Need Info: Anyone ever shop at a Play N Trade Store?

[The 1 2 P]

This thread just reminded me that I need to get to the lone Play N Trade they have in Maryland.....someday.

[Icarus Moonsight]

I picked up a lot of stuff before Christmas from a local PnT. All b2g1 and 20% off the two I did pay for. Pulled down lots of good stuff and cheap. Dreamcast import shmups FTW!

[rscaramelo]

We have 2, Walpole MA and North Providence RI within an hour of me. Neither one is that great anymore.

I've tried the North Providence RI one twice and have walked away pretty quickly. Both times I went there it looked like the store was filled with people who live in their parents' basements and never get out except to game at PNT. The pre-ps2 selection was minimal and not well taken care of. I'm in a Dreamcast mode right now and all they had was 20 copies of NFL 2k with broken cases.

The Walpole MA store is better but have declined recently. As recently as a year ago they had a huge selection of old school stuff at decent prices. My last 2 visits there were more pleasant than the NP store but I was bummed at the lack of selection. It looks like they ramped up their ps2 and newer stock. What used to be a massive sellection of snes carts is down to some rare titles in the case. The Dreamcast selection was again the 2K titles with broken cases. They did have some cool older consoles like the Master System and an Atari 7800. Also they do repairs and the staff is really good. Unfortunately it doesn't look like they're investing in the older stuff as much.

It's hit or miss depending on the management. 25K sounds reasonable to me as long as you can stock it as you please.

RC

[Nitrosport]

Okay, I have the ability to open up a video game store franchise. It is a Play N Trade franchise. I have been reviewing the company for some time, but have yet to actually get a chance to shop in a Play N Trade store (next step in a long process).

My questions are simple:

Has anyone ever shopped in one of these stores? Are there any near you?

I just would like to hear the thoughts of anyone who has ever shopped at one or even had a problem, complaint etc.

If you never even heard of the company, please speak up as well! In a world dominated by Game Stop and EB Games, I was surprised to hear of this company and they claim to be opening up stores in the US every other day! Any way, let me know! Thanks!

The stores are very different from GameStop / EB games stores. People can come into the stores and play games for long periods of time. They have many consoles set up rather than just the standard 360, Wii, and ps3 kiosk. They also carry classic games as well as some Nes clones. The store can also be rented out for parties where people can come in and play on all the consoles.

I really suggest you have a meeting with your local Play N Trade rep. I myself had a meeting with one in my area. I was considering opening a Play N trade as a partnership with someone else. A few things bothered me however. The main thing is that you must purchase all new and used items through their distributors (other than what’s traded in) and they are a bit pricey.

You see, you will be making most of your profit from used games because stores only make about $2-$3 off of each new game sold (as I found out from multiple reps). Since your store will be new, you will start off having to buy used games and such from other Play N Trade stores (this is how they work), and their distributors. As the rep himself has said, they are still in the process of finding more distributors for used games. My point being, you’re going to be very limited in what used products you can get into the store. My greatest concern was the classics as they have even less distributors for them and they are very over priced.

My second concern is all the fees you must pay. You have to pay the franchise fee which is a percentage of all the money you gross (not net) each year. You then have to pay a high technology fee which is for the computers they provide that are used for pricing, register, trade in values, etc. There is also an advertising fee.

Basically, if you don't have tons of cash saved up for the first year or two, you will be better off looking at something else. Maybe you could open a mom and pop store?

Good Luck!

[josekortez]

They resurface anything disc-based whether it needs it or not, and they don't do a very good job. I will never buy another disc game at Play N Trade again.

[sourceguy]

I work with a ton of gaming stores helping them get set up and runnung smoothly. I help alot of PNT owners as well. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. christopher@shopperinc.com

[dmmilkman]

Thanks for all the info. I am looking at opening one up within 1-2 years when things settle down, may be sooner, if I can plan the market just right! I have to finish my MBA first, then go from there!

I already have the money (no problem there), it just depends on whether I want to commit to it!

before you invest in a sinking ship like pnt ask them how many stores have closed since inception. around me two have closed in a 3 month span. they have many faults for the investor, an extremely high franchise fee, all new product must come from them so shipping costs as well as 5% royalties add up to no profit on new items. the pos inventory has many issues also. next ask them why they are suspended in cali for franchise sales. they have been ordered to refund all franchise fees to any who want them back in cali for non disclosure. they failed to tell of the closed stores on their circular. misrepresenting their success. many are struggling. look at the site of failing franchises and pnt comes up with many franchisee complaints and some funny disinformation from ceos.

[BetaWolf47]

That was quite a thread bump. I wonder how many of this has to do with corporate business practices, however. I've had two in my town close, but one was because of a legal issue between the store owner and the owner of the shopping center. Plus, the people who ran it had no business sense... just sat there playing games all day.

Every other one I've seen has flourished. Here in the Broward/Miami area, there's even a sole franchisee who has at least 4 stores open.

