Any one own a game store?

thingsfallnapart

thingsfallnapart

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Just wondering, we (this guy and i) have one running and its been a year, we are in the green (making), but the past few weeks its been incredibly slow. What on earth can you do to get people in the store? its depressing sitting there all day and no one at all comes in.
 
Guerilla marketing all the way . You gotta get your name heard. Swap coupons with a local Pizza place. post flyers or cards wherever you can. Start up tournaments.

Do you guys buy games? I'm sure if you do you offer more money then the local EB/GS does. Gotta let people know about that too.
 
This time of year is always slow for retail. After Easter things really die.

You should totally advertise hardcore. Maybe a game finding service or something? The guy who wants Rez maybe not have eBay access.
 
I've heard setting up a thing where people can play LAN games of Halo and stuff is usually profitable for most game stores. Charge a group of kids like $10 an hour or something, you'll probably have people constantly playing.
 
thanks for the tip hobo, after 8 disappointing hours of work today, ill be sure to check over every little detail i post on this message board so everyone can be happy.
 
[quote name='thingsfallnapart']Just wondering, we (this guy and i) have one running and its been a year, we are in the green (making), but the past few weeks its been incredibly slow. What on earth can you do to get people in the store? its depressing sitting there all day and no one at all comes in.[/QUOTE]

It's hard work, definately.

Most independents can't offer the types of deals / coupons that stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, etc can, and they can't offer the short of timeliness of new releases like EB / Gamestop can.

I knew a guy who ran his own store... he got games about 3 days after EB / Gamestop would and it really put a dent in his business. Plus new games would be 47 or so, but hell when Best Buy sells it for 39.99 and gets it before his store... well that's painful.

Some suggestions though... try local video game tournaments for popular games, like Halo 2, and use the ideas someone else had to have flyers, or work advertising deals with other local companies. Get in word of mouth and maybe a few sales.

If there are any colleges around, see if you can work out a deal to get some advertising with them (like a tack board, my college has boards in all it's halls for such a thing), as many college students will play games and at least check the store out.

Even offering older games (DC / N64 and older) is a real plus. The local guy here was the ONLY retailer in miles upon miles to take older games for trade in, let alone sell them. This is the main reason I visited the local guy.

Or, since you are in the green, you can use a loss leader. Sell a new, very popular game about 5 or 10 dollars cheaper than every other retailer. You'll lose money, but you'll definately get in traffic and word of mouth. "Oh man, I got xx game at this retailer for 39.99, you definately have to go check his store out".

Scahom1 made a really good point about trade in prices... the guy here gave top dollar for most used games, and would charge good prices for them too. New games that he got used would sell for 35-40, instead of the 45 EB puts them at.

He also had a rare glass case with games for sale... it was a real draw for MANY collectors in the area, to see what was in the case at any given time.

You're going up against some really tough competition... being in the green though is a big accomplishment, considering what you're up against competition wise.
 
[quote name='Scahom1']Guerilla marketing all the way . You gotta get your name heard. Swap coupons with a local Pizza place. post flyers or cards wherever you can. Start up tournaments.

Do you guys buy games? I'm sure if you do you offer more money then the local EB/GS does. Gotta let people know about that too.[/QUOTE]

we are in a small town, where the nearest gamestop is about 15 miles away. We dont really see too many new games (recent wise) that get traded in. Lots of pokemon.

The market out here is there, but everyone wants hick games. I swear, the other day a guy asked for a great car customizing game. I showed him gt3 (gh we have new) and told him everyone reason it fits his car customizing desire. He bought Cabelas deer hunting instead. ugh.
 
[quote name='thingsfallnapart']we are in a small town, where the nearest gamestop is about 15 miles away. We dont really see too many new games (recent wise) that get traded in. Lots of pokemon.

The market out here is there, but everyone wants hick games. I swear, the other day a guy asked for a great car customizing game. I showed him gt3 (gh we have new) and told him everyone reason it fits his car customizing desire. He bought Cabelas deer hunting instead. ugh.[/QUOTE]

This was exactly the reason his store folded. The location got ALOT of kids trading in pokemon, old wrestling games, and other various crap. He kept getting in more garbage, not enough decent stuff by any means, and everytime I went he just had the same thing over and over. Plus, alot of people didn't even know his store was there.

