Start Up Cost of Games in Detail

Start Up Cost of Games in Detail

In previous article, I mentioned start up cost of game shop is around $30,000, but it's better to have $60,000 including sustenance fee. I also found another article and it seems $30,000 is median.

Schaumburg is west suburb from Chicago. It's clean and safe community having diverse ethnic groups and diverse income families. We are roughly surrounded by three shopping malls (Woodfield, Street of Woodfield and Stratford) , five Gametops and two Blockbusters. Just let you know that I did open our store in decent location demanding entertainments.

This is 900 square feet size, which occupies less than 1% of this entire plaza. Luckily, we had first 3 month rent free, but it took almost 3 months to set up this store. This would be our spending in 2006.

• Security deposit for two month store rent: $2,400 (Rent: $1200)
• Building one wall with door (yellow TV wall) : $2,200
• Plasma TV: $1,700
• Plasma TV Mounting by contractors: $100
• Slatwalls: $50 per each * 26 = $1,300
• Painting slatwall: $300
• Slatwalls attachment on 3 walls by contractors : $1,000
• Wired Shelves: $80 for 10 *23 = $1,840
• More Lights with installing by electrician: $1,000
• ADT Security system: $1,000
• Carpet: $800
• Counter: $150
• Two Desks : $150
• Chair: $60
• New Dell Computer: $500
• Credit Card Machine: $700
• Cash Register: $300
• Small TV for game: $250
• Phone $100
• Refrigerator: $400
• Game Scratch Removal Machine: $700
• Bar Code Price Tag Printer: $100
• Store signage: $3,000 (Night)
• Small sign: $600

It's $20,650 so far. The rest of money has been spent on games, game accessories and systems. I guess it's considered as low cost though we ended up spending more on games later. I think initially we saved some money since I designed floor plan myself, did many things on my own and didn't go through franchise.

Let me know if you have any question.

Halo 3 Controllers

Cybknight is selling Halo 3 Controllers for $49.95+tax. Those are usually $59.95 + tax at Bestbuy and Gamestop.

We are selling those for $99.95 at half.com. Somebody is selling up to $500. This is why we cannot give up online.

Start Up Cost of Video Game Store

When I checked our traffic today, I found one visitor found our article at Young Entrepreneur via google for the key words of "Start Up Cost Video Game Store".

Before starting this topic, I would like to mention that money is the least thing you need to start this business. What's the most things you need? Actual experience and knowledge. Then, what's the second thing? A good business plan. Depending on these, you can save tens of thousands of dollars.

I believe we had spent around $60,000 for start-up cost. Just let you know it was 2006 and we have been located in west suburb of Chicago. Around $30,000 was actual start-up cost to set up and launch the store. And, the other $30,000 was sustenance fee we continuously had spent for 1.5 year.

A lot of people do not know about this, but I think we need to include money to support store a year in start-up cost. I would like to call it sustenance fee. When new business is open, it's hard to expect huge amount of steady customers from beginning. You need to build up reputation everyday. Usually, it take over a year. Until then, you need certain amount of money reservoir to support store.

I think we can forget sustenance fee for now. Let talk about initial $30,000 in detail next time.

Don't be Vague. Be Clear!

Whenever I go to Woodfield mall, I can see a store named "Disney's Doorway to Dream". Whenever I pass by, I always wonder what that is. As you see, it doesn't say much, but they rent huge space.

After checking their web site, I found it's condominium sales including Disney vacation. The concept is also hard to understand. Now they rent two kiosks down stares also. They may think they didn't get many customers for location reason. Simply, that's not true in high traffic Woodfield mall.

I guess they didn't get many customers since nobody understnd what that is. Their ad on the wall like "great return policy" or "free shipping" makes me more confusing even after reading the web site. I was at least interested in that as business owner. But, who else will be?

Another example is a site like want2bsquare. I just remember it since it was on TV commercial, but I wonder if they have any intention to make money.

Make sure customers can remember only one thing regarding your store. In our case, it's "game". Not N64, not store credit, not 13 month live card, but just "game". That's all customers can remember. We all have lots of things to rememeber, so be very clear for your business item.

