opening a game store

[MentalMan]

You should put it simple.

How much cash you got and how much could be a reserve, which should be large.

And do you want to do this solely for the fact of having a game store (so basically just for "fun") or do you want to do this for a living? Which mean's you gotta carry on and pull through. If it fail's it wont be any fun anymore. Your financial existance could be on the line.

If you cant invest into a sinking ship and be okay with it, I would think about it twice. So this mean's if it is for a living, you should spend a year or two taking advices just like from the prior poster's, get yourself marketing support and be up with all the law's surrounding your own store. There is a ton of investment's, and a loss is expected at some rate.

Not that I ever had a shop. But I see PC and Game stores around here popping up and dropping dead again like fly's. (And the location's are really good around here, weird.) They dont last long, and now, GameStop the evil empire is seemingly taking over. Ugh.

Unless you can hire a bunch of personal to help around the store at all hours, this is a full time job too. And hiring people cost's money too! And a lot of legal stuff to sink into.

Edit: Come to think about it, I am wondering if you are talking about a real life store or internet, lol. I was assuming Real Life in any case.

[Flake]

However, in due time, try to shift it over to a more mature one if you feel so inclined, but remember that you are cutting out extra revenue with doing so. 27-35? Really? Most gamers actually ARE MUCH younger - 10ish-25ish.

I was more talking about how indie gamestores have this habit of attracting teenagers with no money and no where to go. The local store here 'D-Pad' has a huge problem with this. Kids will spend their entire day at the store, shooting the shit with the clerks, drinking soda and leaving cans lying around. Generally making a lot of noise and clutter.

As a paying customer, walking into a store and having to compete with some loiterer for a clerks attention does NOT make me want to spend money. If the atmosphere is annoying, I'm not going to dig through bins for those gems or peruse the new merchandise. I'm going to f'ing leave and probably not come back.

tl;dr version: Don't let slacker kids take up space in your store. It chases off the paying customers. I've seen a lot of stores try to become the 'cool' store...and they usually close within the year.

[Luke]

In short, don't open a retail store without extensive knowledge about how retail stores operate.

For a grand, I'd be happy to conduct an industry sector analysis to see if you can sustain you business in a global and competitive environment.

[molotovwars]

In short, don't open a retail store without extensive knowledge about how retail stores operate.

For a grand, I'd be happy to conduct an industry sector analysis to see if you can sustain you business in a global and competitive environment.

I'm going to second this comment about research and extensive knowledge just because I notice how often you make threads asking questions that you might be able to answer on your own much quicker. To a point where a lot of people think you're trolling. I don't mean to call you out, rather if you do decide to open a business you'll need to be more resourceful and able to find the information you need. I think a lot of us that buy and sell games on the side are often able to get great deals because we end up knowing more than the person/works running the place where we got the games, whether its a flea-market, pawnshop, or independent game store.

[ShadicChao]

[quote="Flake"] Remember that the average gamer is between 27-35 years old - don't cater to the kids.[quote]

[Flake]

Remember that the average gamer is between 27-35 years old - don't cater to the kids.

3 -The average game player is 35 years old and has been playing games for 12 years.
4 -The average age of the most frequent game purchaser is 39 years old.

Source: http://www.theesa.com/facts/index.asp

That #4 one is the most important, btw

[Niode]

You will fail. Sorry. You have Game who has a monopoly (they own both Game and Gamestation), they were the reason that Playtime (the biggest independent game store in the UK) went bankrupt, despite almost always having cheaper prices, they just don't have the retail clout that Game/Gamestation has, they own both the prime locations and biggest stores.

[Devezu]

However, in due time, try to shift it over to a more mature one if you feel so inclined, but remember that you are cutting out extra revenue with doing so. 27-35? Really? Most gamers actually ARE MUCH younger - 10ish-25ish.

I was more talking about how indie gamestores have this habit of attracting teenagers with no money and no where to go. The local store here 'D-Pad' has a huge problem with this. Kids will spend their entire day at the store, shooting the shit with the clerks, drinking soda and leaving cans lying around. Generally making a lot of noise and clutter.

As a paying customer, walking into a store and having to compete with some loiterer for a clerks attention does NOT make me want to spend money. If the atmosphere is annoying, I'm not going to dig through bins for those gems or peruse the new merchandise. I'm going to f'ing leave and probably not come back.

tl;dr version: Don't let slacker kids take up space in your store. It chases off the paying customers. I've seen a lot of stores try to become the 'cool' store...and they usually close within the year.

Good point, I was thinking smaller kids...

Keep the store clean, concise, and organized - it'll go a long way.

"4 -The average age of the most frequent game purchaser is 39 years old"

Yeah, but who begs those 39 year olds to get out and buy them? Who begs them to go to the store?

[KillemallCFH]

also, don't be a d-bag to customers. There's a local place I go to, and some of the guys are cool and haggle and cut you deals on stuff. But others are just plain rude. I brought in a boxed (brand new) PS2/XBox/GC driving wheel with pedals and manual still included. I bring the box in to the counter and was like "I just wanted to see if you'd want this for a trade-in" and the guy just looked at the box without even thinking and laughed and said "nah... you didn't bring ANYTHING ELSE???" real cocky like. That's not cool.

This is a very important point. Also, its important not to let yourself and the people who frequent your theoretical store into a sort of clique. I've seen other hobbyist stores where the owners and regulars are on very friendly terms, but when someone they don't know comes into the store, they treat them like dirt. It's very important to be friendly, but make sure that friendliness extends to all your customers, not just the ones you like. Make sure everyone feels welcome.

[Luke]

It's not all a lost cause.

You can always start by selling games on ebay, finding a niche target audience and build from there. BUT! A good analogy is that just because you have your grandmother's famous biscuit recipe doesn't mean you can run a successful breakfast restaurant. Opening any retail store has hundreds of unseen facets.

Example: How would you handle returns? How would you work with your fulfillment company to handle returns? How much money would you and your fulfillment company lose on a single return? Would your fulfillment company even allow returns?

And that is something that is considered "simple" for retail stores. Brick and mortar/chain stores/Mom & Pop stores/online sales all deal with this.

That's exactly why people pay a lot of money to consultants to see if the operation is even possible. And sometimes, trust me on this one, you pay a consultant a few thousand dollars just for them to tell you that you will indeed fail. But, in the long run, spending a few grand to see if it could work is much better than losing your life savings in a foolish venture.