I stopped going for a few months, and I go back to see that he's closing up shop, because of his location. It was sad, I supported it when I could, but when he had the same stock for 2 months there really wasn't anything I could do. I pretty much bought almost every "rare game" in his case just to support him.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']It's hard work, definately.

Most independents can't offer the types of deals / coupons that stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, etc can, and they can't offer the short of timeliness of new releases like EB / Gamestop can.

I knew a guy who ran his own store... he got games about 3 days after EB / Gamestop would and it really put a dent in his business. Plus new games would be 47 or so, but hell when Best Buy sells it for 39.99 and gets it before his store... well that's painful.

Some suggestions though... try local video game tournaments for popular games, like Halo 2, and use the ideas someone else had to have flyers, or work advertising deals with other local companies. Get in word of mouth and maybe a few sales.

If there are any colleges around, see if you can work out a deal to get some advertising with them (like a tack board, my college has boards in all it's halls for such a thing), as many college students will play games and at least check the store out.

Even offering older games (DC / N64 and older) is a real plus. The local guy here was the ONLY retailer in miles upon miles to take older games for trade in, let alone sell them. This is the main reason I visited the local guy.

Or, since you are in the green, you can use a loss leader. Sell a new, very popular game about 5 or 10 dollars cheaper than every other retailer. You'll lose money, but you'll definately get in traffic and word of mouth. "Oh man, I got xx game at this retailer for 39.99, you definately have to go check his store out".

Scahom1 made a really good point about trade in prices... the guy here gave top dollar for most used games, and would charge good prices for them too. New games that he got used would sell for 35-40, instead of the 45 EB puts them at.

He also had a rare glass case with games for sale... it was a real draw for MANY collectors in the area, to see what was in the case at any given time.

You're going up against some really tough competition... being in the green though is a big accomplishment, considering what you're up against competition wise.[/QUOTE]

ya i figure being in the green in the first year of buissness was a great accomplishment. The only problem is we dont get many people in the store (the town is 10,000 large) and it limits how much we can give in credit. As i mentioned in the above post, this market really doesnt carry many new/ good games. It seems to be alot of the people now want hunting and racing games....sadly enough...i bought like 10 of those racing 3 packs from wal mart, busted em open, and sold the games individually....and they have made us more then anything else.
 
[quote name='thingsfallnapart']ya i figure being in the green in the first year of buissness was a great accomplishment. The only problem is we dont get many people in the store (the town is 10,000 large) and it limits how much we can give in credit. As i mentioned in the above post, this market really doesnt carry many new/ good games. It seems to be alot of the people now want hunting and racing games....sadly enough...i bought like 10 of those racing 3 packs from wal mart, busted em open, and sold the games individually....and they have made us more then anything else.[/QUOTE]

There are "hardcore" gamers and collectors out there... you just have to find a way to bring them to you, maybe using some of the suggestions posted, maybe some different ones.

If you build it, they will come, they just have to know it's there =D

There's not alot of people in this city either, but the Gamestop here does awesome business, and it was only 5 minutes from the local store... most people didn't even know it existed.

If there's a flea market, think of setting up a booth there one weekend... it's how the guy got his start down here. You'll meet alot of hicks, but there's a chance you'll meet some real gamers looking for some deals. He had a good enough installed base to support his store the first couple of months, but the location killed him.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']This was exactly the reason his store folded. The location got ALOT of kids trading in pokemon, old wrestling games, and other various crap. He kept getting in more garbage, not enough decent stuff by any means, and everytime I went he just had the same thing over and over. Plus, alot of people didn't even know his store was there.

