That new store smell

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Vance
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That new store smell

Post by Vance » Thu Nov 22, 2007 1:45 am

I have the pre-opening jitters.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Vance, and I own my own videogame store. It's about to reopen in the Little Tokyo neighbhorhood of Los Angeles, in a rather slow-paced shopping mall. I am optimistic, but life doesn't really decide how to happen based on your mood.

The sad thing is that I may need to join the herds of mad shoppers in this wretchedly-named Black Friday because Best Buy will have better prices than my distributors.

It's a nutty damn industry, people, support your little stores. I know they may be a bit crappy and not have much of a selection (I'm going to hopefully have an awesome selection and some extras) but unless they're being ass munches and raising prices above the standard, they do need your love.

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Post by Trev » Thu Nov 22, 2007 2:00 am

Give me a little store over Game Stop any day! I wish you success Vance. :)

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Post by bitrate » Thu Nov 22, 2007 2:26 am

Los Angeles you say?
I'll have to stop by as I am about 30 mins away (Torrance area).
We can discuss 3DO :wink:

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Post by Vance » Thu Nov 22, 2007 3:01 am

Thanks guys. I can use all the luck I can get, after all.

Gamestop is big and bad and you can find most of what's currently in print, so they're hard to compete with.

Bitrate, sounds cool! Small world, eh?

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Post by 3DOKid » Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:27 am

Vance - Mate. This thread need pictures. ;)

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Post by Vance » Sun Dec 02, 2007 2:30 am

Here is the front of the store before it was repainted.

Image

If you can't tell what it used to be, you might want to remember if you were kicked in the head recently. What those strips of paper were doing up, I will never know. It's obviously to obstruct view, but maybe they were counting on everybody being a certain height. And incapable of crouching.

Image

Either side has these display niches. I walked around and figured the right one (facing the entrance, your right) has the best visibility. See those sockets? Big tv goes in, trailers go onto tv, sheeple wander into store. I currently have a 42", 1080p LCD television hooked up to my old laptop, streaming trailers through Media Player.

Security is apparently by Earl. I feel safer already. Also, a FoP sticker in the window indicates the previous owner helped catch a criminal... in 1988. I don't think the police will assume that was me. Both stickers were removed by the painters, along with the ones I could have used. Idiots.

Image

Just inside the doorway, on either side, you have these flanking glass cases. They come with the space. They make a perfect walkway entrance and place for my space monkey to ring up sales. I'm trying to figure out what exactly will go in the cases. Tiny test tv will be next to the register, for great justice in the form of not getting ripped off. I thought about systems, but I'll just have display boxes in strategic locations and use the cases for something else. I guess I'll figure it out as I toss stuff on shelves.

Image

Crap shot, but you can kinda see the shelves. They line the entire area. Altogether, stuff and construction, I am probably saving over ten grand on these babies. They also line the back area, about ten feet out to create an easy access office in addition to the back room.

Note the track lighting. I am happy with that. Only a few need to be replaced, and they create perfect lighting.

Image

This is the view from my store, second floor. The top area has four or five restaurants and a huge shinkendo/aikido dojo. Good visibility, except...

Image

This big fucking red thing. This is the reverse view from the third floor. See that garbage can? That's my store right behind it. The television makes this obscure location a beacon to geeks everywhere.

Image

Japan Arcade! 90% imported games, including one nudie one! Pool table! Cramped quarters! One really old Japanese guy who dresses hip hop (holy shit you have to see him)! No pesky new games in the last couple of years so we pass the savings on to you!

Seriously, the landlord was afraid I was going to be competing with these guys. I am glad I didn't have to send a petition around lambasting them for being retards.

Note the exterior is now painted white, so the Italian flag motif is gone. Unfortunately they screwed up the rug outside. I figure I'll have to put down a welcome mat or something.

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Post by Devin » Mon Dec 03, 2007 12:07 am

Nice! Prime real estate with an arcade to draw in the kids next door as well! :D

Hey Vance, do you 'export' goods?