Top 10 Game Sales

Top 20 Games Overall, January 2009

1. WII FIT WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA
2. WII PLAY W/ REMOTE WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA
3. MARIO KART W/WHEEL WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA
4. LEFT 4 DEAD 360 ELECTRONIC ARTS
5. CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR* 360 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
6. SKATE 2 360 ELECTRONIC ARTS
7. GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR* WII ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
8. NEW SUPER MARIO BROS NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA
9. MARIO KART DS NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA
10. LORD OF THE RINGS: CONQUEST 360 ELECTRONIC ARTS
11. CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR PS3 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
12. GEARS OF WAR 2* 360 MICROSOFT
13. FALLOUT 3* 360 BETHESDA SOFTWORKS
14. JILLIAN MICHAELS FITNESS ULTIMATUM 2009 WII MAJESCO
15. LINK'S CROSSBOW TRAINING WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA
16. MY FITNESS COACH WII UBISOFT
17. ROCK BAND 2* 360 MTV GAMES/ELECTRONIC ARTS
18. GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR* 360 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
19. CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR WII ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
20. LEGO STAR WARS: COMPLETE SAGA WII LUCASARTS

I think we need to complete those games first. It seems Wii will dominate again. Thanks, wired!

Using Google Instead of Paid Ad

Sitemeter on the bottom of this blog is very helpful tool. When you click it, it shows today's traffic.

When you click "By Referrals", it shows through what site visitors came. There are three results from google today.

When you click google results, it shows even what key words people typed in google to find us. First key words was "Buy PC Game in Chicago". Our site came up the first.

Second key words was "psp collapsed case".

Third key words was "gaming store 60193". Our result came up first. Now it's disappeared temporarily since we changed some info.

Most of people do not fill this out. But, it's very important to fill your info with photos in "google local business center".

I know a lot of small business owners spend $ hundreds to thousands for coupon ads to flyers. Filling up the info and optimizing keywords in google doesn't cost you anything, but it has better effects than paid advertisement.

Strange Entrepreneur Mag

I guess this magazine has been changed in strange way. It doesn't talk about any practical thing any more especially in cover story.

For last three issues, all they did in cover stories was introducing new software with flattering the engineers. Green box was just energy checking software nobody is interested in. You wouldn't believe how much they praised those engineers as genius one by one.

I guess this could be the last time subscribing this magazine. It was $11.97 a year, though.

How to Make Business Stable

Recently, we notice that some people found this site on google and one of keywords was "How to make business stable from worst".

In my opinion, first thing you need to do is building a business asset.

For example, we have $300,000 CD plan in our case. Nowadays, it's around 5% annual interest for 5 years bank CD. So, if we have $300,000 CD, the annual interest will be $15,000 a year and it will virtually cover our rent. As I wrote, rent is one of major spendings in most small business.

Another example of asset would be this blog. So far, we made $31 from Adsense, but I know a lot of people make $500-700 a month. If we can make $1,400 per month, it will cover our current rent. The more I write, google ranking of this blog will get higher in game business catergory and more people will find it.

Another example of asset would be online sales. Online sales are especially helpful when retail store is closed overnight or for holiday.

I believe business is more stable when it's covered with many assets or supportive incomes. The examples can be different, but the principle is the same in every business.

How to Start a New Game Business

Starting a new game business

View more presentations from Jussi Laakkonen. (tags: association connect)

I think it's about starting a video game company, not opening a game store.

11 Reasons Why Restaurants Fail

People may think gameshop and restaurant are totally different business, but those are not. If we are restaurant, we are selling already made foods.

Certainly there is difference like online sales or cooking, but I think running a restaurant and a gameshop has 70% of analogy. That's why the books regarding restaurant helped me a lot when I opened my retail gameshop and I enjoy watching Gorden Ramsey Show for my own business.

In case of restaurants, unfortunately, it's the most failing business in the U.S. If I can figure out those failing factors and eliminate them, I can manage my business safer. Those are 11 reasons why restaurants fail I guess.

1. Restaurants deal perishable items.

Food has short due date. That means people need to throw it out if certain food is not sold quickly. That's big loss.

2. Restaurants cannot be supported by online sales.
3. Restaurants usually need more than 900 sf. That means more rent.
4. Restaurants need more human physical labors: more labor expenses.
5. Restaurants spend huge utilities to cook: Big utility bills.
6. Restaurant cannot have two way sales.

People cannot bring used food and get discount by that.

7. Restaurants are saturated everywhere.
8. People can have foods without going to restaurants.

If people can make console games at home and don't have to be in gameshop, we will lose sales.

9. Many restaurant have very high start-up cost.
10. Margin in restaurant is not necessarily higher than in gameshop.
11. Restaurants can be shut down for health inspection.

I wonder if there's disadvantage of games also.

Street Fightstick

This Street Fighter IV Fightstick is $68.95 + tax at CybKnight, but it's selling $150-200 on eBay now. Since nobody bought it for last 2 days, so we are selling on our own.

