Re: How is it in the wild these days
- From: jt august <starsabre@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:59:56 GMT
In article <1188225636.680900.135140@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"blueangel_63034@xxxxxxxxx" <blueangel_63034@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Wondering how the garage sales of today compare to those of 6 years
ago.
I quit looking for the most part since moving to Springfield, Il from
St Louis, Mo.
I wondered if anyone is still having classic sucess on the 2600 ,turbo
grafx ,and older sytems than Super NES.
I have popped into the 1-2 thrifts this town has unfotunatley right
next to the post office for easy ebay sellers to drop in.
I think the glory days have past but ironically the games look like
the ebay prices have fallen dramatically as well.
My interest in classic gaming got resurected since buying a Nintendo
wii and thinking 6.00 for devils crush ..i can buy a turbo16 in
garage sale and get it for a 1.00 :)
Hey JT if your reading this do you still do the hunt :)
Yo Chris, how ya doing? Brian was asking if I had heard from you
lately, now I can tell him yes.
Here in StL, pickins are slim these daze. big change at our mutual
fave, which is still the best one for any finds in StL. Lisa and Brad
both quit, went to United Mo. Volunteers, who moved their store from the
location you found that b/w TV that was in reality a Veccy to right
across the street from the good store. The new location of United
Volunteers has a new name, but never any games.
The fave has mostly illegal immigrants on staff now, they leased out
what used to be the beauty school space next door to expand, and with
the new space raising rent, prices have gone up. And with Brad gone, a
lot of potentially good stuff gets thrown out because the goofs working
furniture don't know how to turn things on or hook them up, and unlike
Brad, they don't think anyone would buy something broken at a reduced
price. I know that they have thrown out at least 2 flat screen LCD
monitors in the last three months, simply because they could not get
them to turn on. I have spoken with the manager, told her that a lot of
that stuff will still sell broken and that she is throwing away
potential money simply because she doesn't have anyone who knows
computers. I'm now trying to track down the owner to tell him this.
Perhaps if he realizes his people are throwing out money, things might
change back at least somewhat.
Also, the last time I went in, I noticed a major turnover in the faces
working there. My guess is either INS came through or some were caught
stealing (which I think a lot of them were doing, as it seems the
quality of what does make it to the floor is on average worse than it
used to be).
As to garage sales, more miss than hit. Rare to find anything cart
oriented this summer, though psx has been OK. These days, I see a lot
of ps/2 and xb, but the garage sale prices on this is rediculously high,
and if you try to barter with the teens, they get really rude in their
defenses.
On the fleas; Barnhart closed. The old lady who owned it sold it, and
the new owners converted the property to some trucking operation. When
this happened, Peveley started charging $1 per person admission. When
this happened, people felt insulted at the thought of paying just to
look at junk, and attendance fell off to a literal trickle. Last time I
was out there, the three sheds out back were all empty, the main indoor
building was over 1/3 empty, and in the main compound on the front half,
it was so empty, I could throw a dozen baseballs across the compound and
likely not hit anyone or anything. About a quarter of the remaining
booths had going out of business signs on them, all saying they were
losing money with no customers coming out any more. That was two
summers ago. I ran into PJ at Wentzville a couple weekends ago, and he
told me that the Peveley owner sold what used to be the parking, and
converted the back half (the lower part with the three wall-less barns)
into the parking. He also still charges admission.
Wentzville is THE flea in StL. Still Sunday's only. But the only time
I got out there this year, it had been raining the night before, so
sellers attendance was light, only about 325 booths of a possible 550.
PJ is in the same spot he has had for the last eight years. Moans about
how bad it is for sellers, with too many sellers, and not enough free
parking to accomodate the buyers even though they expanded parking last
summer by 1/3. Of course, he's always bemoaned the place, but still has
his truck in the same booth spot every Sunday for 8 years now.
Old John at Barnhart, his health was taking a bad turn, and when
Barnhart closed, his kids helped him sell out whatever he had left ultra
cheap. Older John at Peveley is still in his indoor building stall,
still talking about all the stuff he has in his warehouse but never
bringing it in. And the time I got to Wentzville this year, PJ was the
only real vid game seller. A couple others had a couple straggling
games, but nothing real.
The indoor flea at Rock Rd. by Metrolink has been closed a couple times
this year, and I heard that some counterfeit t-shirt and purses dealers
were busted, and the police or feds got court orders closing the place
down, holding the flea owner liable for allowing these booths to keep
operating. But they are usually open. Haven't been there since last
fall, guess I should pop in sometime.
The two guys who maintained classic stocks at Slackers St. Chas and
Chesterfield both quit, and no one else wanted to bother with the stuff,
so Slackers only goes back to NES and SMS. Only one Slackers has any
TG-16 or Jag that I know of, but I don't go them these days. The
Chesterfield Valley store has moved into Chesterfield Mall by Sears, and
that store's prices are even higher than before. AVOID, AVOID!
Game XChange cave springs has moved to o'fallon, and has almost nothing
classic at all, and has even killed off NES and SNES.
Been a while since I went to Trade N Games. Jason's still cooking in
Fenton. Last couple times I was there, he took me into his private
vault. The only collection I know of in StL that does outdo mine.
you'd like it, over 85% boxed complete (I don't do boxes).
The SumGuys seem to be off classic stuff, as I see stuff survive for up
to three weeks at the thrifts when things do show up. And based on eBay
prices, it seems the profit potential is pretty much wiped. PJ says he
competes with about 8 guys, but in the CD based systems arena. No one
seems to want to bother with classic stuff unless it is a big package
that can sell as an instant collection.
That's the state of affairs as I see it in StL. So how is life treating
you these days in mid-state IL?
jt
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