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Post by Vance » Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:12 am

Depends how you mean. Imports from Japan, I would love to do, but I do not have the contacts yet. I JUST missed the Japan Expo, which I'm smacking my own forehead for, but I'm also friends with a guy who runs an anime store. An import anime store. He might have some leads for me.

If you're asking if I export, I'm perfectly willing to. In talking to my Australian friend, I realized it might be possible to set up an export business to that country and undercut the normal price there while making a rather obscene profit, depending on shipping. Who knows, maybe I'll be Reflex Gamer International in a few years.

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Post by Vance » Mon Dec 03, 2007 7:21 pm

I may qualify for price protection, which is usually reserved for places that can order millions of games a month and deal directly with Sony et al. What happens is that I have five copies of Halo 3 which suddenly devalue from $60 to $30, so I've lost $150, right? Well, the price drop difference gets credited to my account, meaning I'm not the one who has to suffer.

That is so freaking sweet. I hope I get it. That's some serious protection.

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Post by Vance » Mon Jan 07, 2008 8:53 am

So I've been open about three weeks now. It's scary and exciting. I know I'm going to be in the red for a long time, but it's hard to call yourself anything but a failure when you're making less than minimum wage. My girlfriend tells me I'm way too hard on myself, but then again she's also angry at people who ask if I'm going out of business (still haven't received the bulk of my stock thanks to a late holiday start). Apparently it's very rude in Singapore, where she comes from.

Lucky numbers. Typically we say seven. However, when I had the SEVENTH request for a mod chip or other pirating utility in a WEEK, I had had enough of it.

"Do you have that cartridge for the DS that lets you download games?"

"We do not carry pirating utlities."

"Do you modify PSPs to allow you to download games?"

Obviously my arch-nemesis from space had just shot him with the Stupid Ray.

"Yes."

"Oh, will you do that to mine?"

"No."

"But you just said..."

"I just said I don't facilitate the illegal pirating of games. Look around. What do I sell? Take your time on this one, no wait I'll spoil it for you I sell games for a living and I'm not making any money on it yet in fact I've plunged fifty thousand into this business. Get the hell out of my store."

Harsh, yes. But from this and the old store put together, I can tell you this: When people ask for mod chips, they never buy a damn thing and they never return. Asking a person who sells games for a living about them is the height of idiocy and rudeness. What you get in return, you deserve.

Anyway, the new forum is up: http://reflexgamer.pyoko.org/

You might notice a loving wink to our favorite console in one of the subject lines.

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Post by Devin » Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:25 pm

Have you not attracted like minded gamers yet? So 'the dudes' can hangout at the store all day and tell customers whats what! Hell perhaps they'd work for free :wink:

Also, I'd be interested in getting some USA stock and JAP titles if you've acquired the contacts? Many places ask too much and I'd much rather go via someone familiar and also a peep that'd put a $5 value to safe guard against import duty! Something that I like to call legalised extortion.

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Post by 3DO Experience » Tue Mar 04, 2008 11:54 pm

Vance, if I lived on the other coast I would come to your store all the time. I love it when gamers open stores, better that getting stuck with a Gamestop. I also hate the stores that have employs that don't know anything about games. I was literally told once long ago that the used NES games had different prices because the gold colored carts were worth more. ROFL

Anyway, from what I hear most businesses don't even start making a profit until after two years. So don't feel down. If I were in the area I'd help you make that money back! :D
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Post by Vance » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:28 pm

Devin wrote:Have you not attracted like minded gamers yet? So 'the dudes' can hangout at the store all day and tell customers whats what! Hell perhaps they'd work for free :wink:

Also, I'd be interested in getting some USA stock and JAP titles if you've acquired the contacts? Many places ask too much and I'd much rather go via someone familiar and also a peep that'd put a $5 value to safe guard against import duty! Something that I like to call legalised extortion.
I do have a couple of people offering to take over for a few hours so I can go frolic. As the place is not even close to breaking even yet, I work seven days a week. It's fun. I just hired a very sexy and geeky woman to take over a shift on Saturday, that should keep the boys coming back as she volunteered to wear something slinky without any prompting from me whatsoever.

