|
JJJJJS posted:I have a serious question. Since we're all retro goons and most of us have been to a few retro game stores, I figure this might be the best place to ask. What do you want to see in a primarily retro game store? What sort of things do you like or dislike? Quality controllers for a decent price.
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 02:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 28, 2024 22:41 |
|
|
JJJJJS posted:I have a serious question. Since we're all retro goons and most of us have been to a few retro game stores, I figure this might be the best place to ask. What do you want to see in a primarily retro game store? What sort of things do you like or dislike? Don't price poo poo like Super Mario Bros. 1 over $5. Price inflation on common games at stores is kinda crazy.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 02:53
|
|
|
Soul Glo posted:Don't price poo poo like Super Mario Bros. 1 over $5. Price inflation on common games at stores is kinda crazy. This too, it really makes me not want to buy things especialy when just sitting on Amazon and Ebay can usualy turn things up cheaper for real common things. They still charge 10% sales tax in NYC and Jersey is around 7%.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 02:55
|
|
|
Seat Safety Switch posted:So I bought one of those Electronika Soviet Game & Watch clones that were mentioned earlier in the thread. This is "Mystery of the Ocean," which is actually Octopus. It's been moved into another case ("Merry Cook") which itself is pretty beaten up, has egged out sound/time set button holes, fiddly movement buttons and is missing the battery door, but it was fairly cheap even shipped from Belarus so I figured I'd take a gamble. It came with batteries which was a nice surprise. Pfft, jumpin' all over my bandwagon.  Soul Glo posted:Don't price poo poo like Super Mario Bros. 1 over $5. Price inflation on common games at stores is kinda crazy. Don't undercut yourself for the sake of making people feel better either. It'll be a business after all. Let's not make this back into Economics 101.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 02:57
|
|
|
Caitlin posted:
Yeah I guess this is true as well. I've seen parents buy their children an NES and a few of the really common games and the total cost is almost double compared to an Xbox 360 and the same number of games.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:03
|
|
|
WendigoJohnson posted:Biggest issue I've always had with retro stores is that nothing is really priced to sell. Stock just sits on the shelf for eons and they never seem to get rid of it, or discount it, and then use the funds to maybe buy new more interesting stock. Currently the retro stores I've seen are just flooded with Xbox and PS2 games and I've seen the same games sitting on the shelves for over 6 months. The real trick (and key to getting your local old game store to last) is going to be inventory control. Six months might actually not be a bad time for a product to sit idle since you want your store to appear well stocked but you need to keep things moving. This is a bigger task than it sounds and if you do any kind of volume it will wind up being a full time job but it'll help make sure that you keep the cash flow going. Use your store's online presence to offer more specialty items. You might not be able to sell a lot of Famicom games in the store but if your possible market is bigger than that then you can put out crazy things on display as attention grabbers and not worry as much about them sitting in the display case forever. Your reproductions are a perfect example of this; you probably won't sell a lot of them in the store but they'll make the store memorable to people. Sell Trinitrons you get from Goodwill for $30 each as "Specialty Retro Gaming Televisions".  Edit: It strikes me that this is all pretty basic but I've seen a lot of people jump into a business without thinking it through any further than "I like X! I'll make a lot of money selling X!" I've watched a lot of nerd stores get crushed by not really grasping the basics. I hope JJJJJS and his friends have put together a business plan that works. Random Stranger fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Jan 27, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:05
|
|
|
JJJJJS posted:I have a serious question. Since we're all retro goons and most of us have been to a few retro game stores, I figure this might be the best place to ask. What do you want to see in a primarily retro game store? What sort of things do you like or dislike? Figure out the sweet spot for pricing... there is nothing worse than going into my local used game store and seeing the same couple dozen Dreamcast games they've had forever because they're all priced $9.99 and up and are all at least $5 more than they should be. The other thing is not to let your employees snipe all of the best stuff. I know this is kind of hard to enforce (even more so since it's probably seen as one of the perks of the job) but it, like the bad pricing mentioned above, creates a store that feels stagnant because the customer feels like they're never going to happen upon a treasure when coming into your store. When I saw a local guy trading in a bunch of stuff at my local used game store and one of the titles was a CIB Mars Matrix, I knew that poo poo would