Chic, Geek & Antique — Local services in Saratoga Township

This is in response to the response of my previous post. As i said there are many cool items and vintage items in your store. I was there to write a review of what i saw. I walked around for roughly 30 minutes. I would randomly inspect an item, some were packaged. Some were used items that had no packaging. I would make a simple internet search on my phone to see if your prices were indeed competitive as others have claimed. Within roughly 30 seconds of looking i found that some items were indeed priced competitively, but sadly most were priced to compete with the most expensive price from the exact same item at the most expensive value. And more often than not you can get the exact same item brand new for 50%-75% what you were charging. So no thats not competitive. As far as the identical items with different price tags. They were literally touching and all price tags with different prices were clearly visible. And those items were identical. I enjoyed my time in your store, it was mostly nostalgic, but i wasnt there to purchase anything, only to review. You have a buy, sell, and trade store. You're not a retail store. Just like a thrift store the majority of the items on display are pre-owned. Everyone understands that you have a business and you're out to make a profit like every other business on the planet. Im here to help people make informed decisions. Nothing more, nothing less. To be fair....of the 40 items i picked at random to price check. Only 29 were set at the same price as the highest price in said internet search. And those high prices were from private seller's on ebay and amazon. So....yeah. I'm sorry you didnt like the honest review of your buy, sell, and...

A great selection of collectors items. I recommend taking a gander if you are in town. (Disclaimer: I was here a while ago, and prices are roughly what i remember. I just couldnt get this situation out of my head.)

HOWEVER stay a mile away from the pokemon cards. There are packs made by the shop, costing about the same or under a normal pack off the shelves of target or Walmart. Stapled together in plastic bags or paper, which reminds me fondly of when I did this as a kid for our garage sale back in like 2004. So I bought two. One at about $3 and another for $5. They looked the same so I thought that more meant better cards?

So Wrong.

Inside there is suppose to be uncommon cards just like a layout of a normal pack, but it's all curated specifically to give you garbage cards. Like not even a kid would be happy with this. If you have a child, do NOT buy these, unless they are MAYBE a dollar. Which is about the worth of the cards themselves. Buy them legitimate packs for real childlike wonder, not this scam they are peddling. For the super duper collectors: they had a base set NON first edition spearow for $2. Wanna buy all of mine for .50c a piece? I have like 200 of them. Easy money if they ACTUALLY sold them regularly.

The two guys there said the "pokemon" guy was not there, and I can see why. But you guys should get someone else in there to actually list prices accordingly, and fair before you ruin a kids day. Your base sets and super duper collector cards make sense for pricing, albeit the markup for collectors, but you are so focused on money you forgot kids like these cards too.

Checkout guy was...

This marvelously eclectic shop is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. Inside you will find some vintage fashions and jewelry (chic), a sizable selection of vintage toys, action figures, and comics (geek), and enough vintage/antique "other" stuff to keep you poking into corners for a while, from Pyrex to old photos to weird medical models.

The owner, Thommy, and other staff are terrifically friendly and knowledgeable folks. It's just a nice space to shop in. There's no price-gouging here, either, like you find in some antique malls (where the booth rental rate is reflected in the price of the items) or shops in trendy suburbs. Expect fair prices, welcoming smiles, and a pleasant time wandering through. You should probably plan to walk through at least twice -- I always find things I missed on the first round. And what's the hurry, anyway?

I don't live locally to C,G&A, but I find it well worth the drive to get there. Be sure you know their hours before you go and plan (they close at 7pm), and you can check their FB page for recent arrivals and sales. I definitely recommend this place!

Pro tip: If you're an action figure person and want to sell, contact him first to make sure he has time to look at what you're offering first, or if he's currently buying. It's best not to show up unannounced,...