Basically my goal at this stage in my life is to get one successful gaming store open, before I'm 30 if I want to be adventurous (I'm 19, FYI, so it's not at all unreasonable). I was wondering if anyone here had ideas or concerns that your store experiences left you with to share

What I Do Know:
-I'm not rushing into this, I know it's a big chunk of money to start a business at all, let alone a store where most of the stock is ungodly expensive, and if I'm taking people's old game then I'll be even more in the hole to start

-I'm finding a Gamestop-less area, preferably low crime >_> that has a large residential and corporate area near it. It'll be hard but I know that such a place exists.

-The prices will be competitive but not basement put-my-ass-out-of-business low. They might be what Gamestop would charge if you got the 10% off from the card, or more than likely an average of a few used game store's references.

-Have systems linked up in a back area for people to just come in and dick around on for a while, and possibly even sell drinks and snacks to make some extra money off of it. (Yes I will have cleaning products <_<)

-No bugging people to buy magazines or other things like that, I do that to 6-700 people at my current job anyway.

I know the store won't be near you unless you live in my area, but still the advice is much appreciated.

Sounds like heaven in a small, privately owned store. You might want to try stocking other types of media(DVDs, CDs, etc.) and maybe older games as well.

TriggerAF:
Sounds like heaven in a small, privately owned store. You might want to try stocking other types of media(DVDs, CDs, etc.) and maybe older games as well.

You should only focus on one type of product, and then branch out when you can afford to do so. Don't know how many of you folks are familiar with HMV, but they use to be just a music store. Then they branched out to movies and television. Then they started selling video games. Now they sell books and cellphone contracts. In a few years, you could probably buy your groceries there too.

Look for a business partnership. Someone who can afford to buy the property and who can navigate all the tricky business deals. Just doing it all by yourself is a nigh on impossible load.

Ok, where are you, firstly?

Sounds like a great place, but if you can, buy used games for an amount that people would actually like to receive. Unlike GameStop, where they give you $7.00 for most games.

Sounds like a really good idea.

EDIT: You should get your hands on some Wiis, that would be nice. Get ready to deal with clueless moms.

Prepare for a short life >10 years, with digital distribution gaining much more popularity it will be much harder to stay in business with the traditional gamestop/gamecrazy/gamehaven/ business model. Your going to have to come up with a innovative plan other than "here are games come buy them we also trade in used games!".

Indigo_Dingo:
Sell your soul and deal primarily with Wiis in the early days. Get your name out to hardcore gamers, sure, but actually try to reach the Wii centric market to help keep you on your feet. Like, try offering a free Wii plushie or something.

I'm not selling The Price Is Right or shovelware like that, but i fully intend to sell Wiis and their many many accessories. I actually enjoy the Wii for what it is.

Gamestop-less area eh? try England! we have no Gamestops whatsoever as far as i know here! what we DO have though, is Game, Gamestation, and lots of other game stores :P

[Gavo]:
Ok, where are you, firstly?

Northeast OH

Yeah, you're not from there, no one is...

TheTygerfire:

[Gavo]:
Ok, where are you, firstly?

Northeast OH

Yeah, you're not from there, no one is...

Damn...so far away.
I'm in San Diego, CA.

Where do you plan on getting the money to start this, anyways?

From my perspective definitly get some older games in. You could even specialise a little in collectibles maybe. I used to love Gamestation over here in the UK before GAME bought it out and systematically decimated pretty much everything I loved about the store.

Still I assume they did it because they make more money that way so what do I know? I just want a place with a decent selection of Retro games as well as new stuff. If your store had that and I lived in the US, with your other ideas I would be there.

You could perhaps get some gaming related paraphenalia, Action Figures and the like too.

You do need to plan how to make your business profitable after all the overhead your store will cause. Remember the top businesses in the States use the asset of debt to run their business. Small business models do not have that luxury of being rewarded for performing poorly and if you plan to not do pressured sales at all then you really need to build a formula that will not only pay for employees, product, phone lines but also to be able to pay yourself a salary and keep the store advancing.

You need to find out what will keep PAYING customers inside your store and have them keep coming back. I stress paying because your average customer coming into a game store is usally parents of children that play games or people who really do not know ANYTHING about video games and that should be your expectation. Do not expect a member of the escapist to walk into your store as the standard.

Cater to the parents by making a guide for them for quick and easy reference so they can buy the games that they know their kids will want. For the gamers that can be self supportive you need a way for them to want to come into your store to NOT hang out but to BUY from your store. Best thing you can do for those customers is to set up an area that will segregate them from distracting your employees from assisting paying customers. It is fine to have those customers talking to them but setting up a play area for them is critical to ensure that your store will want them to hang out with their friends and socialize with their friends or make new friends. Events to allow your gamer customers allow them to build a community and set up a way for them to keep contact and of course make a disclaimer to cover yourself from customers going crazy on other customers.

[Gavo]:
Ok, where are you, firstly?

Sounds like a great place, but if you can, buy used games for an amount that people would actually like to receive. Unlike GameStop, where they give you $7.00 for most games.

Sounds like a really good idea.

EDIT: You should get your hands on some Wiis, that would be nice. Get ready to deal with clueless moms.