never see the inside of a display case and it just made me even less interested in frequenting the place. Another thing is, be willing to sell whatever the customer wants; say you have a CIB copy of Chrono Trigger, but the customer just needs the map... work to come up with a price for the map that benefits both you and the customer. One thing that the game store here does right is that they are more than willing to break up a bundle if I need one piece... I've purchased a 1st party controller from a complete system when all they had loose was 3rd party garbage, a Game Gear by itself when they had it shrinkwrapped in a bundle with accessories and games, and negotiated a different collection of e-Cards when I purchased an e-Reader bundle from them a few years back. Basically you want to let as little money walk out your door while also ensuring that customers are going to feel good about coming back. Also, don't sell anything that you don't have a system to demo the game on... and have your demo systems ready to go if a customer wants to try out a game. There's lots of games I've bought because they caught my eye (despite not knowing much about them) and I was able to try them out, but there are even more that I've walked away from because the store wasn't set up for me to try a game out... which usually leads to me going home, watching youtube videos, and buying it cheaper online. If they'd had a way for me to try it in the store, they would have had a much better shot of me buying it then and there. If you are going to create bundles (systems + games) for chrissakes bundle the systems with games people are going to want to play... NES w/ SMB/SMB2/SMB3/Tetris, SNES w/ SMW/FZero/SimCity/Pilotwings, Genesis w/ Sonic/Sonic2/Sonic3/S&K, etc... don't use bundling to get rid of garbage games because it's going to make people not want to shop in your store. testtubebaby fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Jan 27, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:08
|
|
|
StellarX posted:I'm really considering a PowerPak but I can't really seem to find a definitive list of what games don't work well on it. I'm assuming Castlevania III is one but if that's the only major title I may go ahead and get one. I was kinda waiting to get whatever flashcart Krikzz makes for the NES, but I figure it will be a very long time and when it does come out it will probably start out with similar compatibility issues. Check out invitenes. It isn't out yet but looks way better than the powerpak. Retrousb or whatever is actually updating theirs right now to compete
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:09
|
|
|
Also regarding retro gaming store 101: 1: Don't limit yourself to just games. Our town has a highly successful local shop that does movies, music, games and books. They are successful enough that our gamestops are barren for games. Everyone uses them. They also have an *awesome* website which is handy for people like me with a 9-5. I hold a game or sets of games and get an email when they are ready. Much like best buy pickup and I can see what both stores have at all times. Check out their site, you need this: https://www.laststoponline.com 2: Don't be a goon and sell yourself short but do give more incentive to use you over GameStop - club perks, better trade-in value, stamp cards etc. last stop gives a stamp for each $10 you spend on games and after $100 you get $10 off. If you buy newer games it adds up quickly. Yes profit margin is smaller but you build a local community. 3: sell concert tickets. Last stop makes a killing on them. 4: do huge annual sales. Today last stop did a deal where all used games, movies and books were half off to clear their shelves. Black Friday looked casual in comparison. I didn't even know this was annual but I guess people were lining up at 5am today. Store didn't open until 10am
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:18
|
|
|
zenintrude posted:The other thing is not to let your employees snipe all of the best stuff. I know this is kind of hard to enforce (even more so since it's probably seen as one of the perks of the job) but it, like the bad pricing mentioned above, creates a store that feels stagnant because the customer feels like they're never going to happen upon a treasure when coming into your store. When I saw a local guy trading in a bunch of stuff at my local used game store and one of the titles was a CIB Mars Matrix, I knew that poo poo would never see the inside of a display case and it just made me even less interested in frequenting the place. One of the last stores in my area that deals in old games is a general used entertainment store that mostly deals in music. The employees there seem to be a bit knowledgable about games, yet do not collect them, so a lot of the times I or one of the other, less frequent, collector regulars end up getting the good stuff. They're also not abrasive and may or may not all be stoners, but whatever. There's another store about a mile from there, however, that is a dedicated gaming store that also deals in collectible card games and tabletop gaming, and they're very blatant about hoarding all the good stuff as well as overpricing a few items. Those employees are real life Comic Book Guys and I am never going back to their store again (and judging from the few times I've been there, nobody else does as well).
