Nerd's Opinion on a business im trying to open

[timothymoore]

before I have mentioned that I was trying to open up a garage or a dealership for a business. After long research and watching what other local shops are doing , I have decided not to open up an automotive shop. my local town and the surrounding communities can not sustain another shop on top of the 20 or so already around me.

Instead, I have turned to my other passion of video gaming. There is a local game stop near where I live . It is great and all but it only has games as far back as Playstation 2 and Xbox. I find myself enjoying the games older than that more than I do the gaming of today.

What I am actively trying to do now is open up a vintage gaming shop. In my shop, I will have the new games of today. Xbox1 , PS4, PS3, Xbox 360 but I plan on to specialize in older systems such as Playstation 1 and older. I also will sell DVD movies, classic board and card games as well as strategy guides and even arcade systems when I can.

I plan on selling all major systems. a lot of older games at decent prices that may not be perfect but close, but I also plan on selling mint condition, high quality games which will obviously be at a higher price.

In your opinion, what is vintage? in a gaming shop like I plan to open, what would you expect to see in there if you walked in? what kind of environment would you expect it to be like?

[Roman Legion]

I'll sell you my old consoles (Couple of original xboxes, stuff from a Sega Saturn.. et cetera.) If you open that kind of shop.

[NightFlyer]

DeLorean owner and forum member FABombjoy does an online business similar to this.

http://console5.com/store/

[timothymoore]

I'll sell you my old consoles (Couple of original xboxes, stuff from a Sega Saturn.. et cetera.) If you open that kind of shop.

if I actually open up shop, I will hit you up lol. im hoping for a early to mid 2015 for the store to open.

[Roman Legion]

if I actually open up shop, I will hit you up lol. im hoping for a early to mid 2015 for the store to open.

There is a local store tha has everything back to around Atari, it seems to do well for itself. I'm sure you have a local shop to check out like this. if not, check out G2K games Marion, VA.

[timothymoore]

There is a local store tha has everything back to around Atari, it seems to do well for itself. I'm sure you have a local shop to check out like this. if not, check out G2K games Marion, VA.

im my local area, there is not a vintage game shop and am not aware of one close to me. there used to be one not far from me about 6 years ago but it failed in a matter of months because it had games so outrageously priced, the crack head couldn't make enough money to buy his next fix.


I am going to be as affordable as I can be. I also would like to offer a small lounge for some gamers to hang at and play if they choose to.

[wrkey]

If you are ever in the Houston area, you should hit up The Game Preserve. Not console but Arcades and Pinballs.

www.gamepreservehouston.com

[Kenny_Z]

I walked into a vintage shop in Plano Tx a few years ago and it was geek heaven. I was shocked and tempted when I saw an original Odyssey sitting in the display case. Had I not been flying home the next morning I would have bought it. I did buy a couple of Dreamcast games while I was there. The walls were covered with old video game cutouts and posters. Anything that wasn't a display was games from every system you could dream up. NeoGeo to the 360 to Atari.

If I were to have a perfect video game shop it would more like a hangout. A place with novelty stuff on the walls, tons of cool gaming stuff, and have a few 25 cent arcade machines to play. Excitebike is a must. At this point everything from the original XBox back is considered vintage. Set up a few systems around. Make sure that customers can test the old games they're buying. See if you can get a line of video game clothing to sell.

[Roman Legion]

You are 257.65 miles/ 4 hrs 16 mins from the game store I know, long way and I'm sure there is something much closer. If you're ever in my area, I'll show you the store; but I'm confident there is something much closer to you. Offer will always be open though.

[Jonathan]

I walked into a vintage shop in Plano Tx a few years ago and it was geek heaven. I was shocked and tempted when I saw an original Odyssey sitting in the display case. Had I not been flying home the next morning I would have bought it. I did buy a couple of Dreamcast games while I was there. The walls were covered with old video game cutouts and posters. Anything that wasn't a display was games from every system you could dream up. NeoGeo to the 360 to Atari.

If I were to have a perfect video game shop it would more like a hangout. A place with novelty stuff on the walls, tons of cool gaming stuff, and have a few 25 cent arcade machines to play. Excitebike is a must. At this point everything from the original XBox back is considered vintage. Set up a few systems around. Make sure that customers can test the old games they're buying. See if you can get a line of video game clothing to sell.

+1 on what Kenny said. Loved the Excitebike idea... and my vote would go Shinobi or maybe Kung-fu :)

Seriously though, my advice would be on variety. If the business is going to survive, you'll need various things for sale that apeal to a wide range of customers. So that definitely applies to the sort of consoles of course, but other stuff that is in the same theme but will get people to give you money is important. Putting quarters into arcade cabinets or pinball games is good, t-shirts too, maybe some of the retro pop culture souvenirs stuff and isn't always video game related. Not saying the shelves have to be lined up with crap, but I had seen a store like this near me and it is gone now and I think part of it might have been because it was neat, but didn't sell enough things people wanted. If you're located in a huge city and advertise well, this might not matter. But in a small town, it didn't work for him. Having shelves and shelves of VHS tapes nobody wanted likely didn't help either.

Many of the friends of mine growing up hung out in the pool hall/arcade in town. Their core business or big ticket items might have been selling pool tables, but I can tell you that the money we spent on arcade games, pinball, playing pool by the hour, or buying 5 cent gummy bears and Swedish berries probably added up to a fair bit over time. It came with a hassle or two of young people occassionally misbehaving, but the place was there a long time.

