For people not in the know:
1. Typically just 1 in a given area is the "retro store".
2. If there is more than 1 in the area, let alone the whole state, the other ones won't be the main retro store and they will still ship most of their retro to the store. For example, there is 2 in my state, 1 in a major city of around 100k people and 1 in a town of 25k. Guess which one is the retro store? Yup, small town. Oh and the 25k one is 90 minutes from the two largest metro areas in the whole state that have about 10 Gamestops between the two areas. But no, drive 90 minutes both ways....
3. They have always been able to take retro games in. They just don't take some because it isn't worth selling Madden 98 on PS1 for $.99.
4. In the past, they would usually keep them until the end of the month. So you could always have asked if they had any. They could sell it to you, but they were usually instructed to say no. Some employees are cool and will do it.
4.5. A good reason is they don't want to risk high returns if something is defective or fake. So...they send it the warehouse (labeled as defective, which is why you might get a game with a "DEF" sticker on the case) but they don't check for it being fake or working so great fucking job Gamestop with that.
5. Regular stores still can receive and sell retro, but you gotta be fast because now they are instructed to send most, if not all, to the retro store.
6. Even if you find a retro store and it has a good selection, guess what is now fulfilling online orders instead of the warehouse? Typically an order will go to a store first to be fulfilled. So don't wait until tomorrow to get it.
8. Their new method of catching fakes is better than the old method (aka do nothing), but its still bad. If you are thinking about buying carts, make sure you open it up ASAP and return if needed.
9. Some stuff is better than market prices, but they don't differentiate on loose or game+box or CIB so it can be a crapshoot. And knowing the condition you are buying Gamestop games in...might be better to just spend a little more on eBay or the Mom n Pop store that doesn't have a fuckface CEO like Cohen or treats its employees like fucking dogwater.
