Opening a Game Store

[techwizard]

Name registration finally went through (there was a long delay apparently because a few that approved them left their positions and there was a flood of new applicants after our recent provincial election). And I got approved to use the name Game Quest!!!!!!! Really psyched about that as it was my first choice. Also got in touch with a realtor about checking out some store fronts locally and have been checking out a few with my wife and just peeking in the windows. There are a few possibilities in our downtown area depending on the price of rent. 

congrats, sounds like everything is rolling along smoothly now!

[smith45885]

Congrats! A long term dream of mine is to run a 'swap shop' or pawn shop.  This has been a great thread to read through.

[Crabmaster2000]

Started a Facebook page so I can update people as I progress towards my goal. Check it out if you have time and let me know what I need to do to spice it up. I'm pretty far behind when it comes to facebook so I'm sure it could use some work.

https://www.facebook.com/...ame-Quest/480354178712555

[techwizard]

looks pretty good, the only thing you're missing is the Cover Photo. pretty easy to put one up, but be warned that cover photos always crop pictures to only show a horizontal section of it, so try designing it around that. the exact resolution that seems to work for me is about 847 pixels wide by 315 pixels high, if you come up with something at that size there won't be any cropping.

i "liked" it

edit: that looks better 

[Crabmaster2000]

looks pretty good, the only thing you're missing is the Cover Photo. pretty easy to put one up, but be warned that cover photos always crop pictures to only show a horizontal section of it, so try designing it around that. the exact resolution that seems to work for me is about 847 pixels wide by 315 pixels high, if you come up with something at that size there won't be any cropping.

i "liked" it

Could have sworn I had one already. Just added it anyway. The pics are just place holders for now. My wife has been drawing up a ton of logo ideas and a couple of them have turned out really well. Once she has several that I like I'll probably post them all and see what people like and then get it printed out professionally.

[techwizard]

looks pretty good, the only thing you're missing is the Cover Photo. pretty easy to put one up, but be warned that cover photos always crop pictures to only show a horizontal section of it, so try designing it around that. the exact resolution that seems to work for me is about 847 pixels wide by 315 pixels high, if you come up with something at that size there won't be any cropping.

i "liked" it

Could have sworn I had one already. Just added it anyway. The pics are just place holders for now. My wife has been drawing up a ton of logo ideas and a couple of them have turned out really well. Once she has several that I like I'll probably post them all and see what people like and then get it printed out professionally.

cool, that works. eventually when you have a location and are near opening day you could make a panorama shot of the store into a cover photo, that would probably be a good one.

[Crabmaster2000]

looks pretty good, the only thing you're missing is the Cover Photo. pretty easy to put one up, but be warned that cover photos always crop pictures to only show a horizontal section of it, so try designing it around that. the exact resolution that seems to work for me is about 847 pixels wide by 315 pixels high, if you come up with something at that size there won't be any cropping.

i "liked" it

Could have sworn I had one already. Just added it anyway. The pics are just place holders for now. My wife has been drawing up a ton of logo ideas and a couple of them have turned out really well. Once she has several that I like I'll probably post them all and see what people like and then get it printed out professionally.

cool, that works. eventually when you have a location and are near opening day you could make a panorama shot of the store into a cover photo, that would probably be a good one.

I cant wait to have a store front to photograph

[Shadow Kisuragi]

If only you lived around here, I could easily point out 10-15 spots with decent rent and great locations. Sadly, where I live, there aren't really any video game shops. It's a @#$%$@# gold mine out here. Nearest GameStop is 10 miles away, and nearest retro store is close to 35 miles away.

[techwizard]

looks pretty good, the only thing you're missing is the Cover Photo. pretty easy to put one up, but be warned that cover photos always crop pictures to only show a horizontal section of it, so try designing it around that. the exact resolution that seems to work for me is about 847 pixels wide by 315 pixels high, if you come up with something at that size there won't be any cropping.

i "liked" it

Could have sworn I had one already. Just added it anyway. The pics are just place holders for now. My wife has been drawing up a ton of logo ideas and a couple of them have turned out really well. Once she has several that I like I'll probably post them all and see what people like and then get it printed out professionally.

cool, that works. eventually when you have a location and are near opening day you could make a panorama shot of the store into a cover photo, that would probably be a good one.

