Local game store and lack of competition.

[Fryer64 | 68]

So this is gonna be a ramble, and it may come off as salty but that's not for the reason youd think.

 

My hometown has two major game stores, one is owned by a friend and the other.. well.. he has a shop.

 

The problem my local community is having lately is that we have lost so many game stores that what is left for retro (aside from a few small sections on toy shops dedicated to games) was a store absolutely hated by the local retro community, and another that while the man has always helped me out has sorta started.. naming his own prices on games.  Usually between 20% and 70% and in some insanity driven fit of madness double what is being charged highest sold Ebay price.

 

It literally comes down to throwing away money  overpaying  hardcore  or sorta dealing with the worst kind of person you can come across (Randomly nice to me though, so that's always nice)

 

Walking into my friends store is depressing because I will gladly pay more for the local community but not 50% higher then retail. I understand owning a storefront and charging more for overhead and potential product being stuck with, but when I see an 80 dollar game marked at 180 and ask if this is a mistake, a lecture happens where apparently its hard to put a sticker on a product and put it out for sale.  (The system cost money to produce for sure, but i helped out a bit and it's the easiest thing ever if there isnt a bug, 2 minutes flat it's in inventory and up for sale)

 

I'm not out here looking for deals locally but how much of a markup  does it take to give up on local stores? I can't justify absolutely shattering records on game prices even to help a pal. I now see that store as a lost cause and if I wanted to be a jerk I probably could snap pics that may well shock some people, and it would be so many pics. Not gonna do that, again, a friend, but its disgusting. 

This person also has a few floors dedicated just to games, systems, you name it. I could spend a full day and still not see everything. Stuff that's "rare " but doesn't see the light of day. Boxes of 100+ dollar titles that wont see the light of day unless a miracle happens.

 

Now for an even trickier subject, the competition.  Fairly priced but 2 really awful things "alledgly" went down that it's pretty well flipping the bird to my friend. and a whole other alleged thing went down, that either one of the alledged events it goes against dealing with someone no matter the how fair the prices are. (Not naming these games? Sorry)

 

My hometown went from a roadtrip  detour to a city you drive to get to Omaha.  (Amazing destination for a detour as it has at least two stores where the owner would be ridiculously  kind and even break a cib just so your copy is complete of a 300+ game I'm not dropping names at least not in this thread because that's either a personal attack or it makes me feel like a shill 

 

So with that in mind, I can take a not so bad road trip or overpay  or even support someone no gaming community should ever get behind  because of the alleged crimes.

 

Is this happening everywhere? I don't mean the potential criminal but rather the extreme markup no good faith collector could pay . 

 

Right now, my buying is almost 100% online. 

 

Is that the future of retro or is this stupidly unique? This is almost  a paradox and I sorta am hoping to hear this is just my towns shops.

 

If Things don't change it will have to be 100% online. 

 

Discuss?

[Sumez | 2,963]

Even having more than zero game stores sounds like a rare occurance nowadays. Treasure it.  

[sp1nz | 612]

Expecting everyone to overpay on everything means that the business will go under or that the owner can afford to sit on the games to make a bigger profit on each game. Quite often a game store owner with retro stock is a collector that keeps the business open to get dibs on rarities and/or higher condition copies for cheap and the rest is for the store stock. Getting deals for your collection as a store manager might mean that you're even willing to take losses on store profits. Trying to gouge on everything while having hidden stock too, well that's either laziness or bad business practice.

Like if you want to support your community via continued store existence and its taxes (debatable if your patronage is needed or if the store should stay open or if the taxes will be used in an intelligent way) then you can overpay a little bit, like 20% or whatever, but I see no point in supporting a greedy business when online buying exists. Paying higher prices somewhere can make small waves in the overall market, so supporting intentionally elevated prices could elevate general prices elsewhere. Local stores serve a purpose for people who can't or won't buy online or beyond their city but this also means that the stores will try to take advantage of that fact.

In your friend's store's case I would just pop in once in a while and check around. There might be something good for sale for slight overprice, fair market price or an actual deal but if there isn't then I'm not buying something just because. In the confirmed dick's store's case I probably wouldn't buy anything unless there was a game I had been after for years and it wasn't available elsewhere for similar or lower price. Checking the wares of any store even without purchases is enjoyable enough but it's definitely not necessary to have a store around if you're never happy with the stock or prices.