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:19
|
|
|
zenintrude posted:Figure out the sweet spot for pricing... there is nothing worse than going into my local used game store and seeing the same couple dozen Dreamcast games they've had forever because they're all priced $9.99 and up and are all at least $5 more than they should be.  Woah woah woah the stores you go to, they let you haggle for instructions and paperwork? NONE of the stores I have ever been to allow you to do that(and I even asked for meager stuff like empty PS2 cases). They get all snooty and litereally scoffed at my offer of 50 bucks for 100 empty PS2 cases. I had a hell of a time trying to get a Dino Crisis 2 booklet from them because *it would break up the set" and that game sat on the shelf in that store for well over 2 years(it was also very sunfaded).
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:19
|
|
|
zenintrude posted:Another thing is, be willing to sell whatever the customer wants; say you have a CIB copy of Chrono Trigger, but the customer just needs the map... work to come up with a price for the map that benefits both you and the customer. One thing that the game store here does right is that they are more than willing to break up a bundle if I need one piece... That reminds me: you're now in the business of selling things, not collecting them. You've got to cut that collector out of your heart and be the stone cold businessman or you're going to get crushed. In this situation you'd need to be thinking about how much value you're losing off of Chrono Trigger by removing the map, how likely you are to sell the complete set, and how long that may take since time it spends sitting around your shop is time that you're losing money. You cannot be thinking about how nice a complete set it (though you should be telling your customer that to run up the price  ).
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:20
|
|
|
flyboi posted:1: Don't limit yourself to just games. Our town has a highly successful local shop that does movies, music, games and books. They are successful enough that our gamestops are barren for games. Everyone uses them. They also have an *awesome* website which is handy for people like me with a 9-5. I hold a game or sets of games and get an email when they are ready. Much like best buy pickup and I can see what both stores have at all times. Check out their site, you need this: https://www.laststoponline.com I'm going to counter and say do neither of these things. Your store will be clogged full of garbage in no time... walk into any horrible, stuffy used book store or lovely FYE and realize how goddamn terrible B&M used book and movie stores are. There are far, far too many of them, they sit for goddamned ever, hard to price, often practically worthless... need I go on? WendigoJohnson posted:
No, I do not have first hand experience with negotiating the price of a SNES manual or box... it's a hypothetical. As a Mom n Pop store, everything in that store should be for sale. If someone needs a PSU from a Dreamcast and you have a few working Dreamcasts for sale, well now one of those is a parts Dreamcast and you're selling that PSU for $10. testtubebaby fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Jan 27, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:22
|
|
|
There is a place near me that basically prices stuff to move. Some of their stuff is a little over price compared to let's say Ebay but there is nothing compared to the value of being able to have it in hand for a couple extra bucks. The number one thing to worry about is profit in running a business. But what many small video game stores neglect to realize is that you need to sell things to make any profit. When I lived in Chicago there were two retro gaming shops nearby, both of them had stock that was incredibly overpriced and looked like it hadn't moved in years if not decades. You might have cool stuff to look at but if you are charging a arm, leg and kidney for it then it doesn't matter. It won't ever sell. Setup a bargain bin for common stuff, 2-3 dollars a pop or 2 for 5 whatever. Price it to move and make a dollar or two off of each one. If you have some stuff that hasn't sold for a couple of months at the original price, drop it by a couple of bucks. Keep stock moving and make a reason for customers to come back. I have had a idea for awhile of starting a retro rental business recently. I think in the right area it would do well although you would have to deal with theft. Perhaps putting a deposit down before being able to rent a certain tier of games ala renting systems back in the day would help with that. Or maybe RFID chips in the carts?
