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Use this thread to discuss FuncoLand and other pre-GameStop "buy and sell" video game stores!



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pook99 wrote:I could write a novel about all the fun times, crazy people, and crazy good deals I got at my time working at Funcoland. I noticed your from long island, thats where I used to work, I was the asst. manager at Massapequa Funcoland across from the sunrise mall.

Awesome, man! I'd love to hear some of your stories!

The location I frequented was Lake Grove, right behind the Smith Haven Mall. It was the closest location to my house, but it wasn't exactly around the corner. I wasn't driving age, so I would have to beg my parents' to take me there. Probably for that reason I remember my trips to the store being extra special.

Speaking of that area and how awesome the 90's were, do you remember Sports Plus? That place deserves it's own thread, but for those that don't know check out this quick video. They had a pretty large arcade floor. But they also had an ice rink, laser tag, bumper cars, rock climbing, and other activities.

Awe man, I LOVED FuncoLand.
I used to geek out over those price lists.
I'd take them to school with me and make a list of the games I wanted that fit in my budget (mostly Genesis and Sega CD at that point -- with some Game Boy). Of course, most of the time, they wouldn't have most of the ones I wanted in stock, but I'd get a few here and there.

Ours was next door to a Chuck E Cheese (which at the time had some good arcade games like The Simpsons, G-Loc, and one of those mid-90s Racers.

I've been hoping to find scans of FuncoLand price lists, so whatever else anyone has, I'd love to see them! Maybe I can do an article on this -- love it!

Software ETC

Game Pedler.


Software ETC. Had them in Crossroads Mall & Cottonwood Mall. Both have long since been torn down and neither store is around. I loved going there. Software ETC had PC games, console games. Retro games. Figures of gaming character long before it was common as a collector's item.

Game Peddler sold current and retro in the 90s. Let you trade in games without ripping you off. They let me play G-Darius whenever I visited on those CRT gaming TV's from the late 90s with the giant folding speakers. It just seemed the people who ran these stores were fans of gaming. Also was just nice to walk in a store without all the damn promotional pre order posters. Just a big plastic Mario and Sonic in the Cottonwood Mall one. Across from that one was the Comic shop.

Back through 1995-2002 and off and on going back home for a few years i couldn't recommend this one store highly enough out west. The single owner priced it to move and he wasn't about the upsell on each individual item that would have come with the games too. Nothing was under $5 or a trade of 2 common games for a $5 title and that was a large pool of much of what was there a lot was just $5, then you had some more than went into the $6-20 range with the amount going lower by the uptick. It was a nice community based location at the western end of the freeway and the owner was a pretty nice guy, good friend, and a general 'friend' to customers who were good and respectful, especially repeat business. The stuff there would make you turn white given the current market for some years now both in variety and price against todays figures.

At some rate while I was out of town for awhile something in life went sour, and even before things started to price northward online he just got foul. I know it wasn't a business based hardship as he had owned the space and cost him basically nothing to operate outside of utilities but greed but also just being mean set in. Not very nice to people, short tempered about things, paranoid people were up to stuff (even friends), never would close the door even on major holidays (including Christmas.) What did it was the fact those $5-10 ebay games his rule was to charge 2-5x the going rate. He stopped selling to regulars as they wouldn't do it, and trades were different too. Someone could walk in with a bag full of $300 in goodies and they'd come out with a 10% return on it at best. I'd hang out there still and see him do it then he'd laugh about it and gloat. Worse I asked him how things were keeping up with business and he said it was great -- because he had 2 customers that kept returning -- moms with screaming kids they'd silence with a game and trapped boot camp marines who could just come off base looking for something fun and he'd clean them out (how low is that?) I never bought after that rate, shortly after we had a falling out as his got paranoid thinking I did something and it was done.

If you're ever in northern san diego county, never ever go to Game Adx if it's still in business as the owner is mentally unstable and greedy as sin, rotten taking advantage of future marines too.

This was the store I've mentioned in passing before where I have seen all of those lovely $100-1000 NES/SNES games these days, got my good TG16hu/cd (JP too) library from, and various other awesomness as this place was a weekly haunt for my college years taking a $20 and making for an amazing time with the goodies. It went from a better than Funco to a makes Gamestop look like a saint place.

If anyone has that sheet of all the prices on all their games each month that would be awesome to post

PlayNTrade
Last store in my area closed years ago, had a good mix of used games, even older systems Gamestop did not carry.

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&p=567541#p567541

racketboy wrote:Awe man, I LOVED FuncoLand.
I used to geek out over those price lists.
I'd take them to school with me and make a list of the games I wanted that fit in my budget (mostly Genesis and Sega CD at that point -- with some Game Boy). Of course, most of the time, they wouldn't have most of the ones I wanted in stock, but I'd get a few here and there.

Ours was next door to a Chuck E Cheese (which at the time had some good arcade games like The Simpsons, G-Loc, and one of those mid-90s Racers.

I've been hoping to find scans of FuncoLand price lists, so whatever else anyone has, I'd love to see them! Maybe I can do an article on this -- love it!

I've seen a few online, just dont remember the exact places. Im sure a google search will pick it up.

I also have one last surviving funcoland price sheet. I need to get someone with a scanner big enough for it, or do some copy pasting out of the smaller pieces.

I'll see what I can do.

Long before Gamestop bought them EB games was great. Kaybee Toys was also great.

I have a handful of Funcoland catalogs from 1999 that I could maybe scan in sometime. Never done much scanning, but if it is worth doing, I'll look into it.

It's amusing to look at a couple that I had circled and crossed out a bunch of games. Most I would eventually acquire, but some I either lost interest or never ran across.

That was from a magic era for game collecting (for the little cash I had).