Converting to Porn

defender

defender

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Well...I cant take it anymore. Store sales have just been so bad and getting worse every month. Years ago I was a computer store 70% and 10% games,10% porn and 10% laserdics movies. Then PS came out and it sold well...eventually I became a game store. Now their is so much competition in my area that sales are about 1/2 of what they were 3 years ago. I cant take it anymore. About 6 months ago I started a small adult dvd section and while it is still small...it sells really really well. So I am gonna make it a larger section and get rid of some games. I am thinking of having a big in-store sale to help make space. I think maybe 10% off all new items 20% off all accessories and 1/2 price on all used games.

I am really just venting here. I cant take it anymore. The game business is just terrible now. Retailers are hurting all over. I havent made any income in 2 years. Markup sucks totally. I am sure the other retailers who read this will agree...its just too hard to make any money at this.

BLAH!
 
With porn there is no luck. I already have a ton of adult male customers. Also no one asks me for alternate covers or about getting a discount or if I have the guide because they are stuck on scene 3. Porn sells itself. You just gotta display it and make sure no one steals it.
 
Brie Cheese is excellent with Wine.

It's also great with Porn!



Sorry things are going so bad for you defender. Me and my friend set out(about 4 years ago) to start up a video game dealership, and could find no profit in it, and gave up on the idea. It must be VERY hard to compete with the likes of EBGames/Babbages/Gamestop/Ect not to mention retail chains. Software sales just simply suck with the high prices you are forced to shell out, getting very little return. Too bad you cant sell popcorn and soda's(like movie theaters who see the same sorts of profits from Ticket sales but make up for it with concessions) for $4 a pop to every customer that comes in, because that is basically the kind of dillema im sure you are in as a small buisness owner.
 
Hey, we all gotta make some money.

Sidenote: Hey Atreadon, are those Japanese chicks in those tight pants?
 
[quote name='XboxMaster']Hey, we all gotta make some money.

Sidenote: Hey Atreadon, are those Japanese chicks in those tight pants?[/quote]

Are these two sentences related somehow??? :wink:

Hmmm. We are talking about porn after all..... :oops:
 
[quote name='squeakycleanskater4']Hot Japanese girls and cheese?

JOYGASM![/quote]

No, I believe its called bukkake.
:shock:

EDIT: Good luck on your new venture, defender. Although it may be awkward visiting the store when I visit with my girl friend next week.
 
I'm sorry that you've had the change of heart :(
However, you're obviously successful in your new venture ^-^ (although I don't condone it! >.
 
I have gotten a couple PMs about a CAG sale but I already have cleared a few things out. Personally I dont want to sell used games on the web in case there are problems. Sometimes people have problems with games and blame the games when in fact its the system. Also to list all my used games would take a LONG time. I am gonna sell these at a loss as it is and to add shipping costs which I already lose a couple bucks on doesnt make sense when I can sell them in my store. I have a hundreds of people in my store every week. They would love a 1/2 price sale.

Of course any NY CAGers are welcome to stop in.
 
i work at a new and used record store around here, and it's totally the same thing. sales are obviously down in that industry, so we brought in dvds (new and used), which are helping. then we started getting all this crap like buttons and stickers and books and action figures and bobble heads and novelty things that sell enough to warrant their stay. now we have a small section of adult dvds, including the girls gone wild series and some playboy ones, but the ones that sell the best are the "urban style" videos. things like "luke's freakshow" and "too short" dvds. basically things with really gross "urban" chicks on them. it's really strange. we were going to widen the selection, but there's another store nearby that is more proficiant in adult dvds, and city ordinance says that we are located too close to them to sell them, so we lose.

it's stupid. if you aren't best buy or wal-mart you are screwed from the get-go, even though neither of those stores have that better of prices (with the possible exclusion of new releases).

it's stupid, but porn is where the money's at.
 
A couple years ago the sports card/comic book shop I go to started buying and selling new & used DVDs. Porn is now one of his biggest money makers (along with Hero Clix). Porn is such a big money maker I'm surprised that it's still in the hands of independent shop owners. You'd think that somebody would take a chance on porn superstores.
 
Defender,

Sorry to hear things are going badly. I'm from the Midwest and was in your store last week. First time in NYC.

My impression as an outsider is that you could make money as a place to play video games in NY sell soft drinks and food.

But you are right with the Internet and Best Buy, Circuit City, Toys R US, and Game Stop all in NY it would be hard to compete in a market where large stores take losses and hope to sell a TV to you to make up for the no profit video game.
 
If I sell porn on the web it wont be at VGD because I think search engines would partition me into an adult category. It would be easy for me to just make another site.

Yeah..funny how other shop owners feel the same about porn. Ironic that a game store that used to be viewed as a KIDS hobby now can sell porn too...

As for being an arcade...NO WAY! Costs are really high and the days of an arcade are over. The Arcade is dead. My grandchildren may never know what they are.

I wish I could sell DVD's but there are already too many places in the neighborhood that do. My neighborhood has a lot of stores. As for porn...almost no one around here has much and they are usually overprices bodegas with $30 VHS tapes. I am gonna sell from $5-$30. All my porn DVDs now are $10 and buy 4 get one free. $40 for 5 DVD porns is a good deal...and I even have 4 hours.
 