While I have plenty of USA stock, being a USA store, I only have five PS2 Japan titles that somebody traded in. Waiting to know if I'll be in business past a few more months before I decide on stockpiling another entire product line. But yeah, I agree that shipping tends to be a royal ripoff If you want to talk, we'll weigh the package, figure out what it actually costs, and you can pay that price.

3DO Experience wrote:Vance, if I lived on the other coast I would come to your store all the time. I love it when gamers open stores, better that getting stuck with a Gamestop. I also hate the stores that have employs that don't know anything about games. I was literally told once long ago that the used NES games had different prices because the gold colored carts were worth more. ROFL

Anyway, from what I hear most businesses don't even start making a profit until after two years. So don't feel down. If I were in the area I'd help you make that money back! :D
I swear to god, Gamestop has some kind of monotones-only policy these days. Lively enough when they stop by my store, but when I have to call or go over there they sound like freaking robots! "Thank. You. For. Cal-ling. Game. Stop. Where. You. Get. The. Best. Value for your trade." This particular one combines a complete lack of personality with an atrocious lie, by the way. I don't know who thought it up, but you might be able to try them for war crimes.

Anyway, working on the eye-catching ads. Let me run a couple by you guys, keeping in mind these are just proofs and nowhere near the final versions due to my lack of titling skill. The first, a limited due to the massive amount of copyright infringement that goes into it, will only be displayed in the store and maybe a few select places:

Image

The second:

Image

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Post by 3DOKid » Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:03 pm

Vance - hows it going?

It's probably cheeky to ask, but I'm interested from a personal perspective. I've been mulling over the idea of opening a game store here in the UK, as i think I may have mentioned in the past.

The wife has agreed to the theory, which is a major hurdle for me, so I'm interested in the pains and pressures. You should open a blog or write a book or something: Diaries of a serial video-game store entrepreneur ;)

I like the adverts, the second one appeals more than the first. They are both pretty cool mind you.

We would however like pictures of the shop currently. With stuff in it. :)

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Post by 3DO Experience » Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:17 am

Yeah we need stocked store pix... maybe one with your Saturday employee heh heh :twisted:

I like the ads BTW
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Post by Devin » Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:53 pm

First advert, definitely!

On the imports front, personally I'm looking for a reasonable price for the Metal Gear Essentials Collection for PS2. Doesn't look like us Europeans are going to get a release, so maybe an on-line presence offering stuff like that could work. Would that be tax exempt for you as well because it's being sold overseas? Just an idea anyway :D

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Post by Vance » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:21 pm

It is tax exempt, I believe. Selling outside the state of California within the US is tax exempt, though it's on the little known legality that the recipient is supposed to pay taxes on their end come tax time, thanks to the hell of inter-state taxation.

America is fun. Of course, nobody claims the purchase on the receiving end and as far as I know, nobody's ever been prosecuted.

As far as international, I'm pretty sure I wasn't taxed on VHS tapes I ordered a long time ago from the Irish outfit Blackstar. Actually, they didn't charge me shipping, either, and the damn package arrived not even a week later. First time I ever sent a thank you note in my life.

So to answer your question, no. No tax. The MGS collection is $30 American, which Paypal can translate.

The next issue is tariffs and duties, of course. This isn't a problem with small purchases, as such a thing can be claimed as a gift. That means just the regular shipping charges, which can range from surprisingly affordable (ten dollars to Australia, for example) to surprisingly exorbitant. We'd just need to look around at different options. In addition, some countries collect duties from the recipient at the point of receipt. I've never shipped to England, so I'm not sure how it works... wait, I forgot to check, are you in England? I know Will is, I just kind of assumed there. Sorry. Set me straight on this one.

Experience: Pics are coming. Karen has demanded a girly shirt that says "Play with us" across the boobage, with the store info printed elsewhere. That alone could save me from going out of business early.

Will: I don't see how that could be considered cheeky. My expertise is at your disposal. And yeah, I know you were thinking of it, remember how I half-jokingly said you should get me a work visa so we could partner up?