Getting a loan in America to start your own business is EASY! Hell my brother took his gamertag and made a business out of that and even has business credit cards with his gamertag as his company.

Indigo_Dingo:

Simalacrum:
Gamestop-less area eh? try England! we have no Gamestops whatsoever as far as i know here! what we DO have though, is Game, Gamestation, and lots of other game stores :P

The difference between GAME and Gamestop is? I'm in Australia, I've dealt with GAME, and they're pretty much a carbon copy with a made in England sticker.

really? i never knew that lol! although it is true that they sell 2nd-hand games at ridiculously high prices while buying 2nd hand games at ridiculously low prices... and also they have reward cards that (as far as i can tell) do nothing whatsoever... etc etc :P

Try and have more of a hands on approach, try and be quite personal with some of your customers, as you will be a small store you will have that advantage over bigger stores.

Pay hookers to set up shop in front of your shop...that will attract business for sure.

An admirable goal. Sadly, I have no advice, but I wish you the best of luck.

Use the phat profits you make selling Wii's to do something in the shop that none of the mainstream shops near you do, like sell old games from xbox and pas1 right back to cartridge games, that will get a more diverse groups of nerds in the shop. My other example would be to have demo booths set up, they used to have them inb all the shops but not any more, big game out this week, have it running on a console so people can pay it, it brings people in and gets people talking.

Also selling merchandise related to gaming may be an option, like halo clix or novels and action figures, however unless you can sell em cheap and have no competitors nearby then it would be very unlikely that it would be financially viable

Have you thought about going online instead? It'd be far cheaper since you wouldn't have to own a building, and a lot of the market for games is online these days, with them often being cheaper, and less effort required to purchase.

just a bump to get more dos and more helpful, don'ts

Please, please, please, carry some CCG/tabletop RPG stuff. And put some tables out with your systems in the back. It doesn't take up much room and it will probably attract a loyal (and grateful!) customer base if your area is low-GameStop, low-game store volume.

What I wouldn't give for a local game store that had tables to find and play people locally. If it sold video games too, I'd probably never leave, which would be good for me, because all lodging monies would be getting spent on games. But maybe bad for you, since smelly disheveled sp0rk would be in residence, albeit buying lots of stuff.

Also, I second the used/old games idea mentioned upthread. Nothing like a little nostalgia to get the purchases flowing.

Hire me. xD

I like your idea. Sounds like heaven to me.

Better get some good connections and set up an online store so that you can sell stuff to us.

I really can't tell you anything that hasn't already been said or you already know.

-carry different media types (dvds, blu-rays)
-accessories
-maybe have a member list who get newsletters on when games are hitting the store
-tournaments. tournaments. tournaments.
-if space provides, have a table top area or have sanctioned days for table top gaming. from what i understand it's pretty easy to get Games Workshop or Privateer Press to get involved in your store.
-used games

that's all i can think of right now

Try putting you store in a place where there are other stores, but not so you are booked in. Mothers will usually either let their children look at the store while looking for something else. Have games slightly below regular price to get a good reputation, then bump up the prices a bit for profit. Pay attention to the internet, a no name game may get good reviews, so stock up on it. It might sell more that mainstream games.

Eggo:
Physical media is dying and it will be practically dead by the time you have enough capital to start such a store. Don't bother.

If that's the case then I'll have the money to pay back the loans right away, huh?

Don't just make it a game store, do something on the side. Make it a game store/sub sandwitch place. Or something. I dunno.

TheTygerfire:
-Have systems linked up in a back area for people to just come in and dick around on for a while, and possibly even sell drinks and snacks to make some extra money off of it. (Yes I will have cleaning products <_<)

Sounds like Heaven, with the risk of premature deafness, of course. The snacks are an excellent idea.

Not sure if this helps, but...

I love stores that sell older games. (i.e. NES, SNES, Atari, Dreamcast, hell, it's rare to find PlayStation games in my area) A little bit of obscure swag never hurt anybody. Maybe some contests for subscribed members and/or employees of your store? (i.e. Guess that Game, drawings, maybe some art contests...?) Guides for clueless relatives will SAVE YOUR LIFE. Maybe you can find a way to legally sell tickets to E3 or Video Games Live? Character costumes for Halloween?

As for suggested DON'Ts, well...

- My mother once refused to buy a game for me when the employee was incredibly rude to her.
- For the love of God, no smoking in the building. My local GameStop allowed that.
- Indoor restrooms are not always a good idea.
- DO NOT ignore the tabletop gamers.

I wish you the best of luck!

You know what would be sweet? A skill tester! One of those things with a crane that you use to pick up little plushie toys. Have one of those in your store but put in a popular and recent game. People will feed that thing coins and eventually it will pay for itself and give you plenty of spare change. It's unlikely anyone will actually get the game, the claws can barely lift the little toys.

Fire Daemon:
You know what would be sweet? A skill tester! One of those things with a crane that you use to pick up little plushie toys. Have one of those in your store but put in a popular and recent game. People will feed that thing coins and eventually it will pay for itself and give you plenty of spare change. It's unlikely anyone will actually get the game, the claws can barely lift the little toys.

That is BRILLIANT. I would feed so many quarters into that thing.