[quote name='justinboyd101']I know what you're talking about. And I'm trying to think of a way to get around that. I don't want to put unopened games on the shelves (if I did I'd be another "the exchange" and have to put everything behind glass, which is really annoying). But I also don't want to make some sorry photo copy of the game to put on shelves.[/QUOTE]
There was a company Toys R Us used while I was working there that we got display cases from. While it may cost a little bit, you should really only need 2-3 tops of each case (I say this since they tend to disappear every now and then) and I am sure they aren't very expensive which will keep people happy not buying an opened "new" game. Sorry I am not much more help on that, but I can't remember the name of the place we ordered from to save my life right now, try doing some internet searches for that type of thing.
I would price most games individually unless you are only taking in good/great condition and complete games. What I mean by this is that if you have a copy that is a little scratched, knock off a couple of dollars than a better conditioned copy, missing the instructions, take off like 50 cents or something. Honestly I don't buy a lot of used games do to many of those reasons, especially when it is possible that I get a non-working copy due to scratches for the same price as someone that can get a like new copy.
Don't take in too many copies of a used game after a certain time frame. Newer games If you take them in will likely turn around and sell fairly quick (assuming you price decently) where as an older game like say madden '08 will just take up space and be more trouble than it is worth. While that may sound a bit unreasonable to some, you can't constantly take in games that aren't going to sell, you will simply lose money on them, even if it isn't a whole lot.
Only hire people that know what they are talking about. While it may cost slightly more to employ them, customers will come back to someone that was actually able to help them. On this same note, hire an array of people that can cover many types of games. I personally was never too big on RPG style games, so I wouldn't have been a lot of help with those types of games, yet I don't know a whole lot of people that have the vast knowledge of first and third person shooters that I have played, so if I were to have someone that plays a lot of RPG games working next to me, the majority of games would be fairly covered.
Like someone else said, keep the place organized. I hate wasting time searching through a lot of clutter only to not see what I was looking for. Make sure to keep a display case out on the floor as well, many customers will not come up and ask for a title if they don't see a display, so that will end up losing some customers.
Personally I find demo units to be a bad idea, I have rarely ever had someone come into the store, play a demo and actually end up buying it. Instead they waste 10-15 minutes on the game and usually end up buying nothing, that is not the kind of people I would want in the store. If you are going to have some type of demo unit, it needs to be a try before you buy type of deal.
Last, I would suggest some type of reward or loyalty program. If I know I am going to get something in return for spending the majority of the money I use on games at your store, I am going to be a lot more willing to come back. Usually I will just go to whatever place has the best deal on the game (so price matching may be a good thing as well), but if I were to get something like a card that would help me discount a future game by giving me like $2 back for every new game I purchased I would be much more inclined to spend a little extra for the discount card and the service of the employees (I would make a variety of prices given as a credit dependent on the price of the game).
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