What Does a Game store need to Succeed In The Modern Day?

[madman]

Mowing lawns would be a far better idea with more freedom and all of the above.

Just ask EG.

 

[cdamm]

my advice: dont.

 

[NeoSneth]

Local stores typically have prices that are 20% cheaper than ebay. Good ones do at least. It's mainly because they cut out shipping, ebay, and paypal charges. Customers know ebay value, and cutting it by 20% is a huge deal to them.

You really need to spam Craiglist to get that inventory stream. Spam Spam Spam.

Probably not a businessI would try to setup just because of the work. I also don't have much entrepreneurial spirit either.

 

[RAZO]

I've only been to a few mom and pops videogame stores in the last 5 years and that's because I stumbled upon them and usually they think your dumb and try and over charge you for anything retro.

I remember I went to some video game store in Jersey City and they had a Reident Evil black label jewel case version, not the big box one. It was one of the few games sitting in the glass case that had no price sticker. When I asked him the price, he said $120 and I said ok thanks and walked out the store.

I don't see how these stores survive. Would make more sense to just open a online store or website and sell your stuff from home.

 

[NeoSneth]

I've only been to a few mom and pops videogame stores in the last 5 years and that's because I stumbled upon them and usually they think your dumb and try and over charge you for anything retro.

I remember I went to some video game store in Jersey City and they had a Reident Evil black label jewel case version, not the big box one. It was one of the few games sitting in the glass case that had no price sticker. When I asked him the price, he said $120 and I said ok thanks and walked out the store.

I don't see how these stores survive. Would make more sense to just open a online store or website and sell your stuff from home.

Online is competitive or you have to wait for some fool to stroll along.
I think a good chuck on people that go local are the same ones that still use RedBox instead of Netflix.

 

[HDRchampion]

Anyone know how much a successful gamestore can net monthly?

 

[xelement5x]

The big thing I would think would be to act as a community hub. The local place that was here and stayed in business for about 6 years had smash tourneys and other stuff going on, I would go by every once and awhile to see what they had and they were good about pricing stuff fairly but also doing decent on trade ins. I had plenty of stuff I didn't want sell myself and brought it to them and they would give me about 50% of their sale price in store credit which I would turn around to buy the nicer things they had that I wanted.

What kept me going back was several things I can think of:
1) Employees were all nice personable folks that you could hold a conversation with
2) Trade in prices were decent for the stuff I was bringing in
3) They didn't try to rip people off, or if they did I never saw it in the times I was there
4) Store was clean, well lit, and the had price stickers on everything so there was no "let me look this up on ebay" bullshit. I'm sure it was work on their end to review prices once a month or whatever but I liked to know exactly what the price was. Oh, and their price was the final sales price, they had pre-calculated the tax so no tax added surprises at the end
5) Different promos every month or special events

I'd recommend opening a shop like this to no one unless they were already independently wealthy because it takes a lot of time and effort to get going. Once established around an area for people to bring their "old junk" to it will help with inventory, but early on it will be hard I'd think.

 

[JoeAwesome]

Who's surprised to get charged sales tax for a purchase, except the tax exempt?

Looked it up before I posted, and there's 5(?) states that don't have state-wide sales tax. Go figure. Is it common for people to see a final, post sales-tax price on items? I know it's not in Texas...

 

[100proof]

my advice: dont.

Listen to this man.

There is no money in used game stores. The margins are razor thin and fleabay/Amazon/etc. are good enough for 90% of your potential audience. Only own/run one if it's your passion and you don't give a shit about losing money.

Plus if working at an EB throughout college taught me anything it's that even if I had the money, I'd never want to interact with the type of people who show up in retro game stores anyway. Basement dwellers with zero social skills who want to talk your ear off about stupid bullshit because they think you're a captive audience and the girls are a bunch of 3s who think they're 9s because nerds are desperate.

 

[Syn]

my advice: dont.

