Where Should the Next DP Videogames Store Be?

[digitalpress]

Before I delve into the meat of this - if you have no frame of reference at all, there is the store page which has loads of info and pictures, just see my signature below.

This first store is doing really well. I have great people who can practically run the store without me, which just gets me onto the five-year plan a little sooner than I expected, opening a second store. I think about this a lot. Would it be better if it's a place that I can frequently travel to (NJ/NY/CT/PA) or better to really space it out and let it run via training (I could really use a 3 month hiatus to California, for example ) and infrequent visits?

What area really NEEDS a shop like this? I am quite serious about expansion but won't just leap in - how can I overtake GameStop with willy-nilly decision-making?

Thoughts welcome...

[Cauterize]

In the UK :P Make it worldwide!!!
Heh nah, i wouldnt be able to say, only visted a few states on holiday. Good to hear all is going well though and all the best for the next store!

[Gorez]

alabama only has a few stores that sell classic games. you wouldnt have much competition down here...other than gamestop/eb

[Lone_Monster]

Stuart, Florida. There's no gamestore here for about 20 minutes, and I'd work there in a heartbeat. ;-)

[Rogmeister]

Put one in Pittsburgh...then maybe I'd finally go up and see a Pirates game. I could make it a buy games & see a baseball game dual purpose trip.

[drewbrim]

I would keep it close (30-45 minutes) to the original store. In addition to the things you mentioned about it being close for you to check on and take care of, that would also be the case for your current employees. You say that your current store can "be practically run without you", so take the most qualified/trusted person and make him or her manager of the new store. Or just continue to trust them to take care of things while you are spending most of your time getting the new location up to speed.

Plus you wouldn't have to familiarize yourself with new/different state laws and business regulations. Nothing I'm familiar with, just assuming it's little different once you cross a state line.

[ACiD]

After reading DreamTR's post below, I am going to try to be more elaborative.

I believe DreamTR is right about NY for one reason. I know of one that's in China Town and it has got it covered. You would just be creating a competition and it could turn out to be a flop. I also have to agree that drewbrim is right about keeping the two stores somewhat close together to keep an eye on sales and such.

I think NJ and PA would probably be the best route. If you were leaning towards these two states, I would say put it somewhere near Rutgers Or Pennsylvania State. For NJ I'd say Edison or New Brunswick.

I think Piscataway has a few game stores real close by. EB Games, Game Stop, Game Crazy.. wouldn't do so hot over there.

[Soviet Conscript]

Put one in Pittsburgh...then maybe I'd finally go up and see a Pirates game. I could make it a buy games & see a baseball game dual purpose trip.

I second that. Pittsburgh, that way its half way between the chicago area and your current store

[dylan0228]

Jefferson, Wisconsin!

[Garry Silljo]

I second that. Pittsburgh, that way its half way between the chicago area and your current store

Pittsburgh has a lot of competition from other chains. "The Exchange" has multiple stores in and around the city, and "Cash and Culture" is another that services classic gamers. Joe surely could compete. Both of these chains aren't exclusively for gamers but also deal in movies, cds, action figures and more. On an interesting side note, when people trade games into "The Exchange", they use this site's online rarity guide to make their offers.

My suggestion is obviously biased, but here in Washington Pa it would be great. We have EB and CD Warehouse for used games, but only in the current gen. There is no shop here to trade or buy carts. The EB in McMurray used to before EB stopped doing that and a lot of people here in Washington made a special trip there because the nearest place after that would be 40 minutes to an hour from Washington as opposed to 20 from McMurray. A lot of new stores have been opening here and we've a burst of economic activity, but nothing in this genre. The need certainly exist here.

