starting a game shop???

simonp1

Im a avid gamer and have had the idea of opening a games shop, but where would someone start researching it. If anyone has any advice and or have already done it themselves I'd love to hear from you.
Thanks in advance
Simon

dublin_apache

Hi Simon,

Well you should do some sort of a course for starters, get to know the ins and outs of business. Believe me it's not so simple :eek: ! You first have to register a company either as a sole trader, partnership, LTD Company, private LTD Company or as a Co-Op.

I'm doing a start your own business course at the moment in FÁS and I would never of taught it was this intense, VAT, TAX etc but still I'm going to go ahead with my idea ...

Try here also.

jesus_thats_gre

Franchising might be an option...

Cabaal

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Franchising might be an option...

Yeah, I suggest Compustore....oo..oh wait
:cool:

jesus_thats_gre

or..... Game

dublin_apache

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

or..... Game

Yeah, I'd go with GAME

LookingFor

Dublin is severely lacking in good, credible independent game stores. If you could set up a nice, clean, competitive independent game score with a decent location (i.e. not down a back alley), with some unique selling points over the chains, you'd be on to a winner. Maybe that'd be very tough to do, but I know a lot of people don't like the big chains here, especially GAME, so there could definitely be a market there.

super_furry

Even more so if you were to stock retro and import titles.

LookingFor

super_furry wrote:

Even more so if you were to stock retro and import titles.

True, that'd provide some unique attraction. There are no import stores that I know of here, and I'd certainly find it handy to pick up some games for my US Cube locally. That said, you'd have to make some good connections to get those games in at a price that'd allow you to be competitive with the web stores out there. Retro games would also be very attractive.

This is all just from my point of view though..it'd be appealing to me, but I'm not sure how wide that appeal would spread. How many irish gamers have import systems?

simonp1

cheers to all for the advice, Dublin would be ideal but Im in Kerry anyway ill post again if I go ahead with it.
simonp1

UNIFLU

hope you get it going, if you do please order me in a set of GO, been looking for ages and just cant find it, most people dont even know the name!!

E.

dublin_apache

simonp1 wrote:

Dublin would be ideal but Im in Kerry
simonp1

That's the problem with most ppl, Go for it m8, set up in Kerry, I'm telling ya .... You'll take the Kerry market by storm !!!

Best of luck with it & keep us up to date on your progress .......

LookingFor

Indeed..how many game stores are there in kerry? I imagine competition wouldn't be as tough. I was just talking about this with my friend today - the bigger chains only seem to be in the cities, and we were wondering if people outside of those areas really had to travel to buy their games. If there's a gap in the market down in Kerry, go for it. But do your research

rainbow kirby

Having a good import shop in Dublin would rock! Selling stuff like US/JP GC/Xbox/PS2 machines and games, and some of the cool Japanese gaming merchandise. The kind of stuff you just can't get over here. And some of the older consoles, ie. Dreamcast, N64, SNES, Mega Drive etc with their peripherals. Goddamit, I'd shop in a shop like that!

kencleary

rainbow kirby wrote:

Goddamit, I'd shop in a shop like that!

Would you though? It seems to me the vast majority of clueless will shop at places like Game/HMV because they're high street stores, highly visible and people don't know any better. Whereas most people who do know games will buy online due to the cheaper prices. I'd love to say that I would support an independent game store by buying there but frankly money talks and if I can get a title online for 10/20 less than in any shop thats where I'm going to do the vast majority of my shopping.

I think that effectively rules out new releases and I really don't think any independent could compete with Game on 2nd hand gear either due to the sheer volume of the stuff Game deal in and the fact that they could vastly drop their prices if they chose.

That effectively leaves the stuff you're talking about imports/rarities etc. Its a question of whether that market is large enough to support a store in Ireland. I know there are several stores of this kind in the UK so by opening one in Ireland you could be blazing a trail or on the other hand you could fail to even cover the rent of your shop. I think thats why there aren't many independent game stores about.

rainbow kirby

It'd be good to see somewhere that sold imports and stuff over here though. It's a pain in the ass waiting for stuff to ship. For example: Katamari Damacy looks cool, but would it ever get a European release? Also look at the amount of us that are importing the Nintendo DS.

compworld

You should really do some serious research if you want to go ahead with this. Do you have any idea of the margins in software?? Of your €50 or so, less than 10% goes to the retailer, after your supplier and the VAT man have had their cut. This meand you have to sell a hell of a lot of games to cover an average rent of 20k per annum, insurance, light heat and phone etc, and thats before you get 1 penny for yourself. It is practically impossible to compete on a retail level with the like of Game, who have millions of pounds of buying power behind them.
I don't mean to discourage you, but I have seen to many guys getting burnt trying to turn hobbies into businesses.

dublin_apache

Go for it simonp1, it's obvious that compworld is going to open a shop like this in the Kerry area and he doesn't want any competition ...

compworld

It's obvious is it???

dublin_apache

compworld wrote:

It's obvious is it???

Sorry ! It was a joke... Don't hurt me...