You dabbled for years and evolved out of necessity.

Listen to the man.

 

[terry.330]

Warp Zone here in Central Ohio is pretty successful. I don't know how much money Darrin makes in profit but the store is self-sustaining and insanely popular. The inventory is pretty large and the prices are OK but I think the biggest draw is that it's just a cool place to go. That draws people in and they end up walking out with shit liked a boxed Duo or a stack of Fami carts. It's not just overpriced SNES and NES.

It also helps that the owner and staff are all great people that know their shit, that goes a very long way.

 

[neo_mao]

Warp Zone here in Central Ohio is pretty successful. I don't know how much money Darrin makes in profit but the store is self-sustaining and insanely popular. The inventory is pretty large and the prices are OK but I think the biggest draw is that it's just a cool place to go. That draws people in and they end up walking out with shit liked a boxed Duo or a stack of Fami carts. It's not just overpriced SNES and NES.

It also helps that the owner and staff are all great people that know their shit, that goes a very long way.

That's like the greatest name for game store ever.

 

[terry.330]

Check em out on FB, it really is a great place. People come from all over the country it's crazy.

 

[norton9478]

What can a physical store offer that selling online can't?

1. People wandering in and buying shit (and I mean shit) on impulse.
2. People coming in with shit that they want to unload.

 

[norton9478]

The game shop we have here pretty much only makes it work through using the most predatory business practices one can. Through a combination of lying, cheating, and stealing, they manage to stay in business. Basically they act as a siphon to remove all gaming related items from the community and ship them out to other parts via ebay.

So, if you want to stay in business do the following as I've seen it in practice and it seems to work.

When someone brings something in to sell and it is of some value, be sure and tell them how worthless it is, or lie about what it really is. Tell them that original that they bought new in the store 30 years ago is just a knock off reproduction, that theirs is a more common variant and not worth as much, or test it on your system that you keep hooked up at the counter that doesn't work right so you can say the game is junk and offer to toss it out for them or just take it in the lot of stuff you're buying for next to nothing.

When someone wants to buy an item in the shop do either of the following. Don't put a price on it and when they bring it to the counter, look it up on ebay then price it 10% to 20% higher. If the buyer complains, inform them that they can buy one on ebay but would have to wait, while they could be playing this one as soon as they get home. Your other option is to put two price tags on an item. One, the lowest price, is located where the customer can see it when your item is displayed in the case. The second must be out of sight but when you go to ring the item up that is the one you use. When or if the customer catches on, just explain that must have been an old price tag that didn't get removed, because a lot of these items come from yard sales and such and have little price stickers on them. If they buy it, great, if not put it back in the case with the cheap price showing again.

Anything worth having you must put up for sale on ebay. Do not put it out in your local shop or you won't get top dollar from people bidding against each other on it. Also, if a local wins the auction and wants to pick it up, you'll still need them to pay the shipping and handling fee. If they ask why, be sure to blame ebay for that, make up some shit about fees and what not, and that your packing material and handling and such you are paying for because the item was already boxed to ship when you started the auction. Then give them their item in a used plastic sack preferably the same one that it was brought into your store and sold in, that way you're not out the cost of a new plastic bag. After all you paid for that bag as it came with the product you bought.

No refunds, only exchanges. Also, try and charge a restocking fee, even if the reason for the return is your fault, such as having packed up the wrong item.

Locals are just a waste of your time, so fuck them. Remember, your market is online, so don't worry about fucking over the locals when they come in to gawk. Charge out the ass be rude, spend as little time dealing with them as possible, all you can afford to care about is the people coming in to sell, and the online sales.

Follow those rules and you should be a success.

That is one way to stay in business.