[agbulls]

There is a HUGE market in Chicago that is totally unserved. Sean Kelly's store is extremely far west and out of view to the majority of the city. A DP store based in Lincoln Park, or Wrigleyville (near Wrigley Field) would be HUGE. I'm a former EB/GameStop DM--and I personally petiotioned for a store in this location multiple times. But, since that megacorp doesn't listen to their employees it never happened. Here's why it would be a guaranteed success:

1. 25-45 Male demo here is HUGE and there is a TON of expendable income
2. Rents have dropped, making a large store feasible on the right street
3. There is not an EB or Gamestop ANYWHERE nearby
4. Chicago is extremely under-served in regards to what DP offers
5. I have inside knowledge on how to take down EB/ Gamestop!!!

Outside of wanting a store here, I could also run it for you if you wanted

[ckendal]

The greater Baltimore/Washington DC metro area has a great community of classic gamers and virtually no classic gaming stores. Even our pawn shops and flea markets are weak or non-existent when it comes to games. We pretty much have to rely on sites like this and eBay.

I'd really like to see a digitpress store around here. We could really use a store that caters to classic and next gen needs. On top of that, it is only a short few hours to the original in NJ!

[shadowforte]

Evansville, Indiana. Almost no game stores. The one's they do have are orverpriced.

[Hardcore]

Albany, Georgia. EB owns all three of our game stores, and they are horrible.

[Richter Belmount]

Tj Mexico

[Griking]

I'd make it somewhat local. You don't have the experience yet with running multiple stores and it's probably better off that your stores be close enough to each other so that you can EASILY commute to them when unexpected stuff occurs. Once you learn what kind of stuff can (and will) happen with sattelite stores you can open a third a bit further away. I'd probably look for a second location no further than an hour's drive away (considering traffic).

[jeffg]

The 4th Largest Media Market in the USA: Dallas/Arlington/Ft Worth has a real dearth of good classic game stores, most notably the Arlington Area right in the middle.

This is the largest area behind NY, Chicago, and LA and is growing fast.

We have 1 Gamecrazy in the metroplex now and it is in a bad part of Dallas. We have about 4 small mom & pop shops which are all located in the NE and North Suburbs of Dallas, anyone in Fort Worth/Arlington has to go over there to get something or head south Towards Waco and Killeen to get something.

The only saving grace for this area is there is a flea market about every 5-10 miles apart that you can visit and find stuff at.

With your GS/EB note above, I can do a store locator 25 miles from Burleson TExas and come up with almost 40 GS/EB stores in a 25 Mile radius.

Talk about references, I have been in many gamerushes(about 10 of them also) and have heard countless people ask for it.

The only downfall is that Vintage stock did just buy the Movie Trading Company and they now stock old games. Their trade in values suck though on old stuff, I took in my extra Kid Icarus and it was $2 trade in, but they sell it for $19.99, Adventure of Link $1.50 and they sell it for $19.99

So you would have some advantages there

[ROBOTNIK666]

Put one in Evanston, Illinois. Kids here need to learn that good graphics don't make a good game!

[boatofcar]

While I'd love to follow the trend of "put one where I live," I think from a practical perspective putting a store in the DC metro area is a great idea. While business real estate in the Arlington/Alexandria VA or Rockville MD area is getting more expensive, there is a lot of room for expansion, which keeps the prices from getting too insane. From a location in the DC area, you'll get customers from these major cities/suburbs, all which have a TON of cash to throw around:

Richmond
Arlington
Alexandria
Pittsburgh
DC
Rockville
Silver Spring
Baltimore
Plus a ton of the suburbs around Baltimore I don't know about.

Combine this with:

You're well within a day's drive of Jersey yet not so close that the two stores will compete.

From what I've heard from the small business groups I used to work with when I was with Apple, Maryland is very small-business friendly.

You'll fill a void left by Starland, which was a great store that suffered from poor management.



...but if you really want to, I wouldn't object to a store down the street from me in VA Beach, either

[exit]

Down here there was a CD traders that lasted awhile in this one spot, they sold everything from CDs and Records to Atari games and PS2 games. The store shut down a few years ago tho, mainly because of internal problems (they ended up losing this guy Mike, who was the main factor of the stores success), but a store like this would probably do wonders there. There are schools close to the area and it's in between some restaurants and other misc stores.