Throwing around the idea again..Opening a game store

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Throwing around the idea again..Opening a game store
Tweet Topic Started: Feb 12 2012, 06:10 PM (3,380 Views)
CarsAndGames	Feb 12 2012, 06:10 PM Post #1
Level 4 Posts: 456 Group: Members Member #4,712 Joined: Jan 28, 2012	Basically..I'm happy with my job don't get me wrong. But the 13-14 hour days every day 6 days a week is killing me, and at 25 years old I feel like I'm 50. ( to the point of I was walking around Best Buy yesterday, and I started panting and breathing hard because my body just can't take it) I've thrown around this idea for a while, and I think 2012 may be the year to do it. I just bought a house, and killed almost all my debt, so my debt to income ratio is looking good, and my fiancee can honestly afford every single one of our bills on her salary if I take this chance. Basically let's just say you walked into a game store. What are things you want to see? Things that you want in a game store? I want to start building my business plan ( I have a lot of it written, but I want opinions)



Eltimo21	Feb 12 2012, 06:33 PM Post #2
Halopwns Before Posts: 1,099 Group: Founding Members Member #77 Joined: Jan 27, 2009	How much money do you want to put into this? Honestly I like the idea because I sell games at a local flea market and in Mexico. I'm only 14 and I make a lot of money for what I do. Opening a Video game store would be great and you would love to do it. As for things I would like to see. I would want to see a lot of games like around 3000+. How much money do you want to make? Buy candy and drinks from sams club and sell them for $1 (Gatorade,water,soda,candy,and chocolate.) and buy a majority of used games off of Amazon used from Warehouse deals and you could make a huge profit. As for me I make a arround $1000 a month and around $300 go to buying more to sell and personal stuff. Go for it dude you could make way more then I could. Good luck on whatever you do. (sorry it was all over the place Im using my iPod touch. :P)



Eltimo21	Feb 12 2012, 06:37 PM Post #3
Halopwns Before Posts: 1,099 Group: Founding Members Member #77 Joined: Jan 27, 2009	Also think about it... If you want to make money you have spend money and not work for someone else and you could also be your own boss.



Jesusthe3dgame	Feb 12 2012, 06:45 PM Post #4
Level 4 Posts: 424 Group: Members Member #3,788 Joined: Apr 26, 2011	No.
	website: thisbethesite.com twitter: @ithinksocially


Eltimo21	Feb 12 2012, 06:47 PM Post #5
Halopwns Before Posts: 1,099 Group: Founding Members Member #77 Joined: Jan 27, 2009	SteveNeville Feb 12 2012, 06:45 PM No. Why not?



lol_pc	Feb 12 2012, 06:58 PM Post #6
\m/ (>_<) \m/ Posts: 754 Group: Members Member #583 Joined: Apr 16, 2009	Eltimo21 Feb 12 2012, 06:47 PM SteveNeville Feb 12 2012, 06:45 PM No. Why not? I don't know what planet you live on, but have you seen the economy lately?
	Fin moron do Taazokaan fen kod zeim ul


Jesusthe3dgame	Feb 12 2012, 07:09 PM Post #7
Level 4 Posts: 424 Group: Members Member #3,788 Joined: Apr 26, 2011	Eltimo21 Feb 12 2012, 06:47 PM SteveNeville Feb 12 2012, 06:45 PM No. Why not? To compete with a Gamestop, in terms of initial inventory and appearance and convenience, he's looking at investing $1000,000 on the low end. However, he will never be able to compete with Gamestop/Best Buy prices in the long run because he can never afford to purchase millions and millions of dollars of inventory that affords those business the big discounts on games. Then there's ridiculous amounts of overhead that goes into brick-and-mortar shops that absolutely destroy 75-80% of new businesses. In addition to employees, advertising costs, TAXES (small businesses get raped), health benefits and other intangibles (and there is a million other intangibles that cost money). Plus, in this economy, even giants like Gamestops and Best Buys are dropping like flies, and they have inventory that cost twice as cheap as what this guy is going to get it for, because no one shops at a physical store anymore; they do it all online at websites where you can get the game dirt-cheap and to-your-door. Realistically, it would take years and years, tons of luck, and millions of dollars to create a shop that would be sustainable and make even a little profit. Thus, no.
	website: thisbethesite.com twitter: @ithinksocially