I stopped going for a few months, and I go back to see that he's closing up shop, because of his location. It was sad, I supported it when I could, but when he had the same stock for 2 months there really wasn't anything I could do. I pretty much bought almost every "rare game" in his case just to support him.[/QUOTE]

this is pretty much what im expecting for us...everytime a kid comes in with a game , they expect us to do straight up trades (the sims gamecube for mario kart double dash?).

i wish i knew what to do, people know we are here, and our prices are more then fair. Im just afraid the video game market as a whole is sliding and killing everything. When you see brand new games start at 49.99, and are 29.99 in like 2 weeks, its a losing proposition, and not worth even trying to sell.

our only competetion is blockbuster, and everyone who comes in threatens to goto blockbuster if we dont sell a game at absolute rock bottom prices. how do you alter this behavior of your customer, or is there no hope?
 
[quote name='thingsfallnapart']
our only competetion is blockbuster, and everyone who comes in threatens to goto blockbuster if we dont sell a game at absolute rock bottom prices. how do you alter this behavior of your customer, or is there no hope?[/QUOTE]

Those people are trying to take advantage that you're a "mom and pop" store and not a huge chain. They think be coercing you to drop your prices, by taking their business elsewhere, you'll get desperate for the sale and give in.

The local guy here would usually drop his prices by a few bucks if I haggled with him, but I always tried to keep it fair.

You can't change those customers, so don't even try... just out to rip you off.

I know a problem here is the one I listed earlier: Best Buy would offer a good deal on a new game, like 39.99, and he just couldn't match it, so people would go there and get it a few days earlier. After awhile it wasn't even worth it for him to stock new games, so most people never went in there, only when they wanted a used game.

I kicked around the idea of starting my own video game business... but it's way too hard to compete against the big boys in such a niche field. Regular people are so used to EB / Gamestop / Best Buy that they don't even think of going elsewhere.
 
My brother owns a secondhand store that basically sells games, electronics, and car stereos. What he normally does to bring people in is hold tournaments or give prizes out every once in awhile. The summer I worked for him, he had a mariokart tourney and the place was packed, I like to think it was because I was there but the truth of it all is that you just need to get your name out there. Maybe you can also try having a sale or trade in deal
 
[quote name='Roufuss']Those people are trying to take advantage that you're a "mom and pop" store and not a huge chain. They think be coercing you to drop your prices, by taking their business elsewhere, you'll get desperate for the sale and give in.

The local guy here would usually drop his prices by a few bucks if I haggled with him, but I always tried to keep it fair.

You can't change those customers, so don't even try... just out to rip you off.

I know a problem here is the one I listed earlier: Best Buy would offer a good deal on a new game, like 39.99, and he just couldn't match it, so people would go there and get it a few days earlier. After awhile it wasn't even worth it for him to stock new games, so most people never went in there, only when they wanted a used game.

I kicked around the idea of starting my own video game business... but it's way too hard to compete against the big boys in such a niche field. Regular people are so used to EB / Gamestop / Best Buy that they don't even think of going elsewhere.[/QUOTE]

we never carry new games, its such a bad idea for mom and pop stores. We haggle on prices, as a matter of fact we like to keep the prices high just for this. when someone shows intrest (serious intrest) i always say "we can talk price if youd like" becuase you know its what they are thinking.

i was thinking about hosting a halo 2 tournie, and on top of that, the high school across the street has a video gamer club of 40 people, we where considering letting them host meetings in our store and see if that helps get our name around. we always talked to the club leader to see maybe if we can get a major tournie set up together and split the profits.
 
Try taking used games on consignment. That way you can save on the outlay of cash and also offer a better deal to those who bring in the used games and it is less risk to you.
 
Wow...I wish you were in my area...I've been trying to find a non-name brand game store in CT and there's none within a 20 mile radius of my house lol. Good luck to you though...that's an awesome accomplishment.
 
[quote name='thingsfallnapart']thanks for the tip hobo, after 8 disappointing hours of work today, ill be sure to check over every little detail i post on this message board so everyone can be happy.[/QUOTE]

sorry 4 the nitpicking...just thought it might help catch peoples attention more if it read better.
 
would it be too much if you got into the used cd/dvd business as well? theres a bunch of indy stores like that in the chicagoland area that sell vg's as well and are always busy and never seem to go out of business. i just thought if you offered the customers something more you'd prob. get more business. i'll go out on a limb and say everyone who likes vg's likes movies and music, but not always the opposite...whats my point...i don't know...but #1 priority is to get people into your store, and if you live in a small town you'll probably need some more incentives for people to come.
 
