After almost a year of bouncing around in pawn shops and thrift stores looking for retro videos games, a brick and mortar store has come to Springfield.
I got a phone call on my way to meet my wife for lunch. She started the conversation by saying, “I don’t know if I should be telling you this…”. I instantly knew something good was coming next.
“There’s a new store next to Target in the mall… and it has NES games..” she said.
It was the best new I had heard all month. Stores that carry retro video games are scarce in NOVA, and are mostly limited to thrift stores, pawn shops, and used books stores (think 2nd & Charles), but the supply has been running dry the last few years. Most collectors caught on to the idea of staking out places like these almost ten years ago, so the days of finding a bargain (or a rare game) are long gone.
The new shop was called Records & Rarities. My wife asked me if I
wanted to stop by to check it out after lunch. My only reply was, “why after?…”
The place was everything I’d hoped it would be. There were enough 
Star Wars figures and play sets in the front display window to cover the entire floor of my childhood bedroom. But more importantly, the entire righthand wall of the store was dedicated to retro video games.
These guys had games for any system that you would want to collect. Including Atari, NES, SNES, N64, Sega, Dreamcast, Gameboy, ect. What’s really amazing though is that you won’t be sifting through the same boring sports games over and over. The owner, Ryan, goes to great lengths to ensure that his stock is kept up, and tries to make sure to host some of the more interesting or elusive items as well (most recently i’ve seen a copy of Snow Brothers, Fire’n Ice, & Duck Tales 2 come through his display cases).
They also had accessories and consoles ranging from a working Atari 2600 and a complete-in-box Nintendo NES Action set to a rare Pikachu Edition of the N64 Console. The store also has a wide selection of handheld systems and games, including a Micro Gameboy and a great selection of games. The very back of the store has skateboards and skating accessories, as well as collectible toys and figurines.
They also take trade-in games and classic toys for either cash or store credit. They offer really reasonable trade-in credit, and it helps to take the sting out of collecting for retro consoles.
While my retro game collecting is focused solely on the NES, this shop is guaranteed to have something for every retro gaming fan. The diverse titles combined with fair prices makes Records & Rarities a great choice for retro game collectors to stock up on common games or hunt for some of the rarer gems. Next time you’re in the Springfield, VA area make sure to stop by and say hello to the team.