Eltimo21	Feb 12 2012, 07:25 PM Post #8
Halopwns Before Posts: 1,099 Group: Founding Members Member #77 Joined: Jan 27, 2009	I completely see your point but he could make a pretty good profit if he does it right. For example he could get a used like new copy of battlefield 3 for $29.99 and sell it for $39.99 or $44.99 and make a 10-15 profit and still sell it cheaper then GameStop.



CarsAndGames	Feb 12 2012, 07:33 PM Post #9
Level 4 Posts: 456 Group: Members Member #4,712 Joined: Jan 28, 2012	lol_pc Feb 12 2012, 06:58 PM I don't know what planet you live on, but have you seen the economy lately? In this economy I'm making more money than ever haha



Eltimo21	Feb 12 2012, 07:40 PM Post #10
Halopwns Before Posts: 1,099 Group: Founding Members Member #77 Joined: Jan 27, 2009	CarsAndGames Feb 12 2012, 07:33 PM lol_pc Feb 12 2012, 06:58 PM I don't know what planet you live on, but have you seen the economy lately? In this economy I'm making more money than ever haha Yeah exactly, me too



Narrasand436	Feb 12 2012, 07:45 PM Post #11
Closets Posts: 473 Group: Members Member #3,379 Joined: Feb 3, 2011	Open a game store..... No. But if you open a arcade..... Just get a Beatmania machine and a Tekken 6 machine and you will have people coming in there like flies eating a dead body not the best analogy but you get my point.



Jesusthe3dgame	Feb 12 2012, 07:46 PM Post #12
Level 4 Posts: 424 Group: Members Member #3,788 Joined: Apr 26, 2011	Eltimo21 Feb 12 2012, 07:25 PM I completely see your point but he could make a pretty good profit if he does it right. For example he could get a used like new copy of battlefield 3 for $29.99 and sell it for $39.99 or $44.99 and make a 10-15 profit and still sell it cheaper then GameStop. Ok.... Say he buys a game on average for $29.99 and sells it for $39.99. But before he could sell that game he had to buy a store and enough games to fill a store, for a grand total of: -$100,000. He has three employees for his store (at minimum), two of them work a day, 8 hours a day, 355 days (10 off for holidays) at $10 an hour. Plus, $10,000 health benefits for each of them: $87,500 Then there's $50,000 advertising for the year (if you actually want people to know about your store). Then there's electricity, heating etc. $5,000 a year (low end). Then, for every $10 he makes 30-40% goes back into business (inventory, extraneous spending etc.) and 30-40% goes to the government for taxes. So, his $10 profit, as you see it, is really about $2. So, for "battlefield 3" selling at the "10 profit" (difference between what he bought and sold it for) to make him BREAK EVEN for the year, he would have to sell approximately 100-125,000 of them in a year. Or, 350 or so a day... or 35 games an hour on a 8-hour schedule.
	website: thisbethesite.com twitter: @ithinksocially


CarsAndGames	Feb 12 2012, 07:48 PM Post #13
Level 4 Posts: 456 Group: Members Member #4,712 Joined: Jan 28, 2012	Narrasand436 Feb 12 2012, 07:45 PM Open a game store..... No. But if you open a arcade..... Just get a Beatmania machine and a Tekken 6 machine and you will have people coming in there like flies eating a dead body not the best analogy but you get my point. That's something I've thought of also having in the game store. Is arcade machines. Not many game stores actually legitimately have that. Bring the people into the game store to play games, and buy games.



