Opening a Game Store UPDATE!

[Rikimaru]

Whoa! Good Luck to you and your business, you will do well!

[Goblin]

Let me throw my best wishes into the mix.

Here is a sugestion. DP - The Comercial. I want to see some cheesy late night comercial on cable access. Think vintage crazy eddie.

[Damion]

I was thinking the same thing as was stated earler. how big is this property?

I have a few ideas but some require space. Maybe something like an upper teir store and bar/coffee shop with virtual catalogs ( something like a veiwscreen in the table) of your stock and prices so people can browse and Drink at the same time. while having the loud Cab games on the main floor for people to play.

then you could also have an area with just seating and have people rent a console (such as a psp) with a game so they can play in a nice quit and comfy couch area.

personally I've always dreamed of opening a game store. with most every type of game (Board, card, Video, PNPRPG, Lan) having it themed with a game/resturant atmosphere.

[izret101]

I am not going to lie and say i read all 4 pages of this because i didn't. But i read the first page and a half and skimmed a bit after that.

So best of luck with your adventure. Hope it works out for you.

I have wanted to open my own store for awhile now and actually have a place in mind of buying when it goes up for sale.
Just need to take some buisness/money management courses when i get into college.

As for your lan and multiplayer ideas i know of a few places around here that "rent" the tv/pc for certain amounts of time.

I suggest you stay away from things like Magic, Yugioh hero clicks etc.
Those tend to not do so well. Maybe if noone else around sels them you could get rid of them.
But all the videogame shops around here have their packs MUCH longer than any of the card&comic shops.

Again best of luck and hopefully i was able to offer something useful or interesting.

[16-bit]

Joe: This is great news and I wish you the best!

One piece of advice I can give you is to re-evaluate your collecting habits once you open your store. When you sell video games, your passion for video game collecting can become an occupational hazard.

[Flack]

If you are going to have things that attract people and keep thing around the store for a while (games, lan games, arcade games, etc) then you should have food. Wal-Mart has cases of Sam's cola for $3.88. That's 16 cents a can. You can sell them for 50 or 75 cents each. That's just easy money. Hotdogs + buns are about 20 cents each and you can sell them for a buck or two. I wouldn't turn down anything with that kind of profit margin!

On the arcade games, I don't see what all the discussion's about. Put 3-4 games and a pinball table or two in there, leave them on quarter play and call it a day. Easy money. Just be sure to make friend with a local repairman!

[YoshiM]

How did I miss this thread as well. You're pursuing the dream of many a gamer including this one (who'd love to have an arcade/LAN center/store and a spa. The latter is the wife's idea).

One of the members (Bavis?) mentioned not having a snack bar and I have to second them on that. I helped out/worked at an arcade back in the early 90's and the owner wanted to start serving pizza and such. He found out that in order to serve anything beyond "vending" type stuff (as in anything prepackaged like candy, bags of chips, cans of soda, etc.) he would have to do a lot of things to the building in order to bring it up to the "Code" required to get the permit to have a snack bar (like making the entrance to the building and bathroom handicap accessable-that alone would have required a LOT of money). Plus I'm sure there will be a hike in insurance to protect against any accidents revolving around served food.

Definitely learn about the permits and licenses so you don't get nailed with fines or shut down. I'd hate to see the dream become reality only to see it fall because of some overzealous inspector or tax collector.

[Hep038]

I have one piece of advice hire Sothy as security, you would never have to worry about shop lifters.

[geelw]

hmmm... well, if ya ever need a cranky, reliable import guy who cracks loafing customers on the head with the games they're poring over for perfection, you know who to call. i work cheap, and don't eat much.

speaking of eats- lose the snack bar idea unless you can stick drink holders and wastebaskets at every station and subtly enforce a "no oopsie!" law without being seen as too much of a pest to folks who've never had the dp experience before. wait, that came out the wrong way... but you know what i mean

[chadtower]

Forget any food you have to make/cook. That requires a food license, board of health compliance, and a LOT of expense/hassle you just don't need. Prepackaged foods with a high profit margin could work, but don't get into anything even resembling food service. A soda machine or cooler with sodas and some prepackaged snacks will work.

I definitely second organization, no digging through bins, no "I'll check out back". If you have it, make it visible and organized. And don't take names and phone numbers unless you intend to use them. I hate places that take my name and number and then never call, but get the stuff in that I wanted.

The nickels idea is decent, though I'd stay with quarters, since a quarter is just about as worthless as a nickel nowadays.

[digitalpress]

Quick update on this.

I spoke with the landlord yesterday, and he really liked the concept. I got some more information on costs, timing and space as well.

Today I'm sending in my letter of intent.

To someone who asked, it's approximately 1700 square feet. It's a pretty decent size but there will be limitations on how crazy I can get with it.

Tale to be continued. Thanks again to all of you for the support and feedback!

[chadtower]

After some more thinking, I'm thinking this:

If you REALLY want to sell some old stuff, you're going to need demo kiosks. Most of your target demographic isn't going to remember the Atari systems, or the ColecoVision, etc. They're sure as hell not going to know what a Vectrex is. You won't get $40 for a Vectrex from people who haven't seen how cool it is, but if you have a demo Vectrex, people will be able to experience it and want it. Demo kiosks for older systems will definitely increase your sales of older games/hardware. You'd have to build them yourself if you want them freestanding, or maybe just have little TVs on a counter with each system there under glass and a controller with a cord fed through a hole in the glass.

[Crush Crawfish]

First I must say good luck with this, Joe! I'll make sure to take a trip down there when I can.

Also, I must agree with the idea of demo kiosks. That's something I used to love about Funcoland back in the day, the fact that you could pick any game off the shelf and try it. It's certainly an advantage that your store could have.

[christianscott27]

i love the idea! i've even daydreamed about owning a DP franchise store. just have fun with it and that will carry over to the customers. dont be the know it all comic book guy who makes people feel uncomfortable, be yourself, like you're hosting a party and you'll do well. I'd say go as nuts with the decor as you can to give the place a real personality, i hate white bright half empty stores with cheap office carpet. clutter is your friend, appeal to the type of person who likes to browse, if its possible for a strip mall store to feel cozy go for it. i'd mostly agree with chad about the food and beverages but maybe you can do a little coffee, stores here seem to get away with it.

[Sniderman]

I have one piece of advice hire Sothy as security, you would never have to worry about shop lifters.

No, but Joe would then have to take out "skull-fucking" insurance. The premiums would be murder.

[Captain Wrong]

You need me to be the surly but loveable guy working the counter.

[Hep038]

You think if he posted a sign that said this he would not be held liable?

Warning these premises are under surveillance. All shoplifters will be skull fucked to the fullest extent of the law. You have been warned.

[chadtower]

You think if he posted a sign that said this he would not be held liable?

Warning these premises are under surveillance. All shoplifters will be skull fucked to the fullest extent of the law. You have been warned.

I do believe skullfucking against one's will is beyond the fullest extent of the law, therefore the sign isn't going to help.

A picture of an 11 year old, with an Xbox game hanging out of his coat and being skullfucked at the door, with a caption of SHOPLIFTERS WILL BE DEALT WITH SEVERELY would be more effective.

[rbudrick]

Can't wait to see this pan out, Joe. Get the brick and mortar and a website store going and I think You'll do fine. And while the snack bar idea will surely suck, the prepackaged foods can still be done.

Beer may require a liquor license, but maybe not...do check it out....or at least have som on hand for after-hours LAN parties (with strippers and whores, of course).

-Rob

[chadtower]

Beer requires a food license AND a liquor license, as well as seating capacity requirements. That is a HARD business to get into as a sideline. It's not worth it.