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:23
|
|
|
WendigoJohnson posted:
The employees at the good store I mentioned in my post above yours give me NES dust sleeves, SNES dust caps, and various video game manuals and inserts for free all the time. Part of it is because they told me that it is store policy to toss those items out if they don't come with the box, in order to save space. The other part is because I asked them about it two years ago, and now it's just routine for them. They also find it strange that I'm probably the only "collector" frequenting their store that was actually serious about the hobby because they get others coming in all the time offloading their crap once they're sick of it (or they move to emulation), only to have me pick and choose at the spoils like a vulture.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:24
|
|
|
^^ what moon planet do you live onzenintrude posted:I'm going to counter and say do neither of these things. Your store will be clogged full of garbage in no time... walk into any horrible, stuffy used book store or lovely FYE and realize how goddamn terrible B&M used book and movie stores are. There are far, far too many of them, they sit for goddamned ever, hard to price, often practically worthless... need I go on? Yeah this, avoid taking other media. Even if it were going to work you'd need a significant amount of space to make that anywhere near feasible. I live by several places that do this and their game inventory is consistently poo poo.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:26
|
|
|
zenintrude posted:I'm going to counter and say do neither of these things. Your store will be clogged full of garbage in no time... walk into any horrible, stuffy used book store or lovely FYE and realize how goddamn terrible B&M used book and movie stores are. There are far, far too many of them, they sit for goddamned ever, hard to price, often practically worthless... need I go on? Actually from my own experiences, comic shops sell used games and they tend to move poo poo very very quickly. If something doesn't sell they reduce it to a dollar or 50 cents. I got many many n64 games from comic shops or PSX RPGs from places like that. I got a brand new copy of Wild Arms 2 somewhere around 8 dollars, Outrun CIB for genesis cost me maybe 3 bucks.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:28
|
|
|
zenintrude posted:I'm going to counter and say do neither of these things. Your store will be clogged full of garbage in no time... walk into any horrible, stuffy used book store or lovely FYE and realize how goddamn terrible B&M used book and movie stores are. There are far, far too many of them, they sit for goddamned ever, hard to price, often practically worthless... need I go on? A store opened here last year to compete but only did games/cleaning/ds modding and had tv setups. They're actually a chain - play n trade. It lasted 6 months. Nobody wanted to deal with them because last stop is easier and "local" If you want to cry you will notice that hagane is in last stops inventory.. For 3.99 That means at one point they had it and someone got it for $4 flyboi fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Jan 27, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:29
|
|
|
Mercury Crusader posted:The employees at the good store I mentioned in my post above yours give me NES dust sleeves, SNES dust caps, and various video game manuals and inserts for free all the time. Part of it is because they told me that it is store policy to toss those items out if they don't come with the box, in order to save space. The other part is because I asked them about it two years ago, and now it's just routine for them. That's the kind of thing that a clever game shop owner could be making a dollar on. A lot of people won't care about those; a few people will. Split them up, dump the dust covers in a box, and get yourself a few extra bucks. It's not much and it probably won't move lots but it's something that collectors will appreciate having available and probably won't begrudge you the dollar or fifty cents that you charge (whatever the reasonable rate on those things are; I genuinely don't know). Oh, and if you have access to cheap color printing you might consider making some universal game cases with packaging. I've never seen a game store do this but you can make the loose carts look pretty swanky at a cost of about a dollar per item (cases at 59 cents, printing, and labor). It might not be worth the extra mark up you'd have to put on them but it could be an interesting experiment. Put two copies of the game out; one in a universal case with a cover and one without. Price the one with the case two dollars more and see how they move. I don't know if it would work but at a hundred bucks to try it out it seems like it would be worth a shot.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:33
|
|
|
Caitlin posted:^^ what moon planet do you live on I refuse to mention it on the grounds that I have a good thing going and I don't need competition. And the competition I do have is weak. The store is similar to that Last Stop place flyboi mentioned, though. And they're situated near a college so the influx of gaming stuff is pretty good.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:33
|
|
|
I'd say be selective with what you take in. A million copies of sports games for the genesis will make your shelves look full, but I'd rather see shelves with a few good games that people might want rather than having to sift through a bunch of trash in the hopes of finding something decent. Also, this'll sound weird, but DON'T have a call list. The store I work at used to have one, and it was first come, first serve. So the first people on it were a couple that wanted EVERY CIB NES, SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, Sega Saturn, Turbo Grafx, and N64 titles that came in. The thing is, they were eBayers. I saw so many great games that I knew a lot people would want get held in the back room for days until the couple finally made their way to the store to pick everything up. The first thing I did when my boss was fired was throw the huge binder of wanted lists in the trash. The thing is, I got us a massive amount of new regulars because there was finally a chance that something cool might be in the store if they come in. Also, please don't price Atari games higher than a buck or two.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:38