Holding tournaments is definitely a great way to get people into the store. You can have one every Saturday with a different game and the prize could be something as simple as 50% off one game. That's a decent prize, still forces them to buy something, and gets bored people into your store on a saturday.

The swapping coupons with a local pizza place is a good idea. Include their coupons in every bag and maybe they'll include yours with the pizza. Can never hurt to ask.

The main goal is to get foot traffic. Without it, your store looks dull and people don't care to come in.
 
Or, since you're in the green, maybe try expanding your stores sale of stuff. Someone else suggested cds, but I would think that anime might be a good business to add into since it is growing fast, and getting figurines from Japan is a VERY lucrative business. Dunno how you'd start doing this, but I just know that a figure set that I got from capsule machines in hong kong for probably 5-10 dollars I saw at Tokyo Kid in Boston for 30 dollars. Nice profit margains they have going there.
 
Since you deal mostly in used items do you have like a waiting list for used titles? Major chains wouldn't do something like that for Joe Customer. Offer things the chain stores can't.
Tournys can bring in some cash if you make it something like 1st place gets 40% of the money you get from the event in credit(20 people at $7 a head more then covers the annoyance kids might cause.) Another cool idea I have took part in at a local CCG shop is a fantasy football style Madden season; offer a fantasy draft for the season with a $15-20 joining fee. Then charge weekly for pizza and soda during the season. Give the top 3 players after the superbowl a prize(only thing with this is when people can't make there games it gets a little annoying).
If you get stuff like this working for you the food sales alone at these events will keep the store afloat provided you work out a deal with a local pizza shop and rent a pepsi/coke machine.
 
ya i do have a special order list for customers. Its pretty hard to keep thought because the titles are so poor in this area that we never get good stuff people want like mercenaries and need for speed underground 2.
 
[quote name='thingsfallnapart']ya i do have a special order list for customers. Its pretty hard to keep thought because the titles are so poor in this area that we never get good stuff people want like mercenaries and need for speed underground 2.[/QUOTE]
How about asking customers for a price they are looking to pay on the games and then try and find it for them on ebay? Alot of people don't like to deal with online sales I imagine that it's even more rampant in a lower populated area.
 
I still haven't seen a location or address posted. I'm sure lots of CAGs would love to stop by and send some business your way. I found a local indie game store and I thought enough of them to post it here.
 
[quote name='rcannon']So where is this small town? If I'm traveling I'll stop in and spend some money.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, tell us where you are - I noticed you posting in the Fred Meyer deal thread so you must be in Washington or Oregon or nearby? I'm in the Portland area and would check out your store if it was around there. I don't know of any independent game stores here (though I don't go downtown too often).
 
Quite a few other people have posted this, but I'd really like to stress the importance of tournaments. As someone who ran and attended tournaments all through college, I know that people are always looking for places to hold tournaments.

And it's important to think creatively about which games you should have: Halo 2 is really popular, of course, but don't forget fighting games - everything from King of Fighters to Guilty Gear X2 to Capcom vs. SNK 2 to Soul Calibur II to Tekken 5 to Dead or Alive to Smash Brothers. And someone already mentioned Mario Kart: Double Dash. People also like to play sports games like Madden or ESPN NFL competitively.

Just don't take too much from the total pot and I think you should be fine. Heck, if your prizes are good enough (guarantee a couple of hundred dollars, for example, for the first place prize), you might even attract people from out-of-town. Post on those games' relevant websites and you can check out the interest level and find people in the area who can help you run the tournaments.

Edit: And you can always sell sodas and stuff AT the tournament. If it costs you 50 cents to buy some soda in bulk and you sell it for a buck, you're in good shape right there.

Good luck!
 
Hey thingsfallnapart, I actually did own a videogame store myself up until 2003. From my experience, I can say that it's going to be very difficult to stay in the 'green' much longer unless you add a new aspect to your store. I sold anime and collectibles (toys, cards, etc...) and without those, I can honestly tell you that it would have been near impossible to pay even the rent. The videogame market has been booming but for the private retailer, it is a slow, painful death.
 