Yeah, I should have gone with that option. This has been hell. That's the first thing I'll tell you; starting your own business is hell.

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Post by 3DO Experience » Wed Mar 12, 2008 11:22 pm

Yeah there is a box on our (USA) tax forms where you are supposed to put in things you bought through the mail. However there is a bit of history we remember as "no taxation without representation". Nothing like the government taxing it's citizens without just 'cause. Last time we actually did something about this sorta thing we ended up dumping 45 tons of tea leaves into the Boston harbor.
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Post by Vance » Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:24 am

Er... taxation without representation referred to how the British were controlling taxes in the new world without the consent of the colonists. Unless we stopped voting on tax hikes ourselves, we're pretty much represented.

Truthfully, I don't know HOW we've voted up so many tax hikes, and I'm pretty ignorant of the process these days. I really need to get more into it.

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Post by Vance » Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:54 pm

It's the idiots, they're the ones who make me happy that I might go out of business in a few months.

Somebody calls and asks me to hold Dynasty Warriors Gundam. Badgers me about the condition. I inform him it's new. He continues to ask about the condition. That should have been fair warning.

He shows up wearing a shirt that says "Looking for a Japanese girlfriend" and looks the box over, discovering a hairline cut on the spine and hmms and hahs over it until deciding not to buy it. Comes back a bit later and asks if I'll order another one. I inform him he can damn well pay for it and take whatever gets shipped, but that's not good enough for him. It's not good enough for me to sit on two copies of a game I can't sell, so I don't order it.

Also, he felt his wrists were naked since he also usually wears the wristbands that came with the DS.


Then there was the guy who insisted on pronouncing "Playstation" in some fruity, vaguely French manner, so that it sounded like "Playstay-shawn". And he used that word a lot. And he tried making me learn several Japanese phrases (NOTE: this dude was also white as a sheet.) I humored him a couple of times, then as he was leaving he turned and insisted I repeat another one. I looked at him and said no. And that was that.


It's stressful, thinking you may be losing your shirt over a business. But it's not all bad, because then you don't have to deal with this bullshit.

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Post by Devin » Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:48 pm

That sounds great for the Metal Gear Solid Essentials Collection! Yes I'm from England, what would postage be and how do you accept payment?

Have to wait for the next pay cheque but I'm still interested picking this one up.

Not becoming the grumpy game store manager already are you? BTW what sort of condition does MGS Essentials Collection come in :lol:

If it's not perfect I'll be sending it back for a full refund + postage! :wink:

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Post by Devin » Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:12 pm

Also, just curious how much you offer PS3 stuff for. Lets use Drake's Fortune as an example.

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Post by 3DOKid » Sat Mar 15, 2008 11:43 pm

Vance wrote:It's the idiots, they're the ones who make me happy that I might go out of business in a few months.

Somebody calls and asks me to hold Dynasty Warriors Gundam. Badgers me about the condition. I inform him it's new. He continues to ask about the condition. That should have been fair warning.

He shows up wearing a shirt that says "Looking for a Japanese girlfriend" and looks the box over, discovering a hairline cut on the spine and hmms and hahs over it until deciding not to buy it. Comes back a bit later and asks if I'll order another one. I inform him he can damn well pay for it and take whatever gets shipped, but that's not good enough for him. It's not good enough for me to sit on two copies of a game I can't sell, so I don't order it.

Also, he felt his wrists were naked since he also usually wears the wristbands that came with the DS.


Then there was the guy who insisted on pronouncing "Playstation" in some fruity, vaguely French manner, so that it sounded like "Playstay-shawn". And he used that word a lot. And he tried making me learn several Japanese phrases (NOTE: this dude was also white as a sheet.) I humored him a couple of times, then as he was leaving he turned and insisted I repeat another one. I looked at him and said no. And that was that.


It's stressful, thinking you may be losing your shirt over a business. But it's not all bad, because then you don't have to deal with this bullshit.
Oh-good-grief. What you need is a cupboard or something. You lure them in, and then beat them until they are normal - or dead.

