I have a love/hate relationship with many of the local indi-game stores in my area. Some there is definitely a lot more love, while others there is almost all hate lol. Usually the biggest factor in me loving a game store are its prices; price gouging has become all to common in this hobby, especially with retro games, and a few of the local game stores love to slap on prices on certain games that are sometimes four times what the highest completed listing is going for on EBay. Probably the worst example of this I have seen to date was a now defunct game store at a small around me had a copy of Super Mario Bros for $40! It was loose and the label wasn't even flawless to make things even more ridiculous. I like when game stores are straight with their customers and offer prices competetive with what they are going for on Ebay. Sadly, I know of one game store that actually does this, and not surprisingly they are my favorite. The rest of them occassionally have a decent deal hear or there, and I am friends with a few of the owners and managers of some of these, but it still pisses me off. Lol yet I still go back to them, but usually just to shoot the shit and look at the games.
Im with you on that Biking. There is a store locally where I am that he's so arrogant that he truly thinks he has the lowest prices ever! Even when you confront him about how you can get an item 2 times cheaper on Ebay, he tells you that you are wrong and that it will cost more than he sells them because of shipping. And don't even attempt to tell him to look on Ebay himself or show him your phone with the sold listings. He will refuse to look. It's amazing to me that he thinks he is cheap. What I don't understand tho' is how some of these people stay in business? 
I do not get that at all.
I HATE when overpriced stores throw the "well, when you pay shipping you are ACTUALLY paying more on Ebay!" line at me. Even with shipping, which is sometimes free anyways, I have never paid close to what these overpriced games are going for, even when they like $5 more then what a game typically goes for. It just shows how ignorant and stupid they are as sellers to think that is a legitimate reason to charge more.
I know one local game store which is among the worst offenders of overpriced games I have ever seen that gets a fair amount of their retro stock off places like Ebay. Since they are paying pretty much what everyone else is they use it as an excuse to charge double or triple what a game is worth. They had a copy of Flintstones Surprise at Dinosaur Peak about a year ago and were seriously charging a grand for it! At the time I think it was a $400 to $500 game online. Then there stores that take the games in super cheap and sell them at super inflated prices. One local store buys most of their retro games at $1 each regardless of title, then goes around and looks think up on Ebay, and then decides to mark them up 50% higher then current Ebay prices. I know of several Pawns that do this to, and not surprising these games sit FOREVER on the shelf. Eventually, at least at one store I know of, they just sell the stuff on Ebay in order to move it.
I'm going to take you back off topic for a sec. Let me play devil's advocate. Say you ran a legit taxed business, had to pay rent, at least some staff, etc. Basically your whole deal was like a small game store that you ran. Then say, someone comes in with Flintstones, no idea what it is, they're just trying to get some quick cash or trade credit from you. How much would you offer them for that game? Then, assuming you didn't keep it, how much would you put it on your store shelf for? It would be silly not to take advantage of the potential profit, as a business. First, you must decide if you'd be honest with the seller, if you were it would certainly drive the resell cost way up.
My point being, if you're running a legit business and you seriously depend on games as part of that, you can't afford to sell yourself short just so your customers will think better of you instead of shopping eBay. As a buyer, I think the only advantage to a game store really, is that I can buy it and have it in hand. Sometimes price is a secondary convenience, usually only when interest dwindles towards certain age games and overstock needs sold off. I agree games should not be eBay + haha look what I have fee, but I can hardly blame a small business for wanting to maximize profit on a valuable item.
I only slightly know what it's like to be on the selling end in the games market. The buying end are not big spenders, they want stuff for nothing and who could blame them? I don't blame either, because I am both. Bottom line gaming is expensive because it's rare (compared to most things in general) and it's only not when you get lucky and find someone selling gold like it's costume jewelry, but the cost of living is also high and people gotta eat and they gotta get paid.
