Next Level Videogames Store (Black Friday SALE!)

[Drexel923]

Looks like a great time! I'm trying to envision some way that I can get out there for one of these. As long as they're on Saturdays I'm not gonna be able to go :(

Bah!

You have employees...one Saturday away won't kill your store ;)

[Kid Ice]

The unidentified Neo shooter is Zed Blade BTW. I actually kind of like that game but those bad men made fun of it. I will be stopping by the store to get some Zed Blade on (and to practice with creepy emo dude in Fatal Fury).

[DigitalSpace]

Nice pics! Congrats and best of luck!

[Berserker]

Damn, you guys are really making me wish I lived closer to Jersey!

Congrats drex, on realizing what surely must be a dream.

[Drexel923]

Hey guys...just wanted to let you know that I've come across a PS3 and am going to raffle it off at my store. Here are the rules:

Purchase a select item for $10 and be entered into
a drawing for a new 60 GB Sony PS3 with Resistance: Fall of Man game.

Entries will be taken from December 28th to January 28th
and a winner will be then chosen at random.

There is a cap of 100 entries and you can enter as many times as you like.

Just figured I would let the local guys here know if interested.

[Kejoriv]

Hey guys...just wanted to let you know that I've come across a PS3 and am going to raffle it off at my store. Here are the rules:

Purchase a select item for $10 and be entered into
a drawing for a new 60 GB Sony PS3 with Resistance: Fall of Man game.

Entries will be taken from December 28th to January 28th
and a winner will be then chosen at random.

There is a cap of 100 entries and you can enter as many times as you like.

Just figured I would let the local guys here know if interested.

Damn! Thats a good deal. If only I lived closer...

[sickdrummer420]

damn nice store! i think i made a trade with you awhile back for a 360. i traded a buttload of stuff for you to have in your stuff, including that crappy game.com :) man, i hope to make it down someday!
Good Luck Bro!

[Lozza]

All I can say is it looks better than gamestop. I wish they had shops like that in my area.

[Vectorman0]

Bump for a great store!

I went for the South Jersey meetup and I had a blast. There was so much stuff that I wanted to buy, but couldn't because of my spending limit. There are actually alot of good deals there too, much better prices than ebay or even these forums scattered about the store. Anyone within an hour or two of it should definitely check it out.

[s1lence]

Drexel I wish you lived a bit closer (like 2000 miles) so I could get to your store a bit easier.

[djbeatmongrel]

i'm thinking about stoping by tomorrow (this sunday) what are the store hours?

[Nate Nanjo]

I wish something was closer in the southeast. My city is about to be completely out of places selling anything pre-PS2.

[djbeatmongrel]

i went to the store today. love what you have done with it. i'll definitely be topping by often.

[Iroquois Pliskin]

i feel proud to be one of the lucky few to live close enough to go on most weekends just to hang out and spend cash of course ...... nick really seems happy when you make a large transaction....hm oh well

[Lady Jaye]

Damn, can't believe I missed this thread...

Nick, your store looks pretty kickass. :) Wish I were closer to Jersey to check it out...

[Drexel923]

Just wanted to bump this...

If anyone here is interested in a Wii, I have a bundle at my store.

Wii System
Zelda
Trauma Center
Marvel UA
FREE Controller Glove

all for $399.99 + tax

Yes, its retail price and a bundle, but at least I'm not overcharging and putting all crappy games in there.

Anyway, if your interested, swing by before its gone.

[Wolfrider31]

Wow. Seriously, you really need to figure out a way for the rest of us to get in on the action. An online option would be perfect, I'd pump some serious amounts of dough into your shop. Get on it Man! :)

[StevenH]

I hope that you do well. A freind of mine has a store Atomic Games in Fullerton CA that is closing down at the end of the month. He has tried for 3 years and it's just getting too hard to make any money at it. It's always sad to see a really good store to go. I would say concentrate on the classic games and not so much the new stuff. The margins on new stuff is crap. It's great to have a new store out there that is not trying to screw you!