I cant wait to have a store front to photograph

i actually meant a panorama of the inside to show off all the games, but a store front shot would be good too.

[Crabmaster2000]

If only you lived around here, I could easily point out 10-15 spots with decent rent and great locations. Sadly, where I live, there aren't really any video game shops. It's a @#$%$@# gold mine out here. Nearest GameStop is 10 miles away, and nearest retro store is close to 35 miles away.

I think the nearest game store up here is about about 650 km away (around 400 miles). I only know the rent in one particular spot in town right now and its manageable, but I hope I can find somewhere cheaper at a decent location for when I start.

@Techwizard - Thats a great idea too!

I put up my survey last night and actually got a decent amount of responses so far along with one VERY interesting response. A videographer from the local TV station responded and asked if when I get my store up and running if I'd be willing to do an interview with him regarding the history of video games to air on the station. That would be awesome publicity for a new business!!!

[Izret101]

If only you lived around here, I could easily point out 10-15 spots with decent rent and great locations. Sadly, where I live, there aren't really any video game shops. It's a @#$%$@# gold mine out here. Nearest GameStop is 10 miles away, and nearest retro store is close to 35 miles away.

I think the nearest game store up here is about about 650 km away (around 400 miles). I only know the rent in one particular spot in town right now and its manageable, but I hope I can find somewhere cheaper at a decent location for when I start.

@Techwizard - Thats a great idea too!

I put up my survey last night and actually got a decent amount of responses so far along with one VERY interesting response. A videographer from the local TV station responded and asked if when I get my store up and running if I'd be willing to do an interview with him regarding the history of video games to air on the station. That would be awesome publicity for a new business!!!

Wow that is wicked awesome!

[techwizard]

If only you lived around here, I could easily point out 10-15 spots with decent rent and great locations. Sadly, where I live, there aren't really any video game shops. It's a @#$%$@# gold mine out here. Nearest GameStop is 10 miles away, and nearest retro store is close to 35 miles away.

I think the nearest game store up here is about about 650 km away (around 400 miles). I only know the rent in one particular spot in town right now and its manageable, but I hope I can find somewhere cheaper at a decent location for when I start.

@Techwizard - Thats a great idea too!

I put up my survey last night and actually got a decent amount of responses so far along with one VERY interesting response. A videographer from the local TV station responded and asked if when I get my store up and running if I'd be willing to do an interview with him regarding the history of video games to air on the station. That would be awesome publicity for a new business!!!

that is very cool!

[Crabmaster2000]

So now I've got the conundrum of very cheap rent/crappy location or high rent/decent location. I definitely can't afford the best locations in town.

I do have a friend that is working on his own store right now also and is hoping to be up and running just a month or two behind me. He is going to be doing mainly tabletop games/card games. We've been talking about finding a bigger space and having both of our businesses in in the same place. That would help cut down on the operating costs and bring both stores more foot traffic since there should be a decent amount of crossover appeal between what our stores offer.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

In my experience, the high rent places don't tend to pan out early at all. It's best to build up a base clientele in a crappy location and then move up when you have a support network. Almost all of the local stores that tried to take on the higher rent locations failed.

[Crabmaster2000]

In my experience, the high rent places don't tend to pan out early at all. It's best to build up a base clientele in a crappy location and then move up when you have a support network. Almost all of the local stores that tried to take on the higher rent locations failed.

I can't tell if its just me trying to rationalize the lower cost place to myself, but I don't live in a huge city. Even in a semi out-of-the-way kind of place its not a big drive around here. Do any of you guys frequent stores that have crappy locations? If so how did you find out about them and what do they do right that gets you to make the trip to their store?