Happily paid $500+ to run homebrew ;)
I happily paid $350 for my PSP 1.52, and another $170 for the 2 GB MS :D
It is worth noting that I paid $250 for a PSP 2.01 Value Pack a few days earlier, which currently is the lowest retail price here.
I had an extremely hard time locating a <2.01 PSP, and happily paid the extra one hundred when I did find one (they only had one!). Considering GTA is still $60 around here, it is not such a bad deal.
I suppose it is also worth noting that the retailer likely paid a lot more for the old 1.52 than he would pay for a new 2.01 from Sony. Can't blame them for trying to make a living.