It's been about a year since my last visit to Charlotte and Gamer's Alley. It's definitely not the store I visited a year ago.
There were really 3 key things I want to remark on. First thing when you walk in the store it's not just retro games anymore. The store has fleshed out since my last visit and they now have comic books, all sorts of geek nick nacks, Funko's, Marvel figures, that sort of stuff, and gaming cards and gaming tables in the back. I guess the retro games don't float the store like they did a year ago. Second, the retro gaming stock (both consoles and games) is one not that good, and two vastly over priced. $60 for a Sega Genesis? Really? C'mon they were $25 bucks a year ago. The game selection was meh.. Where's the Vita titles? I found one. When looking at the vintage Nintendo I found shelves filled with sports games to make them look full. You can't give those old sports games away on any of those systems. However when I did find something that looked interesting I still found the price more often than not to be inflated. Third, the help. The short little guy that was working behind the counter with the earring and pony tail really needed some work on his customer service skill set.
I did pick up a few of Dreamcast games but I can't help but wonder what's happened here over the last year. I'll probably skip this location next time I'm in the area.