Yet another local collectors game shop

[Black Tiger]

I found another local game hoarding store that's been cleaning up at garage sales and thrift stores and holding evetything for ransome. They actually have pretty much every console teleased in North America as well as several hadheld game device, game and watch games and various clones and Japanese consoles.

I wasn't surprised to find several TG-16 games, but I didn't exlect to find so many desirable ones. Until I found out whst they were priced at, which is higher than average eBay prices. But even a store out to make as much money as possible by narrowing down the market still had Air Zonk priced more reasonable than the rest and about 50% cheaper than Bomberman '93.

I don't know how all these overpriced games stores stay in business, since I see the same games sitting unsold for months - years, the same as overpriced games on eBay.

[Arkhan]

I found another local game hoarding store that's been cleaning up at garage sales and thrift stores and holding evetything for ransome. They actually have pretty much every console teleased in North America as well as several hadheld game device, game and watch games and various clones and Japanese consoles.

I wasn't surprised to find several TG-16 games, but I didn't exlect to find so many desirable ones. Until I found out whst they were priced at, which is higher than average eBay prices. But even a store out to make as much money as possible by narrowing down the market still had Air Zonk priced more reasonable than the rest and about 50% cheaper than Bomberman '93.

I don't know how all these overpriced games stores stay in business, since I see the same games sitting unsold for months - years, the same as overpriced games on eBay.

they stay in business by eBaying crap behind the scenes that you don't see.

and they often sell newer crap and DVDs and crap as well. 

Theres a handful of those kinda stores around here too.

85$ for bravoman.  f*ck that.

[Black Tiger]

I found another local game hoarding store that's been cleaning up at garage sales and thrift stores and holding evetything for ransome. They actually have pretty much every console teleased in North America as well as several hadheld game device, game and watch games and various clones and Japanese consoles.

I wasn't surprised to find several TG-16 games, but I didn't exlect to find so many desirable ones. Until I found out whst they were priced at, which is higher than average eBay prices. But even a store out to make as much money as possible by narrowing down the market still had Air Zonk priced more reasonable than the rest and about 50% cheaper than Bomberman '93.

I don't know how all these overpriced games stores stay in business, since I see the same games sitting unsold for months - years, the same as overpriced games on eBay.

they stay in business by eBaying crap behind the scenes that you don't see.

and they often sell newer crap and DVDs and crap as well. 

Theres a handful of those kinda stores around here too.

85$ for bravoman.  f*ck that.

I'm just wondering why they price games they keep in store so high if they think that they could get that on eBay, then why not just sell it on eBay?

[Bernie]

Maximum exposure most likely. 

[RegalSin]

This new game shop just open in my City, I can't believe it they actually have a working street fighter 1.0 unit, and every other console you can see. I felt like Black Mamba in Kill Bill when she viewed the swords but they are selling games.

They also carry the regular stuff as well, Weed, Phony3,
teasixty.

Those VA guys at the yard sales also seem to have a lot NES stuff. This guy keeps telling me he has a whole warehouse of NES.

If had I had the cash, if I had the cash. That is why it is better to have sons then daughters.

[MotherGunner]

Ah Regal...  lol *smh*  Oddly enough I agree with your very last statement even without the much needed context.

[SignOfZeta]

Well, if I had a game store you might find a similar situation.

Think of it this way. What makes a good game store "good"? Prices? Sure, good prices are nice, but they aren't much use without stock. Nobody wants 50 copies of GTA3 for PS2 or whatever the last Madden game is. So in order to make your store seem awesome you have to have some cool shit in stock. The problem with this is that there isn't an infinite supply of cool shit. So you put out a bunch of PCE stuff at fair prices, all the shit sells, and now all you have is 136 copies of NBA Live 2002. You have to charge so much money that its worth it to lose the trophy game. If it never sells, its OK, since your bread and butter will always be reselling the most recent Halo or Resident Evil garbage, and there is an endless supply of that shite. Most people just want Halo or Street Fighter IV, and they can buy that anywhere, but those Neo Geo carts and Game and Watches and Vectrex units are the difference between that store and the local Software Ect or Best Buy.