Sorry to hear it Defender, I wonder though if it could be a matter of finding a cheaper distributer though. I mean some of these stores stores have ridiculous B&M prices so much so that I always have to go between 3-5 midtown stores to check the price on one game, and the stores that seem to have the higest prices to me are always theones that sell other things like TVs.
 
[quote name='defender']If I sell porn on the web it wont be at VGD because I think search engines would partition me into an adult category. It would be easy for me to just make another site.

Yeah..funny how other shop owners feel the same about porn. Ironic that a game store that used to be viewed as a KIDS hobby now can sell porn too...

As for being an arcade...NO WAY! Costs are really high and the days of an arcade are over. The Arcade is dead. My grandchildren may never know what they are.

I wish I could sell DVD's but there are already too many places in the neighborhood that do. My neighborhood has a lot of stores. As for porn...almost no one around here has much and they are usually overprices bodegas with $30 VHS tapes. I am gonna sell from $5-$30. All my porn DVDs now are $10 and buy 4 get one free. $40 for 5 DVD porns is a good deal...and I even have 4 hours.[/quote] The Arcade is not dead!! Get like 5 DDR machines and you will have more weird kids that spend their whole afternoon playing it than you will know what to do with!! I will never let the Arcade die(I still go a lot and mine just got third strike back so I have a reason to go back after they took out all the fighting games)
 
The problem with arcades is the price of the games plus maintanace, security to make sure nothing happens in the arcade, there's probably a lot more overhead involved meaning he'd have to put out more money to attain an uncertain profit margin.

Arcades arent dead but they're dying out.
 
Hey...its not like I am not gonna sell games. VGD is doing pretty good but my retail space which has a HIGH rent just doesnt make enought money. I cant be a pure video game store anymore. Like some of the other posters here...I have to make money selling something else. Porn is just something that I am very familiar with and has a great markup. Also competition is low. I would sell DVD or cell phones but that market is flooded already in my neighborhood.
 
Sorry to hear about how bad business is for you, defender, but I hope that you use foresight before adding porn. I'll bet parents don't mind shopping at your store because the porn is confined to a few shelves, and they can easily avoid it with their kids. If the size of that section suddenly doubled or tripled, you might lose some of those parents as customers. You'd need to sell more porn to make up those lost profit opportunities, and before you know it, you'll be operating a full-fledged porn shop. Granted, I have no clue whether or not that will actually happen, but I offer it as a warning because even though porn may appear to net more profits, it might not be wise to sell much more of it. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
 
I got kids too and I am VERY conciensious (did I spell that right) about my ethics and HOW I sell. I never sell to anyone under 18 for one. Also I move kids along that try to even look in the direction. While I do have some parents who shop here...they are not the regular customer. This is not a kids friendly neighborhood. The block is filled with drug addicts, pushers, whores, pimp, and generally just screwed up people. This isnt the block to bring your kids on if you have a problem with some porn. There are 3 tatoo places, piercing places, tshirt shops that have swearing on the tshirt (like the F word) proudly displayed in the window. This is the east village. There are also 4 bars too. And thats just this block. If you hit Saint Marks Place at about 1 am its filled with drunks, drug dealers and whores. On the corner is St. Marks hotel. A whore hangout basically. They get a room for the night and invite "friends" inside for a quick one. There are gays, transvestites, and squatters here too. Generally you wouldnt want to even walk on this block with your young kids. Of course once they become teenagers they think this is the "cool" block. Which I guess it is. St. Marks Place is basically the heart of the East Village...or the gateway some say.
 
Also I had a much larger porn section when I opened this place but as I sold more games I got rid of it...I dont sell porn just because I can...I sell it to make money.
 
[quote name='sexdrugsandrocknroll']I'm wondering why the rent would be so high for a place like that[/quote]

youre wondering y the rent would be high in the middle of the east village???!?
 
damn im sorry to hear. i really liked your store and you always had the best prices. it sucks that the big coporate giants are rolling in money while the little guy now has to go smut (not that thats entirely a bad thing) . i will continue to shop with you, porn or no porn, even though i cant buy it. and hes right the area is pretty shiity, but that wont change rent.
 
too many of you are feeling sorry for me...

dont be.

It just sux that I have to overhaul my store. In the end its not like I will be a porn store...I will maintain my game store but sections like the ColecoVision, Vectrex, Atari, and some of the other crap that doesnt sell anymore (courtesy of ebay) has to go.
 
[quote name='defender']too many of you are feeling sorry for me...

dont be.

It just sux that I have to overhaul my store. In the end its not like I will be a porn store...I will maintain my game store but sections like the ColecoVision, Vectrex, Atari, and some of the other crap that doesnt sell anymore (courtesy of ebay) has to go.[/quote]

vextrex? any multicarts??
 
[quote name='defender']Porn is just something that I am very familiar with...[/quote]
:lol:

You should get custom made "Pr0n" stickers to put on all of them, so you could be popular with the kiddies!
 
