Opening a Game Store

[singlebanana]

Good luck man. Sending good vibes your way.

[slackur]

In my thoughts and prayer, my friend. Hope it works out well for you!

[Fokakis79]

Very nice. I am so excited for you and hope you get the place

[blcklblskt]

Awesome news Crabby!  I hope all goes well.

[wildbil52]

I haven't read every page of this thread so pardon me if someone has mentioned these ideas before.  These things will range from "super simple" to "still pretty simple"  I will be referencing Retro Games Plus a lot because they do a lot of things the way I like them to be done.

Stickers that stay on the product but come off without tearing or leaving residue-
The owner of my local store was thrilled when he found these.  I asked why in JENOVA's name would he put price stickers on a boxed NES game and he told me to peel the sticker off.  It was heaven.  He told me they are about the same price as the regular stickers.  PM me for details if you want me to find out where he gets his supplies.

Regular Promotions
I'm a big believer in regular promotions.  One of the reasons I like shopping at Retro Games is the Buy 3 get one free (Under $7.99).  Lots of casual customers come in just looking to buy one or 2 cheap carts but witht he Buy 3 Get One Free Under $7.99, you sell an extra cart or two while moving a low dollar item to make room for more inventory.  

Post Trade Ins On Craigs/Kijiji/Facebook/Twitter
I know that you aren't a big social media guy but I LOVE stores that do this, especially since the store is 40 minutes from me.  Sometimes I want to go there but I don't want to drive that far if they haven't had any good trades lately.  Now, I just load up their FB page because every time there is a decent trade in, they post pics.  You will start to get regular customers following your page and they will become steady customers.  For examples check out the Retro Games Plus FB page

Regular (monthly, bi-monthly) store events
Tournaments, swap meets, casual game days where you set up 15 tvs and let people bring their own stuff for free play, whatever works, just make your store the place where people want to get together with other gamers.

Don't be afraid to spend money on advertising
SOOOO many new businesses seem afraid to spend money on advertising because it is expensive and you aren't sure if there will be a return on it.  Start slow, make sure you have a MONTHLY ADVERTISING BUDGET, and make sure that you spend it on advertising.  Try to find out where people found out about you and put more of your advertising budget in that area.  Find out what the 3 most popular radio stations in your area are and put an ad on the radio, you would be surprised how many people still listen to the radio and read the paper.

Offer System/disc repairs and mods
Invest in a disc resurfacing machine.  If you don't know how to perform common system repairs such as the red ring, yellow light, lens replacements, save battery replacement, sega CD blown MB fuse, AV mods, etc, EITHER LEARN OR HIRE SOMEONE WHO CAN DO THESE THINGS.  Most of these repairs are relatively simple once you do a few of them and will regularly put cash into your business.

Sell carts and manuals separately
If someone trades in a cart that comes with a manual, file the manual alphabetically by system.  If someone buys the cart and asks if you have the manual, by all means, give it to them for no extra charge but only if they want it.  This way, people who may be trying to find random pieces to fill in gaps in their collection will always have a manual source in your store.

That's it for now, if I think of more, I'll come back

[Duke.Togo]

Crossing my fingers for you.

[Am4zingGam3r]

Good luck! I hope it all works out!

[Crabmaster2000]

Bil you're awesome

[Crabmaster2000]

So the landlord is definitely willing to rent to me, but she is not willing to hold the unit until September 1st for me. I won't be able to even start setting up shop until the middle of August so I'm gonna have to decide wether I want to pay for a month I cant use or risk it being rented to someone else while I wait.

Tough choice :/

[wildbil52]

So the landlord is definitely willing to rent to me, but she is not willing to hold the unit until September 1st for me. I won't be able to even start setting up shop until the middle of August so I'm gonna have to decide wether I want to pay for a month I cant use or risk it being rented to someone else while I wait.

Tough choice :/

Same think happened to my wife and I when we started renting a house.  It was a tough call but we REALLY liked it and we decided it was worth paying for an extra few weeks as long as we locked it down.  We had lost out on a different place a few weeks before and we didn't want to start the hunt over again AGAIN.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

So the landlord is definitely willing to rent to me, but she is not willing to hold the unit until September 1st for me. I won't be able to even start setting up shop until the middle of August so I'm gonna have to decide wether I want to pay for a month I cant use or risk it being rented to someone else while I wait.

Tough choice :/

Same think happened to my wife and I when we started renting a house.  It was a tough call but we REALLY liked it and we decided it was worth paying for an extra few weeks as long as we locked it down.  We had lost out on a different place a few weeks before and we didn't want to start the hunt over again AGAIN.

Happens A LOT on houses down here as well. It's an effective squeeze technique used by landlords in order to get money coming in sooner. If you feel you need to secure the location, try negotiating for a date in-between, though I'm sure you'll get some BS about monthly lease agreements.

[Crabmaster2000]

So the landlord is definitely willing to rent to me, but she is not willing to hold the unit until September 1st for me. I won't be able to even start setting up shop until the middle of August so I'm gonna have to decide wether I want to pay for a month I cant use or risk it being rented to someone else while I wait.

Tough choice :/

Same think happened to my wife and I when we started renting a house.  It was a tough call but we REALLY liked it and we decided it was worth paying for an extra few weeks as long as we locked it down.  We had lost out on a different place a few weeks before and we didn't want to start the hunt over again AGAIN.

Happens A LOT on houses down here as well. It's an effective squeeze technique used by landlords in order to get money coming in sooner. If you feel you need to secure the location, try negotiating for a date in-between, though I'm sure you'll get some BS about monthly lease agreements.

lol, that was the first thing I asked and got that exact answer. I'm gonna talk to her today and see if she'll take a lower payment for August so I can secure it and she can get at least some rental income from it.

[Crabmaster2000]

After a little back and forth it looks like I got the place I wanted secured!! Pretty darn psyched about it too! That was the last major thing I needed to get in order. Now I've just got to start crossing off all the little things so that I'm ready to open in about a month.

Thanks for all the "good vibes" guys. I credit this acquisition entirely to the vibes!!

[singlebanana]

Wooooooooooo hooooooooooooo!!!  Congrats sir!

[Shadow Kisuragi]

Awesome! Congrats!
...now to send you a few random flat-rate boxes to get you started.