Not Just Games — Local services in Lawrence Township

EDIT 7/25/17: Lowered my rating; the owner should learn to properly respond to criticism rather than deflect it. 1/5 Stars. I'd recommend shopping anywhere else.

Tucked right off of the highway and placed within a rather shabby strip mall, Trade 1 is a strange little electronics store that primarily buys and sells video games. Browsing the store is a somewhat surreal (yet exciting) experience, to say the least; because as soon as you walk through the door, you will feel as if you've stepped into a time capsule of sorts. As a case in point, the first things you'll be greeted by are a locked cage full of various SNES titles and a kiosk stocked with several PS1 games. It genuinely feels as if you've walked into a store that's stuck in the 90's, and from my experience with this store, I can most certainly confirm it is; and as you'll see demonstrated in this review, this is a good thing AND a bad thing.

But before I voice my major issues with the store, I'd like to get the positives out of the way first. As mentioned before, I dig the general vibe of the store; the large stacks and piles of games, the small and cozy feel the store has, and even the multiple TV's playing in the front of the store. In a world full of "clean", bland, lifeless chain stores; Trade 1 feels like a breath of fresh air: a remnant of a bygone era. Even though others may find it annoying, I love the feeling of sorting through a large pile of games and not knowing what you'll find next. I strongly feel these factors give the store a unique personality when compared to most other game stores.

Moving on from that, the store has a fantastic selection. Strange bootlegs, reproductions of ROM hacks and translations, imports, vintage titles, and new titles; this store just about has something for everyone. The staff is also generally friendly and was willing to give me a decent deal on one title I purchased (albeit after a decent amount of negotiation, but it was a solid deal nonetheless).

Which is why it pains me that I have to leave a negative review of this place, as things only go downhill from here. By far, my biggest issue with this store is their pricing: it's absolutely appalling (for the most part). It's not uncommon to find games being sold for ~2-3 times their actual price, if not more. And when you try to negotiate for most of these items, they refuse to lower the price and start giving absurd reasons why. For example, the employee I talked to refused to budge from a game's price since they imported it when the game was new. However, they fail to realize that this was well over 20 years ago and that most games (from the time) have failed to retain their value (for example, they wanted $40 for a $20 game).

And this is my next major issue, they're so in denial about the value of their games that they flat out ignore how much a vintage game will fetch online (if you don't believe me, this part is mentioned on their site). I've had problems with stores pricing their games based on eBay listings before, but I've never had to deal with a store pricing their items OVER eBay asking prices. And I haven't even mentioned that the employee I talked to initially told me the wrong prices on what I was buying, only to tell me the items were priced far higher than what they told me prior as I took them to the counter.

Lastly, the store is a tad dirty. I saw a beetle (?) or two crawling about on my visit. Again, I want to like this store; but there's so many glaring flaws preventing me from recommending it at all. So sadly, I'm going to have to give it two stars. I could only really recommend visiting for the strange, nostalgic atmosphere the store provides; but if you're looking to buy something, you'll get a better deal from just about anywhere else (even from the multitude of resellers online).

tl;dr: An interesting stop to make (if you happen to come across it) that's good for window shopping and not much...

I want to give an honest review about this place and why I'm giving it 1 stars.

We started by calling and asking if they had any ps2 to HDMI converters, they replied yes and told me the cost. Then I also asked him to check stock, if possible, on a game (Valkyrie Profile 2). I was told that would be hard to do as they have over 200 PS2 titles in stock and that was understandable. So my wife and I headed out to their establishment.

We got there and started to take a look around and the first thing that we noticed is they had a lot of stock but it wasn't very organized (normal for this type of establishment). We are approached by one of the employees and he asked us what we were looking for. So I told him that I was the guy who called a few minutes ago looking for the converter. He takes out RCA to HDMI converter. This was not what I was looking for, I asked for a PS2 to HDMI converter not a RCA to HDMI he insisted that that was it. We were about ready to leave but my wife and I decided to take a look around anyway.

Looking at some of the games we noticed that the prices were higher than normal. Now I'm not comparing prices with Amazon or Ebay, I'm comparing prices to other vintage stores that I have been to. An example was Legend of Dragoon was marked at $60 and the box was damaged but there is a similar place in Somerville NJ that is selling the same game at $40 and the box is in great condition. Nothing else caught my eye in the PS1 section so we go to the PS2 section.

