So I am on my way to opening my own game store...

[shadowforte]

I have had this plan for awhile now and I have some friends to help out now so I am starting to get this train moving. Any one on these forums that have owned a store before have any advice (besides things like "Don't open one.")?

[Flack]

I can't think of a single person.

[miserere01]

Well, not me personally, but a friend did once. He closed down, but it seemed to me the wisest advice is location. He opened next to a gamestop AND another local store that carried older games, bad bad idea. Just make absolutely sure it's a well populated area as far as you can get from anything that sells a video game.

[Joe West]

the only thing i can say is, if you dont have 15 to 20,000 to buy stock with & enought money to cover your rent for the next 6 months, you shouldn't have a problem

good luck joe

[An Hero]

Well, not me personally, but a friend did once. He closed down, but it seemed to me the wisest advice is location. He opened next to a gamestop AND another local store that carried older games, bad bad idea. Just make absolutely sure it's a well populated area as far as you can get from anything that sells a video game.

I'll agree with location being important, but I disagree about being isolated from competition, especially if you have a good selection of older games. It's likely that Gamestop employees would visit the independent store and even recommend such a store when some clueless customer wanders into Gamestop looking for N64 games. The employee would likely send them up the road for such an item. Free, word-of-mouth advertising. AND, if the independent store offers a better trade-in policy, word would spread about that as well.

[Dr. Dib]

My only suggestion would be to have something to fall back on in case your store does not do to well. Also, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to make sure there aren't any retro game stores in your area via the Retrogaming map on google. http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...fb9c7cea768d23

[mindlesspunk77]

Having owned my own store and closed my own store my advice as somone else said Have atleast 10k to buy new stock with and have money to cover your rent for the next 6 months to a year. The first year you take loses you cant help that. Second is LOcation Location Mother Fucking Location! I had great stock but had trouble getting people in the door. Craigslist is a great place to freely advertise. Good luck!

[Press_Start]

Location is a KEY factor that makes or breaks any business, especially a video game store, cause it's hard making a profit in the middle the desert.

My take on the best location depends on having these two attributes:

1. Starting the business near a college or a suburban neighborhood. With the stress of tests, projects, and classes, students are always looking for a way to relieve their tension and most of them (at least in my department) rely on game to do just that. Doesn't matter if it's the Wii or NES as long as they can afford it.
With suburbs come middle-class families coupled with kids (using the term loosely). Nuff said.

Either way, it's a good source of game intake whether its a student selling his collection to pay tuition or parents exchanging their children's old-gen stuff for the new-gen stuff.

2. Starting the business right off a major busy highway. Not as important as the first, but much more practical as an easy way for customers to reach the store. On a lesser note, it is a good way to attract potential gamers as we're always looking for new places to find new games or new friends. The store I frequently visit now caught my eye the first time as I was traveling up Route 273 on route to the university.

That's my two cents.

[Stark]

If a car hits you store before you open it you will be successful just like DP.

[GameDeals.ca]

Make sure you know who the players are in your area, and if you don't think you can compete, don't bother. Don't hesitate to do business with your competitors, but make sure that your store is better (this can mean many things). Expect that it will take a while before you'll feel "comfortable". Lastly.. one of the best bits of advice I ever read... most people pay rent/bills when they're due and buy when they have money... do the opposite. Buy everything when it's offered whether you have the cash flow or not, and pay bills when you have the money. If you need to bounce the odd payment because you bought a collection that will earn you piles of money, it's way better than turning down a good buy, and worse case scenario you can dump it to another dealer at cost if you have to.

[Trebuken]

Don't under-price your old games or used games. Offers deals when you can to encourage return shopping. Don't run out of inventory be sure to maintain a certain margin. Have sales if inventory gets to high or product isn't moving.

Identify the slow periods of the year. It can often be measured by new game releases. Note that weeks like this (GTA IV) release could have a dramatic impact on sales; Gamestop will have more copies then you, so you won't win this week...probably...

Shop-lifting can be a huge problem keep high-dollar items where you can see them.

Just some thoughts.

[DigitalSpace]

Regarding location, I've noticed that most (if not all) of the Play N Trades that have recently opened up in my area are a pretty good distance from a GameStop, GameCrazy, etc. but are still on or just off of a major road. Try to do the same.

Also, try to be among the stores that employees at GameStop and the like may recommend for people looking for older games, or to visit to trade such games in.

Also, you could try to buy ad space in your local high school and college newspapers, maybe even throw in a coupon or a small discount to anyone who mentions or shows the ad. When I was in high school, I'd usually check out the music and game stores that advertised in my school's paper at least once.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[Blur2040]

I just gotta ask...if you plan on opening a game store that sells "retro" games...if you even have enough to start with. ---It's not like you can just go out and buy them too easily...

I have waaaaay more than most people and its still not near enough inventory for me to open a store with.

[DDCecil]

Since everyone here has good advice, I can only tell you what happens if you fail:

1. You get to hang the store sign up in your den:
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/1275/picture069wp8.jpg

That's it :-(

May 5th - 2 years since my store opened, and 1 year since it closed.

[debian4life]

Only thing I would say is to make your prices reasonable. Biggest turnoff for me is going into a game store and trying to buy say an Atari 2600 Asteroids game and it having a price tag of $10. Just be reasonable, not everyone going into a game store is a die hard collector willing to spend large amounts of money for basically used games in there opinion.

[aaron7]

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116351

I didn't even have to search, that thread is on the front page lol

[8bitgamer]

I have had this plan for awhile now and I have some friends to help out now so I am starting to get this train moving. Any one on these forums that have owned a store before have any advice (besides things like "Don't open one.")?

Maintain a presence on ebay with links to your store's website. Also maintain a presence on various gaming websites, again with links to your store's website.

[shadowforte]

Wow this is all good advice guys. Thanks very much.

[acem77]

Have at least one cute girl working there that really does like games.
Have a simple rewards program.
Don’t let total tools work there, for the most part avoid the type that work at gameStops or bestbuys.
those are types of people that keep me from coming back in.