[quote name='defender']I got kids too and I am VERY conciensious (did I spell that right) about my ethics and HOW I sell. I never sell to anyone under 18 for one. Also I move kids along that try to even look in the direction. While I do have some parents who shop here...they are not the regular customer. This is not a kids friendly neighborhood. The block is filled with drug addicts, pushers, whores, pimp, and generally just screwed up people. This isnt the block to bring your kids on if you have a problem with some porn. There are 3 tatoo places, piercing places, tshirt shops that have swearing on the tshirt (like the F word) proudly displayed in the window. This is the east village. There are also 4 bars too. And thats just this block. If you hit Saint Marks Place at about 1 am its filled with drunks, drug dealers and whores. On the corner is St. Marks hotel. A whore hangout basically. They get a room for the night and invite "friends" inside for a quick one. There are gays, transvestites, and squatters here too. Generally you wouldnt want to even walk on this block with your young kids. Of course once they become teenagers they think this is the "cool" block. Which I guess it is. St. Marks Place is basically the heart of the East Village...or the gateway some say.[/quote]

I was thinking the same thing.

The rent is high because he is in Manhattan..
I also have to agree on the money that can be made on the mark up
 
[quote name='XboxMaster']Hey, we all gotta make some money.

Sidenote: Hey Atreadon, are those Japanese chicks in those tight pants?[/quote]

Could be! Do they look like Japanese butts? :wink:
 
yeah, the adult industry is one market where walmart and the other super stores will not touch. That's one reason why microsoft will never run 100% of computers because the market for porn realated items on the net is so huge, and MS will never touch stuff like that.
 
[quote name='defender']Here is a loaded question....

how many of you would buy porn DVDs from the web?[/quote]

I'm not going to lie, I have, But I got mine from ebay. They where cheap as hell. But that was before I had braodband and P2P software. So I haven't baught any in a really long time. But I've never baught porn from a B&M store, not even a playboy.
 
[quote name='defender']This is not a kids friendly neighborhood. The block is filled with drug addicts, pushers, whores, pimp, and generally just screwed up people. This isnt the block to bring your kids on if you have a problem with some porn. There are 3 tatoo places, piercing places, tshirt shops that have swearing on the tshirt (like the F word) proudly displayed in the window. This is the east village. There are also 4 bars too. And thats just this block. If you hit Saint Marks Place at about 1 am its filled with drunks, drug dealers and whores. On the corner is St. Marks hotel. A whore hangout basically. They get a room for the night and invite "friends" inside for a quick one. There are gays, transvestites, and squatters here too. Generally you wouldnt want to even walk on this block with your young kids. Of course once they become teenagers they think this is the "cool" block. Which I guess it is. St. Marks Place is basically the heart of the East Village...or the gateway some say.[/quote]


Sounds more like you need a new location! Though the one thing is you'd probably be in a goo position as the zoning laws wouldnt get on your case even if you switched completly to porn... but hopefully you wont just looking like those fronts where they have like on rack in the front of disney stuff while the other 9 have every version of "Debbie Does..." ever created.

As for Porn on the net there's plenty of competition there just look for DVDs on Google and you'd find a dozen discount sellers.
 
Oh I miss the days of Porn stores on 42nd when at 3am you could go into one and see the lowest forms of society. It was like being in the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Just plain weird...everyone was there for some odd sexual compulsion. It was freaking bizzare.
 
[quote name='defender']I think maybe 10% off all new items 20% off all accessories and 1/2 price on all used games. [/quote]

I never EVER thought I'd say this to someone, but good luck in the porn business.

As for the discounts on the used games, would you be willing to post some deals here and let us clean out your video game shelves for you? That'll leave more shelf space for ... err... you know what.

I think a lot of us would be willing to buy multiple games at once if the price was reasonable.
 
just post when you try to have the instore sale and ill be there. ill even bring a friend. and then after the "change", well ill be ther.

GOOD GOD NO!

ive just been informed ive been banned from buying any games (except sotn and the psone bundle at target) until may 20! why oh why now?
 
[quote name='imacheapasstoo']
I think a lot of us would be willing to buy multiple games at once if the price was reasonable.[/quote]

Agreed.
 
I wont be posting the games online since they are just too numerous. Also please do not PM me asking if I have this or that...I dont want to mail out these deals. It will be in-store only.

I will announce when the sale begins. Very likely tomorrow.
 
[quote name='defender']Oh I miss the days of Porn stores on 42nd when at 3am you could go into one and see the lowest forms of society. It was like being in the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Just plain weird...everyone was there for some odd sexual compulsion. It was freaking bizzare.[/quote]

Ahhh the good old days.. Leave Playland with enough quarters to get a peep. Damn Giuliani
 
Oh yeah...those were the days...

How old are you Amore? I am 33.

Maybe that you was you winking at me with a dress and hairy legs? lol
 
actually the order was just recently placed and I think I have made enough room to expand it...the dvds sell like crazy but who knows when I add a few more rows
 
Ahh, the good old reliable porno industry. I know we're all praying that the current quarantines won't slow down protection too much.
 
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