[quote name='Davestation']Why franchise? Do you get discounts for doing this? With a franchise you are bound by rules of the franchise so in sense can you really do what you want to do? I only have logic here and this is what it is:
-Do not put your game store anywhere near a Gamestop
-Offer things that Gamestop does not offer
-Advertise to bring in Cliental
-Open a store somewhere besides Delaware
Now, after that this is what I would like in a game store:
-All consoles hooked up via HDMI on a 1080p LCD
-All consoles on a LAN network for tournaments (you can even charge for people to go in and play them per hour)
Good luck with this, you are choosing a poor time to open up a business and I wish you the best of luck.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the comments, I will try to answer your questions and thoughts...
I have gone through the reasons for me getting a franchise. I have been pretty honest about it and the truth is that I more than likely didn't need a franchise. Right now it is really hard for the franchise to really grow and push the brand, which is what we really pay for. Anyone can make burgers... there is something about having a McDonalds. Although I have had few issues with the franchise itself and the goals it really needs to reach to make all the stores really successful. The main goal is that everyone knows what "Play N Trade" is, sadly that is not the case. There is alot of work that needs to be done and hopefully more progress will be done this year on that.
We do sometimes get discounts and perks, but nothing like Gamestop. There are over 4,000 Gamestops open in the US... there are around 240 Play N Trades currently opened. So you can see there is a drastic difference with sheer volume. It is something that the franchise struggles against due to the lack of buying power. Another thing is that the stores are run independently and orders that way. So instead of 240 stores ordering say Street Fighter IV as a bulk, instead you have each store doing it separately so we don't get any real perks. Not only that, we tend not to get it on Day 1 (or Day Zero for street date titles).
They are trying to solve that problem but we will see how they do that later this year.
We can pretty much run our store how we want including product to a certain point. We can't sell porn or something like that. Has to be at least with the theme of videogames so selling say Barbie Dolls won't really work. But Tomb Raider Action Figures, sure!
Advertising is how we want to do it and honestly, I have seen guerilla advertising work much better. That is really spreading word of mouth without say doing a commercial or newspaper ads. Truth is that stuff cost more money than it is worth. I could take $1000 and just go out and give people gift cards and do smaller events. It gives it a more personal touch.
Don't really understand the Delaware comment, I live in DE but my store is in PA.
As far as the last few things you would like to see...
No 1080p because really there is no point. The tv's are in your face and are 32", plus very few games even do 1080p. That is better for much larger tvs and watching Blu-Ray. Sorry, but no dice.
Tournaments will be run both locally and nationally. They are all Ethernet ready, so that's not a problem to LAN. National Tournaments do go online because you kind of need to. One thing now that we have a few stores closer to us is the ability to do our own Regional Tournament. By the end of the year we should have around 7-8 stores in the area. That means we can have a local tournament and then have those people either meet at a store in the middle or just duke it out online. Tournament fees will apply but we are also going to be doing paid events and parties. So if you want to do a LAN tournament event for you and your friends. No real problem with that as long as it is done at a certain time. LAN events would require your own systems and games. Think of it as a private tournament.
Hope that answers some of your questions
