Any current or ex video game store owners?

[mkspam]

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I was cleaning out my storage room and I came upon boxes of video games. So many memories of a better time. As an ex video game store owner, I really enjoy the forums here. So much information and such a decent culture keeping the retro video game culture alive. I have not played a video game in years, however I always check this site at least a couple times a week.

I used to run a store in downtown Manhattan around Stuyvesant High School for those of you interested. We closed like so many others due to rising costs and the inability to compete with the evil empire (Gamestop). However, I know that there are still those of us out there fighting the good fight.

Full Disclosure!!!

I am going to sell my games soon. I know there are rules regarding selling without posting and so I have decided to be a model citizen and become an 'active' member.

End Disclosure!!!

But seriously, if there are any current or ex video game store owners on these boards, share some war stories. Would love to hear them.

[hashiriya1]

I am going to sell my games soon. I know there are rules regarding selling without posting and so I have decided to be a model citizen and become an 'active' member.

You joined more than 14 days ago, so technically you are eligible to sell in the BST forum but people will be weary since you have no feedback. You should have been active when you had the shop!

[mkspam]

Thanks for the tip, hashiriya1. I didn't know about the 14 day rule. Still, I will post some more and get myself a bit more familiar with the forum. I don't want to be the 'creepy new guy'.

And to reply to your last comment, when I had the store, this site had not been created yet. I vaguely remember connecting through dial-up from the store using Prodigy.

You'll notice that I wanted to include your post to reply to, however I have no idea how to do that. Also, someone sent me a message that I have no idea how to reply to either. I'm still learning, so do not be insulted whoever you are.

[Bradtemple87]

Just click on the messages link at the top, then the message in your inbox just like your email. Scroll down and there is a button that says reply. Click that link and you can respond back to me by clicking send

[hashiriya1]

Thanks for the tip, hashiriya1. I didn't know about the 14 day rule. Still, I will post some more and get myself a bit more familiar with the forum. I don't want to be the 'creepy new guy'.

And to reply to your last comment, when I had the store, this site had not been created yet. I vaguely remember connecting through dial-up from the store using Prodigy.

You'll notice that I wanted to include your post to reply to, however I have no idea how to do that. Also, someone sent me a message that I have no idea how to reply to either. I'm still learning, so do not be insulted whoever you are.

Oh, I thought you had the shop until recently. I am would very interested to see what you had to sell.

Just hit the "QUOTE" button on the bottom right corner of someone's post to include the the text of the person you're responding to.

[MrHealthy]

Not a store owner myself but I do have some questions.

How hard was it to buy low and sell high(er)?
Did the customer base just not develop, it did you have a good one?
Did you ever consider selling at flea markets / online as another revenue stream? (Including possible getting back into selling via these methods?)
Did you ever develop any friendly business relationships with Gamestops, etc?

Umm, I had more, but my mind has gone blank. So lets start with that.

[mkspam]

Thanks for the tip, hashiriya1. I didn't know about the 14 day rule. Still, I will post some more and get myself a bit more familiar with the forum. I don't want to be the 'creepy new guy'.

And to reply to your last comment, when I had the store, this site had not been created yet. I vaguely remember connecting through dial-up from the store using Prodigy.

You'll notice that I wanted to include your post to reply to, however I have no idea how to do that. Also, someone sent me a message that I have no idea how to reply to either. I'm still learning, so do not be insulted whoever you are.

Oh, I thought you had the shop until recently. I am would very interested to see what you had to sell.

Just hit the "QUOTE" button on the bottom right corner of someone's post to include the the text of the person you're responding to.

Thank you guys. See this is why I enjoy this forum.

As for what I have, I will start listing them once I go through my boxes this weekend. I mostly have what I couldn't sell to other vendors when I closed the store:

PS1 games & accessories
Dreamcast games & accessories
Saturn games & accessories
Neo Geo games
PC games
& others like Master System, Genesis, SNES

Most of my games are either new or like new (i.e., games that were opened to play in the kiosks only).

[mkspam]

Not a store owner myself but I do have some questions.

How hard was it to buy low and sell high(er)?
Did the customer base just not develop, it did you have a good one?
Did you ever consider selling at flea markets / online as another revenue stream? (Including possible getting back into selling via these methods?)
Did you ever develop any friendly business relationships with Gamestops, etc?

Umm, I had more, but my mind has gone blank. So lets start with that.

Almost impossible to buy low. There weren't, and still aren't, that many wholesalers in the NYC area and they only give the best discounts to those buying hundreds of units. Mom & pop owners like myself couldn't afford to buy that many and also couldn't store that many units.

I had a great customer base, mostly Wall St. guys & Stuyvesant students, (also a lot of celebrities).

Flea markets were not that easy to get into. The ones I were interested in (Soho and Noho) were always booked by the locals. As for online, internet shopping was in its infancy during this time and so that wasn't an option.

I had business relationships with Electronics Boutique (before Gamestop) and others such as Funcoland (many more that I cannot remember at the moment). Funcoland, for example, was one of my best customers. Customers would sell back their games to me and someone from Funcoland would stop by weekly and buy everything. Good times....

[MrEco]

Well don't worry about being the "creepy new guy." I don't think you'll have a hard time getting along in this forum. At the very least you've gained my respect simply by seeming like a very nice person and using good spelling and grammar.

[mkspam]

Well don't worry about being the "creepy new guy." I don't think you'll have a hard time getting along in this forum. At the very least you've gained my respect simply by seeming like a very nice person and using good spelling and grammar.

Thank you for the kind words.

Someone just sent me a message saying that my good spelling and grammar most likely means that I am "older than the regular crowd". The internet is a strange place.