Discovering a new shop

Driving through Greenwood on Saturday, something caught the corner of my eye. A pretty girl? No. Money on the ground? No. Free beer? If only.

It was actually a new video game shop. OK, maybe it's just new to me, but Video Game Exchange (not to be confused with Game X-Change) was just sitting there nestled with a bunch of other shops on Highway 10.

And since the owner was away on military training (so the sign says) on Saturday, I had to wait until today to visit the shop. And I came away very impressed.

The space was small and lacked air conditioning (not sure if they don't have any or had it turned off), which really inhibits the desire to browse around. But in the 15 minutes I spent in the shop, I could see that they had quite a handful of titles. Sure, the shelves were lined with PS3, Wii and X-Box 360 games, but the glass case near the register had a lot of SNES and NES games, more so than the game shops in Fort Smith. The Genesis, PSOne and Dreamcast collection was nice, but the Nintendo 64 stock was insane.

I really wish I had snapped a few photos with the iPhone, but I'd estimate that it was a five-by-three table filled with games. Majora's Mask and Super Mario 64, two of the best games, were there for $15 (no box). Speaking of prices, I think that's what I liked the most about the shop. The items weren't overpriced at all. Usually I see NES and SNES systems for $45 and $55, respectively, but here both units were $30.

I did walk away with two games. Super Mario Brothers for the NES by itself ($5, not a combo cart) and Super Dodge Ball ($7). As far as SMB goes, I already have it on the Wii, but there's something cool about having it in physical cartridge form. And I don't know why, but I'm obsessed with having SMB and Duck Hunt in separate carts.

And Super Dodge Ball for $7? What a steal! Steal might be actually be too much, but I usually see it on eBay for $12-$20 cart only, so the idea of saving at least $5 was very appealing for such an addictive game.

It certainly pays to keep your eyes open!