April 2016 Update: All pictures that were originally on this post has been since removed from their Facebook page. Sorry! Here is a picture of another store entirely.
For September 6th 2014
M & J Video Games & Collectibles Grand Opening Edition
A brand new retro video game store opened up yesterday. On the last "Video Game Additions" post I made, I mentioned a place called M & J Video Games & Collectibles. This store is taking the same exact spot as The Gaming Source had. Man this store was a gem of a store. Before this store even opened, I had a feeling that this store is kinda not of good quality. Just look at the list of names that they had for their grand opening.
The first person they had I guess couldn't go as they deleted all mention of this person on their Facebook page. It was John Cena's Father. So a guy who had nothing to do with wrestling except for his son being a wrestler, okay. Next up is Ox Baker, an 80 year old wrestler who was in the movie "Escape from New York", and apparently had his own cookbook. A "Famous" clown doing balloon animals. The Gamers Box, a service that entails bringing a trailer where you can play video games inside it. They're mostly used for birthdays and special occasions. A DJ by the name of "DJRAFA". And to top this star studded list of celebrities, they had Rocky the Rockcat from the New Britain Rock Cats and Sonar the Mascot from the Hartford Wolfpack. Was this a video game store or an amusement park? Not to mention their Facebook page is filled with awful grammar.
So I knew I was in for something special before they opened. I went there with a friend of mine and boy was it small inside. The Gaming Source was small too but I felt that M & J was even smaller. They were pretty busy, I was very close to people every time I turned around. Even though with their size, 7 people would make it look busy. There was also a PS2 Kiosk, something I haven't seen for YEARS, hooked up but I really didn't like where it is placed. It is set up right in front of the door of the store. So if someone is playing it and you want to enter the store, you would have to move out of the way of the person playing. Like no one noticed that it is blocking the entrance? Also they had the kiosk WAY too loud. Sometimes it was hard to hear the employees because the game on the kiosk was overpowering the volume of their voice.
They had a good selection of games. Ranging from Wii U, Xbox 360, PS3, all the way to Genesis, NES, and Atari 2600. They have some weird placement of some games, such as the Xbox games. They're all lined up with the spines facing outward just like books. Some games are turned around so the back of the case is against the wall disrupting the layout of the other games. Also on top of each section, they have the video game console's box in between games. It looks fine with smaller boxes but it just looks silly with big boxes, such as the original Xbox. The SEGA Genesis games are split up into three different sections for some reason. Regular games, sports games, and loose carts. Also all of their Super Nintendo, NES, and N64 games are all not on the shelves but inside the glass case up front. Which would be fine except they have them stacked right on top of each other instead of laying down flat. Oh man! They also have their video game systems stacked on a bookcase. Just, just, why!
In addition to games, they also sell DVD's, Blu Ray's, and collectibles. They have their DVD's and big box PC games on a rack that when you look through them, the end ones tend to keep falling off. We were there for like 10 - 15 minutes and 3 times DVD's fell off that rack. I didn't get a chance get a good look at their collectibles but what I did get a good luck of was their wrestling action figures. They have a HUGE assortment of boxed action figures. If I was a little kid, I think I might have dropped dead looking at all of them. There is just so many! However I have one problem with their selection of wrestling action figures, they have an ENTIRE corner of the store dedicated to them. Now yesterday was their grand opening, they were open 4 days prior. This section looked like not a single person bought an action figure. I think they put too much stock into wrestling action figures instead of video games, something they should focus mainly on.
The prices for their games are kinda high. Every game was priced exactly on how much it's worth. Some games the prices are inflated 1 or 2 bucks. I'm not really complaining though as the prices could be much much worse. On the other hand, other retro game stores offer cheaper prices for the same products. I only had $10 and I wanted to at least buy one game to support the new store, so I did just that.
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Monsters, Inc.: Scream Team for Playstation 1 |
Now while I liked the Monsters, Inc. movie (never did watch University though), I have no interest in collecting their video games. The reason why I bought this one specific game is purely based on nostalgia. I use to play the demo for this game on a demo disc I got from Playstation Magazine. More specifically Disc 54 from March 2002. I would always play this demo all the time so I'm glad I finally have the full game now. I probably won't get to playing this for a while though as I have too many game I need to beat first. It'll probably be a game for a rainy day.
Monsters, Inc. Scream Team for Playstation 1 - Cost $6 - Worth $5 - Difference -$1
I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt on their customer service since it was the grand opening. When I went up to the cash register with my one game, I handed it to the guy, he then handed it to someone else to cash me out. They then told the little girl there what I'm getting and how much it was. Then she told the first guy I gave the game to what game it was. Then he got the game and said "Here is how the game looks." "Okay..." I replied. So it seems like they don't have a disk cleaning station like Retro Games Plus or even Game X Change has. Then a whole other person finished my transaction and gave me my receipt. So for my one game, it took 4 whole people to cash me through. Oh my god! Then they told me about their free raffle. What the raffle is for is anyone guess. It could have been for dog shit wrapped in tin foil for all . Good thing I don't win raffles if that was the case.
My friend had a worse experience than I did. He asked for a PS1 memory card and controller. The worker went off somewhere and came back with some third party memory card. "$9.95" the worker said. So I guess he didn't have a choice in what memory card he wanted, and wow $10 is too much for a memory card that came in a broken case. Literally every retro game store I ever went too had the memory cards in the glass case so I don't know why they don't. That PS1 controller is still missing in action however, so if anyone sees it, please tell me. He then asked how much Super Mario Sunshine was on the shelf behind the cash register. It took the worker 4 tries before she finally got the right game. The first question she said was "What system is that on?" So, Super Mario Sunshine, a game released in 2002 and it never got a port to any system whatsoever, and she asks what system is it on. That is basic as can be video game knowledge. It's not like he was asking for some random Turbografx 16 game. It's a flagship game for the Nintendo Gamecube! It sold close to 6 million copies! It's just mind boggling that someone working at a RETRO VIDEO GAME store has a very small knowledge of video games themselves.
My friend ended up with buying that memory card, a PS1 game, and 3 PS2 games. Two of his PS2 cases were broken. One didn't close at the bottom and the other had a big crack on it's spine. Luckily I had some spare PS2 cases so it didn't matter in the end but, that is completely unacceptable for a business to sell broken products without any sort of discount. To top this mediocre shopping experience, you know what kind of bags they gave us to put our games in? Fucking Stop & Shop and Shoprite bags. They couldn't even afford their own bags?! And to put the cherry on this shit sundae, both bags had holes in them. OH MAN!
As you read this article, you would think that I really hate this store and I am being harder than I should be on it. Perhaps I am a little too hard on it. That's because I love video games and I want them represented the best way possible. I don't want video game stores that give video games the same respect as pawn shops do. This store is very decent but not the best. Far from the best. This store has potential but they need to organize their merchandize better. More is not always better so put some of your stock into the back so people can actually see what you have on sale. Also perhaps make the wrestling collectibles area a tad smaller as it seems it overpowers the other collectibles. I would be going back here when they get their legs running but I'll be going to the other retro video game stores in Connecticut first. Well anyways thank you for reading this long article that may be sound more like someone bitching than someone who was talking about what they found for their video game collection. Thanks and have a great day!
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