Sometimes, people ask how I got involved in games. When my mom was in my shop first time 2 years ago, her question was, "How come you opened a gameshop?"

My answer is I used to sell those on ebay when I was in college and found those make money. I thought it's worth to open a small gameshop. And, I guess I did ok so far. This is tip of iceburg.

Nowadays, a lot of people complain about economy, but I don't understand why they don't look forward. They always look back, start old business like restaurants and fail.

Comparison of Two Restaurants

Nang-myun is Korean cold noodle dish. I would like to compare two restaurants for this food in business sense: Da-rae-jung and Shin-do-won.

Da-rae-jung

• No advertisement at all (found them online review)
• Hidden location
• No fancy interior
• Very clean always
• Open 10 hrs a day, 6 days a week
• Usually busy
• Small menu focused on Nangmyun (1 page)
• $9.95 but big portion
• Fantastic taste
• been there 6 times, will be there again

Shin-do-won

• Huge full page Ad on Korean newspaper and magazine
• Visible location
• Nice interior
• Dirty restroom
• Open 17 hrs a day, 7 days a week
• Usually empty
• Large menu with all kind of foods (6 pages)
• $9.95 with OK portion
• Not very good, missing material
• been there once, won't be there again

It's obvious now, but a lot of business are in Shin-do-won's situation: Spending huge money on ad with poor quality of business. I think this is caused by concerning money too much instead of work.

Molla-ing (I Don't Know)

Aspect of Korean Culture, 2009

5 Tips to Prevent Shoplift

Here's some 5 Tips to prevent shoplift

1. Do not open your business in crime area

You may still be able to make money, but you won't be happy for little and big problems. Make sure we make money to be happy.

2. Have at least 2-3 basic securities

You can upgrade those later, but have at least 2-3 different types of basic securities.

3. Make store neat and clear

In video games, it's very easy to detect shoplift for size and arrangement. Arrange your items easy for shoplift detection.

4. If you detect anything and confirm it, do not hesitate calling police
Do not speak with shoplifter. Just rely on physical proof. Regardless you catch the person or not, shoplifters do not prefer going such places calling cops. Also, polices understand the situation well.

5. After calling cops, acquire license plate number or person's face by digital camera
This is actually done deal. Shoplifters usually become very obedient after this.

Shoplift is Increasing

Yesterday, we caught third shoplifter this year. Three times a month is surprising since we usually have this matter only 1-2 times per year.

It seems shoplift rate is increasing for bad economy. I think we need to upgrade security and set up zero tolerance policy.

Stupid Comments

Sometimes, I get stupid comments like these.

"Why don't you write something funny instead of promoting store?"
"You use this blog to promote your store? It's disgrace."

I didn't intend anything. But, here's my question.

"Do we have to use this blog for killing time only?"

I know this type of people. They usually do not start a business unless they seriously need money. Then, this money reason accelerates business failure.

Business can be joy, but you need to start it when you are free from any pressure or burden.

Why Legoland?

When it was opened, I didn't think it is popular since they charge over $17-19 only to see built lego models. But, it seems it's popular and people were waiting in line.

Strange Prejudice

I am just from one business forum and it seems a lot of people have strange prejudice that the money made from online is not real or trivial. They think only money from restaurant or retail store is real. A lot of people are blinds though they have eyes.

I notice that those people are generally uneducated or ignorant. Make sure the three things a business owner should have are vision, action and adaptation to new environment.

Keeping Things Simple

Recently I found a couple of blogs regarding retails: Rick Segel's Blog and Retail Store Blog.

In Rick's blog, he explains all kind of tricks and methods in retails: Events, Seasonal sales, special discounts, Advertisement, Bundles, Gift cards and etc. Can we just forget all those and focus those money on discount only?

I think business needs to be simple to deal complicated situations. His way may work if you have one store with 20 sales per day. But, it won't work if you have 100 stores or 10,000 sales per day.

No valentine event, family member 20% off or $200 gift cards after purchase: Just cut the price upfront. That's it. Cut more instead of wasting money on valentine balloons or printing after-purchase gift certificates.

I believe keeping things simple and neat is character of successful businesses.

Cash Spending Habbit

After reading a couple of inspiring articles, I decided to go for cash spending habbit instead of credit card.

I notice that cash spending habbit can be prelude to "not spending at all" habbit. Now I am staying at home after paying gas by cash the other day.

I think we will focus on blogging more since I cancelled DirecTV and Netflix. Life is better and simpler now.