[Drexel923]

I'm back with a new update!

We held the first "official" tournament here last Saturday, March 31st. It was a modest turnout, but still a good time.

The game was Super Smash Bros Melee for Gamecube and the winner recieved a $20 credit at the store.

Here are some pics of the tourney:

http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/ssbm01.jpg
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/ssbm02.jpg
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/ssbm03.jpg
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/ssbm04.jpg
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/ssbm05.jpg
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/ssbm06.jpg
and the winner...
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/ssbm07.jpg

After the tourney was over I offered a surprise to the winner...beat me one on one and I would give him an extra $10 in credit. Of course I won the match, despite not having played the game in years 8-)

Anyway, I would like to try and do a tournament a month, and let me know if you guys have any good ideas for games to play.

Also, just a reminder, that our monthly gathering South Jersey Classic is this Saturday, April 7th. If you haven't been here yet, I urge you to make the trip and have a good time with us. And to those who have been here, I hope your coming again.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Pac-Man Vs. - it's old school and yet it isn't! Best party game since Smithereens on the O2. That game would totally be tournament fodder.

Cool pictures! Man, I could handle a whole subforum about the videogame stores that people here have started - it would stand me in good stead because there's nothing like that here!

[cosmicpsycho]

looks pretty sweet. wish i lived in jersey. good luck

[Tron 2.0]

Congrats on getting your own business for video games.

Btw might i suggest having a tourment for any bomberman game.

[ubersaurus]

Pac-Man Vs. - it's old school and yet it isn't! Best party game since Smithereens on the O2. That game would totally be tournament fodder.

Cool pictures! Man, I could handle a whole subforum about the videogame stores that people here have started - it would stand me in good stead because there's nothing like that here!

I second pac-man vs. If you don't want to deal with the possibility of someone running off with the gba, you can substitute a game boy player and do a makeshift "network". That's how we usually play, and it works out a bit better!

[Drexel923]

Figured I would update this thread with some new info and pics.

As some of you know I recently moved my store to another location. The old location had many problems which were unfixable, so the move was necessary to keep the business alive.

So...on June 2nd I opened Next Level Videogames (version 2.0) at my current location:

1031 Little Gloucester Rd
Blackwood, NJ 08012

So far (more than 2 weeks into it) everything is going great. The location is much closer to the road on a busier intersection and in a busier strip. We are closer to the local county college and have a couple of game stores (Gamestop/EB, Gamecrazy) on the same road. Due to all of these factors, business has been very good. Once I actually get some flyers out there I expect it to be even better.

The store is a bit smaller but we were able to fit all the stuff in here nicely. The only downside is the small back room (especially felt with the 2 huge trade-ins I got in the last week), but its manageable.

Overall I am seeing a nice blend of regulars (from the old store) and new people discovering the store. 99% of the time, they are quite pleased with what I am doing here...hopefully that will keep up.

Here are the pics of the new store:

http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/store00.jpg
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/store01.jpg
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/store02.jpg
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/store03.jpg
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/store04.jpg
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/store05.jpg
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/store06.jpg
(first half...next post for second half)

Anyway, I guess thats it for now. Thanks to all for the support in the past and now I can start to get this thing right :D

[Drexel923]

(second half of pics)
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/store07.jpg
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/store08.jpg
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/store09.jpg
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/store10.jpg
http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/store11.jpg

[Jumpman Jr.]

Thats a lot of boxed goodness!
I'm thinking about driving down to Jersey to visit your's and Joe's store sometime this summer. Hopefully I can make it down!

[djbeatmongrel]

was there yesterday with a friend of mine. just glad you got out of the old strip you were in. the new locale is great and theres a burger king across the street (a round of quad stackers for all).

[icbrkr]

Just out of curiousity, how big is your store (square footage-wise)?

[Drexel923]

Just out of curiousity, how big is your store (square footage-wise)?

It's about 1200 sq. feet.

[Hwj_Chim]

That looks like a great store. I wish I lived closer as you have a lot of great stuff in there. Best of luck to ya.