Edited July 7, 2021 by sp1nz

[Fryer64 | 68]

24 minutes ago, sp1nz said:

Expecting everyone to overpay on everything means that the business will go under or that the owner can afford to sit on the games to make a bigger profit on each game. Quite often a game store owner with retro stock is a collector that keeps the business open to get dibs on rarities and/or higher condition copies for cheap and the rest is for the store stock. Getting deals for your collection as a store manager might mean that you're even willing to take losses on store profits. Trying to gouge on everything while having hidden stock too, well that's either laziness or bad business practice.

Like if you want to support your community via continued store existence and its taxes (debatable if your patronage is needed or if the store should stay open or if the taxes will be used in an intelligent way) then you can overpay a little bit, like 20% or whatever, but I see no point in supporting a greedy business when online buying exists. Paying higher prices somewhere can make small waves in the overall market, so supporting intentionally elevated prices could elevate general prices elsewhere. Local stores serve a purpose for people who can't or won't buy online or beyond their city but this also means that the stores will try to take advantage of that fact.

In your friend's store's case I would just pop in once in a while and check around. There might be something good for sale for slight overprice, fair market price or an actual deal but if there isn't then I'm not buying something just because. In the confirmed dick's store's case I probably wouldn't buy anything unless there was a game I had been after for years and it wasn't available elsewhere for similar or lower price. Checking the wares of any store even without purchases is enjoyable enough but it's definitely not necessary to have a store around if you're never happy with the stock or prices.

I still shop there. It's just been kinds cringe lately looking at prices. And he isnt a collector strangely enough.  He holds onto some weird stuff though. Like something like 400 wii  fit balance boards lol

 

Once a trial is concluded that's been put off due to covid someone is getting one hell of a YouTube video about what went down 

I guess I'm thinking he could score a knockout blow to the other store by keep prices at that 20% markup. And it's not like I can give him advice, I blew 2 months salary recently because i woke up and immediately didnt understand why I didnt own a pinball machine.  

 

Just conflicted.  Wanna see my friend do well.but after what happened to two other stores in town and a crackdown on a local guy that had him stop his thing there isnt a reason for a casual to say no to the only game in town. And no competition at a retail level I've rarely seen go well for the consumer, or.in.this case collector

Edited July 7, 2021 by Fryer64
Clarity

[drxandy | 3,235]

Was just talking on discord the other day about something similar, around here if you choose to only sell videogames your store is pretty much doomed.

The only model that works here is the buy/sell shop that carries movies, music, games, electronics or any combination of those. The ones only doing games are exactly like sp1nz says, hoping to get the rare goodies and dump the junk locally in the storefront while selling the good stuff online. I won't pay more than online because that's where the bar is set, I don't have any friends that are store owners around here otherwise maybe I would? there are plenty of exceptions but if I can have it shipped to my house in possibly better condition for cheaper... Decisions made.

[TDIRunner | 2,742]

We have very few local games stores left around here.  There is really only one with reasonable prices, but the drive is nearly 40 minutes each way.  The one that is closer to my house is just way too expensive.  About 6 months ago, they had a B2G1 sale.  I figured the sale would help offset their high prices so I picked several PS1 games that I was interested in.  

When I was ready to buy, I started to lay out the games to make it easier for the cashier. I put the three $10 games together, the three $7 games together, the three $5 games together, etc.  The cashier said, "you can't stack games."  I asked her what she was talking about.  She said with their B2G1 deal, only the cheapest games in the entire bundle become free.

Most stores offering B2G1 would charge you the following:

• $10 + $10 + $10 
• $7 + $7 + $7
• $5 + $5 + $5
• For a total of $44 ($22 savings)

She was telling me that her store policy for B2G1 was the following:

• $10 + $10 + $10 
• $7 + $7 + $7
• $5 + $5 + $5
• For a total of $51 ($15 savings)

Those weren't the actual numbers.  I was just using those as an example.  Also, I was trying to buy way more then 9 games.  In the end the price difference may not have been huge, but it was more the principle of the thing.  I have NEVER been to any store with that type of B2G1 policy which I politely expressed.  When she said there was nothing she could do, I said no thank you and started to walk out.  She ended up making an exception for me, so I bought the games.  However, she said that they wouldn't be able to do that ever again, and I haven't been back since.  