|
|
|
Random Stranger posted:
All the ones near me do this, they sell ROMs that way at 80-90 dollars a piece. I'm certain people are just itching to play Sonic:The Lost Levels and Super Mario Bros. for Sega Genesis.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:39
|
|
|
I've been to retro shops all over Michigan and parts of Ontario and I've only gone back to the ones who do one or more of the following: - Undercut eBay/Amazon. If I can get a game shipped from eBay for the same price or less there's no incentive to buy it from your store, because it's obviously more convenient to have it brought to me than to get off my lazy butt and drive over there. - I like when retro sellers give you package deals and/or are willing to haggle prices a bit. - I really appreciate generous trade-in value. Obviously you need to make a profit but people will just eBay their stuff if you're going to rip them off, and then you won't get any new merchandise. The shop in my old hometown actually gives you more store credit than cash if you opt for it - a genius way to keep people coming back.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:40
|
|
|
Biff Rockgroin posted:Also, this'll sound weird, but DON'T have a call list. The store I work at used to have one, and it was first come, first serve. So the first people on it were a couple that wanted EVERY CIB NES, SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, Sega Saturn, Turbo Grafx, and N64 titles that came in. The thing is, they were eBayers. I saw so many great games that I knew a lot people would want get held in the back room for days until the couple finally made their way to the store to pick everything up. The first thing I did when my boss was fired was throw the huge binder of wanted lists in the trash. The thing is, I got us a massive amount of new regulars because there was finally a chance that something cool might be in the store if they come in. Seconding this so goddamned much. Biff Rockgroin posted:I'd say be selective with what you take in. A million copies of sports games for the genesis will make your shelves look full, but I'd rather see shelves with a few good games that people might want rather than having to sift through a bunch of trash in the hopes of finding something decent. Take them, but don't offer much for them and don't put them out on the floor... you never know when someone will come around looking for a shitton of EA sports games to use for an art project or repro materials.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:43
|
|
|
My 2 cents on gaming store stuff. It's a fact of life you're going to have to deal with millions upon millions of sports titles and/or horribly crappy games. Sell these cheaply and even they will move! I've only been to one shop that's done this right. They had a huge bin full of sports titles for various systems. It had a big sign on it that said "2 for $1 with purchase of anything." How can you not grab a couple copies of Hoops or RBI Baseball 3 for 50 cents each? (especially if they had boxes or even sleeves)
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:46
|
|
|
Tyson Tomko posted:
This sounds like a dream, I was actually lucky when I found copies of Madden 64 for 50 cents each. They usualy run in most places 2-5 dollars a game and this is Atari Sports games all the way to PS2 ones.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:48
|
|
|
Make sure you actually have a way to bring in new stock. There's a retro game store in my town and it was absolutely baller when it first opened, but over the course of time they sold all the good/interesting poo poo and they weren't able to replace it. I don't know if they restock just through tradeins or what but last time I went there the only thing that changed was that there were even fewer SNES/NES games on the shelf than in August, and the ones that remained were all stuff that had been there since the store opened. I would say just make sure you have actually have poo poo on the shelves, but it's not the same poo poo for long periods of time. If there's constantly new stuff coming in, I'm more likely to come to the store regularly even if it's not the best poo poo. Also sell snacks and stuff.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:48
|
|
|
The most important thing I guess I would say is to have some sort of incentive to keep people coming back. With offering repros and repair service, that's something out of the ordinary that other shops may not offer or can't offer. A lot (if not all) the retro/independent gaming shops that opened up around my area have all gone out of business within 6 months to a year.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:49
|
|
|
Biff Rockgroin posted:I'd say be selective with what you take in. A million copies of sports games for the genesis will make your shelves look full, but I'd rather see shelves with a few good games that people might want rather than having to sift through a bunch of trash in the hopes of finding something decent. Last stop doesn't even shelv carts, they're in filing cabinets and they have pcs setup where you can browse the inventory and flag what you want. On psx/ps2/ps3/360/Wii they have all sports separated into their own shelf and don't bother shelving them all. Their system alerts when something needs reupped on their shelves for those.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:50
|
|
|