[Tron 2.0]

Congrats on your business venture.

Beside it being tough these days to be independent, on running your own store selling video games.

These days it seems like EB&GS run every body else out of business...

Wich is sad to say at least.

[Clong]

I havent been to Jersey in a wild I'll take a ride over its only 2 hours.

[DreamTR]

I think it's actually a good thing to open right by EB/GS because you can provide what they can't. Free advertising if you ask me...that's a great looking store!

[Griking]

Just out of curiosity, where do stores like yours pull their inventory from? Do enough people really come in to trade in classic games to keep you in business or do you buy from eBay to sell locally? I can't imagine that you have the time to be able to scan the local thrift stores and flea markets and still keep the store open.

[Drexel923]

Just out of curiosity, where do stores like yours pull their inventory from? Do enough people really come in to trade in classic games to keep you in business or do you buy from eBay to sell locally? I can't imagine that you have the time to be able to scan the local thrift stores and flea markets and still keep the store open.

Actually you'd be surprised in the amount of stuff people trade in. Some people really do never get rid of their systems. Besides normal people getting rid of old games, I've had collectors and game store managers (gamecrazy the most) alike drop off all their old stuff. Other than that I do check eBay for deals and sometimes get some nice stuff on different forums. Plus, it always helps to have friends who go thrifting and such give you a call when they find something interesting :)

In the beginning I was doing the eBay/forum thing like crazy, but I have been seeing a nice amount of trade-ins where I think I can almost completely rely on them.

[Drexel923]

I think it's actually a good thing to open right by EB/GS because you can provide what they can't. Free advertising if you ask me...that's a great looking store!

Yeah, I've found that out too. In the old location all the game stores in the area were sending people to my store, mainly because they don't carry the old stuff, but also because they just don't really like "corporate" enough to be dicks. I did see a good amount of traffic due to it, but my location sucked and it was kind of hard to tell people how to get to. Now that I literally across the street (from EB) and down the road (from Gamecrazy and Gamestop), its much easier to send people here.

Also, like you said...I can provide what that can't. Thats even more so now, cause Gamecrazy stopped taking in the old games...and by the end of the year, they should be completely phased out of them.

[mr.soul]

Wow, good luck with the store man. I wish we had something like that where I live. Maybe I'll drive across Pennsylvania some day to come visit.

[cyberfluxor]

Still looking spiffy! Keep up the good work. :)

[kainemaxwell]

WOw, that's a lot of gaming goodness there!! How do you set your prices?

[SaturnFan]

Nice store. If your next tourney is WWF No Mercy for N64, let me know. I'll definitly be making the drive to NJ.

[Griking]

Yeah, I've found that out too. In the old location all the game stores in the area were sending people to my store, mainly because they don't carry the old stuff, but also because they just don't really like "corporate" enough to be dicks. I did see a good amount of traffic due to it, but my location sucked and it was kind of hard to tell people how to get to. Now that I literally across the street (from EB) and down the road (from Gamecrazy and Gamestop), its much easier to send people here.

Also, like you said...I can provide what that can't. Thats even more so now, cause Gamecrazy stopped taking in the old games...and by the end of the year, they should be completely phased out of them.

I thought that Gamestop stores asked for clauses in their leases that said that the landlord couldn't lease space to competitors in the same strip plazas. Has anyone else heard this before or is it just rumor BS?

[Drexel923]

I thought that Gamestop stores asked for clauses in their leases that said that the landlord couldn't lease space to competitors in the same strip plazas. Has anyone else heard this before or is it just rumor BS?

Usually thats the case, but I'm not in the same strip plaza...I'm across the street ;)

[Drexel923]

BUMP :)

Back from the dead to let you locals know about our Black Friday Weekend Sale!

Next Friday through Sunday we will be having the following discounts:

1) Buy 2 Get 1 Free on all USED games (see flyer for details.)

2) Buy any System and get 10% off all USED games.

and maybe some other surprises will be in store ;)

Here is a copy of the flyer we have for the sale:

http://www.nlvideogames.com/images/nlv_bf_flyer.jpg

Hope to see many of you next weekend!

