Video game store start up

[JamesAZ]

In my area, the only comptetitor is Walmart for about 60 miles, and thier selection is poor at best. I've been researching this and I belive that it is an excelent idea. But I have no idea about wholesalers to use, or even how large the start up would be. This is my first busniess Idea and I am currently going through some classes to help me develop the begining. But, how the heck do you get prices from wholesalers. Thier pretty tight lipped. Well any help would be greatly appriciated. Oh. and thanks for all the work you admin. do to keep this site running. People like me need to hear stuff from real people and not someone trying to sell me a plan. Appriciate it.

[JamesAZ]

I wrote that post without completely looking through the entire forum. I found the previous one and thats a good idea, but I was wondering about online vendors, or do I just need to contact individual companies such as squareEnix, capcom and etc.. to see if they will distrubute to me directly? is it possible to cut out the wholesaler? It just seems to me that it would be easier to go straight to instead of a third party. I am very serious about this, i just lack information.

[taj79]

Your best bet is to try to buy directly. See what the buy in requirements are with the companies. Usually they are large amounts like 100k or as small as 5k investments in inventory. If you dont have that kind of investment ask for a regional sales rep in your area and look for an authorized distributor.

To my knowledge there is no such thing as an online distributor. If you are looking for something like an inside secrects booklet on how to buy video games, or any website that advertises sales to the public at wholesale and lists prices on the website, they are not really selling at the cheapest discount. It is just a sales gimmick.

The best way to buy is direct, and if that is too expensive ask the manufacturer to hook you up with a distributor. Never look for a company that advertises wholesale to the public.

[yeswesell]

Hi,

I am also thinking about starting a video game store. I really have no idea where to begin and it's hard to find good advice. I've tried searching on the internet but there isn't much on starting up a video game store.
I did find some very good advice on this site though, especially the response about how online wholesalers are not really selling games at discount prices. It was what I had originally thought but I was still going to give it a shot but now I know that it would just be a waste of time.
Does anyone know of clubs or memberships for people who want to know more about how to start a video game store or for people who own a video game store so that I may contact them and get more advice?
I've also tried to find a video game franchise because I figured that would be the quickest way to learn and start up a store but to date I have yet to find a video game franchise. Are there any video game franchises at all?
I know I need to find a good location on a street that has a lot of traffic, is there anyway to find out how much traffic a street gets per day? When the local newspaper did a column on a busy street they mentioned how much traffic the street recieved per day so I know there is a way to find that out, I just don't know how.
I have so many other questions but I don't want to make this post any longer than it already is. Any advice I could get on this matter would help a great deal, thanks in advance.

[taj79]

To Adviceseeker,

I would doubt you will find a club or membership as well unless there is a video game association, which I doubt due to the type of industry. Starting a video game store is no different then starting any other business.

1. You will need a capital investment. Mainly in product, plus overhead costs for about a min of 6 months to cover your ass in case you don't bring in enough sales.

2. A business plan. You cannot start a business by winging it. You must have it all detailed and planned out for every step of you business from marketing, location, attitudes, etc... Do not start a business blindly, you will only lose your money

3. Motivation and determination. Nobody is going to do the work for you so be prepared to work extra long hours even past 12 hours per day. I work virtually around the clock 7 days a week. There will be no time for fun until you have made it big!

Last location is by far the most important investment in your new business. The more traffic the more the lease is going to cost you. For a good traffic zone in my area you are looking about $18 - $25 per square foot. The average lease is 1500 square feet so you are looking at $27,000 per month in rent alone. But this is for a good traffic zone, I am sure you can find an undeveloped area closer to $1 or $5 per square foot.

[yeswesell]

Great advice. Thanks. $27k for one month's rent??? That's unheard of around here. Where are you located? My biggest hurdle right now is to find a supplier. Are you in the video game business as well?

[JamesAZ]

You know, you just saved me a lot of time looking, Rob. I had no idea about online vendors, but now that you mention it, the "wholesalers" website always did look cheesy. Someone once told me that if the website looks bad, thats because either the people don't care or they just want your money. In my location, the store size would only have to be about 500 sq. ft. Not big. one in range of 1500 sq. ft. ,while compared to some stores is small, would be way to much store at first. The town I live in only has one road through it, but being a college town, it has quite a few people in it. Im not expecting this to be easy, but how hard do you think this venture would be to sell to investors? will they just view it as a childish business or do I need to back up the good reasons with some hard facts about profit and market potential?