[portnoyd]

I've been to 3 PnTs and they'll all been comatose when I went in. Prices for old stuff were either nice or completely ludicrious. I would definitely not want to franchise a PnT if I opened a game store - going independent seems the better play just so you can focus on the better margin classic used games and not have 90% of a store with low margin new games.

[DigitalSpace]

There isn't a single Play N Trade left in the Portland area - they all closed up shop between the summer and the end of last year. I'll miss the one that was across the street from Mall 205 the most - I checked it out at least once a month and almost always left the store with a pretty good find.

[Steve W]

The ones I know of that closed just moved to a different location. The one in Lake Charles, LA shut down but it was because the mall they were in raised their rent drastically. The one in Broussard, LA closed, but moved down to New Iberia, LA.

It seems like some shut down because the person opening the franchise gets over his head. Maybe his enthusiasm for running a game store overshadows his experience in running a business, so he dives in and fails. The Plano, TX location was started by someone who floundered and eventually bailed, selling the franchise to the current owner. Maybe that's the instances here, Play N' Trade's corporate people aren't screening their franchisees all that well. Just letting any yahoo with a pile of money open up a location just to have it close in a year or two isn't making them look good.

[Oobgarm]

We've got one local, but it's not that great. The selection is poor, they have basically nothing prior to PS2 outside of dirt commons. Their employees are stupid degenerates who look like complete slobs and are annoying as hell because they're unable to interact with human beings without yammering constantly. One guy asked me if I was the "vodka ninja" and then proceeded to tell me how me sued Microsoft for thousands of dollars over his broken 360(and won).

I bought a game there and the owner was working at the time. I asked him if the disc he was giving me was a Greatest Hits disc, and his reply was "oh yeah this game's great for kids, do you want to see more games like this one?"

I've tested just about every associate's knowledge on games, especially classics-and they don't know anything outside of Final Fantasy, WoW, or topics related to the Wii. I know crappy employees are a problem that can be controlled, but it's something that can ruin your store's image.

Only thing they have going for them is the constant buy 2 get 1 free deal.

[Icarus Moonsight]

There is only 2 left in the Houston area... And one of those it outside of metro out by Conroe (North). They're dropping like flies. Going to swing by the outskirt location tomorrow, they were not as well stocked as the other store I went to the first time I went. Now we'll see if they got better or worse.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Yeah, that one went downhill. They have Stadium Event fever... They're not going to last long. And now having talked to the main guy up there twice now, I've come to a conclusion... He's a douche slurping asshat.

Panic Restaurant, they had 2 copies @ $150 each

Flintstones 2, Bubble Bobble 2 and Little Samson price? $500

All their well known and known rarity Nintendo stuff is jacked. I bought King's Bounty, Mega Bomberman and a Mega Key 2 for $14. Last time I was there, got a CIB G Darius for $5...

[otaku]

screw franchises open your own store! We have a play n trade here and it seems to be the least successful game store around I haven;'t been in for months because even though they carry retro games (not much) I have a local pawnshop/game store that is far better and a local indie video/game store that is also better. Go indie. It can be done I've seen it be successful (very) twice in my little town of 200,000 people

[norkusa]

Haven't been inside any of the local P'nT's for a while, so today I stopped by to have a look around. They were selling a loose modded Saturn with a 3D pad and about 20 burned games for $279. Someone actually bought it while I was in there too but he talked it down to $179 because he said that's what he was told on the phone earlier.

Also had a loose Atari 600xl computer and 2 boxed disk drives for $150. Even the local thrifts don't have prices this crazy.

[BetaWolf47]

Haven't been inside any of the local P'nT's for a while, so today I stopped by to have a look around. They were selling a loose modded Saturn with a 3D pad and about 20 burned games for $279. Someone actually bought it while I was in there too but he talked it down to $179 because he said that's what he was told on the phone earlier.

Also had a loose Atari 600xl computer and 2 boxed disk drives for $150. Even the local thrifts don't have prices this crazy.

Wow, I can't believe that crap. Someone actually bought it too? Selling burned games isn't even legal! Worst I've had happen down here is having the wrong disc in a game case.

[norkusa]

Wow, I can't believe that crap. Someone actually bought it too? Selling burned games isn't even legal! Worst I've had happen down here is having the wrong disc in a game case.

Yeah, it was really funny listening to the store owners sleazy sales pitch when the customer asked about it: "I've been in the business for a long time and I can tell you this system is as rare as they come. You can tell just by looking at it that it's hardly been used and will last many years to come. You just don't see them any nicer than this."

In little over a year, this PnT has had 2 different owners and been broken into at least 3 times. Don't see it being around much longer.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Put it in court, and they bought a Saturn for $175 (horrendous rip-off, but legal) and the burns were thrown in as a freebie (again, legal). If the buyer doesn't have fair use rights to the burns, they're gonna have to prosecute the customer, not the seller, on that one. Yeah, right, that'll happen.

Went to a local indy recently. I have a new favorite place.

They had a ton of stuff you don't find often around here. Coleco, Atari 5200 and 7800, INTV etc. Never a PnT again AFAIC. I'm done.