Criticize my store!

[bibowski]

Ok. My store is up and running now (Gamenow in Mississauga). I need everyone who has dropped in (thanks by the way!) to give me honest criticism, no matter how much it hurts.

Keep in mind that POP (i.e. posters, standees) will be appearing shortly. Are my prices too high? Is the layout terrible? Am I grotesquely frightening? Anything!

The grand opening will be Saturday, July 9th 10am-9pm and there will be a lot of good deals I assure you.

I want to get everything fixed up and running smoothly beforehand obviously, so now's the time. There are about a million things I'd like to improve on, but I'm not a customer so I might be missing something.

PM's or replies would be VERY much appreciated!

[googlefest1]

OMG the store is SO crapy i cant belive the color you chose for the carpet

oh and holy crap when i walked in for the first time i thought someone had vomited all over the walls and then later realized it was decoration

oh yea - the guy behind the counter was so grotesque and the prices were so damn high i had visions of an amputation room in the back somewhere customers had to go to make payments.



just kidding im sure its a nice place waaay to far for me - i think anyone that is a part of this forum had a very good idea what a gamestor should be like - and i wish i could vist them all - but know one ever wants to open up a shop in CT - snif..snif

[Humanoid]

Might I suggest pictures, for the benefit of those of us who couldn't visit? :)

[Vigilante]

Will you have the vampire glowing kitten as a pet in the store?

[bibowski]

Ahhh... yes. Pictures might be a good idea. Let me get back to you as the only ones I have are around 3MB in size each.

I know a few guys have dropped by so far. Anyone who's in the area though must come by for the grand opening. It will be utterly spectacular :)

Fingers crossed of course.

[Ed Oscuro]

If you need a quick way to shipshape those pictures, download Irfanview.

[bibowski]

Ok, long time coming I know... but finally, I have some pics of the store.

Lemme know what you think, and all of you who have actually BEEN to store, let me know your thoughts!

Image 1 (http://www.mediapollution.com/images/Store/image_00008.jpg)
Image 2 (http://www.mediapollution.com/images/Store/image_00009.jpg)
Image 3 (http://www.mediapollution.com/images/Store/image_00010.jpg)
Image 4 (http://www.mediapollution.com/images/Store/image_00011.jpg)

Keep in mind that I'm quickly filling up any spaces and posters/standees are on their way. Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated guys!

[Drexel923]

From those pics alone I can say it looks like the kind of store I would like to shop in. Everything looks clean and organized and it looks like you have a good selection. Can't help you with the other questions since I haven't been there personally and its a little too far away to visit ;)

[Crazycarl]

looks like ur basic run of the mill store. nothing great, but nothing bad either. I'd say you need a little more something in the store, something that draws people into the store. I'm not sure just looks bland. Then again im going off the pics. But like I said, their's nothing wrong with the store, It just looks like ur normal store thats all.

[felix]

Looks ok. Kinda plain but then again theres not much you can do. I like the sitting stations. My friends store has a big couch in that he lets people lounge on. Ours is in the mall too so we have the usual mallrats and hoodlums. Hes going to open up a new shop in another mall about 8 miles away and I might be taking over his older store. Should be a lot of fun and a good way for me to get my hands on some good deals :)

I will post up some pictures up soon.

[Daniel Thomas]

Put in a couple couches, and maybe a decent-sized bar. What do I have to do in order to get a Gin and Tonic around here?

No, what your store really needs is someone who's a dead-ringer for Comic Book Guy. Make sure he's talking down to the kids and lording it over them, preferrably with a burrito in hand.

Here's another idea, something retro. Go-Go dancers. Remember Austin Powers' pad? That's the trip. Toss on some Jimi and Pink Floyd records, hit the strobe lights, and make sure Owsley brought the, well, you know. Owsley's the go-to guy.

Get some guy to wear a videogame mascot costume, like a giant Sonic or Mario. Gives the teenagers someone to beat up and harass a lot. Kinda like the game Theme Park.

And, finally, stock up on all the old gaming zines. Kids need to know the score.

[john_soper]

Honest criticism? That store fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down :)

[xmagxus]

Someone mentioned having something to make your store standout... well you could try (though this prolly isnt really that great of an idea lol) to copy what video stores do, make like a little room add on and put the doorway of those beads to go through with a sign that says adults only in it. Once the person gets in there just have nothing but posters and such of gaming girls (not something that would appeal to me personally but im sure some gurs >.>) and to make it "adult" have a PC in there running the adult version of leisure suit larry.

There that can be your gimmick to stand out. But seriously I can't think of a better gimmick off the top of my head that some other store hasn't come up with already.

[Sylentwulf]

Do something with the carpet.

I bet if you were to get some decent, HUGE videogame runners or full sized carpet it would make the place look MUCH busier/fuller.

[googlefest1]

the pics do look kind of empty

i think you need more playable areas

[WanganRunner]

You mentioned more posters/standees are on their way.

I like the MGS wallscroll.

Lots of cool, rare Japanese promo posters would be neat, they're cheap on ebay and put the lust of consumerism in anyone who looks at 'em, lol.

Standees would fill the place up nicely too.

It's a very nicely laid out store, I really like it, to be honest. I think the carpet's just fine so long as the walls are a bit busier, and there's more stuff taking up floor space.

How about a couple of arcade cabinets? Hell, you could probably get someone ELSE to put their cabinet in your store, so they'd just get the revenue from the kids popping quarters, and at the same time, it'd generate more traffic to your store. I dunno why game store owners don't do that, it doesn't cost 'em anything.

[thehistorian]

I dunno why game store owners don't do that, it doesn't cost 'em anything.

Oh but it does cost.

1. You have traffic taking up space, that doesn't generate profit.
2. Parents who think they can send their kids in for hours on end while they go shopping.
3. The electricity costs too. Admittedly it's not that much...

As for item 2, this will be a problem anyway. Just set a rule that if you are under a certain age you must be accompanied by a parent or gaurdian.

I ran a store in NC for 2 years back in the SNES/Genny days. The stories I could tell. And you all must read the Acts Of Gord (http://www.actsofgord.com/)

[SuperNES]

first, set up a gaming area, maybe with a LAN. my local internet cafe/pizza place has 4 Xboxes hooked up to a LAN, and with live. it cost 5 bucks to play for an hour. it's nice for me since i don't have broadband..., you could even host tournaments. also fill the place up with some old neon signs, (like ones that say NINTENDO or SEGA), and get some more stuff from IKEA. they have these translucent plastic chairs (http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10101&storeId=12&productId=11047&langId=-1&parentCats=10114*10292) that the aforementioned internet pizza place has green and orange lights inside of, they look awesome. but definetly get some standees, posters, promo crap, maybe even some of those light-up signs from eBay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20389&item=8202194190&rd=1).