Djarum posted:Setup a bargain bin for common stuff, 2-3 dollars a pop or 2 for 5 whatever. Price it to move and make a dollar or two off of each one. If you have some stuff that hasn't sold for a couple of months at the original price, drop it by a couple of bucks. Keep stock moving and make a reason for customers to come back. I was going to suggest something along these lines to JJJJJS. Don't keep everything under glass! Under the glass/behind the counter should be for notable stuff (like CIB games, rare carts, rare/expensive hardware, and so forth), not for every last, loose copy of Super Mario World and Contra you have to sell. If you have loose cart bins, it saves you trouble, it makes the customer more likely to impulse buy, and it just makes for a more pleasant shopping experience. I'm not really up on consumer psychology, but having stuff behind glass says that you, as the shopkeep, have different selling priorities for it than stuff out in the open. Which is great for a CIB copy of Chrono Trigger, but not so great for loose carts of Sonic The Hedgehog 2.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:50
|
|
|
Kthulhu5000 posted:I'm not really up on consumer psychology, but having stuff behind glass says that you, as the shopkeep, have different selling priorities for it than stuff out in the open. Which is great for a CIB copy of Chrono Trigger, but not so great for loose carts of Sonic The Hedgehog 2. An excellent point here. People are far more likely to buy if they hold the item. That is consumer psychology; holding something makes people think of it as "theirs" in certain ways. So if they can pick something up they're more likely to want to keep it. And I hope this goes without saying but the store needs to be comfortable to browse. I've been into too many shops where there's low shelves with bare floors, poor lighting, and odd smells. Everything can't be stored at eye level but the closer to it you can get the better off you are.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 03:56
|
|
|
Excellent advice everyone, thank you. We've discussed a few of the suggestions already, such as Random Stranger's UGC idea which we're going to try out. Awesome idea on having grab bins of cheap games as well, I've seen bins like that do really well at the retro shows. Fortunately we're not rushing into it 100% blind. One of the guys involved ran a successful retro store for the last 13 years, I've got a couple years experience working in a used media store, and we have some support from the local retro crew. I certainly agree with the sentiment about turning off the collector instinct and focusing on moving product. One of the local stores which closed down recently had an amazing selection but sky high prices. I honestly think that the owner was far more interested in keeping the good stuff rather than selling it. One of the smartest things I heard from a vendor at one of the retro shows went along the lines of "I don't want to go home with anything I brought to the show. If I still have a ton of stuff at the end doing something wrong." Random Stranger posted:And I hope this goes without saying but the store needs to be comfortable to browse. I've been into too many shops where there's low shelves with bare floors, poor lighting, and odd smells. Everything can't be stored at eye level but the closer to it you can get the better off you are. Agreed. You'd be surprised at how often I see places that seem to have forgotten this. JJJJJS fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Jan 27, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 04:19
|
|
|
Find ways to get people into the store that aren't (necessarily) focussed on sales. Throw an asynchronous tournament sort of thing, where for some game that isn't TOO complicated or is a retro favorite like Xevious or the like, whoever posts the highest score after the period of the tournament (week or so?) gets a prize. Maybe have one demo station that's set up with another simple game, where if you beat the shop's high score, you get a discount. Getting people in the door, even if they don't think they're going to spend money TODAY, will mean more sales for you and more repeat customers in the long run.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 04:34
|
|
|
My friend's stores (he owns two stores in New Mexico) have a retro gaming league where they do tournaments and the like and yeah, they also do repairs - also, along with selling normal used consoles, he sells the new multi-game accepting units so people can walk out the door and be able to play multiple types of games. He keeps a cabinet or two in the store too that are set to free play.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 05:20
|
|
|
StellarX posted:I'm really considering a PowerPak but I can't really seem to find a definitive list of what games don't work well on it. I'm assuming Castlevania III is one but if that's the only major title I may go ahead and get one. I was kinda waiting to get whatever flashcart Krikzz makes for the NES, but I figure it will be a very long time and when it does come out it will probably start out with similar compatibility issues. There aren't a lot, truth be told. Castlevania III is weird because the U.S. version of the game is the problematic one; the Japanese one works, but because of the missing sound chip sounds weird (I THINK if you solder a resistor to your NES this makes it work, but I'm not 100% if this is just for the Disk System games). This list seems pretty accurate according to my experience: http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=28507 The one major exception is that the Mario Adventure hack DOES work with some extra patches. I can test a few specific titles if you'd like. The Powerpak has the following issues that aren't the fault of NES hardware limitations: - Uses CompactFlash cards, which are harder to find media/readers for (but not that bad) - Only available in NES cartridge form factor (not really aesthetically pleasing for a Famicom, plus would need a 72-to-60 pin converter) - Built-in software isn't able to sort game list alphabetically, you need special software to modify the dates on the files so they'll sort alphabetically - You have to manually create .SAV files for every battery backup game, which is a bit of a pain in the rear end (I can throw up a ZIP file of correctly-named files for this if anyone wants) That's all pretty minor. I mean, I'm looking forward to krikzz's offering, but truth be told I don't know what it could offer that would make it much better than the Powerpak (custom mappers sound cool in theory but we don't really have an immediate need for it for certain games to work).
