CD-Game Exchange has moved from downtown College Park to Takoma Park.

Note: County Councilman Eric Olson responded to this article in a letter to The Diamondback.

CD-Game Exchange officially closed down its College Park location two weeks ago and will open a new store right outside Prince George’s County lines in order to skirt regulations set in place on the resale of video games, CDs and DVDs.

The new location will open in Takoma Park this Friday, joining CD-Game Exchange’s other store in Silver Spring as the business’ second shop in Montgomery County.

Owner Sam Lock blames the store’s closure on a county law that tightened regulations requiring all secondhand retailers to document merchandise and hold items for 30 days before reselling them. It also requires the businesses to purchase a $500 license and enact employee training programs. But county officials said these requirements have existed for years, and stores such as CD-Game Exchange should have already been complying with these rules.

County legislation passed in October clarified what items are not considered “tangible personal property,” which is what secondhand businesses sell. CDs and video games have always been considered under this designation.

The October legislation was spearheaded by Prince George’s County District 3 Councilman Eric Olson (D). Olson said the intent of the bill was not to single out any particular businesses, and it did nothing to change the existing laws concerning the resale of CDs, DVDs and other electronics.

“They were doing secondhand dealing of items when they should have had a license for that in the beginning,” Olson said. “I think some regulator went in there and realized they didn’t have the proper license for it.”

Because Olson’s legislation concerned secondhand businesses and rules surrounding resale, it drew more attention to stores that weren’t complying with the law, said Tom Matzen, the deputy director of the county Department of Environmental Resources who oversees the enforcement and distribution of county licenses.

“We have a very limited staff and it’s only come to light recently because of GameStop, which had licenses with the county,” Matzen said. “I think they’ve just been on the periphery.”

But Lock said he wasn’t informed that his business practices needed to change until police came to the store in October. Lock later had a mutual friend present a petition with over 800 signatures to Olson asking for an exemption to county rules, which he was not granted. Ultimately, Lock believes Olson’s legislation is at fault.

“This was all something that I think Mr. Olson put forward,” Lock said. “The police only enforce the laws that the politicians put in place.”

Other store owners seem to side with Lock.

Biren Amin owns Pandora’s cube and CD Depot, another store on Route 1 that buys and sells games and CDs, and seemed equally disturbed by recent developments.

“You can intend whatever you want but if you write the law broadly it’s going to be enforced however they want,” Amin said. “One common-sense line would have taken care of everything.”

Although Pandora’s Cube and CD Depot only relies on reselling used items for around 10 percent of its overall business, Amin said the county regulations definitely impede sales.

“Keeping an inventory on minute items is ridiculous,” Amin added. “What we would have to do is keep track of high-priced electronics. That would take care of what they’re looking for.”

Amin said though he has no intention to move his business out of the county, he envies the convenience Montgomery County provides businesses.

“It’s frustrating to me. I’m resigned to the fact that they’re constantly passing laws without the thought that every law has a cost and a benefit,” he said. “If the University of Maryland wasn’t in Prince George’s County, I wouldn’t be there. If we had a choice, we’d absolutely switch counties.”

Matzen admitted that the legislation could be reworked, but these kinds of controversies are common.

“Maybe there needs to be some exemption for video games — I don’t know,” Matzen said. “It raised the visibility of what are pawn shops. And maybe there needs to be more tweaking.”

Now that he’s on the other side of the county line, Lock is optimistic about the future of his business.

“We never really got a solid base [in College Park],” he said. “It was a continual rotation because people come in every year and leave every year.”

rhodes@umdbk.com