new TRADER in Akihabara

[Animaitor]

Today 2009/07/08, Trader relocated one of its second hand shops in Akihabara. I believe there was a Sofmap in the same spot last year. Opened at 10am and around 30 people were waiting outside. By 10:15 all the goodies were pretty much gone and I was lucky to get a few games I was missing from my collection. They discount 10% but don't know until when the sale will last. Street floor carries, NDS, PSP, PS3, 360 and first floor the good stuff. Most of the consoles have their "shooting" section making the search a breeze. Didn't check the rest of the floors though. Just one thing pissed me off. I saw 3 of the Super Potato clerks (one of them might be the owner) ripping the shop apart Just wait until tomorrow to see those games at double the price on their store... pretty sad.

Anyways, here is the map for your convenience. Good hunting!!

[dcharlie]

forgot all about this yesterday but checked it out today, got a couple of reasonably priced items.

It's nice and bright and very airy, i quite liked it.

Prices were all over the place as usual, so it's still a traders !

[Warp_Rattler]

So which Trader was this before the move?

That's pretty low with the Super Potato clerks, though. Despite their prices, I have to say I rarely didn't find what I was looking for there. Then again, with their prices I rarely BOUGHT what I was looking for either. Still, pretty awesome shop, and a killer selection of game music.

[Animaitor]

The Trader that got closed was in the same side of the street as this one (Chuo dori), just a few blocks north, very small and without PC Engine, NES, SNES, Saturn, Megadrive or Neo Geo games. I agree with dcharlie, the new Trader is pretty nice and well organized.

As for the Super Potato clerks... there's nothing illegal with what they did obviously but I find it pretty unfair and unethical. I should have taken a picture. They bought more than 100 games + consoles, no kidding.

[Warp_Rattler]

Unethical, yes, but you're right--it's certainly not illegal to buy games cheaply and slap an asinine markup on them. How else would Gamestop survive?

[GaijinPunch]

Trader is still kind of the last of the old school shops that doesn't completely carry out the end user. Their stock leaves a lot to be desired as of about 4 years ago though.
I'll check it out next time I go to Akihabara... weeks from now I'm sure.

[dcharlie]

Super Potato and Friends prices are absolutely insane - the price of loose cartridges in Super P. in particular.

[GaijinPunch]

And friends has an awful location to boot. You'd think they'd give you a break.

[Animaitor]

Super Potato and Friends prices are absolutely insane - the price of loose cartridges in Super P. in particular.

Loose cartridges was mainly what the clerks from Super Potato were taking. Prices in Akihabara are a bit too expensive but there are always good deals if you are patience enough and know where to look. Since I work here is not much of a problem for me. Tried to find other places for cheap games around Tokyo without much luck. Spent a whole day tracking down "Hard Off" shops (must have visited like 12) and there was absolutely nothing worth buying!! Just an XRBG-3 that for some reason one of the shop's guy didn't want to sell me, yet it's a fun place to hunt for LDs and instruments.

[LSU]

And friends has an awful location to boot. You'd think they'd give you a break.

The last time I was in Tokyo I couldn't actually locate Friends, despite all the nice helpful maps I'd found online (including yours GP). I'll be going again for another vacation in a couple of months so are there any tips or tricks to finding that place for the severely 'directionally challenged' such as myself? I did manage to find everything else so all the work you guys put into those maps does pay off most of the time - thanks very much indeed.

[Animaitor]

Hey LSU, I'll take you there myself.　Just send me a pm when you come to Tokyo. Be prepared for a shocking clerk at the second level though!!

[dcharlie]

the last two times i've went to Friends (albeit around 7pm) it's been closed up - i assume they are alright, but will give them another whirl tomorrow or so...

more worried about whether somewhere else will buy up their stock and sell it and non-stupid prices.

I want a few of their games, but i'm not paying their dumb x3 value prices.

i could get what i want reasonably if i wasn't interested in boxes/packaging but yeah... :\
(super potato excluded - what the FUCK is up with their unboxed prices?! ffs, some of them are more expensive unboxed than they are BOXED on the shelf behind)

[Warp_Rattler]

Spent a whole day tracking down "Hard Off" shops (must have visited like 12) and there was absolutely nothing worth buying!

Hard Off shops are pretty hit-and-miss--some have much better availability/rotation than others--but the prices are pretty awesome if you're not a stickler for the utmost quality. The one closest to where I lived didn't have much more than the occasional unboxed, broken-belt FDS for ~800 yen, lots of loose Wonderswan/WSC units in junk bins, and the occasional giant Ranma LD box set. Staying with a friend for a few months near Nerima however, I found an absolutely amazing Hard Off that had stuff like boxed Saturn Twinsticks for ~600 yen, a few Dreamcast EyeToy cameras, and even a DC karaoke add-on. I'll never forgive myself for passing on a MSX2 with FDD for about $18 just because I was concerned about the cost of shipping it home. The hardest decision I had to make at that store was between a DC Agetek stick or a Saturn Virtua Stick (the white one). Went with the Agetek, now modded with its nice pink Sanwa stick/buttons.

Hard Off might not be the best for people in the country temporarily, but if you're living or staying for any length of time and have one close by, it's certainly worth popping into once a week or so--you never know what can pop up.