I don't need huge check this guy is holding, but I will be more than happy if we can pay store rent by adsense. This could be new type of asset putting money in your pocket automatically.

Why Is Gift Card System Waste?

Today, I found one very nice blog regarding retail business. He suggested to have gift card system in retail business and "respect" it, but I disagree. I agree gift card system is growing business and has advantages. But, here's my reasons.

First of all, gift card and system can cost a lot of money. Those plastic cards cost at least$0.35-0.85 per each. And, POS register for card tracking can cost thousands dollars. And, I do not know how much money this credit card company for gift card will charge on us for gift card sales, activation and acceptance.

Second, it's not really beneficiary to customers, so you can have many unnecessary troubles. Many gift cards have expiration date or monthly maintenance fee. Also, customers can lose it. If you re-issue it, store can lose money. If you don't issue it though you know the fact, customers won't be at your store again. Unless it's good for customers, it will actually damage your business.

Third, every place has half gift card system already. I know a lot of customers bring Visa and Master gift cards here. Those can be used via any credit card machine accepting Visa and Master "credit" cards.

Two Reasons for Business Failure

Whenever I go to business forum, some people ask the reasons for business failure. Certainly, business fails since it doesn't make more money than its spending. Then, where does a business waste money on?

In small game business, I think there are two major threats for failure: Rent and Overstock. The rest of reasons like utilities bills are minor. If I define "overstock" as "not selling games", those are two major spending in game retail business.

Gee

I think this American girl is much better.

How to Save Expenses in Gameshop

Yesterday, we talked about saving personal expenses. In business, I think it may be right to focus more on saving than sales during depression.

I would like to talk about some tips to save money in game shop or general retail business.

1. Stop wasting money on advertisement

I've seen too many places spending much money on ad, but actual service is not that good. It's not always true that your business is good, but people just do not know you. If you located in reasonably good plaza, that's not probable reason. Quit ad bravely and focus on quality of business. We tried coupon magazine ad for $250 a month for 5 months long ago, but we don't do that any more.

2. Clean the store your self.

Instead of hiring janitors, you can clean the store yourself. Also, clean the windows yourself. There were a couple of places hiring window cleaners in this plaza. I notice they are either gone or in very difficult situation.

3. File taxes yourself.

In my opinion, filing tax is not difficult, but time consuming. In Illinois, you have to file sales tax every month. Instead of hiring accountant for $100-200 per month, you can file it yourself. For me, it takes around 20-30 min to file monthly sales taxes.

4. Remove trash can.

It's really depending on business, but the travel agency next door and we don't have our own trash can on the back. Game business do not make lots of trash by nature and I usually take it to my apt. We can save around $50-100 per month.

5. Do not make business card

In our case, two local bowling companies makes our business cards with their coupon. After using these up, we do not make business card and just let customers know our site. According to my experience, real customers don't really ask for business card. Usually visiting sales people ask for it for their record. You can save few hundred dollars by not having business cards.

I wonder if there's any other suggestion.

Cat Bath

I didn't know cat can be this much stable in water. (Those are not the same cats.)

How to Save A Lot of Money

After reading a couple of books and one inspiring article, I found one important principle of saving money.

"Put the money in bank account instead of spending"

It's that simple. The book explained lots of ways on investing, but this was major conclusion of two books. But, I was surprised that I didn't realize this seriously.

Also, all three authors recommend to spend cash instead of credit card in common.

By the inspiration, we cancelled two services this morning.

Directv in store: $50.99/month * 12 = $611.88/year
Netflix at home : $8.99/month * 12 = $107.88/year

Now we can put $719.76 more in our pocket. Isn't it simple?

After cancelling directv, I feel more sane in my store. I was always get distracted by the TV sound. Also, it seems customers can concentrate more on items than TV screen.

I wonder if there's other tips to save money.

Why Do I Hate Being Employeed?

First of all, it doesn't really make sense to depend your job on somebody else. You can get fired anytime and there's no real protection.

Second, the money you can make out of being employed is relatively small. You will get very small portion of entire profit.

Third, you need to pay all kind of taxes out of your wage. In business, you deduct your spendings first and pay the tax out of remainder.

I like small business since I can choose something I like. And, I can work for myself and use all the capabilities I have.

I also like it since it's more realistic to afford. We are not talking about millions. If I define a small business as "Business start-up under $100,000", it's more realistic. You can save this amount and start it.

