Video game store

Snake

Hey... I was thinking of opening a retro video game store, old video games and consoles, up to PS3 and xbox 360 and as old as NES and Mega Drive, and older! Just wondering would anyone here think there would be an interest for such a store? The shop would buy and sell video games and consoles as well as other accessories and related items... I'd be opening it in wexford town

Doge

I guess it would totally depend on how many people are into the retro scene in Wexford, and people who prefer to use the real hardware and collect the games.

It's a pretty niche market.

Are you thinking of opening an online store also?
That would help boost your market a lot.

Retr0gamer

Yeah I think in this case having an online portion to a store would really help.

hallo dare

There was on of these shops near Connolly station in Dublin, don't know if it's still there. But it used to have every sort of old game and console you could think of at really good prices. It used to be packed whenever i called into it.

Must have a look someday to see if it's still open.

So i think it would be a good idea OP if you're still thinking of going through with it. Good advertising goes a long way.

LoGiE

retrogamefan wrote: »

Hey... I was thinking of opening a retro video game store, old video games and consoles, up to PS3 and xbox 360 and as old as NES and Mega Drive, and older! Just wondering would anyone here think there would be an interest for such a store? The shop would buy and sell video games and consoles as well as other accessories and related items... I'd be opening it in wexford town

Hi,

Please do not post across forums. As it's retro related I'll leave it open but I suspect your thread in the games forum may be closed.

Regards,
LoGiE

CiDeRmAn

hallo dare wrote: »

There was on of these shops near Connolly station in Dublin, don't know if it's still there. But it used to have every sort of old game and console you could think of at really good prices. It used to be packed whenever i called into it.

Must have a look someday to see if it's still open.

So i think it would be a good idea OP if you're still thinking of going through with it. Good advertising goes a long way.

Gamezone was there under the bridge but that's gone about 13 years or so.
Bookmark and GameSexchange is there, moved to a new unit a number of years ago, it gets interesting stuff in. It's also of Facebook.

mdwexford

Don't think it would do enough business in Wexford myself.

Myrddin

Personally I wouldn't bother with a premises. This is the kind of thing you can run online, cutting down a lot of overheads.

1) Get a proper looking website, one with purchasing/basket/delivery options for buyers.
2) Back that up with an ebay account, & an adverts shop account.
3) Back it up further with a Facebook/Social media presence.
3) Spend a bit on advertising, it'll pay off.
4) Give buyers incentive, free national postage on orders over €20 etc. Take the hit, it won't cripple you, but your customer base will grow & in turn, so will turnover.
5) Keep your prices down as low as possible, as a seller, you need to stand out amongst the competition. As your turnover grows, so will your profits.
6) Don't focus on making money for the first while, focus on getting your name out there & being the best option available. Money will come later.
7) Pay attention to the little things, make sure games you sell are spotless clean & advertise them exactly as they are with multiple pictures.

Or, you could just take the usual approach:

1) Half arse everything you do.
2) Get your prices from ebay current auctions.
3) Have overpriced postage, if at all a postage option.
4) Don't bother with a website, sure everyones on facebook
5) Focus on making money, instead of growing the business.

Geomy

It might be a good idea to have enough room aside for people to come in and play the games too.
Like an internet cafe charge so much per hour for people to play games etc

MrVestek

Myrddin wrote: »

Or, you could just take the usual approach:

1) Half arse everything you do.
2) Get your prices from ebay current auctions.
3) Have overpriced postage, if at all a postage option.
4) Don't bother with a website, sure everyones on facebook
5) Focus on making money, instead of growing the business.

If this approach is taken bear in mind that you'll have to call the store something along the lines of 'The P.A.G.E' or 'The C.A.G.E' or 'The I.C.E.A.G.E'.

Something along those lines anyway.

Steve X2

I've been looking to open a retro based store in Dublin for a few years now. You'd definitely need to be selling more than just retro games in the retail shop to make any money on it.
Online is essential as well and will probably be 80-90 percent of your retro based sales.

I'm still planning on opening one, but to do it properly it will need to be more than just a "retro shop" so involves a lot of work and a whole lot of startup cash to do it right. Having a massive stock level purchased at good prices to feed a healthy online business as well as walk in trade is a good start :0)

Steve X2

Also, look into getting VAT registered early to save on setup costs.
It might not be worthwhile for you, but do check it out. I'm already VAT registered for my day job so it wasn't an issue for me to decide.

safetyboy

Have a few candy cabs in there too!

Dr Bob

Myrddin wrote: »

Personally I wouldn't bother with a premises. T
4) Don't bother with a website, sure everyones on facebook
....

nnngh this.a thousand times this.I usually end up buying from a UK online shop as while I have a facebook account (somewhere)I cant be arsed logging in to try and negotiate a sale through a medium that isnt designed for it.