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

Went to a game store I frequent when I visit long island after not going since before the pandemic (in laws live there). Saw Run Saber in the window, asked about the price, $150. Went on eBay and won an auction for $82. 

I support local business and understand profit margin and overhead but there is a clear line between that and greed. 

King Arthur for NES was another loose priced 50-60 percent above market. 

Edited July 7, 2021 by a3quit4s

[phart010 | 1,707]

Physical stores are the middle man. We live in a time when people have tools to be able to make direct sales through eBay and Mercari. When you do that, you are cutting out the middle man and keeping 80-90% of the sale price.

So when people go to the game store to trade in, they feel like they are getting ripped off by getting significantly less than the eBay price. Some stores try to balance it out by taking less from the person trading in and charging more from the buyer. Then the buyer complains they are charging more than the eBay price. 
 

People need to realize when you have a brick and mortar store, there’s a lot of overhead costs that need to be paid for. If you want to run a reselling business you have to make consistent margins. If you don’t then you close your doors just like all of the other stores that have disappeared.

If you are buying stuff at eBay prices in a physical store, the margin is coming from the person who traded the game in. If they are giving people decent trade in value then expect to pay higher prices than eBay. The money has to come from somewhere 

[phart010 | 1,707]

11 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

Went to a game store I frequent when I visit long island after not going since before the pandemic (in laws live there). Saw Run Saber in the window, asked about the price, $150. Went on eBay and won an auction for $82. 

I support local business and understand profit margin and overhead but there is a clear line between that and greed. 

King Arthur for NES was another loose priced 50-60 percent above market. 

It’s possible that they were not getting trade ins from walk-in customers, so they may have bought games on eBay at the same prices that you would buy them for and then just marked them up

[captmorgandrinker | 1,649]

16 minutes ago, TDIRunner said:

We have very few local games stores left around here.  There is really only one with reasonable prices, but the drive is nearly 40 minutes each way.  The one that is closer to my house is just way too expensive.  About 6 months ago, they had a B2G1 sale.  I figured the sale would help offset their high prices so I picked several PS1 games that I was interested in.  

When I was ready to buy, I started to lay out the games to make it easier for the cashier. I put the three $10 games together, the three $7 games together, the three $5 games together, etc.  The cashier said, "you can't stack games."  I asked her what she was talking about.  She said with their B2G1 deal, only the cheapest games in the entire bundle become free.

Most stores offering B2G1 would charge you the following:

• $10 + $10 + $10 
• $7 + $7 + $7
• $5 + $5 + $5
• For a total of $44 ($22 savings)

She was telling me that her store policy for B2G1 was the following:

• $10 + $10 + $10 
• $7 + $7 + $7
• $5 + $5 + $5
• For a total of $51 ($15 savings)

Those weren't the actual numbers.  I was just using those as an example.  Also, I was trying to buy way more then 9 games.  In the end the price difference may not have been huge, but it was more the principle of the thing.  I have NEVER been to any store with that type of B2G1 policy which I politely expressed.  When she said there was nothing she could do, I said no thank you and started to walk out.  She ended up making an exception for me, so I bought the games.  However, she said that they wouldn't be able to do that ever again, and I haven't been back since.  

Luckily Gamestop's cash register does it the good way automatically.

The local game store chain here tried to hose me like yours did, so I just stopped him and did separate transactions of three games each.

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

I have zero local games stores, and live in a very populated metro area. 
 

That being said, I am not going to pay more just to cover someones overhead. If we deal all the time and they hook me up (while I hook them up) thats a different story. 
 

If they are way over charging for games just to do it, I say fuck them and let their business fail. 

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

25 minutes ago, phart010 said:

It’s possible that they were not getting trade ins from walk-in customers, so they may have bought games on eBay at the same prices that you would buy them for and then just marked them up

True, but most people in my shoes would have likely done the same exact thing heard the price and looked it up - normally when that specific store gives me a price its fair and I don't even think about it but something about that price irked me. 

