Going on a road Trip, Need help locating stops

[Sammickk]

Hello, long time game collector.
The week after next I will going on a trip across Country with my wife and son from Beckley WV, (southern WV) to Farmingington Missouri (south eastern part of MO).  Visiting the wife's family, might as well hunt some video games along the way right? 

Will be taking interstate 64 almost the entire trip. Passing by places like huntington Lexington, Louisville evansville and near st loius but I'm NOT going into saint louis lol did that once and that wasn't to fun.

My focus is anything from my childhood which is Sega master system/NES up to PS1/N64
I'm looking for places to stop along the way, and was hoping to get some tips on Stores/Places to stop along the way. Since I don't outside of my own surrounding area, (Charleston, Beckley area) I know these little cool secret gaming shops can be hard to find sometimes and it's best to ask local people, so that's what I'm doing.

If you know some cool retro-gaming shops I should stop at along this journey please let me know! I don't mind driving some outta my way but don't wanna drive too far off the I64 path.

[TAFK]

As someone who went to college in Bloomington, IN I have 2 places for you to stop, one game related one not.

Game Related - There is a chain of 2 stores in Bloomington called Game World, they usually have a decent stock of games and a lot of pretty good stuff, prices aren't doorbusters but I have seen very unique and interesting things there before.

Non Game Related - If you want to continue heading west to Center Point, IN you will find potentially one of the coolest attractions on your route, its a big cat rescue called the Exotic Feline Rescue Center and your son would probably love it. I'm linking the site here so you could look at if it would be feasible, its extremely cool and unique and you can get a personal tour of the location. http://www.exoticfelinerescuecenter.org/home.html

[TDIRunner]

I'm curious why St. Louis was a bad experience for you.  As far as gaming stores go, we actually have quite a few.  I would be happy to list any stores in the area.  I'm assuming that once you get near St. Louis, you will start going south on 55 to get down to Farmington.  If so, you will be driving VERY close to a good video game store south of St. Louis.  You will also be near South County Mall which has one of the 3 V-Stocks in our area (and the one with the best selection in my opinion).  I can also recommend two video games stores on the IL side of the river, but still in the St. Louis area that are not too far off interstate 64.  There are many more, but they will be somewhat out of your way based on the direction you are going.  It just depends how far out of your way you want to go.  There is also a video game store owned by a member here.  It's the best video game store in the STL area in my opinion, but it will be pretty far out of your way since it's in St. Charles (North West of STL)

I also go to Louisville occasionally on business, and there are a few good stores there.

I'll get some addresses put together and post them a little later.

[Sammickk]

Cool Thanks, I will Look into it! we are getting a hotel and breaking the trip up into two days, and we are gonna take our time, So also open to cool places to stop at too!

[TDIRunner]

Bodach’s Games
9 Village Plaza
Arnold, MO 63010
This will be the closest local video game store you will drive by in STL.  Decent  selection.  Descent prices.  Some hard to find stuff like 3DO or Jaguar.  Has stuff from Atari 2600 to current gen.


Game Trader 2
2 Hawks Nest Plaza
St. Charles, MO 63303
Owned by a TCP member.  Great selection.  Great prices.  My top recommendation if you don’t mind driving that far out of your way.  Lots of imports (pretty much your only source of imports in STL).  Has stuff from Atari 2600 to current gen.


Gamebusters Video Games
2700 Madison Ave.
Granite City, IL 62040
Located in my home town.  Small selection, but good prices.  Has stuff from Atari 2600 to current gen.


Grumpy Bob’s Emporium
2915 N Center St.
Maryville, IL 62062
Huge selection, but prices are a little higher.  Has stuff from Atari 2600 to current gen.  Some hard to find stuff.


JVS Gaming
2809 Homer Adams Parkway
Alton, IL 62002
Just opened.  Pretty small store, but good prices.  Mostly PS2 era, but has stuff from NES to current gen.


Trade N Games
1049 Gravois Rd
Fenton, MO 63026
Huge selection.  Decent prices.  Probably my second recommendation, but also super far out of the way.  Only local game store in STL that I’m aware of that sells their games online and ships.  Has stuff from Atari 2600 to current gen.
https://www.tradengames.com/store/pc/home.asp


Vintage Stock
25 S County Center Way
St. Louis, MO 63129
(located in South County Mall)
Chain.  3 locations in STL.  The address I provided is the one you will be closest to.  Huge selection, but most stuff is at market value or sometimes more.  However, I often find them slipping on games prices and sometimes get good deals.  Their Sega stuff tends to be cheap since they feel that Nintendo is all the rage.  You can check their website for their other locations.
https://www.vintagestock.com/


Slackers
18 S County Center Way #462
St. Louis, MO 63129
(located in South County Mall)
Another chain.  9 locations in STL.  The address I provided is the one you will be closest to.  Good selection, but very high prices.  You can sometimes get good deals on Sega stuff since they don’t seem to care much about it.  They have a website, but it’s not reliable for determining their inventory.  They are good at checking stuff at other stores and shipping between stores at no charge, but that isn’t helpful to someone passing through town.  Avoid games in the case as they tend to cost about double eBay prices.  Has stuff from NES to current gen.
http://slackers.com/


Also, we have about 10,000 Game Stop locations.



