesman. EB Gamestop is the worst though, those guys act like you are an idiot if you don't pre-order everything. They also talk crap about your personal game prefrences... IE I asked for Final Fantasy 11 for the 360 a few weeks ago, and they guy was telling me that it sucked, it was discontinued, and World of Warcraft is better. I told him I played FF11 years ago and I also played the WoW beta and for a few weeks after it was released and disliked it. He then told me how wrong I was.

Just a few days ago I went with my girlfriend to look for "We Love Katamari" (she loved the first), and the guy at EB went on for what seemed like 5 minutes about how much that game sucked, then asked if we wanted him to call around for it.

Horprodukt
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Post by Horprodukt » Thu Jan 18, 2007 3:42 am

We have a couple of stores here in central London, one of which is locally owned called Game Focus, and the other a small chain called Computer Exchange. Both sell second hand games and retro consoles etc.

Computer Exchange aren't the friendliest of people, and unless you are standing at the counter waving money at them they'll pretty much ignore you.

Game Focus are better. They're friendly. Pretty helpful.

Both offer pretty good prices. I tend to buy my games here, prefering to wait a few months after a new release is in the shops and picking it up at a knocked down price. "Black" retailed here new at around £40 for example, but i picked it up at one of these stores for £8.

If you're having a bit of bother with sales persons in store following you around like you are a crook etc, why not confront him/her..... not in a hostile way, but go up and say "hi"!... see what their reaction is.
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raz0red
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Post by raz0red » Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:59 am

I really despise going to any of the smaller gaming places (Including EB/Gamestop). They always tend to act like you are bothering them just to buy a game, ask a question, etc. The only places I have been buying games lately is Target. Beyond that I have been eBaying games a week or two after their release for $20 less than the retail price.

I don't understand charging $800 for a PS3 when it is a retail store. That just seems odd. You should report them to Sony. :D

--Raz.

zodiacprime
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Post by zodiacprime » Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:58 pm

I've been in dozens upon dozens of game stores up and down the westcoast (and a few back east). Local or chain, it really doesn't matter. I think what is more endemic of how you're treated is the caliber of the individuals themselves. I swear, I've met some of the coolest cats you can imagine at Gamestops and inversely have met total a-holes at Mom n' Pops. Although, to be fair, the ratio much favors the reverse. For instance, there's this cat in Bend, Oregon, that runs a great little shop (Game Quest) that he's owned forever. His shop is literally filled with rare toys and memorabilia all over the ceiling and walls (like I'm talking rare 12" Star Wars from backintheday etc). You'd walk in expecting to meet someone who is the consummate passionate gamer... instead you get this guy who sits behind the counter and if you ask any questions, he makes you feel like you're totally inconveniencing him... and to say that he's is monotone is an understatement. I used to get the same reaction from Billy Galaxy (a fantastic seller out of Portland, OR) but over the years Billy has sorta warmed up. I think for some folks it just goes hand-in-hand with our hobby. Most gamers aren't the friendliest folk (present company excluded of course) and many can be downright anti-social. Give that guy a Gamestop t-shirt and pay him minimum wage and you get a concoction for many of the horror stories I've listened to over the years.

Moral: go in with an open mind, but beware the troll.

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