CathalDublin

I use facebook a lot but I would never focus my business on selling directly through it, I can't understand why so many Irish startups ignore the online store in favour of spamming on social media sites, then wonder why their business died so soon. I can only assume half them are not registered businesses and they cannot register the .ie domain, setup a payment gateway. Yes social media is a great way of getting your brand/name out there but its not for negotiating prices/sales on.
It doesn't take much to setup a proper online eCommerce site these days especially with the likes of opencart, zencart, etc. These can all be linked directly with ebay to list your items and take them down automatically if someone buys through the website.

Steve X2

I tried to buy a console from a retro shop in Dublin via Facebook a couple months ago. Took them 2 weeks to reply about the price!!

I had of course already bought elsewhere.

MrVestek

Steve SI wrote: »

I tried to buy a console from a retro shop in Dublin via Facebook a couple months ago. Took them 2 weeks to reply about the price!!

I had of course already bought elsewhere.

I wonder who that was :-)

CosmicSmash

I still don't understand the whole cloak and dagger approach about pricing used by some. We have this game for sale but we're not going to tell you the price, you have to ask the price:(. Why would you bother?

Myrddin

Monkeykube wrote: »

Why would you bother?

Personally I don't. Adding extra hoops for consumers to jump through just screams that a business doesn't know what it's at. It should be easy, really easy, to give away your money. If one shop is making it harder, I'll just look elsewhere

Hank Scorpio

Can't really picture a investment like this being sustainable or profitable, market isn't big enough and to make money you`ll need to price things higher than online auctions, where's the incentive for the consumer

dobbo79

GrayFox208 wrote: »

Hey... I was thinking of opening a retro video game store, old video games and consoles, up to PS3 and xbox 360 and as old as NES and Mega Drive, and older! Just wondering would anyone here think there would be an interest for such a store? The shop would buy and sell video games and consoles as well as other accessories and related items... I'd be opening it in wexford town

Hey, did you ever go ahead with the retro store idea?

Flaregon

live in Dublin, but if there is fairly priced games and lots of em i may head up.

cloud493

Ask about the price of a product on the Rage's Facebook price, a product they just put a photo of up saying WOW WE HAVE THIS IN STOCK, and the response is 'hey, if you call into the store we'll be happy to give you a price' so whats the point of the page then

Tomo.Murphy

cloud493 wrote: »

Ask about the price of a product on the Rage's Facebook price, a product they just put a photo of up saying WOW WE HAVE THIS IN STOCK, and the response is 'hey, if you call into the store we'll be happy to give you a price' so whats the point of the page then

I've asked for prices a couple of times and got a quick reply, but I've never seen the point in it myself. Surely it would be less time consuming to just put the price under the picture rather than telling everyone to pm them if they want to ask for a price. It can be quite off-putting too. Most of the time I just assume that it'll cost more than I'm willing to pay.

Flaregon

It so they don't scare yah off.

Flaregon

It so they don't scare yah off.

Snake

dobbo79 wrote: »

Hey, did you ever go ahead with the retro store idea?

Yeah, I'm in the middle of putting together an online store. But have a Facebook page in the mean time.. I doubt I'm allowed link it here so I won't. But brick and mortar store, no.

eddhorse

Snake wrote: »

Yeah, I'm in the middle of putting together an online store. But have a Facebook page in the mean time.. I doubt I'm allowed link it here so I won't. But brick and mortar store, no.

Link away, the more the merrier

Snake

eddhorse wrote: »

Link away, the more the merrier

Well as far as I know it's considered advertising.

eddhorse

Snake wrote: »

Well as far as I know it's considered advertising.

Well I put the Player1 Gaming link earlier so.

Actually found yours https://www.facebook.com/gameraiderwexford

EDIT : maybe not, link not working

CiDeRmAn

No commercial links or advertising on this forum

eddhorse

Just to be clear it has to be in "Retro Shops/Bargains/Auction Links" forum/thread?

CiDeRmAn

A link there is fine
But that's a single link.
Any more and it's commercial advertising and against the rules.

eddhorse

Roger that

Myrddin

eddhorse wrote: »

Just to be clear it has to be in "Retro Shops/Bargains/Auction Links" forum/thread?

And shops/commercial sellers aren't permitted to promote themselves. A link in their sig is fine, but after that they'll need to get Verified Rep status before even talking to people about their business. For example - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=92080994&postcount=8242 & even then, they're only allowed engage if another user brings up the name of the shop. For full on interaction, a talk-to forum would be required.