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Post by Vance » Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:48 pm

Devin wrote:Also, just curious how much you offer PS3 stuff for. Lets use Drake's Fortune as an example.
While I'm not being wildly successful, I offer them for the standard price of $60 US. Maybe I'll discount that in the future, but at negative one grand a month, I need to pinch all the pennies. Besides, profit margins on new stuff sucks. Used is where it's at.

By the by, Uncharted is just about my favorite game on the current gen hardware.

Also, send me your post code and I can give you a shipping estimate. What's the compatibility like between our systems? If I remember correctly, you guys are on PAL... I might be on crack there, tell me if I'm wrong.

Also, no beating people to death, even if they're really stupid. They might buy something. Point in case, one of that dude's more well-adjusted friends purchased something a bit later in the day. If I had kicked his ass out, that wouldn't have happened.

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Post by Devin » Sun Mar 16, 2008 9:49 pm

At current exchange rates that's comparable to the average on-line retailer here in the UK with a little extra to spare for postage it'd probably be the same!

I've been reading up on PS3 and it seems most games lack region protection with the one exception for 'Army of Two'. Hardly region protection but apparently if the game is imported you can't play it on-line! I believe the old NTSC / PAL system is obsolete these days, it's either 720p or 1080p with the arrival of HDTV. If a game pops up in the States that's not released here in the UK and the exchange rate is attractive, I dare say you could shift some software given an on-line presence. Although as always the sector is murky grey, I doubt we'd have much trouble with the MGS Essentials Collection however!

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Post by Vance » Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:44 am

It's probably something to do with the... well, I have no damn idea why you wouldn't be able to play online. The PS3 lacks region protection across the board for PS3 games, though backwards compatibility is still region locked.

Usually it's an all-or-nothing deal, though the PSP has region protection that 99% of the games out there don't take advantage of. It's developer choice. That's just bizarre, to me.

I'm kind of amazed that the PAL/NTSC thing is irrelevant. I thought there was a fundamental difference in the formats that made media incompatible. Learn something new every day, I guess.

...oh yeah, wouldn't that make the MGS collection unplayable over there? Or do PS2 games work between our regions?

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Post by Devin » Mon Mar 17, 2008 6:02 pm

I have a memory card modification so you can take an original disc rip the image and after a patch is applied it's fully playable.

This was required for the recent Japanese PS2 release of Nights. Ordered the Nightopia Dream Pack from play-asia.com. Simply had to play this game, as I'm a big Nights freak! Anyway, pleased to report it works 100% on my PAL PS2, also because I have this Memor32 memory card mod it has masses of memory card space (32MB) so it kills 2 birds with 1 stone!

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Post by Vance » Sun Mar 23, 2008 3:13 am

Here's a little tip for those of you just now venturing out of your parents' basement: If you're looking for rare luxury items, they will be expensive.

And if you want to yell at me when the cheapest I can get you a Wavebird for is fifty dollars, consider going elsewhere and paying $70 for them because I'll knock you over before kicking your teeth out.

I don't operate a charity. When I get rare, out-of-production, and highly in-demand items, I tend to pay for them dearly. I price them as low as I can. You want to talk about unfair and expensive, you can pay the deficit I'm running this store at each month.

(The preceding was not aimed at you guys but at some fairy twit with an overgrown sense of self-importance who believes I should run my business as a charity aimed solely at him. I just needed to vent.)

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Post by 3DOKid » Sun Mar 23, 2008 9:10 am

I like rare luxury items. 8) I do.

I also sympathise.

I moved from a nice safe company where we used fart, roll-over, hit sales target, and go back to sleep, to a company where every deal counts and you fight for every one.

The luxury of me swanning about, being the technical-sales master of all he surveys, are truly over.

The point being, I often cast my pearls before the swine too.

People without an appreciation for the cost of something, or indeed it's value, or any real understanding of what you are offering them, should shut the f**K-up.

..or failing that, telling them cost upfront and hope they f**k-off. :)

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