And it still doesn't relieve them of charging 50-60% above what they paid, which is a scummy move. I'm happy paying 10, 15, heck even 20% over online for the convenience of not paying shipping and have a cool store to walk around in. 

Otherwise, I'm with @MrWunderfulgood luck with being greedy and I'll stop by when you are having a going out of business fire sale.

@TDIRunner the game stores around me that do B2G1 always take out the lowest priced games out of whatever I buy.

Edited July 7, 2021 by a3quit4s

[fcgamer | 4,727]

45 minutes ago, TDIRunner said:

When I was ready to buy, I started to lay out the games to make it easier for the cashier. I put the three $10 games together, the three $7 games together, the three $5 games together, etc.  The cashier said, "you can't stack games."  I asked her what she was talking about.  She said with their B2G1 deal, only the cheapest games in the entire bundle become free.

I would have insisted she rang up three different sales, problem would have been solved. In Taiwan you get a lottery ticket on every receipt too, so that would have been even better.

[twiztor | 851]

33 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

I have zero local games stores, and live in a very populated metro area. 
 

That being said, I am not going to pay more just to cover someones overhead. If we deal all the time and they hook me up (while I hook them up) thats a different story. 
 

If they are way over charging for games just to do it, I say fuck them and let their business fail. 

this is my take. it's not my job to make their store profitable.

[TDIRunner | 2,742]

2 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

I would have insisted she rang up three different sales, problem would have been solved. In Taiwan you get a lottery ticket on every receipt too, so that would have been even better.

I asked her what would stop me from doing that and she said nothing.  I tried to use that point to show why their policy didn't make any sense.  That policy actually encourages people to buy less stuff.  That's why I was willing to just walk away if they weren't going to work with me.  I'm not going to stand there and make 5 or 6 different transactions when I can just take my business elsewhere.  

[TDIRunner | 2,742]

12 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

 

@TDIRunner the game stores around me that do B2G1 always take out the lowest priced games out of whatever I buy.

I would highly recommend not giving them your business as I and many others have pointed out, that policy simply doesn't make practical sense.  

[Fryer64 | 68]

Basically its becoming harder for me to defend pricing.  They have a buy 4 get one free thing and the cheapest one is free, i was dropping some coin and was looking for something in the range of 80-100 dollars or maybe more, had shelf space and money, which isnt a good thing when you are surrounded by cool stuff. So I ask the counter guy about golden sun the lost age, tag said $180.00. I know price can vary a bit on that game but we are talking box/manual/cart with 0 inserts for $180. I then just asked the gf what she might play and we grabbed a 3ds mario game and i walked out shaking my head.  

 

Dropping 400-500 dollars for some collectors may not be a big deal, I've been in contact with some dudes who that really isnt that much, but for me it def was.  This is after ignoring messages from friends with stickers on everything from gamecube, to playstation 2, to wii mario kart asking what's going on and if game market has just exploded in value. Maybe so, but some of these pictures were m80s and it had to be explained that a small wii collection that never strayed that far from wii sports isnt going make you rich. 

[phart010 | 1,707]

47 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

True, but most people in my shoes would have likely done the same exact thing heard the price and looked it up - normally when that specific store gives me a price its fair and I don't even think about it but something about that price irked me. 

And it still doesn't relieve them of charging 50-60% above what they paid, which is a scummy move. I'm happy paying 10, 15, heck even 20% over online for the convenience of not paying shipping and have a cool store to walk around in. 

 

If you are the type to look stuff up online and buy it online if it’s cheaper then the games with high markup are not intended for you. I was just visiting my parents in VA for the 4th of July and hit up the retro stores.
 

I was able to find lots deals on stuff that I’m interested in. However, the first party Nintendo titles were all disgustingly overpriced, I’m talking like $50+ Super Mario World on SNES just to give you an idea.

Someone who knows games isn’t going to pay that amount. But some random person that doesn’t really play games but randomly wants to get an SNES to relive childhood memories probably will. If they are willing to pay that, I say it’s fair game for the retro store.

They are not forcing anyone to pay these prices, you can always choose to buy elsewhere.

[Foochie776 | 1,052]

If you’re in Omaha those shops were pretty good to me. 
 