CarsAndGames	Feb 12 2012, 07:57 PM Post #14
Level 4 Posts: 456 Group: Members Member #4,712 Joined: Jan 28, 2012	SteveNeville Feb 12 2012, 07:46 PM Ok.... Say he buys a game on average for $29.99 and sells it for $39.99. But before he could sell that game he had to buy a store and enough games to fill a store, for a grand total of: -$100,000. He has three employees for his store (at minimum), two of them work a day, 8 hours a day, 355 days (10 off for holidays) at $10 an hour. Plus, $10,000 health benefits for each of them: $87,500 Then there's $50,000 advertising for the year (if you actually want people to know about your store). Then there's electricity, heating etc. $5,000 a year (low end). Then, for every $10 he makes 30-40% goes back into business (inventory, extraneous spending etc.) and 30-40% goes to the government for taxes. So, his $10 profit, as you see it, is really about $2. So, for "battlefield 3" selling at the "10 profit" (difference between what he bought and sold it for) to make him BREAK EVEN for the year, he would have to sell approximately 100-125,000 of them in a year. Or, 350 or so a day... or 35 games an hour on a 8-hour schedule. Yeah I see what you mean. And I don't think I would need anywhere close to $100,000. Hell no offense to the retro game store around here. but MY boxed collection, and my NES collection is bigger than their whole store collection. Of course their newer games they had the investment there. I'd probably only start with 1 employee maybe 2. As I would be working there all of the time until I felt my store could sustain itself. And in this day in age, I don't think $50,000 is a number to shoot for, for advertising, with the internet being as cheap as it is. Business cards are cheap, and as we all know the biggest game changer is word of mouth. I agree on the $5,000 or so a year for the bills. And yeah the profit margin is tiny when you're small. But it's the extra additives to where I could make it back ( I hope) I've been drawing up a business model for the last year or so. The main issue of course is funding, but like we all know. you have to take the chance to make the profit. 2012 may be that year I hope



Eltimo21	Feb 12 2012, 07:59 PM Post #15
Halopwns Before Posts: 1,099 Group: Founding Members Member #77 Joined: Jan 27, 2009	SteveNeville Feb 12 2012, 07:46 PM Eltimo21 Feb 12 2012, 07:25 PM I completely see your point but he could make a pretty good profit if he does it right. For example he could get a used like new copy of battlefield 3 for $29.99 and sell it for $39.99 or $44.99 and make a 10-15 profit and still sell it cheaper then GameStop. Ok.... Say he buys a game on average for $29.99 and sells it for $39.99. But before he could sell that game he had to buy a store and enough games to fill a store, for a grand total of: -$100,000. He has three employees for his store (at minimum), two of them work a day, 8 hours a day, 355 days (10 off for holidays) at $10 an hour. Plus, $10,000 health benefits for each of them: $87,500 Then there's $50,000 advertising for the year (if you actually want people to know about your store). Then there's electricity, heating etc. $5,000 a year (low end). Then, for every $10 he makes 30-40% goes back into business (inventory, extraneous spending etc.) and 30-40% goes to the government for taxes. So, his $10 profit, as you see it, is really about $2. So, for "battlefield 3" selling at the "10 profit" (difference between what he bought and sold it for) to make him BREAK EVEN for the year, he would have to sell approximately 100-125,000 of them in a year. Or, 350 or so a day... or 35 games an hour on a 8-hour schedule. I'm pretty sure you don't need $100,00 to fill a store with games and why would he need 3 employees? I'm pretty sure he would need only 2. How would he spend $50,000 on advertising? I'm pretty sure he has a good amount of gaming friends that could tell their friends and so on. Surely it is a huge risk but he could have a huge reward. He's has to spend money to make money



