The small, unassuming storefront’s display cases and shelves are filled with hundreds of video gaming titles, which it buys, sells and trades.
“I’ve always grown up around the old school video games and I’ve always enjoyed going into the other stores,” said store owner Clarence Angel, of Germantown. “I actually collect a lot of the old-school video game stuff and I actually went to a lot of the others stores and I realized that they were kind of overpriced, and so I try to keep my prices competitive.”
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Customers aren’t just interested in buying newer titles marked down to discounted rates, Angel said. They’re also looking to replicate the experience of playing classic games on gaming systems unavailable in the vast majority of retail stores, he said.
“For a lot of people it’s the nostalgia, because they just grew up playing a lot of these older games, but even with some of the younger generation, there’s a lot who are discovering it now and going back and playing them,” Angel said.
Some of the games are available online for download, but the experience of playing them on a computer keyboard doesn’t quite stack up to the blast-from-the-past vibe of playing on an original system’s joystick or controllers, he said.
CJ’s Game Corner is part of a Middletown’s revitalization to its formerly dormant downtown area. Businesses sprouting up along Central Avenue numbered 23 in 2016, according to Mallory Greenham, Downtown Middletown Inc.’s executive director.
Angel said he feels “pretty good” to be part of the return of businesses to the city’s downtown.
“We noticed that a lot of other businesses were starting to open up in the area and .. we figured we’d take part in that opportunity,” he said. “There really wasn’t much in the way of other game stores around here other than Game Stop, which doesn’t do much with the old-school systems.”
For more information about CG's Game Corner, call 937-654-8831 or visit www.facebook.com/gamecorner94.
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