I have two local sources for retro games. One is a friend of mine who runs a business of sorts, he doesn’t have a physical store front but doesn’t conventions and the likes and he is an absolute peach. He had great trade in value and he sells for under VGPC (with the exception of the easy seller stuff). 
 

Then there is the other shop, it’s been around forever and as the years have gone on it’s become much more card based game oriented. Their inventory doesn’t change often but I once in a while am able to grab a deal. 
 

Having a local store is nice but I also have to take it for what it is. Some stuff is outrageous but considering the majority of their profits aren’t coming from game sales, I suppose they can sit on the inventory.

[Fryer64 | 68]

3 hours ago, Foochie776 said:

If you’re in Omaha those shops were pretty good to me. 
 

I have two local sources for retro games. One is a friend of mine who runs a business of sorts, he doesn’t have a physical store front but doesn’t conventions and the likes and he is an absolute peach. He had great trade in value and he sells for under VGPC (with the exception of the easy seller stuff). 
 

Then there is the other shop, it’s been around forever and as the years have gone on it’s become much more card based game oriented. Their inventory doesn’t change often but I once in a while am able to grab a deal. 
 

Having a local store is nice but I also have to take it for what it is. Some stuff is outrageous but considering the majority of their profits aren’t coming from game sales, I suppose they can sit on the inventory.

Omaha has two really amazing game store owners. Absolutely class acts. Like small business done right. And ik at least one has a free arcade. Its not like packed with machines but you always leave happy.  We played captain novalin years back on his kiosk and that experience alone practically had me throwing my wallet at him. You guys are so lucky 

[Tanooki | 4,934]

I wish I knew the details of whatever Fryer is on about, before saying I'd support the fair-ish priced one or not, as it would have to be pretty criminal and sleazy if they had something I really wanted and priced well.

That said, around here, we used to have quite a few places a decade ago.  There was a good harmony between the few mom and pop chains, a few one offs in the county, and then TWO half price books locations.  If there ever was a black and white case of how an entity with pricing can utterly change the market, destroy others, and just leave few options, half price books in 2015 going to their catch all bar code sticker system is it.  Once that happened, within a year or two one of the mom and pop chains with 3 locations died entirely, all but one one off ate it while one held on it croaked a year before the virus, and the oldest which survives due to doing books, records, movies, and some toys lost 2 locations but retains 3.

When the prices on the stickers shot up, the payout HBP did also plummeted unless it was a spendy item with a fast turn over, so moderate value retained, but that was long term.  In the short they paid up, nicely, nicely so much the other stores got picked clean of anything that wasn't crap or sports to where they folded.  They died picked off, and their goods sold to the 2 chain locations for a small profit for little effort.  Far more went to HBP so they were rolling stock, with the inflated prices, then deflated the trade in, but they were the IT choice by then mostly.

Outside of that, a considerable uptick in facebook marketplace stuff swelled and stock over they years slowly dwindled at half price compared to the earlier years of the new price system.  HBP has been shrinking their game cases at both locations because they're not getting it in, and now they're asking preposterous ebay high paid and worse values, like $100 on a generic standard PS1 system or Gamecube?  They sit.  I continue there as they have regular sticker use or they ignore the barcode sometimes, or the codes haven't updated as fast as the toxic pricing so I continue and get lucky at times.

A side piece of fallout, the few goodwills around here, they used to get a decent selection of titles, they're like 90% gone now, some will rarely pop up, and majority of it, ebay or insanely over priced so that's gone to hell too.  I was in one earlier, they wanted $150 for a NES mini shelled retropie with 2 plastic controllers...that's par for the course.

 

Because of all this, I just watch FB mostly or online, it's not worth the waste of my time and I will NOT pay those rates, rates higher than online, just for the honor and care of supporting local.  I'm fine with that, but not fine with it being hosed in the process.

[Fryer64 | 68]

39 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

I wish I knew the details of whatever Fryer is on about, before saying I'd support the fair-ish priced one or not, as it would have to be pretty criminal and sleazy if they had something I really wanted and priced well.

