Since these stores cater to collectors, they usually have knowledgeable staff who can help you find valuable cards and provide practical, fun insights into the Pokmon card market
An abundance of removal spells in Constructed, and especially bounce out of the control decks, kept it down in Standard, but probably more than they should have
I've kept them because they're important to me, and I think for at least some of the people who bid for these expensive cards, it's more about regaining a lost part of their childhood than it is about snagging a card they can hopefully sell in a few years for a profit
It took a few weeks for the trend of an increasing number of Marchesa and Alesha decks to emerge but once I caught, I found quite a few cards I really liked in the context of this new trend
It's not perfect (might even call it a "V1"), but the major differences between the beta and final version are at least visible