What will keep the store alive and making your rent payments might not be the flashy stuff, but it will let you stay a float and work on the aspects you love.

[FABombjoy]

From what I've gathered from other vendors, newer-era game sales will pay most of your bills.

Joe Santulli from Digital Press Games wrote quite a bit on the day to day realities of opening his game store in NJ. I can't seem to find those posts at the moment, but he responded to another person thinking of opening a store in this thread (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?155611-Anybody-else-ever-think-of-opening-a-store&p=1839638&viewfull=1#post1839638).

When I started my store I decided to focus on the technical aspects and maintenance of vintage machines. I'm not as interested in newer stuff and there is a ton of support there already. To be involved in the business of vintage gaming on terms that would keep me interested meant being Internet-only. I figured I could grow it into a physical store down the road if I wanted, but for now I'm happy to not deal with rent, shoplifters, staffing, cars crashing through my storefront, etc :D

[timothymoore]

Thanks for the advice so far . I really like the T-shirt idea as well as the others mentioned. I look forward to getting this to a reality and will keep everyone updated. I believe that it can be a success if only ran right. I think I have the ability to run it. we shall see. Its really exciting to think of what could come of it.

[Jonathan]

Good attitude Timothy! Like George McFly once said.... lol.

Seriously though, Henry Ford apparently was quoted as saying "Whether you think you can or think you can't, either way you are right."

If it is something you are passionate about, it has a great chance of succeeding just based on that. Look around at the DeLorean community and you might see some examples of that mindset in play as well. The good and the bad versions.

[Rich W]

In your opinion, what is vintage? in a gaming shop like I plan to open, what would you expect to see in there if you walked in? what kind of environment would you expect it to be like?

http://mashable.com/2013/07/15/nes-memories/?utm_source=iphoneapp

[PlutonimicX]

I love the idea of a vintage game shop and especially the idea of a lounge. This reminds me of a place I've been to called Robot City Games (http://robotcitygames.com/blog/blog1.php) and I loved it! A problem might be the initial purchase price, maintenance costs and/or restoration of the various games.

[OverlandMan]

In my opinion you would never make a "killing" in this type of business. Doing an online store would certainly save you the trouble of having to lease a store front and all that entails.

I seriously considered several years ago what it would take for me to open a firearms retail store in my local community. I chose firearms because it's a passion. I quickly realized though that most passions are hard to turn into profitable businesses. After working on the initial research and business planning, I decided to abandon the idea and look for something else that's more lucrative.

All that said, here's my recommendation:

Write a business plan and formulate your anticipated expenses in a proforma-type spreadsheet, this way you can break-down things like expenses, cost of sales, net profits, gross profits, growth, etc. I may have an Excel sheet somewhere in my archive that you can use (all formulas keyed-in and ready for inputs). Let me know if you're interested.

Once you get that done, you'll have an idea of what the potential of the business would be. Take your time with it and expect writing the business plan, filling-out the proforma, and doing all the research to take months, not weeks.

Considering what type of business (ie: LLC, LP, SP, DBA, INC, etc.) is something you would want to research and potentially discuss with your tax adviser or CPA.

You'll also want to decide how you're going to fund the business initially. Are you going to the bank for a business loan? Are you using private funds? Are you going to have a partner? All this will be important and have implications on your bottom-line at the end of the day.

You may know all this already so apologies if I'm coming off too much like a big brother. :)

[timothymoore]

In my opinion you would never make a "killing" in this type of business. Doing an online store would certainly save you the trouble of having to lease a store front and all that entails.

I seriously considered several years ago what it would take for me to open a firearms retail store in my local community. I chose firearms because it's a passion. I quickly realized though that most passions are hard to turn into profitable businesses. After working on the initial research and business planning, I decided to abandon the idea and look for something else that's more lucrative.

All that said, here's my recommendation:

Write a business plan and formulate your anticipated expenses in a proforma-type spreadsheet, this way you can break-down things like expenses, cost of sales, net profits, gross profits, growth, etc. I may have an Excel sheet somewhere in my archive that you can use (all formulas keyed-in and ready for inputs). Let me know if you're interested.

Once you get that done, you'll have an idea of what the potential of the business would be. Take your time with it and expect writing the business plan, filling-out the proforma, and doing all the research to take months, not weeks.

Considering what type of business (ie: LLC, LP, SP, DBA, INC, etc.) is something you would want to research and potentially discuss with your tax adviser or CPA.

You'll also want to decide how you're going to fund the business initially. Are you going to the bank for a business loan? Are you using private funds? Are you going to have a partner? All this will be important and have implications on your bottom-line at the end of the day.

You may know all this already so apologies if I'm coming off too much like a big brother. :)

I appreciate your information. It is quite helpful.

As for business plan. I just got my business plan software off ebay today. As for financing, I got a little money that I can invest as well as my potential business partner. We will seek a business loan from our banks we do business at. as we do our research, we will determine whether we do a physical store or a website. personally, I would want to do both but we shall see. ive researched all the licensing that we will need in order to get this show on the road. the only roadblock now is getting a flawless business plan together and gain financing.


and yes, I would be interested in getting your spreadsheet from you when you find it , thanks :)

[timothymoore]

Not much has been done lately here. I have just acquired 250 PS1 video games and have close to 100 PS2 games in my inventory. I am wanting to get up to a 300 game inventory for those systems then acquire consoles and accessories for both platforms then I will likely expand to the Sega platforms and do the same for them.