The days of spending quarters at the local arcade may be a thing of the past, but gamers can still get their fix of retro gaming on North Main Street.

Twelve weeks ago GameSource, a new store catering to the needs of gamers, opened next to On the Edge tattoo parlor after finding success at another location in Fremont.

Owner John Barr said he started the business seven years ago, to start selling cell phones, but soon it added video games to diversify. He wanted to add a “buy, sell, trade” aspect due to the economy. Barr also “loves the barter system.”

With competing game stores in town, like the corporate chain GameStop as well as C+C Games on Wooster, Barr said what makes his business different is that “we keep old systems and don’t depend on games; we have more than that.”

“We do service, have phones, movies and iPods,” Barr said. They are also looking at doing iPad trades, but gamer memories help the business since the store goes “all the way back to Atari.”

He said his store will “sweeten the deal” for customers with a few different factors. GameSource has gaming systems at certain prices and customers can get game credit when they buy a console in the store.

“Buy a Wii for $110, get $20 game credit,” Barr said.

Employee John Carroll, who has worked for the store for four years, also believes what makes GameSource stand out is that “customer service is our number one priority” and that for him it is not really a job since it is a “very relaxed environment.”

“We love when people come hang out and talk shop with us,” Carroll said. “It’s a blast.”

“We’re in this to go the extra mile for the customer,” Carroll said. “We pay more for games to sell for less and stand by our customers and warranties.”

Junior Jacob Brown, a pop culture major and president of the Bowling Green Gaming Society, said customer service is great to have in a store like GameSource, and it “sounds like a place that has retro sensibilities.”

He also liked that GameSource is “bringing the soul back from the corporate culture of trade-ins like GameStop [where you] buy a new game one week and the next week you can trade it in for $30.”

Brown added that with game stores it is “nice to have a wide selection and knowledge of games as well as a sense of community [as the] game comes secondary to community and fellowship.”

Barr said the store will be hosting a game tournament at the beginning of December that will be a “‘Modern Warfare 3′ and ‘Contra’ tournament” and that he has also considered opening the market more with board games and card games like “Magic: The Gathering.”

“With the name GameSource, I’m open to doing it all in the future,” Barr said. “We want to keep it fresh and keep adding stuff.”