Local game store and lack of competition.

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

5 hours ago, TDIRunner said:

 

Again, I suppose it's not the same everywhere, but making the cheapest items from the entire lot the free items simply isn't logical.  Otherwise, you have to ring up each set of three games as separate transactions which wastes the buyers time along with the store associate's time which cost the company money.  I have never and will never give my money to businesses who use this strategy.  Apparently I'm lucky in that I've only ran into it one time, and I'm not just talking about game stores.  

This is exactly how it has been done in every store Ive shopped and worked in that has ran such a promo. It was a running joke when people thought they would get more expensive items for free. Seriously am I in the twilight zone? This is like retail 101 around me. No business that knows what its doing is going to make it easy for you to get the more expensive item for free. You always have to break up the transactions. Ive been to many a Gamestop B2G1 sales and it was no different 

To be clear this really isnt a dig at you, it just surprises me to hear that this is an uncommon thing to others

Edit: Im going to start a thread about this, Im fascinated to see what others experience 

Edited July 9, 2021 by LeatherRebel5150

[fcgamer | 4,727]

Well the game shop I loved just closed up (r.i.p. dear old friend), and it had great prices, though by now I have basically everything it has.

IMO, even if the prices aren't great, it's still fun to look around from time to time, if in the area. There's a shop in Taipei with horrible prices, but even there, you can occassionally catch the owner slipping.

There's also all of the times where you just want get out, perhaps you do then just want to make an impulse purchase for the fun of it.

I don't think buying items always needs to be about price, sometimes the extra price is made up for by the experience, something you don't get from just buying online.

That being said, I'll take having a game store locally to none at all, especially if they do carry old items.

On a different note, I shudder almost everytime I see folks post their "steals" in the finder's thread, Ive been out of the loop for so long on prices, it's shocking for me to see what prices are considered good deals.

[TDIRunner | 2,742]

1 hour ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

It was a running joke when people thought they would get more expensive items for free. Seriously am I in the twilight zone?

It's pretty clear to me now that at least one, if not two people involved in this discussion didn't read this entire thing very carefully.  I think you might need to go back to the beginning and start over.  Absolutely no one ever said they expected the most expensive item to be free.

[TDIRunner | 2,742]

3 hours ago, LastCat said:

I can confirm that GS stores here before closing down entirely gave you the cheapest game out of the 3 for free as part of the B2G1 promos.

See my comment above.

[Fryer64 | 68]

3 hours ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

This is exactly how it has been done in every store Ive shopped and worked in that has ran such a promo. It was a running joke when people thought they would get more expensive items for free. Seriously am I in the twilight zone? This is like retail 101 around me. No business that knows what its doing is going to make it easy for you to get the more expensive item for free. You always have to break up the transactions. Ive been to many a Gamestop B2G1 sales and it was no different 

To be clear this really isnt a dig at you, it just surprises me to hear that this is an uncommon thing to others

Edit: Im going to start a thread about this, Im fascinated to see what others experience 

This thread was not meant to go after stores in general but rather a trend where I am. I am legitimately surprised someone would expect to get the most expensive one for free, in my example each game I bought were in the 80-100 range. So getting anything in that range was a win. Walking out with a $27 dollar game was just being entirely sick of having to check prices in a rare game case knowing what they go for, fully expecting to overpay, but not at a 80% mark up. 

When I say "friend" it's probably more of mutual respect, and honestly trying to justify if this is a thing because I'd rather buy local then on eBay, or almost anywhere else. (I've met a few swell people online who have helped me through the years I'd buy before local). .

I'm not a shill these places were brought up by someone from Omaha already and I stand to gain nothing by my thoughts.

Two owners in Omaha that had been mentioned in Omaha are beloved not necessarily because they have everything under the sun, but if you are in there enough you generally deal with them and they wouldn't hesitate to ask what you collect, if not busy have a small chat, and if you are interested in getting into a weird debate maybe throw out there mega man 3's theme is better then 2's,. (Imo yes, but that's a joke). 

 

Bens game zone has an owner you would not guess named Ben, often times while you are browsing you will see a woman and a young child come in and you can tell the kid really looks up to Ben and the mom appreciates the individual experience and honesty. I've seen this in person 4 times and I've been there around 8 times, I once casually mentioned I would love to collect all the Gameboy pockets cib in all the colors and he took down my phone number and in 6 months 4 came in and I would go down and buy them. Anyday of the week i'd overpay on a copy of whatever to have a nice conversation. To me, that's the appeal of that shop. Prices are meh but the attention he gives to customers leaves you okay with paying a 25-40% markup.

 

Pop culture exchange is different. But the owner is probably the most down to earth guy possible. No ego. Just a guy doing what he loves and doing it well because I've yet to meet anyone who dislikes this place. Appeal being selection, friendly questions and retro/nerd talk, a free arcade, and if requested he'd break up a cib if he saw it meant something to you. That kind of passion is contagious and he can use that to his advantage to get me to buy things that would fit in my collection, but I hadn't considered. But it's not in a way that is forced, it's genuine, 100% passion. I could likely go in there and just start quoting from the ferengi (star trek) rules of acquisition and id bet he either knows the number of the rule or quotes a rule counteracting mine.

 

Great owners are out there. I want to get out of the house, make a small trip and help my local stores out, but without decent pricing. The opposite being the guy that buys things because the price is high and and would look cool in an impressive, but actually shallow game collection.  Compared to the guy that comes in, buys a game because it's genuinely good but maybe isn't worth a fortune but plays it and takes pride in having something fun in there collection. .