There are other possible explanations. Keep in mind that eBay goes both ways. Why buy locally for over eBay prices? That's a good question. By why would anyone trade anything in for less than eBay prices? And if the store has to pay eBay prices just to get the shit, they obviously have to charge more than eBay prices when they sell it. Another explanation is that maybe nobody is actually expected to pay that much. Many stores give more in trade in than they give in cash. They say they want $1000 for something, but they'll probably sell it for $750 in cash, or $1000 in trade in. I've worked at a game store and I can tell you the best customers are the ones who buy 100 games a year but only have maybe one or two of those games next year. Their collections are in constant flux, and you profit from every transaction.

Semi-related: its important to keep in mind that while some people give good deals, some people gouge, etc, everyone who buys 20 year old games and then never sells them on to anyone (ie: myself) is part of the problem of rising prices. Every game that's in my collection represents one less copy of that game in circulation, and a minute price increase. The reason why they didn't make very many copies of Order of the Griffen is because in 1993 nobody f*cking wanted it. Now that the TG-16 is a legend we have people who weren't even born when the game game out looking for their copy. We've learned that most of these nouveau hardcore eventually lose interest and dump all their shit onto the next idiot, but some don't, and the supply just keeps getting tighter.

There will always be enough copies of Bravoman though.

[JapanTokei]

Zeta, your retailing 101 logic registers with me as well.  I would prob also do the same, displaying my sealed Bazzys and other big items at insane prices.  They become free marketing basically and keep the store nostagic and drool-prone.  and you sell the A-items that has sales/inventory turns of 10+ a year etc.  heck, we'll prob hire Beamer as special guest to come in a provide cap repair or region mod services to make some extra margin  now there is an idea!!  he can persoanlly autograph the caps too.  haha

and your last statement about Bravoman had me laughing hard and rolling on the floor.. lol.  that game totally sucks.  I couldn't stand it while I had it..

Well, if I had a game store you might find a similar situation.

Think of it this way. What makes a good game store "good"? Prices? Sure, good prices are nice, but they aren't much use without stock. Nobody wants 50 copies of GTA3 for PS2 or whatever the last Madden game is. So in order to make your store seem awesome you have to have some cool shit in stock. The problem with this is that there isn't an infinite supply of cool shit. So you put out a bunch of PCE stuff at fair prices, all the shit sells, and now all you have is 136 copies of NBA Live 2002. You have to charge so much money that its worth it to lose the trophy game. If it never sells, its OK, since your bread and butter will always be reselling the most recent Halo or Resident Evil garbage, and there is an endless supply of that shite. Most people just want Halo or Street Fighter IV, and they can buy that anywhere, but those Neo Geo carts and Game and Watches and Vectrex units are the difference between that store and the local Software Ect or Best Buy.

There are other possible explanations. Keep in mind that eBay goes both ways. Why buy locally for over eBay prices? That's a good question. By why would anyone trade anything in for less than eBay prices? And if the store has to pay eBay prices just to get the shit, they obviously have to charge more than eBay prices when they sell it. Another explanation is that maybe nobody is actually expected to pay that much. Many stores give more in trade in than they give in cash. They say they want $1000 for something, but they'll probably sell it for $750 in cash, or $1000 in trade in. I've worked at a game store and I can tell you the best customers are the ones who buy 100 games a year but only have maybe one or two of those games next year. Their collections are in constant flux, and you profit from every transaction.

Semi-related: its important to keep in mind that while some people give good deals, some people gouge, etc, everyone who buys 20 year old games and then never sells them on to anyone (ie: myself) is part of the problem of rising prices. Every game that's in my collection represents one less copy of that game in circulation, and a minute price increase. The reason why they didn't make very many copies of Order of the Griffen is because in 1993 nobody f*cking wanted it. Now that the TG-16 is a legend we have people who weren't even born when the game game out looking for their copy. We've learned that most of these nouveau hardcore eventually lose interest and dump all their shit onto the next idiot, but some don't, and the supply just keeps getting tighter.

There will always be enough copies of Bravoman though.