Unfortunately, I can only give advice on what I would like to see at an independent video game store, as opposed to what might actually be possible. Depending on the size of your store, I think the idea of changing the focus from a "store" to more of a place to meet might be profitable. For example, if you have the room, throw some small tables in chairs in the corner. Serve whatever trendy drinks you can, be it coffee or tea or whatever. Even better, have a few console units near said tables, where people can rent games from you for the purpose of playing them instore; and are returned to you before they even walk out the door. Tournaments are a great idea, as are special events might be. Judging from the size of your town, this might not be as great of an idea as a larger area, but having event nights might be interesting. A DS night, where people can meet up with their DS's, a psp night, etc. Especially if you can serve food and said trendy beverages, you're sure to pick up some sales that night as well.

Again, I'm not sure how feasible this might be, but what I would like to see at some independent gamestores would be live music. If you're able to set up an atmosphere of a coffee shop or something, try to find some local bands or dj's that are desperate enough to be heard that they'll play at your place for you. Let them sell their merch at your store during the conert, and just let it go. You have a pretty good chance of getting band member's friends coming to the store to see them, so you can get some sales in then as well.

Yeah yeah, I know that these are ideal situations I know I would like to see, and might not be all that possible. I guess that's why I don't own a business.
 
Start selling porn. I go to a sports card/comic book shop frequently and after the owner started to buy, sell and trade DVDs, he said porn DVDs became his biggest seller. His other big seller is CCGs. Kids come in and buy packs all the time. It used to be Pokemon, now its Yu-gi-oh. Cash in on trends like that to keep the cash flowing.
 
You can try PMing Defender. He owned a successful store for a long time. However, his store was in NY, NY so I guess it's a totally different situation.
 
ebay killed most of the little b&M video game stores. i did one of these out of my house from like 90 to 94 and was making a very good profit (around xmas was the best) bad thing is we have so many USED video game places here it would be INSANE To try to open up another. used game stores around here now and who was

MCvans : was very good when they open but now they think they are too good and dont want to mess with their old customer base. i doubt they even have people coming into the store who knew them back in 93 when they first opened. prices are insane as well 36 bucks for used games when you can get them sealed for 20...... still open

video stop: very nice set up , but they hired people who had no idea how to run a video game store. also it was set up right inside the video store. they were open about a year and went belly up ... WHy??

1. they only allowed 24 hour returns if you game stopped working. thats right if the game wouldnt play 2 days after you paid for it your out of luck
2. their prices were nuts just like mcvans
3. they did little to no ads. hell most people were like theres a game trader there??
4. they paid WAY TOO MUCH FOR GAMES. i remember i grabbed 10 gameboy games off ebay for around 20 bucks and they gave me like 150 bucks for these games. it was very easy to rip them cause they would have signs right up. TOP LEVEL we pay 25 bucks so all you had to do was find those top level games and get them cheaper.
5.. it destoryed their rentals
6. there were pushing 2 year old games as top level

CLOSED

Blockbuster: nothing to really say here some great deals sometimes others not

eb/gamestop: again noting to say

Gamecrazy: again nothing to say

so right now the only reason i can see why Mcvans is staying open is its the only place in the city that does Money trades. What i mean by this If you got a top level game and they have a top game you only pay 9 bucks

where the other places would give you like 25 and buy the used game for 45 so you pay 20


i still buy and sell games though ebay but i doubt i would ever open up a B&M video game store im tempted in a way to do it but IF I did I wouldnt until all the new system hit.. Why cause you dont want to open a store today and next year be stuck with 10,000 bucks of OLD Ps2 xbox and gamecube games that would never move.

how to get people into your store.
1. video game touraments
2 drive around putting ads in people Paper boxes (PAPER BOXES NOT MAILBOXES) put something in someone mail box and win a free trip to jail .. i did this back in 98 since i was thinking about starting back up and i got a good responce.
3. Word of mouth
4. lowball the other places. IF someone charges 9 per trade Charge 7 per trade
5. look for trade papers. We got something here locally that is called peddlers post and they only charge like 3 bucks a week to put an ad in.
6. HEre is something i saw in one gamestore I thought was kind of neat. IT was an old Floor model video game system. I think it was like pacman or something . on the sign it say Score xxxx points and get 50% off trade fee. Scrore xxxx get free trade and Score xxxx get free game.