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 05:38
|
|
|
Caitlin posted:Don't undercut yourself for the sake of making people feel better either. It'll be a business after all. Let's not make this back into Economics 101. Well, I just mean don't mark poo poo up to the point where it's double the price of what people could find on Amazon. I've found loads of stuff I would have bought in retro stores had they not been priced to absurd levels. The problem with running a retro shop is you have to compete with online markets like Amazon, Craigslist and ebay, and pricing something like most of the stores in my area do leads to product just sitting on shelves for years instead of putting food on the owners' tables.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 05:57
|
|
|
A storefront in Portland + paying the salary of you and your friends + bringing in inventory tends to cost a lot of cash very quickly.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 06:00
|
|
|
There's a retro store with nutso prices that's been in business for years around here. I was in there once and a guy walked in and bought Mike Tyson's Punch-Out and Super Mario Kart for like 80 bucks total. I couldn't loving believe it. Held my tongue because hey, if dude wants to spend that much then fine, plus it's a dick move to do that in a store no matter how hosed up they are (and I didn't want to get kicked out)... but god drat was it hard. I just like going in there to look at the ROB and Stack-Up in its big box.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 06:02
|
|
|
Hey, JJJJJS, why don't you do repro NES carts for Nekketsu! Street Basket - Ganbare Dunk Heroes? I was thinking about ordering that and Recca soon, but didn't see it on your site. On the subject of what people think of retro stores in Portland area, Portland already has a ton of retro stores, but I'm largely disappointed with them when I drive down. Ground Kontrol is way overpriced, but it's mainly an arcade. I forget what the other retro stores I found were called, but I was pretty disappointed with them, too. I guess I'll do a quick rundown of some stores in the Seattle area as reference, too, if you're looking for opinions on retro game stores. There's a guy who runs a retro game store in Kirkland, WA that sells a lot of his merchandise on eBay, basically the storefront was setup when he was selling enough stuff to need a large place to keep things. I think a few posters in this thread have gone there, Amazing Heroes. His stock was largely coming from splitting up large lots acquired off Craigslist and stuff for a while. He largely prices his things by charging slightly less than the current eBay going rate, which works pretty well. There's another game store in Kirkland, Play N Trade, that seems promising when you walk in, but largely sucks. Their prices are really lovely, and their selection is miserable. It falls on two extremes, the super common poo poo that no one wants or needs, and the rarer stuff that they charge too much for, like EVO for SNES slightly overpriced. Pink Gorilla in Seattle has become a chain at this point, with three stores. I haven't been to the West Seattle location yet, but the U District and I District stores both seem good. They are a little overpriced, but the selection is pretty good, especially for import games. I don't mind shopping at either store, they do a good job selecting employees and the people behind the counters are pretty cool to talk to. The U District store I especially end up being "babysat" at, while I wait for my fiance to shop at nearby stores for stuff. Al's in the U District is an interesting place, it's not just retro games, it's mainly a music store. They largely price their games based on college kid popularity, so you can get more obscure games at a great price, but you will heavily overpay for Smash Brothers on the Nintendo 64. I think this pricing actually makes a lot of sense due to the location. I think that's it for dedicated retro stores in Seattle, however there are a lot of places to acquire retro games in the area, but that's less relevant for the current discussion.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 06:23
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 28, 2024 22:41 |
|
|
Man, there's a lot of us Seattle retro goons, we should have some sort of meet or something.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 06:32
|
|