To this point, I just did some (admittedly very rough) back of the napkin math. Assuming 3000/month in rent, 100,000 in tenant improvements (taken as a loan with 8% interest and amortized over 6 years), 1000/month for taxes, insurance, and utilities, and 1 employee making 75,000/year, that’s a monthly overhead of over 12,000 dollars before selling a single game. Assuming the average game retails for 40 dollars, and your average cost per game is 20 (classic RPG; you buy goods at 1/2 the price you sell them for)that means you need to sell over 600 games per month to break even (meaning that you, the business owner, have made 0 dollars). Now, any one (or several) of those numbers could be wildly off. COGS may be way lower than I guess, rent could be lower, tenant improvements could be covered in the lease, you don’t need an employee, you just do it all yourself. But that should be a clear-eyed thought experiment for anyone wanting to get into this or any other retail business: can you realistically sell more than 7,200 used games per year (or whatever it is you sell)? Can you sell more than 12,000 games per year if you want to start approaching a decent income in a lower cost of living area, or more in a HCOL city, where the demand for this sort of product likely is?

Great video. Y'all asked all the questions I would have asked and he was a really great interviewee with an awesome store!

A buddy of mine has had a retro game store since 2011 & been going strong ever since. Definitely depends on location.

​@@MegaNerdX the instincts though

​@@MegaNerdXThe economy wasn't in decline in 2011. It is now.

​@@MegaNerdX depends on location? Is the Internet not a thing?

@novakd1530I don’t think they do, not in the $10k - $50k+ range

Also, longtime gamers go to store to learn about running a business, leave with a stack of games. I'd do the same.

​@novakd1530 they got Nintendo money, now that is hilarious. What do you think they did at Nintendo? Own it? Lol

​@novakd1530I'm not sure why you think they're rich. They're home owners. They have bills.

There are a few places like that around Central Florida that are really successful!

Can't you get sued for that?

@@dapperfan44Technically you probably could. Realistically I doubt it. There’s so many game stores that use characters in their advertising (like banners or in emails) that they don’t have the rights to, but because they’re local/small/not a chain, the companies don’t care, if they’re even aware.

I'm 32 and I like physical media. But on the switch I have like 10 physical games and 30 digital games (most of course Indies). That's the perfect split for me. And retro gaming I like to play on emulator or sub services.

@@nindieboy4194 Im all pjhysical but had covid when 3d mario all stars came out so I bought it digitally to play it during those 2 weeks, NOW, here in Sweden, that game sells for 140 USD, very rare game. So I regret buying it digitally.

Man you're so cool

@@thawhole9 🫶

Even if they wanted to dump their collection, a store would be the worst way. Too much overhead with little profit. You’d be better off selling through eBay, and only some are big enough to be worth bothering with. Anything under $30 would be a waste of time.

Wut?

What ? 😂