That said, around here, we used to have quite a few places a decade ago.  There was a good harmony between the few mom and pop chains, a few one offs in the county, and then TWO half price books locations.  If there ever was a black and white case of how an entity with pricing can utterly change the market, destroy others, and just leave few options, half price books in 2015 going to their catch all bar code sticker system is it.  Once that happened, within a year or two one of the mom and pop chains with 3 locations died entirely, all but one one off ate it while one held on it croaked a year before the virus, and the oldest which survives due to doing books, records, movies, and some toys lost 2 locations but retains 3.

When the prices on the stickers shot up, the payout HBP did also plummeted unless it was a spendy item with a fast turn over, so moderate value retained, but that was long term.  In the short they paid up, nicely, nicely so much the other stores got picked clean of anything that wasn't crap or sports to where they folded.  They died picked off, and their goods sold to the 2 chain locations for a small profit for little effort.  Far more went to HBP so they were rolling stock, with the inflated prices, then deflated the trade in, but they were the IT choice by then mostly.

Outside of that, a considerable uptick in facebook marketplace stuff swelled and stock over they years slowly dwindled at half price compared to the earlier years of the new price system.  HBP has been shrinking their game cases at both locations because they're not getting it in, and now they're asking preposterous ebay high paid and worse values, like $100 on a generic standard PS1 system or Gamecube?  They sit.  I continue there as they have regular sticker use or they ignore the barcode sometimes, or the codes haven't updated as fast as the toxic pricing so I continue and get lucky at times.

A side piece of fallout, the few goodwills around here, they used to get a decent selection of titles, they're like 90% gone now, some will rarely pop up, and majority of it, ebay or insanely over priced so that's gone to hell too.  I was in one earlier, they wanted $150 for a NES mini shelled retropie with 2 plastic controllers...that's par for the course.

 

Because of all this, I just watch FB mostly or online, it's not worth the waste of my time and I will NOT pay those rates, rates higher than online, just for the honor and care of supporting local.  I'm fine with that, but not fine with it being hosed in the process.

Goodwill is no longer viable around here either mostly. As for the first thing I pmed you. Without revealing the details, would you deal with that place?

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

The store in Long Island was grimy, but the couple stores around me in MD are pretty fair on pricing. I think they still use price charting which is actually to their disadvantage at this point. I miss the days when we started with price charting and got down 10-20% from it.

Although as a whole we always want to pay lower prices for games, as buyers and sellers. 

[Tanooki | 4,934]

1 hour ago, Fryer64 said:

Goodwill is no longer viable around here either mostly. As for the first thing I pmed you. Without revealing the details, would you deal with that place?

To the first, yeah it's sad.  I do get hits but they're so broken up, I can go a month or three months, and it may not even be a gaming item so I get a giggle when they miss.  Recently 1/2 off Yoshi's Island DS right next to some full price barely over New SMB DS(2 copies) I passed on... yet a year or less ago I got for $2 a vintage mini coke wall thermometer I found out even in the condition it is in probably someone pre-pandemic would have dropped $150 on.

To the 2nd.  To the #1 item on that list, just to more vaguely go by my PM - possibly able to dodge out of it, but people know and he'd be in trouble with other consumers who know better.  To the #2 on the list, that business probably won't last long if that goes through to finish and ends up on the wrong side of a decision and well I said what the results are in such a place for those who do well...that.  He's screwed and the business is done eventually.

[Fryer64 | 68]

5 hours ago, Tanooki said:

To the first, yeah it's sad.  I do get hits but they're so broken up, I can go a month or three months, and it may not even be a gaming item so I get a giggle when they miss.  Recently 1/2 off Yoshi's Island DS right next to some full price barely over New SMB DS(2 copies) I passed on... yet a year or less ago I got for $2 a vintage mini coke wall thermometer I found out even in the condition it is in probably someone pre-pandemic would have dropped $150 on.

To the 2nd.  To the #1 item on that list, just to more vaguely go by my PM - possibly able to dodge out of it, but people know and he'd be in trouble with other consumers who know better.  To the #2 on the list, that business probably won't last long if that goes through to finish and ends up on the wrong side of a decision and well I said what the results are in such a place for those who do well...that.  He's screwed and the business is done eventually.

 Once the dust settles there is no way that store stays in business. 

 

 I think I just want my friend to charge at least sorta fairly which I consider like 20% to 25% above market rate with the occasional deal

Edited July 8, 2021 by Fryer64
Suck at spelling