[Kitsune Sniper]

I don't suppose you send stuff through the mail if I order over an email, do you?

[Drexel923]

I don't suppose you send stuff through the mail if I order over an email, do you?

Not at the moment. But maybe soon. If I decide to start doing it, I will update the thread with the info.

[kainemaxwell]

Very impressive layout, good luck on Black Friday! So what are the prices like?

[MarioMania]

Why do they call it Black Friday

[Vectorman0]

So what are the prices like?
His prices are very reasonable for most games, especially on the higher priced items. Two specific examples I can remember standing out are Intelligent Qube and Spiderman Web of Fire 32X where he charged less than you would see on ebay or even on the DP Selling forums. For more popular stuff that is impossible to keep in stock, like Super Smash Brothers or Super Mario World, the prices are more inflated. I've also gotten a ton of good deals on miscellaneous controllers and accessories. I find myself spending money there (when I have money to spend) and I know what the games are worth and how cheap I can get stuff elsewhere.

[EX-Soldier]

FUCK!!!!! why the fuck did i ever move from new york =(, seriously what is it with new jersey and retro game stores, why not share the love in florida =(

*sobs quietly into open palms, uncomfortably nestled in the darkest corner of the room...

[Sothy]

What is the yiff and yaoi selection like?

[JustRob]

FUCK!!!!! why the fuck did i ever move from new york =(, seriously what is it with new jersey and retro game stores, why not share the love in florida =(

*sobs quietly into open palms, uncomfortably nestled in the darkest corner of the room...

Believe me, those of us the in South Florida thread share your pain. I made a pilgrimage to the DP store on my birthday this year and I REALLY wish I had had more money with me when I went. All I picked up was Space Channel 5 for DC. Classic game stores are fucking awesome. Next time I head up there, I will be sure to find a way to hit both stores and load the fuck up on sweetness.

[PapaStu]

Why do they call it Black Friday

Black Friday is called as such because up until this point of the year businesses are often running in the red (not making money). This is the start of the final push before Christmas and when most people begin to buy presents which will put these businesses into the black (making them profitable).

Most businesses make somewhere in the realm of 70-75% of their opperational profits (and overall sales in many cases) in this last month and a half of the year.

[kazuo]

Store looks super-cool, props and good luck with the venture!

Also, my first thought when I saw those racks of loose carts accessible to customers... was that they're gonna get jacked.

I'd move those behind the counter or into a glass cabinet or something. Even people who aren't habitual shoplifters get tempted when the pickings are easy (and believe me, if I wanted to, I could easily clean out half the video game stores around here but I'm no thief!).

[EX-Soldier]

Believe me, those of us the in South Florida thread share your pain. I made a pilgrimage to the DP store on my birthday this year and I REALLY wish I had had more money with me when I went. All I picked up was Space Channel 5 for DC. Classic game stores are fucking awesome. Next time I head up there, I will be sure to find a way to hit both stores and load the fuck up on sweetness.

yea man, a couple of my friends usually troop it across the george washington bridge to head to digital press and other lesser known retrogaming stores in jersey, but as far as florida goes, theres really only 2 stores i know of and only 1 even worth mentioning in the same breath as digital press, gaming world here in kissimmee, i even saw space channel 5 for like 5 dollars there last week, if you're ever in orlando or kissimmee letme know, i'll point u in da da direction of a few spots

i also heard of a few spots in miami and ft myers and lauderdale, but nver been personally so i cant comment yet, but when i go i'll let u know

[Drexel923]

BUMP for sale starting tomorrow!

Happy Thanksgiving :)

[Red Hedgehog]

Now that I'm back on the east coast, I finally had a chance to check out this store while visiting my parents in Philly.

I was very impressed. They had a great selection of older games, boxed and loose, and reasonable prices. They were also helpful and friendly.

Anyway, I'm living in New York now, but I'm definitely going to make a point to visit them whenever I get down to Philly.