[webmark]

What kind of capital is necessary just to buy the games in this situation?

[taj79]

What kind of capital is necessary just to buy the games in this situation?


It all depends,

It could be 10k or 100k. the only way to find out is to add up inventory plus overhead times 6. That should be your minimum when you open a retail store.

[webmark]

It all depends,

It could be 10k or 100k. the only way to find out is to add up inventory plus overhead times 6. That should be your minimum when you open a retail store.

I guess what I'm really asking is on a per ditributor basis. How much do they usually say you must order, in terms of price? Or if not in terms of price in terms of units.

[taj79]

I guess what I'm really asking is on a per ditributor basis. How much do they usually say you must order, in terms of price? Or if not in terms of price in terms of units.

Oh now I understand!

Distributors don't have a buy in (usually) and any distributor that says you need to give them a capital investment like $1000 or $10,000 I personally would not buy from because there are 10 times more that don't have that requirement.

Manufacturers on the other hand are a different story. For example one of my manufacturers has these requirements:

Buy 10k and get 50% off all future orders.
Buy 50K and get 52.5% off all future orders.
Buy 100k and get 59.5% off all future orders.

What you want to look for is a distributor that paid the 100K buy in and offer to buy it back at the 50% or 52.5% price. That is why you need to find out what the manufacturer buy ins are before you start hunting for distributors otherwise they distributors first offer will be to sell to you at 40% off. These are probably the prices that you have been getting currently.

[Sandman]

Rob, so basically the distributors buy up from manufactors in bulk of 100k+ and resell around 40% off retail?

[AndrewZ]

Hi,
try alibaba.com to go direct to the company. I use alibaba.com for importing products. It maybe what you are looking for.

[Kyli Call]

Hi,
try alibaba.com to go direct to the company. I use alibaba.com for importing products. It maybe what you are looking for.


i went to alibaba, it seems like u have to buy alot and they ship from china. do u have something else that i can just buy a few??

[Kyli Call]

i went to alibaba, it seems like u have to buy alot and they ship from china. do u have something else that i can just buy a few??


Mmmm anyone know??



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[salesguy1963]

Hello all,

I am a student at the University of Tennessee and I will be starting a video game store upon graduation next year. I am researching the business right now and have a few questions. I would be grateful for any help.

1. Not trying to be too redundant here, but I have NO IDEA where to start as far as contacting the appropriate people as far as ordering NEW merchaindise from say, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Capcom, Namco, etc.

2. Do I have to have any kind of special permission from the government or from, well, I guess anybody to be able to sell used games legally -or- is it completely OK to buy, trade, and sell used video games without any permission from anybody?

3. This one is for people with a store that has already been established... Is it a good idea to keep extremely collectible games such as Tengen Tetris for the NES and other hard-to-find items in the store with their current market prices, or is it better to take those items directly to an online market like eBay?
(I hope that question made sense!!)

Thank you to everybody who sees this and like I said before, any information would help!!!

[rrube]

Right now I am also looking for help in starting up a videogame store. I think I have it a little easier becuase I live in seattle, where xobx's and nintendo's main base of operations are. What I need to know is how much is it going to take to open a store in or around Seattle, WA? There are 2 main stores around here, EB STORE AND GAME STOP. Any other shops are small and deal with other things beside video games. So, if there is anyone out there that has any idea for a good place to start please let me know?

[ZacOfAllTrades]

It all depends,

It could be 10k or 100k. the only way to find out is to add up inventory plus overhead times 6. That should be your minimum when you open a retail store.
Rob, I have read your posts and you are very helpful!! I am new to all of this and I must say it's a real struggle on my own. I started a yahoo store and Im learning as I go. Im having real trouble finding good wholesalers or suppliers for my site. I don't like the dropshipping thing because you can't control the shipping times. With the supplier I have now I have to wait 4 to 6 weeks for them to ship most of the stuff I order ...and they are supposed to dropship..but on the first order, they sent it to me instead of where it was supposed to go and when I call them ..they said they only had my address.
Im selling handbags because my wife thought there would be a good market for them. I have called and sent emails to some of company's but not having much success. Im guessing they don't want to deal with a web store. If you have any input I would be greatful, Thanks