[TheClash603]

I am willing to pay $5ish more for a game at a store than I would pay for that similar game on ebay/other internet site.  The obvious reason being the instant gratification, I can go home and play that game the same night I buy it.

Other than that, the way I think these stores stay in business is through the sale of the ultra cheap games.  For example, I had a friend that claimed Hoops was the best NES game ever made.  I never played Hoops, and I am always curious when someone recommends something to me.  Hoops on ebay averages the cost of $1, but with $4 shipping.  I bought the game for $2 at the local flea market instead.  There are literally bins with 100s of $1-3 games, and every time I go there, I figure I might as well pick a few up.  I look around, and I see other people doing the same.  The guys who run these shops, they aren't paying anything for these games, if someone came in with 10 copies of Hoops, they might give you $1 total for all ten.  If I had to guess a game stores bread and butter, it must be off of games like this, because it is truly the only time where going online to buy a game make zero sense.

[SignOfZeta]

Aren't you into like...money or something, for a living? Do you have any idea how many $1 games you have to sell to pay the rent of even the cheapest store space in America?

They make the most money off month old mega releases like...whatever the f*ck is popular now. Modern Warfare or some dumb shit. The game is $60 new so they give you $25 credit and sell it for $50. Well, they hope to sell it for $50. If they get stuck with too many copies before the next installment in the series it will end up in the crap bin with all the other arab killer games and sports shit.

For an indy store its tough to get a good margin on anything. A $1 game purchased for a quarter still only brings in $0.75 profit, which means he needs to sell 10 of the f*ckers just to get lunch at Taco Bell. The margin on new releases is nearly the same since unless you are buying tens of thousands of copies the store's cost on a game that has a MSRP of $59.99 is about $58.99 making them not even work stocking.

[TheClash603]

Based on my purchase habits and those I have observed of others, at the Game Craze store I go to in particular people tend to buy $10 worth of $2-$3 games per visit to the store.  Assuming the store paid $1 in total for these games in a lot which probably came with a few desired games, which is likely true, that's a $9 profit.

If the store has 100 such visitors in a month, which I assume is also pretty feasible, because I see a handful of these visitors in the hour a week I am browsing, that's $900.  Though no one is getting rich off of this, in a shitty part of Buffalo, NY where $10 per sq. ft. leases are the norm, that is a pretty significant hunk of business.

Though I do agree with you, selling Halo 4 used for $45 90 days after it comes out is also a huge part of the business, but we're talking different stores here.  The store I frequent has a much larger 32-bit and earlier selection than it does current releases.  You're more talking about the Gamestop model than the retro game store model of business.

[Retrocool]

I honestly believe that they look at the prices of some of these games on ebay and then charge accordingly.  The place I normally go to, last year when I was looking to buy Shockman, it was like 80$.  This year he is selling the same game for 300$ ... Of course I am sure there are other factors in this scenario that I am not looking into or do not know about as well.  It just seems kind of odd.  Hell, the version of Shockman is not even in good condition.  Sure it has the box and everything, but thats all torn and the game looked in OK condition

Anyway, if I ever win the lotto I am going to buy these games that are high priced  off on ebay or whatever store and just raffle them off.

[munchiaz]

My local store in tempe AZ actually has 2 locations now. I usually go there once a week. He has some rare stuff, and some decent stuff, and he also sells stuff at top value, but i usually leave his place spending $30-$50 each time i visit because i always find something I'm looking for, or something that reminds me of a times past. I think alot of people shop at these stores this way.

I was at the store a few weeks back, and there was this couple just looking at playstation games that they enjoyed together back in the day. These people spent like $80 on old, not so rare playstation games just because they used to enjoy them.

[Senshi]

Ah Regal...  lol *smh*  Oddly enough I agree with your very last statement even without the much needed context.

I wonder if his stuff comes from a program that generates random spam email statements.

[Arkhan]

They also carry the regular stuff as well, Weed, Phony3,
teasixty.

These are the dumbest insult-names for those systems I have ever witnessed.  Congratulations.  You beat DigitPiss.


The stores stay in business by trading with mouth breathers.  Low ball them, and sell higher.