I believe small business is the most recession proof type of work. It takes a lot of work. But, you don't have to worry about being fired one day. Also, you can make the business as simple as possible. In worst case, you can work virtually on your own, so you can cut down all the expenses and variable factors in big business.

(Image Source)

Items You Can Sell On Ebay

To me, it doesn't make sense to sell new games on eBay. It only makes sense to sell used items.

Ebay is definitely asset helping CybKnight, but it's also very competitive market. Also, the fee they take after sales is pretty high.

When you have an item you want to eliminate for any price, eBay will be good solution.

Strange Identity Theft: New Tech?

Today, I found over $1,000 was withdrawn from my checking account over this weekend. I called the bank and cancelled my debit card. Also, they promised that this loss will be covered within 2 weeks.

But, here's one important question.

How did they withdraw money from "bank ATMs" without this debit card?

I didn't lose my debit card as you see. But, they used charter one and Chase "bank ATMs" in Chicago.

Wondering Point: Venture Capitalist?

Whenever I read money or entrepreneur magazine or go to web, I can see a lot of so called venture capitalists or angel investors.

And, I have one wondering point: Are they qualified?

I really wonder how they were qualified or verified to deal millions of dollars from others since most of them doesn't really good especially nowadays.

For example, if I wear a suit, have a business card and have a desk at Fidelity, are customers able to verify me as a good one? Or just trust the appearance and give out money?

To me, first of all, it doesn't make sense for the way those finance people run a local branch.

Business is business regardless of types. We can consider a local bank branch as one small business. To me, small business has only two points to concern.

1. How can you improve the profit?
2. How can you cut down the spending?

I can talk a lot regarding those, but let's make a simple example. Nowadays, big companies lay off employees to cut down wages as spending. Small business owners clean their stores themselves instead of hiring janitor.

As you know, Washington Mutual was bankrupt recently. But, whenever I go there, I can still see few hired janitors cleaning after hours. To me, it seems they don't try very hard to cut down the spending. And, they were bankrupt.

Is it like I am not good at sustaining a business, but good at investment beyond you can imagine? Or is it that I am not good at anything, but I have a business card?

Retail Tricks?

Today, I found an article titled "Retail tricks that make you overspend". In my opinion, this is very short sighted mindset and behavior.

Overspent customers won't or less likely to come back to you. You can actually lose lots of steady royal customers that way.

Some people may think this will work at some places with heavy foreign traffics like souvenir shop at Key west. We won't see them again, so why don't we make them overspend?

Trust me. Every place is local now. Every business depends on steady customers.

Even in duty free shops at airport, trucker stops in highway or some restaurants in Niagara fall, people won't be there again if they feel overspent or overcharged. Those tour guides, truckers, pilots and frequent travelers are steady customers for them. And, you know that one steady customer is better than 100 browsers.

Today, I was in Sears autos for oil change and tire rotation. The guy pushed me hard for upgraded oil and I found wheels are not straight after tire rotation. I feel overspent and I don't think I will be there again.

In our case, we beat the price by refurbishing used games. Those 360 and PS3 games are just like brand new, but $15 cheaper.

Make sure your business can survive only when customers are actually satisfied and keep coming back.

Get Real

Recently, one reader left a message that this blog is not very interesting. Maybe this blog is not for you if you are interested in some paparazzi photos or tasteless toys.

This blog is for people wanting to be rich with good savings. It's time to own a business and make money in spite of depression. And, it's for people without saving also. The important thing is desire.

If you want to waste your time to make fun of people while parasiting parents, please go to http://www.celebitchy.com/ . Those celebrities wouldn't know a person like you existing, anyway.

Money: The Worst Reason

Sometimes, when we do something under pressure, we make a mistake. That happens in marriage. And, I think that's absolutely true in business.

Often, many people start a business purely for money pressure like supporting family.

In this case, people are more desperate and easily jump into a field they actually didn't want to work. They will also look for "stable" business regardless of their personal interest. These can actually accelerate the business failure eventually.

A lot of people believe "stable" business are always good, but those have often saturated markets. You need to find a business in new, growing or niche market. Many people do not know, but working in saturated market actually makes your business less stable.

For example, many people think a burger franchise would be stable, but it is usually very expensive to start, difficult to manage food and labor and very competitive. In fact, restaurant failure rate is the highest in all business fields.

I believe a fresh business idea comes when we are free from any pressure. My practical advise is to start a business as early as possible or at least before you have family to support. There are more chances to get innovative ideas, try what you love and enjoy your work in newly born and less competitive market.