Never try to do trades at a yard sale. I did this back in 96 and had 20 people with no clue what trade was. I had people walking up with bunch of games and saying heres 30 bucks for 6 games (since i had 5 bucks per trade) . I was like its 30 bucks if you trade me 6 games but if you want to buy them outright it was 100 bucks.

and if all else fails start breaking some knee caps : ) jk
 
In my area Chicago there is a small video game store that always has kids inside in his back room. Basically he holds PC lan and Online rental play. Every few weeks he also holds tournaments for discounts prizes and games. Kids pay about $8.00 for an two hours play or more for more time I think he goes up to $15.00 for the day.

I was there early one morning before he opened because I was in the area. I was the first one in the store and then about 5 minutes later a group of about 5 teens came in paid for some time and started to play in his game room.

Everytime I am in there the game room is pretty full.
 
[quote name='Heyricochet']Well for starters, where are you? Maybe some of us could give ya some business.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='rcannon']So where is this small town? If I'm traveling I'll stop in and spend some money[/quote]

[quote name='radjago']I still haven't seen a location or address posted. I'm sure lots of CAGs would love to stop by and send some business your way. I found a local indie game store and I thought enough of them to post it here.[/quote]

[quote name='io']Yeah, tell us where you are - I noticed you posting in the Fred Meyer deal thread so you must be in Washington or Oregon or nearby? I'm in the Portland area and would check out your store if it was around there. I don't know of any independent game stores here (though I don't go downtown too often).[/quote]

......................why won't you post your store's address???? wasn't the whole purpose of this thread asking for advice on how to get more customers into your store?
 
we are located in snohomish, wa. i have a website made for the guy to put up, but hes being slow about it. I dont know why hes taking so long and it worries me.
 
[quote name='vgamergirl']......................why won't you post your store's address???? wasn't the whole purpose of this thread asking for advice on how to get more customers into your store?[/QUOTE]
Most likely because I don't own a game store. That doesn't mean I can't try to help this guy out with his store.

[quote name='thingsfallnapart']we are located in snohomish, wa. i have a website made for the guy to put up, but hes being slow about it. I dont know why hes taking so long and it worries me.[/QUOTE]
If you need some reliable web hosting, I have a friend who runs a web hosting business. PM me if you want more details.
 
well you said your area is filled with hicks, so try to put in demo units, of consoles that people actually have, then play the gaems you mkae the most off of in the demo unit, they play it, they like it, they buy it.

Tournaments are good too.

As for the used game thing, you could prob make a reward program outta it, like with every used game you b uy you get a coupon for like 1 dollar, they buy five games that year, they get 5 dollars off their next purchase.

BTW, if my ideas are dumb, you can tell me, im intrested to know.
 
[quote name='help1']well you said your area is filled with hicks, so try to put in demo units, of consoles that people actually have, then play the gaems you mkae the most off of in the demo unit, they play it, they like it, they buy it.

Tournaments are good too.

As for the used game thing, you could prob make a reward program outta it, like with every used game you b uy you get a coupon for like 1 dollar, they buy five games that year, they get 5 dollars off their next purchase.

BTW, if my ideas are dumb, you can tell me, im intrested to know.[/QUOTE]

no way man, your ideas are great. ive already sold two copies of stuntman for 21.99 each demoing the dukes of hazard level in the ps2 display. LOL.
 
As a small business owner, the most important things are returning customers and referrals. If you can do that you should be able to stay in business. Also if you can figure out a way to sell things regularlly to a person or group you will be in great shape.
 
[quote name='thingsfallnapart']no way man, your ideas are great. ive already sold two copies of stuntman for 21.99 each demoing the dukes of hazard level in the ps2 display. LOL.[/QUOTE]

Great to be of service.
 
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