Here are the Louisville locations that I’m aware of.  I haven’t been to any of these places in over a year, so I cannot verify that my experiences form the past would be the same now

Book & Music Exchange
1616 Bardstown Rd.
Louisville, KY 40205
Very large selection, but also more expensive.  They had more obscure stuff like 3DO and TG16, but they also wanted a lot of money for them.  


Great Escape
2433 Bardstown Rd.
Louisville, KY 40205
Very small selection (mostly a comic book shop), but the stuff they have is super cheap.  It’s just down the road from Book & Music Exchange, so if you stop by one, you might as well stop by both.


Half Price Books
10220 Westport Rd.    AND    2025 S Hurstbourne Pkwy
Louisville, KY 40241
2 locations.  Very small selection, but they price their stuff really cheap.  It’s a book store, so video games really isn’t their thing.  Their inventory seems to turn over pretty quickly because of the cheap prices.  Mostly PS2 gen and newer stuff.



***EDIT*** Added Bodach's Games.  I almost forgot and that's the one you will be closest to.  

[TDIRunner]

and near st loius but I'm NOT going into saint louis lol did that once and that wasn't to fun.

Also, don't forget that a copy of Stadium Events was just purchased in the St. Louis area for $140 by a guy that lives in the same town as me (also a member here).  So there are deals to be found in STL for sure.  

[xspankyxduckx]

Vintage stock was mentioned but they can be pricy on alot of stuff I live in oklahoma where a bunch are and know that from experience. They are the last place I go for games

[Sammickk]

I'm curious why St. Louis was a bad experience for you.  As far as gaming stores go, we actually have quite a few.  I would be happy to list any stores in the area.  I'm assuming that once you get near St. Louis, you will start going south on 55 to get down to Farmington.  If so, you will be driving VERY close to a good video game store south of St. Louis.  You will also be near South County Mall which has one of the 3 V-Stocks in our area (and the one with the best selection in my opinion).  I can also recommend two video games stores on the IL side of the river, but still in the St. Louis area that are not too far off interstate 64.  There are many more, but they will be somewhat out of your way based on the direction you are going.  It just depends how far out of your way you want to go.  There is also a video game store owned by a member here.  It's the best video game store in the STL area in my opinion, but it will be pretty far out of your way since it's in St. Charles (North West of STL)

I also go to Louisville occasionally on business, and there are a few good stores there.

I'll get some addresses put together and post them a little later.

OMG are you serious?? St Charles is WHERE MY WIFE GREW UP lol. just might go to that one then, I'm sure she would love to see her old home town again, and besides her friends still live there.
and a side note, I guess it wasn't a "bad" experieince for me just very overwelming. Gotta look at where I'm from, I've lived in Beckley area all my life and there aren't even many 4 lane roads outside of the interstates. I'm just not used to driving in an area like stl, but based on all the info you have given me I just might have to. thanks for all the info.

[Sammickk]

I Really appreciate the info! thanks!

Since I've been collecting for a while, I've got allot of more common things already so I'm looking for some more of the rarer stuff now too. Ive got about every system but something I just got not along ago was TG16CD and I don't have any games for it yet ever seen any of those at any of these location? Also Atari Jag CD. I have no games for that system yet either.

[TDIRunner]

I Really appreciate the info! thanks!

Since I've been collecting for a while, I've got allot of more common things already so I'm looking for some more of the rarer stuff now too. Ive got about every system but something I just got not along ago was TG16CD and I don't have any games for it yet ever seen any of those at any of these location? Also Atari Jag CD. I have no games for that system yet either.

The TG16 CD is one of the few major consoles I don't have, so I don't spend a lot of time looking for those games.  Therefore, I can't suggest a good place.  If I had to guess, I would say that Game Trader 2 is you best chance for TG16 CD games.  I've never seen Jaguar CD games at any store in STL.  I have almost a full set of Jag CD games, but I bought them off of a guy on Craigslist.  But if anyone would have any Jaguar CD , it would probably be Game Trader II or Grumpy Bob's Emporium.

Oh, and STL traffic isn't bad as long as you avoid weekday rush hours.  If you are driving through on a weekend, you shouldn't have any major problems.  After your trip, let me know which stores you visited and what you thought about them.

[TDIRunner]

Vintage stock was mentioned but they can be pricy on alot of stuff I live in oklahoma where a bunch are and know that from experience. They are the last place I go for games

I agree that their prices are high, but like I said, they often screw up their prices and there are deals to be found.  Members of our local facebook retro gamer page love to post deals they found at V Stock.  One recently was a boxed NES Advantage for $5.  It's hard to find them loose for that price.  I also bought about a dozen CIB 3DO games from them for around $7 each.  From my experience, they don't seem to know much about the more obscure systems and they price them to sell.

[Rx_79]

Vintage stock was mentioned but they can be pricy on alot of stuff I live in oklahoma where a bunch are and know that from experience. They are the last place I go for games

Yeah I live in the Oklahoma Tulsa area and there doesn't seem to be much in way of retro game stores around here.

Just Vintage Stock and Game Exchanges, and Vintage Stock sells stuff for more than I can get it off ebay 99% of the time.