This is by no means an attack on game store owners I promise, I wish I lived in Omaha because that would be so much more fun then where I'm at. Not that far but two hours round trip vs ten minutes makes a difference . 

 

I'm curious though, how do you run your store? If I came in on a super slow day and you had nothing to do would you hear what I like in a game and recommend me something perhaps cheap, but dead on, or would you point me to the most expensive thing in the case that sorta resembles what I'm looking for? What's a fair markup? These are the questions I have so ik I'm not out of line by making accusations and naming names?

 

No matter your answer I wish you absolutely nothing but the best for your business, this is my #1 hobby and stores like perhaps your own, started that passion for it, and I wanna do what I can to keep them alive so I can meet more locals who share the hobby. 

[TDIRunner | 2,742]

8 hours ago, Fryer64 said:

I am legitimately surprised someone would expect to get the most expensive one for free,

Not one person has said that in this thread.  

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

8 hours ago, Fryer64 said:

Bens game zone

 

8 hours ago, Fryer64 said:

Pop culture exchange

Spot on assessments. I worked for CD Tradepost for 8 1/2 years and a large portion of that time was with Candy (Pop Culture Exchange owner). Great guy. A few years back he got in a near complete collection of CIB N64 games. And he literally sold me at least 100 boxes, breaking up the sets, so I could complete my CIB set. He knew breaking up the sets would bring down the value of the games remaining but he still did it.

That's good customer service.

That's what is going to keep your store open and keep customers coming back. Not telling them that doing separate transactions on a B2G1F sale is "gaming the system". That's terrible customer service and that's how you get people to stop coming into your store, sales go down, and you close. I watched it happen live and in person with CD Tradepost (my hands were tied by the store owners policies). Meanwhile Pop Culture Exchange and Bens are thriving. 

If your store's profit margin is so thin that you can't cut a deal to build brand loyalty and retain customers, then you are going to go out of business anyway.

Shoppers aren't stupid. They know that if there is a B2G1F sale, and they have 3 $20 games and 3 $10 games, they could do individual transactions. It's one thing if the system automatically changes the prices and you can't edit them. But it's another if it's your policy to say "sorry, screw you".

[fcgamer | 4,727]

@CodysGameRoom totally agree with everything you said here.

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

Just stopped at a game store on the way to VA Beach. Had Wacky Races that I'm missing but it was priced at $397 which I was not about to pay. Talked to the dude working there and he looked it up and asked me if $299 was fair. I said I thought it was and we made a deal. 

Reminded me of a better time in gaming. 

https://oldskoolva.com/ - Hampton VA location. 

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

28 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

Just stopped at a game store on the way to VA Beach. Had Wacky Races that I'm missing but it was priced at $397 which I was not about to pay. Talked to the dude working there and he looked it up and asked me if $299 was fair. I said I thought it was and we made a deal. 

Reminded me of a better time in gaming. 

https://oldskoolva.com/ - Hampton VA location. 

Wacky races was my last +50$ Game. It was hard to find. Finally shelled out the big bucks and paid 120$ for it

[phart010 | 1,707]

28 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

Just stopped at a game store on the way to VA Beach. Had Wacky Races that I'm missing but it was priced at $397 which I was not about to pay. Talked to the dude working there and he looked it up and asked me if $299 was fair. I said I thought it was and we made a deal. 

Reminded me of a better time in gaming. 

https://oldskoolva.com/ - Hampton VA location. 

Va Beach has good game stores. There’s a place called Cool Stuff and 7 minutes down the street is Video Game Heaven.

Theres also a Video Game heaven in Norfolk and Chesapeake. Hit them all up if you can

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

25 minutes ago, phart010 said:

Va Beach has good game stores. There’s a place called Cool Stuff and 7 minutes down the street is Video Game Heaven.

Theres also a Video Game heaven in Norfolk and Chesapeake. Hit them all up if you can

I'm definitely gonna check out Video Game Heaven near where I am, I'll try to get to Cool Stuff if I can - thank you!

[Rudybegga | 48]

I'll support a local store if they have, say, 50% markup on a game and give me respectable trade I got for games that I paid pennies on the dollar for, but I probably wouldn't do cash.

I have 2.5 brick and mortar game stores in my area.  All three do the multi media thing and aren't exclusively game stores.  All of them price games accordingly, never seem to price gouge.  Maybe they'll put a few games a LITTLE above the going rate, but they always seem to end up selling so I can't really complain about a practice that works for them.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

On 7/7/2021 at 1:36 AM, Fryer64 said:

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?

I haven't had a local game store in a long time, but the last time I did, pretty much everything was significantly overpriced. Storefronts simply can't compete with some guy selling games out of his garage on eBay. Even factoring in the eBay fees, it's an extremely tough business. That being said, business is business and if lower price is your priority, go where the deals are good. If supporting your friend is a priority, casually mention that you saw a similar game at another store for quite a bit cheaper, but still throw him a bone every now and then.

Edited July 10, 2021 by DoctorEncore

[MisterGoomba | 132]

I stopped going to retro stores years ago the ones in MA/NH price wise royally suck. I usually just stick to trying to find stuff sat/sun at the fleas.

[ICrappedMyPants | 302]

I haven’t bought a retro game from a local store in probably close to 20 years. I’ll buy from some local sellers at events or the flea market sometimes. Most of the time the stores never don’t have what I want anyway.