Oasis Games — Attraction in Salt Lake City

Going to preface this by saying my wife and I were customers here for years, have spent thousands of dollars here, and I'm a big proponent of supporting your Local Game Stores.

There's supposed to be something of an unspoken agreement between your FLGS and the customer. You know going in you're paying slightly higher prices than market for the convenience of avoiding online shipping and to support the store to help keep the lights on so you have somewhere to play.

But there's a line that most reasonable customers aren't going to cross, and unfortunately Oasis has exposed how they do business through the whole Final Fantasy MTG debacle and the greed is unsustainable. It was bad enough when they were selling Commander decks for $380, or charging $15 more than competing stores for events. Gift Bundles for $200 were a slap in the face but we paid for one anyway.

The last straw for us as customers though was when we walked in yesterday to grab a Collector Booster Box. I'd been in the Friday 5 days prior to buy other product and they were priced and labeled at $1320. High, but still close enough to market price. We came back yesterday to buy a box for my wife and I to crack during our anniversary, cashier confirms they're still $1320, goes as far as to have my wife choose a box. He rings it up, and it is actually now $1800 and closer to $2000 with tax. He didn't even realize that somehow these went up about $100 a day according to the store's math.

I check all the internet platforms, and they are still selling for $1300-$1400. We walk out of there for the last time, because frankly at this point this place is worse than the scalpers on Facebook and we can't stomach supporting their business model anymore. For context, when the Final Fantasy Collector stuff skyrocketed a few weeks after it came out, Oasis immediately raised their prices higher than market listings while Gamer's Asylum restricted purchases to 2 boosters per person and kept their prices where they were before the spike so their regular customers could still purchase product. That is how you attract and retain business as an LGS - not treating your brick and mortar customers like Ebay and TCGP speculators.

Singles at Oasis are priced significantly higher than market value across the board, sealed product is much higher than any internet listing or market prices for anything with a chance of selling, their trade-in offers are a full 20-30% lower than other LGS - hell even store events are priced significantly higher than their competitors. We enjoyed the community here and were willing to pay a tax to play there, but after 5 years of coming here to play and spending thousands of dollars on product, we can't justify supporting the shady business practices anymore for the sake of convenience and a friendly player community - both of these things can be found just as easily at any one of the dozens of competing stores in the valley. Stores that frankly respect you more as a customer and don't treat you...

I came here to sell my pokemon card. Not a cheap one either.

The kid at the front desk we so rude and had no customer service skills or any people skills for that matter. First, I was told to get a piece of paper and put my name and phone number on it. So I did just that. I thought it was scratch paper cause at no time did the kid say fill out this form. He didn't even offer me a pen. Yet he was quick to mention that I needed to fill out the front of the form instead of just writing my name and phone number on it. I then placed my card in the box as requested and he states his manager will come get the card and they will let me know the value, if any. He said they would just call my phone. Well I walked around the store looking at items and even purchased $80 worth of games. He asks if I would like a bag for the games and I say yes. So he hands me a plastic bag to put the games in myself. Now 45 minutes has passed and I ask the kid if he knows how much longer it will be. He said " I don't know. My manger is in the back and I don't know what he is doing." Didn't bother to go check, or ask or even attempt to try and let me know a time frame. He said if you want to leave you can and we'll call you. Again I asked hoping for a tonight or tomorrow response. Any kind of answer. But once again, nothing. So I leave. About 8.30pm he calls and says I can come get my quote. Mind you I went into the store at 530pm. I told him I couldn't that night but would tomorrow. I go the next day and pick up the money. I see a jar on the counter that had candy in it which I saw the day before and the price sign of. 25¢ I grab a twizzlers as I wait for him to cash me out. He then turns the jar around to make sure the price tag sign is showing to me. Like I was going to steal the candy or just help myself. I jokingly say to him can I have 2 war heads candies for 25¢ since they were so small. He couldn't even Crack a smile as he states 25¢ I said really? Again he only said 25¢ He could have at least spoke a whole sentence to me at any point. He was rude, inconsiderate, definitely had no respect or concern for customers and couldn't even respond politely to me. Definitely will not be recommending them to anyone.

Not to mention that...

STORE POSITIVES

Employees C.J. and Will in particular are 2 employees that are friendly and helpful. In the years that I've known C.J., I've appreciated how he walks around asking me if I need anything and making recommendations. He's been great with trade-in's as well and even gave me points I missed out on for years because I wasn't aware of their in-store rewards system. I think I'm still missing 150 but didn't want to over-estimate.

Will actually took time to explain the rewards system Oasis has and made sure I understood what points were for. Thanks guys!

Selection I'm an unusual customer in that I don't go to Oasis for Magic the Gathering at all. I only go for board games. I've found good games still in my collection: Scythe, Hoplomacus Remastered, Tiny Epic Series, and even a Kickstarter version of Here to Slay ❤️!

Trade-In's When board games don't work out, I trade them here. It can take as little as 30 minutes up to a week for my games to be evaluated, but I've appreciated having a quick way to offload games that haven't clicked. I do wish they gave a little more trade-in credit because when they sell it the rest is profit.

STORE NEGATIVES

Parking Good luck finding somewhere to park on the weekend. It's best to go on a week night if possible.

Prices Sometimes I will find a good deal, but much of the time, online prices are simply better: Ebay, Gamers Guild AZ, and Boardlandia usually have better prices and a much wider selection of board games. Trading in games does offset higher costs, however.

Communication Sometimes I'll be in the store waiting for my trade to be evaluated but they rarely call and don't come over to tell me it's ready when I'm in the store. Further, employees don't ask me to enter my rewards number at the counter and haven't explained it to me for years--until a few days ago because of Will. They should more actively inform customers about their loyalty program.

OVERALL Still, I'd recommend this store for the trade-in credit, selection, and atmosphere. Prices, parking, communication, and trade credit should be better, but the ability to trade board games makes this a viable option and a place I will continue to frequent....