lol_pc	Feb 12 2012, 08:02 PM Post #16
\m/ (>_<) \m/ Posts: 754 Group: Members Member #583 Joined: Apr 16, 2009	CarsAndGames Feb 12 2012, 07:33 PM lol_pc Feb 12 2012, 06:58 PM I don't know what planet you live on, but have you seen the economy lately? In this economy I'm making more money than ever haha Then you're one of the lucky few, last year I could hardly find anyone who needed 3D work done, and the few I did find were small time, luckily I did end up with a rather large contract during the summer. If not for that, I don't know what I would've done. But personally, i'd strongly advise against you doing this, you said in another thread that nearly all the independent stores in your area were gone or closing, how do you expect to do any differently? Most people aren't earning good money at the moment. And if it fails, you're gonna be up to your neck in debt (Unless you can fund opening up a store yourself).
	Fin moron do Taazokaan fen kod zeim ul


lol_pc	Feb 12 2012, 08:04 PM Post #17
\m/ (>_<) \m/ Posts: 754 Group: Members Member #583 Joined: Apr 16, 2009	Eltimo21 Feb 12 2012, 07:59 PM SteveNeville Feb 12 2012, 07:46 PM Eltimo21 Feb 12 2012, 07:25 PM I completely see your point but he could make a pretty good profit if he does it right. For example he could get a used like new copy of battlefield 3 for $29.99 and sell it for $39.99 or $44.99 and make a 10-15 profit and still sell it cheaper then GameStop. Ok.... Say he buys a game on average for $29.99 and sells it for $39.99. But before he could sell that game he had to buy a store and enough games to fill a store, for a grand total of: -$100,000. He has three employees for his store (at minimum), two of them work a day, 8 hours a day, 355 days (10 off for holidays) at $10 an hour. Plus, $10,000 health benefits for each of them: $87,500 Then there's $50,000 advertising for the year (if you actually want people to know about your store). Then there's electricity, heating etc. $5,000 a year (low end). Then, for every $10 he makes 30-40% goes back into business (inventory, extraneous spending etc.) and 30-40% goes to the government for taxes. So, his $10 profit, as you see it, is really about $2. So, for "battlefield 3" selling at the "10 profit" (difference between what he bought and sold it for) to make him BREAK EVEN for the year, he would have to sell approximately 100-125,000 of them in a year. Or, 350 or so a day... or 35 games an hour on a 8-hour schedule. I'm pretty sure you don't need $100,00 to fill a store with games and why would he need 3 employees? I'm pretty sure he would need only 2. How would he spend $50,000 on advertising? I'm pretty sure he has a good amount of gaming friends that could tell their friends and so on. Surely it is a huge risk but he could have a huge reward. He's has to spend money to make money No offense, but if you're 14, you shouldn't be giving out financial advice...
	Fin moron do Taazokaan fen kod zeim ul


Eltimo21	Feb 12 2012, 08:06 PM Post #18
Halopwns Before Posts: 1,099 Group: Founding Members Member #77 Joined: Jan 27, 2009	Yeah but come on $50,000 on advertising???



lol_pc	Feb 12 2012, 08:14 PM Post #19
\m/ (>_<) \m/ Posts: 754 Group: Members Member #583 Joined: Apr 16, 2009	That's maybe a bit steep but atleast $40.000 is gonna go towards advertising. If it's a local store, you're gonna need local advertisement, which doesn't come cheap.
	Fin moron do Taazokaan fen kod zeim ul