The Most Common Problem for New Start-up

It seems PS3 will be the biggest market again. But, I can say that game market is getting bigger generally.

When you choose a business item, I think it's important to choose an item whose market will be bigger. By that, you can manage your business little more stably.

The problem of new business starter is many have tendency to look back instead of forward. Many choose what has been popular so far and be negtive at new items. What has been popular so far usually has saturated market. You actually have less chance to survive than you are in new market.

I think only few of them understand it and move quicker than others.

Two Way Sales

I wrote about this before, but it's supplement data. This is Game Industry growth data.

I am just from one business forum. It seems a lot of people do not understand video games and especially retails.

Some people mentioned $ billions venture capital on games, but that's simply unrealistic. I hate those people full of vanity, but lack of actual knowledge and experience.

To me, the biggest advantage game retailer has is two way sales. Customer also can sell items to us and we are selling to customers also. Just like blog is popular for two way communication, two way sales (customer <-> seller) is more competitive than traditional one way sales (factory -> customer) especially during depression.

In case of games, dealing used games and refurbishing them to mint is way more easier than other items. To customers, they can get discount for used items, so it would be great when economy is slow.

The Business You Should Avoid

We do not know when this depression will be over. Here is a list of business I recommend you to avoid especially during economy depression.

• Seasonal items: When you actually own a business, you will see having business is huge spending. Simply, you need to make money everyday to keep up with the spending. Sometimes, business run 24 hours since just opening everyday is not enough. Those seasonal business include ice cream parlor, swim suit boutique or ski equipment rental.
  
  
• Perishable items: When you are in sales, selling something with due date is way more difficult than just selling. You cannot just push customers. Chocolate shops, super markets or grocery stores are the examples dealing those. In case of games, once you have right games, those will be sold by Christmas, anyway. So, you have less chance to waste your money for leftovers.
  
  
• Restaurants: Regardless of economy, this would be the most saturated business everywhere. It requires more physical works and hands. And, start-up cost is relatively high although profit is not necessarily high. Also, people have less tendency to eat out and pay tip during recession.
  
  
• Luxury items especially in malls: People have less chance to buy those during depression. Also, rent in luxury mall are generally very high.

I wonder if there's anything else.

Empire of the Ants

Long times ago, when I was in high school, I've read a book called Empire of the Ants by Bernard Werber. This French scientific novel was very big hit in Korea.

I do not remember much about this book, but I remember one thing clearly:

In human society, if a problem happens, people ask, "Whose fault is this?"

In ants, they ask, "How can we solve it?"

He explains that that's why ant is the most successful animal in the world. I am not sure of much of the detail, but it hit me at that time and changed me to a type of person of "How can we solve it".

When you manage the store virtually on your own, anything can happens.

When shoplift happened few days ago, the boy's father paid us just $20 and had the game. We shouldn't let him go with the game for $20 since the game is $60 value. A mistake happened in crowded store.

But, we know his name and address and police report was filed already. I can press him a charge any time, so I didn't much worry.

But, when I mentioned this matter this morning, my fiance's answer was, "it was your fault". I finally burst my anger.

When a matter happens, the first thing you have to is quickly moving to "how can we solve it" from "whose fault is this".

The quicker you move, you will make better business owner.

Depression is Another Chance

I think it's good time to open a gameshop nowadays since we have only one competitor: Gamestop. In case of price and store credit, you can beat Gamestop easily.

If economy gets better, a lot of business will open suddenly. And, one of those business would be a gameshop with game industry growth. Then, competition would be harder especially for those new business.

Also, it's relatively easy to find a good retail location nowadays. If I define good location as "good and lower rent location", those will be hard to find when economy booms.

Gameshop will still survive even in bad economy for the character of used and recycled shop. Games are easy to deal as used and refurbish to mint condition.

Problem with G4 TV

When we opened our store, we had plasma TV on the wall and set G4 Video Game TV channel.

Now we don't watch G4 TV any more and set our channel on cartoon network for months.

When we get the channel originally from directv, I expected some quality programs regarding Video Games. Now, it has changed to some low quality adult channel. (It's not sexy or exciting. It's just low quality.)

I personally wonder what kind of person are truly entertained when they see a woman jump in the big pie. Are you truly entertained when you see a lady waiting at ice cream bus when the chef hanging out?

By experience, I know many gamers are old, educated and professional people. Why they assume most of gamers are high school drop-out with no job? There are children playing games also. The TV should verify the audiences and target them.

I hope G4 TV will focus little more on gaming just to survive. A lot of programs they offer are boring to me and can offend parents in the store.