Where I used to live we had a GameXchange up and coming chain of stores... the local franchisee owned three of them, I think (there are more stores than what they have on their map. I know of a few in Wisconson, and one in Illinois in addition to what is listed)

I was always amazed by what I would see there any time I would walk in. from a decent selection of import games, some old hardware (working sega master system)

I got a sealed copy of Jet Set Radio Future for $12 about a year ago.

One time my friend and I were in there, and some 'Good ol' Boy' comes walking in with a box full of stuff to sell... so, we're over in the corner rolling our eyes about what crap he's gonna have. Turns out the guy was selling a bunch of complete, great condition saturn/sega cd games. there were a few they wouldn't buy because they were import, and they couldn't move the import games they had (in a college town? WTF?) so, my friend gets a handful of saturn imports in fucking mint condition for dirt ass cheap... this guy was just wanting to get rid of the stuff...

it's unfortunate that they don't buy a lot of the saturn/segacd games anymore... the selection of stock never changes much from time to time... but yeah, I appreciate the small game shop much more than the big chain stores, but they are a dying breed, much like arcades.

There used to be a "rhino" store near where I live now, but gamestop bought them out just a few weeks after I moved here, so I never got the chance to see what that was like.

I liked EB better before the buyout too :/

there is one somewhat near me in framingham called "game universe" and they are honestly really legit. they have games for at least every system and so many you've never heard of. they have tvs set up for playing just there and tournaments. i've only been there once but when i did i spent probably an hour inside constantly looping around extremely overwhelmed.

I feel spoiled.

Here in NYC there are tons of indie games stores. Hell, there is one 2 blocks away from me.

My favorite is probably Multimedia 1.0 near NYU. Walking in that place is like traveling back in time; retro stuff is practically stacked to the ceiling.

I don't remember ever seeing a local gaming store until two weeks ago, when this thing called Replay Games popped up at the little university mall next to my apartment complex.

Back when Funco Land was on it's own, I found a copy of FF III(VI) for about $20 that had been mislabeled. Also I think I bought my first used game from one, or a store like that. It was A Link to the Past for my SNES. Still have both of those.

where do you see sealed xbox launch titles for $1.50? ebay doesn't have them that cheap, and I don't know of any store that doesn't have them used.