Eltimo21	Feb 12 2012, 08:15 PM Post #20
Halopwns Before Posts: 1,099 Group: Founding Members Member #77 Joined: Jan 27, 2009	lol_pc Feb 12 2012, 08:04 PM Eltimo21 Feb 12 2012, 07:59 PM SteveNeville Feb 12 2012, 07:46 PM Eltimo21 Feb 12 2012, 07:25 PM I completely see your point but he could make a pretty good profit if he does it right. For example he could get a used like new copy of battlefield 3 for $29.99 and sell it for $39.99 or $44.99 and make a 10-15 profit and still sell it cheaper then GameStop. Ok.... Say he buys a game on average for $29.99 and sells it for $39.99. But before he could sell that game he had to buy a store and enough games to fill a store, for a grand total of: -$100,000. He has three employees for his store (at minimum), two of them work a day, 8 hours a day, 355 days (10 off for holidays) at $10 an hour. Plus, $10,000 health benefits for each of them: $87,500 Then there's $50,000 advertising for the year (if you actually want people to know about your store). Then there's electricity, heating etc. $5,000 a year (low end). Then, for every $10 he makes 30-40% goes back into business (inventory, extraneous spending etc.) and 30-40% goes to the government for taxes. So, his $10 profit, as you see it, is really about $2. So, for "battlefield 3" selling at the "10 profit" (difference between what he bought and sold it for) to make him BREAK EVEN for the year, he would have to sell approximately 100-125,000 of them in a year. Or, 350 or so a day... or 35 games an hour on a 8-hour schedule. I'm pretty sure you don't need $100,00 to fill a store with games and why would he need 3 employees? I'm pretty sure he would need only 2. How would he spend $50,000 on advertising? I'm pretty sure he has a good amount of gaming friends that could tell their friends and so on. Surely it is a huge risk but he could have a huge reward. He's has to spend money to make money No offense, but if you're 14, you shouldn't be giving out financial advice... Age is just a number and you don't need to be genius to know how to spend money.



Eltimo21	Feb 12 2012, 08:16 PM Post #21
Halopwns Before Posts: 1,099 Group: Founding Members Member #77 Joined: Jan 27, 2009	lol_pc Feb 12 2012, 08:14 PM That's maybe a bit steep but atleast $40.000 is gonna go towards advertising. If it's a local store, you're gonna need local advertisement, which doesn't come cheap. How would he spend $40,000 on advertisement?



Jesusthe3dgame	Feb 12 2012, 08:18 PM Post #22
Level 4 Posts: 424 Group: Members Member #3,788 Joined: Apr 26, 2011	I'm a venture capitalist and business owner who's owned 8 retail shops in the past 10 years. If $100,000 to start a store seems too much, then don't open a retail store.
	website: thisbethesite.com twitter: @ithinksocially


appletsauce	Feb 12 2012, 08:18 PM Post #23
3DS Posts: 1,580 Group: Members Member #1,218 Joined: Sep 5, 2009	Why not just sell online and skip all that old country brick and mortar stuff?



CarsAndGames	Feb 12 2012, 08:19 PM Post #24
Level 4 Posts: 456 Group: Members Member #4,712 Joined: Jan 28, 2012	lol_pc Feb 12 2012, 08:02 PM But personally, i'd strongly advise against you doing this, you said in another thread that nearly all the independent stores in your area were gone or closing, how do you expect to do any differently? Most people aren't earning good money at the moment. And if it fails, you're gonna be up to your neck in debt (Unless you can fund opening up a store yourself). Well the reason I think for their failure is 1. Their employees really didn't know anything about retro gaming, or much less gaming for that matter 2. They did literally ZERO advertising or putting the word out. I told people who lived TWO BLOCKS from the store that the store was closing down and they said " Damn that suck, I've never heard of that place" 3. The management was never there, and still isn't. I've been trying to get in touch with the manager there for 3 weeks, left my phone number multiple times. The employees have even stated to me the manager has my number and is going to call me but to no avail. 4. Their selection is crap honestly. Like I said. MY Nes collection is bigger than theirs. 5. Their prices are unreal. Hell they were selling shitty ass "Al Unser Racing" for the NES, for $12. Hell even I know I could sell that for $8 and still make a profit. The owner/managers there the entire time have tried to get every last penny and more out of everything. Whch in turn has led to their downfall. Edited by CarsAndGames, Feb 12 2012, 08:20 PM.



CarsAndGames	Feb 12 2012, 08:21 PM Post #25
Level 4 Posts: 456 Group: Members Member #4,712 Joined: Jan 28, 2012	appletsauce Feb 12 2012, 08:18 PM Why not just sell online and skip all that old country brick and mortar stuff? working the job I do now...I don't have the time to do it, and I really don't want to store all the inventory here, even though I have the room.



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