Here the employee pulls out a binder with a bunch of PS2 games and lets me look for Valkyrie Profile 2 it wasn't in the binder but my wife and I go to the PS2 wall and look for the game. After some looking I couldn't find it and was about to leave but my wife hands me a box. It was it! Valkyrie Profile 2 awesome! The price was $40.99 so I continue to look around and find Star Ocean on the PS2 for $35.

We approach the employee and I ask if it's okay to look at the state of the disks. He opens up the box and shows me the disk in his hand, it seemed that he didn't want me to touch it at all. I notice quite a few superficial scratches and it did turn me off from the purchase. The employee assures me that the game works and that the disk was properly cleaned and treated so the scratches wouldn't matter at all. The Star Ocean disks were in a similar state. I ask if he can do any better on the price. That seemed to upset him he assured me that the price was fair for the games. I felt the price was to high for the condition of the games he told me that I was lucky getting it at that price because someone priced it that low if it were him pricing it out that it would be more money. I said thanks but I'm not buying it for that price. My wife and I walked out.

This was the 3rd store this weekend that my wife and I went to and it was by far the worst one. A lot of other stores are run by experienced gamers and that work with the customer, this placed sadly didn't. The prices are higher than normal. A lot of the PS1 boxes are badly scuffed up. They don't let the customers thoroughly check the disks. Part of the reason I come to places like this is to check the Disks something you can't really do on online purchases.

In conclusion: I read all the bad reviews but wanted to come see for myself. I feel like this place can improve if they listen a bit more to the customers, the prices are much higher than other places (again not comparing to Ebay or Amazon). As an example we went out and found Valkyrie Profile 2 NEW for $20 more than what they were asking for. With a little more organization and keeping some of the more sought after titles separate from the rest of the lot would help the customer find what they are looking for and the staff locate things better. Also try dropping the buy 3 get one free deal and lower your prices across the board that...

It’s pandemic season and understandably things fly off the shelf. However the service offered by one of the associates has left more than a rancid taste in my mouth. I must start off by saying that I love this place and have visited more than a few times to pick up some older titles (Pokemon Colosseum and XD anyone?). So I had hopes that they’d be able to help me again when I called and asked about a PS4. The associate was friendly enough on the first call, gave us a price and I was happy with it. I asked about the storage (hoping for at least 500 GB or 1 TB if I’m lucky). Making sure to emphasize that I was looking to purchase immediately. The associate in question said they didn’t know and would call me back in 2 minutes with an answer. After 10 minutes passed I called back because I figured maybe they were busy or simply couldn’t locate my number to call me back. No answer. After several more attempted calls we decided to just head over to the store and find out for ourselves. Here’s where it goes sour. After arriving on location, and identifying myself as the caller from earlier the associate goes, “Oh it’s sold already”. I was a bit shocked, as not even half an hour had passed from my original phone call and as such I asked if he was referring to the PS4 sitting on another table not 5 feet from us. He confirmed and I had asked if the customer in question had purchased it online. “No it’s on hold”. That answer had me a bit upset as something could have been said during my original phone call. I asked when it had been put on hold and he said “after your call”. Now I was upset. At this point I should mention I was in the store with my sister and two friends of ours, all of us looking forward to trying out some games. One of these friends is a black man. He was wandering the store checking things out during the interaction but it’s important for later. Anyway, I ask him again if the hold is binding, or since we were on site and ready to buy if we could purchase it then and there since he already admitted to my call having been the first to come in. The associate was adamant that nothing could be done. So before I turned tail in defeat and ushered my group out, I asked how much storage was included in the PS4. “I don’t know”, he says. So I then find out that not only had I been stiffed for the product, but that my call has been so disregarded that the associate couldn’t have even been bothered to check, the whole reason he was supposed to call me back. My friend who I mentioned earlier overhears this and starts to try to offer to buy the PS4 at a higher price than was listed, hoping to somehow land us the console then and there. The associate declined and asked us all to leave. Citing that “I’m the only one in the store and you guys are making me very uncomfortable”. After he slams and locks the door, that was that. I’m disappointed as I’ve had very pleasant experiences in the past, but if that associate is the type of employee they have representing them, I don’t know if I’ll ever be back, and that goes for my friends and our respective...