Trade your games at Jersey Video Games

Kristin Guglietti/THG Keith and Katie Egan of Jersey Video Games stand next to a collection of NES through N64 games.

After seeing a need for a local video game store, Katie and Keith Egan opened Jersey Video Games located at 19 Central Ave. on July 4.

Keith Egan has been selling video games for about a year before the store opened at antique stores as a vendor.

“Business was very successful, so we expanded and ended up with our own establishment here,” Keith Egan said.

They sell used games, consoles and video game related items from the ‘70s to now.

“You got your Atari, Nintendo. We just picked up this big giant lot of games yesterday. Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64 up to PlayStation 5. We have pretty much everything,” Keith Egan said.

A lot of the items in the store come from people bringing in their collection and trading for other things in the store.

“We’re always excited about new people bringing more of their collections in to trade us,” Keith Egan said.

Since he was a kid, Keith Egan loved video games.

“I started off when I was a little kid with a Nintendo, the original Nintendo system, and I remember getting The Legend of Zelda gold cartridge. I just thought how cool was that compared to the other ones,” Keith Egan said.

After collecting his entire life, he said the next best thing was to sell everything he had and find it again.

“I’ve been collecting basically my entire life and trading and buying and trading from different people, and it got to the point where I had everything I wanted, so I said the next best thing would be to sell the stuff I have and find it again,” Keith Egan said.

There aren’t many video game stores in Atlantic County. Before the store opened, the closest video game store was about 30 minutes away from Hammonton.

“The area that we are in is like a dessert for video games. There’s nothing here,” Keith Egan said.

During the summer, Katie Egan said the store held a Tetris tournament.

“We’re trying to make it fun, too. So for our grand opening, we did a tournament,” Katie Egan said.

The next tournament will be Ms. Pac-Man during Third Thursday on Sept. 21 at 5 p.m. It’s free to enter for all ages. There will be prizes awarded for first, second and third place.

Jersey Video Games also made an appearance at the Richland Vintage Toy Fest in Richland, New Jersey on Aug. 26.

“He took the VW bus down with him and sets up in front of the bus, so there’s cool pictures from that. And he sets that up at the Green Market too,” Katie Egan said.

One benefit of selling used games is they get to be reused instead of being thrown away.

“Instead of getting chucked at landfills, at least these things are getting recycled by being reused,” Keith Egan said.

Along with buying, selling and trading video games, Katie Egan said customers are welcome to play games in the back of the store.

“Video games are set up in the back, so people come and just play and hangout,” Katie Egan said.

For Katie Egan, working at Jersey Video Games is her retirement job.

“She served in the air force for 20 years, so we opened up this as her retirement job,” Keith Egan said.

For more information about Jersey Video Games, call (609) 346-3524, follow them on Facebook and Instagram @jerseyvideogames.