 

[DevilRedeemed]

my take is you have to rethink what a physical store can provide a portion of the public right now, something niche. that to me would be making exclusive deals with indie game publishers, and have them sell their ware not online but rather via a single store.
much like vinyl today, you become the single outlet for these products with no option to sell online - if your shop is in a decent enough spot, you will force the hand of collectors to make the pilgrimage.
it's unlikely that this kind of thing can come about but in certain smaller cities, I'm thinking Europe right now - I think it would work.
moreso if you have the means of publishing yourself.
kind of like apple stores.
make it niche, not just relevant, also mandatory for gamers, especially those in the indie scene and those that like retro style gaming. you could even fund it through kickstarter or what have you. make it a small mecha to how things where before, when you had to go to a shop in order to buy the game you wanted.
it is kind of hard to fathom as I say, but I would personally love to see something like this happen

 

[Gentle Ben]

Spoiler:

The Mexicans scoop anything flippable at all the thrifts.

Truth

 

[wingzrow]

make it a small mecha to how things where before, when you had to go to a shop in order to buy the game you wanted.
it is kind of hard to fathom as I say, but I would personally love to see something like this happen

That sounds like a good way to start up a pinball museum. I don't know if there would be enough interest, but from a historical standpoint you could try. An interesting angle to approach it for sure.

 

[cdamm]

+1 for the warp zone. darrin is doing it and he is doing it right. i've been there. its completely awesome. but he is more the exception than the rule. chances are if you open a B&M shop, you'll be toast within 6 months. The window is gone for new players in that game.

You dabbled for years and evolved out of necessity.

Listen to the man.

lol yep. my game shop ran its course and now its completely different as a small manufacturer.

if you really want to open a video gamey type business, make something original. be it hardware or software.

 

[ysselcneogeo]

Besides a time machine. I might be able to rent out a small store in a decent neighborhood for somewhere around $2000 a month & figured I would ask. Has anyone here tried? What was your experience like?

We have a local store called lost ark. Its main draw is that it has a Japanese arcade and it focus on mostly retro gaming but, also has modern stuff. The trick is to get tons of cheap inventory that is actually gonna move. Cheapest way to load up on inventory is when gamestops stop carrying a system you can load up on all their inventory for nothing and then sit on it till it re values.

Their main focus just like everyone else is merch. Toys, plushes, tons of gundam models. Their arcade has brand new real cabs from japan sometimes too which makes me wonder how they're not just eating money all the time.

 

[CrazyDean]

The problem with the trade-in stuff is that there's less and less every year to be found in the wild. It's all ending up in the hands of collectors, and they're not the ones trading in to game stores. If they do, it's going to be Sonic 2 or Super Mario Bros. You aren't going to find anyone coming in to trade Neo Geo games or Earthbound or Magical Chase because the people who have them know what they're worth, and they're not going to take a bath. So, like has already been said, you have to deal with cheap games at a volume: basically anything that costs more to ship than is worth the hassle. If you already have a hoard of games ready to sell and take trades on, I think that's the only way to really start, but you'll at least need enough to fill some space on the walls. No one likes going into a store with bare walls.

My approach would be barcade. You'll get to interface with a lot of normal, social people because there's alcohol and people. This means that you're going to deal with more stable nerdy adults than basement-dwellers like those who come into game stores. However, unless you can afford a full-time tech, you need to be able to do your own maintenance. Also, keep in mind that a business is supposed to make money which means the arcade machines aren't your main source of income. They're simply there to draw the crowd.

 

[norton9478]

Also, the games pouring out for Xbox and Playstation systems are generic.

Sure, there are niche games for Playstation and Xbox systems, but those are few and far between in the wild. All that's out there are shooters and sports games.
I barely look at 360 or PS3 games unless they are $1 or less. The only mass produced games for PS3/360 that I can sell are the Lego Games.

People buy so much shit. I will look at a collection at a garage sale and think "Did these parents really buy this shit for their Kids? Did they actually play it"?
Even Nintendo Wii collections (which usually reap the best results on average) are hit and miss.




Note:
Also, I get $5 a piece for SMB (any version) on NES . And I can't keep them in stock.