Saturday 31 May 2014

Virtual Games in Bracknell [Store Review]


'Everyone hates a reseller' is a common retrogaming catchphrase, Seeing people 'flip' items for a quick buck angers nearly all collectors... So when you see stores on the high street, you immediately suspect the worst.


I was out on a magical mystery tour with the family, we had visited a fellow collector who had set some items aside for me and we decided to pop into Bracknell town in Berkshire on a whim. We parked up and headed out into a very dilapidated town centre and  hidden under our car park was Virtual Games. I had no intention of hunting games here but I figured I would check it out.


The store caters mainly to current systems with an extensive selection of modern games, however a sizeable section of the store had old games and various collectables. I didn't get too excited at first because as far as most stores go, old doesn't necessarily mean cheap, but as I thumbed through the Xbox and PS2 games I noticed that most were below a couple of pounds... colour me impressed!

I picked out a copy of Doom 3 on the original Xbox in great condition and walked towards the front of the store, I was already stoked that the game was 99p and then a staff member stepped forward and very politely asked me if I wanted him to fetch the disc for me... I was impressed once again as as the chap dealt with me as thoroughly as he would someone buying a new system... for a 99p game. Fantastic!


As I waited to pay, I noticed a classic Gameboy game in the cabinet for 99p, I had never seen it before so I figured I would grab that too, once again the assistant cheerily fetched the game but this time he brought over a huge box of other Gameboy games and let me go through them. No prompting, no question on my part, he simply noticed I enjoyed old games and put suitable products in-front of me. Safe to say this impressed me no end and I grabbed a bunch of games for about 99p to £1.99 each. Being a typical collector I asked if I would get a discount for buying a stack, and immediately without hesitation he obliged, he didn't have to but he did.

Moral of the story, good service and understanding your customers is paramount to selling more and making more money - he took a 99p sale and using no pressure, multiplied the sale by a factor of ten, simply by being polite and showing me things I would like. Upon leaving I noticed an award for excellence in customer service for the store, and based on my experiences they certainly deserve it.
 

Aside from my bargains, they had tons of great deals, including PS4s and Xbones for well under retail, a huge 3 for £10 section on PS3 & Xbox 360, Wii consoles complete with Wii fit and several games for £35, Nintendo DS [old style] for £15, DS lites for £20 and PSPs for £25... absolutely incredible for a retail store.

If you are in Bracknell, go out of your way to shop at Virtual Games as they are certainly the kind of store we need here in the UK, polite knowledgeable staff and incredibly generous prices.

They had no idea I would be reviewing them... actually I didn't either, until I was pleasantly surprised.

You can find them at;

Virtual Games
56 Broadway
Bracknell
Berkshire
RG12 1AR‎

01344 481308

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