New shop offers vintage video games, consoles
Wson “Sonny” Buonya, owner of SML Retro Gaming at 1 W. Center St. in uptown Lexington, holds a Super Nintendo gaming console. A truly vintage Atari 2600 system is at the bottom of the shelf filled with video games on the left. {Vikki Hodges/Davidson Local}
While the pandemic has hurt a lot of businesses, it has actually stimulated sales growth in the video game sector.
Spurred by stay-at home orders and social distancing, video game and hardware sales soared in 2020 and haven’t stopped rising, according to Forbes magazine. In the first quarter of 2021, sales were up 30 percent compared to the record-breaking year prior.
Most of those sales were for new games and consoles but there’s a market for vintage video games and consoles, as well as console repairs.
Wson “Sonny” Buonya is aiming to capture that market with the opening of his new store, SML Retro Gaming at 1 W. Center St., which is just behind the old courthouse on the Square.
Buonya’s shop, which opened in April, is the first video game store in Uptown Lexington. SML Retro Gaming buys, sells and trades vintage video games as well as buys, sells, and trades retro to new-generation consoles. He said most of his retro games and consoles span from the late 1980s to the early 2000s but he has one Atari 2600 system that dates back to the late 1970s.
He also specializes in console repairs, which he said draws customers from around the Triad.
“Video games were a big part of my childhood,” Buonya said, noting he and his brothers played all the time. “I’ve been collecting on and off for 20 years and got into sales about 15 years ago.”
Buonya recalled spending a lot of weekends buying, selling and trading at the Thomasville Flea Market, Cook’s Flea Market in Winston-Salem and the Webb Road Flea Market in Salisbury while working as a cook at a Japanese steakhouse in Greensboro and more recently as a commercial roofer. He also conducted sales on eBay and Facebook Live.
“But I always wanted to open a video game store,” he said, stating the business has been growing since it opened through social media marketing. “I wanted to be my own boss.
“Our top sellers are probably Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox,” he shared. “And Wii has been selling like hotcakes. I try to keep a good stock of games for all the systems.”
“One of my all-time favorites is Super Nintendo,” he added.
Buonya said he has customers of all ages — older people who are nostalgic and looking for the games they used to play as well as younger people who have learned about the classic gaming systems from parents.
“It’s multiple generations — I have several families that shop here together,” he explained.
A second-generation immigrant, Buonya’s parents are among the Montagnards who came to America in 1986. The Montagnards are the native tribes of the central highlands of Vietnam who fought alongside U.S. troops during the Vietnam War. As refugees, they were sponsored by U.S. relief groups, with many settling in Greensboro. Buonya spent most of his life there before moving to Lexington 10 years ago. His wife’s parents reside here.
Buonya recalled his parents working hard all their lives and wanting to pursue the American dream of opening his own business.
“I’m proud to have my own business and I hope having a storefront will make life easier for my kids,” he said. He has five children between the ages of two and 13.
“And they’re all gamers,” said Buonya, laughing.
SML Retro Gaming is open from noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday
