I absolutely agree that some sort of prior retail experience is essential. But for discussion's sake, let's say you taken all the above advice and you want to proceed to open your dream game store.
What next? Don't design your store layout without reading it. Especially if you ever want women customers. It is also an enjoyable read. What should a prospective retailer do? If they can't do that, find a town about miles or more away with a game store that has been around for a few years, call up that owner and ask if hey will talk, and then go visit don't forget the saltshaker.
Repeat miles away in another direction. Most game store owners seem more than willing to talk about the business. If you decide to go for it, you will be faced with many decisions. The most-important and, to my mind, elusive task since I did such a poor job in this regard is finding the right location.
What to look for, "If they decide to open a full line hobby game store, then my comments about location would be one clearly visible from the street and a place that people can be directed to in words or less. Which is better, prominent space with high rent or an obscure spot with cheap rent? Brian P. Good luck finding it however. To a point, game stores are destination stores and that can allow a store a less prominent space.
However, remember that the further from the people you are, the less of that main stream money you'll be able to tap into.
Visibility equals people coming into your store who might not otherwise. Getting those people to spend money in your store however is not a guaranteed thing.
There reaches a point where the dollar figure just doesn't translate into sufficient additional sales to warrant the space. Mike Webb adds: "Depends. If there is an established gamer community, a 'destination store' can survive. But it limits your growth potential to word of mouth, and makes it difficult to attract new players. During down cycles in the industry however, this may be the wisest or most affordable route to take. Often though it will take a hit to sustain the costs of such a location, and those come and go.
The less visible you are, the more effort you must spend on outreach. We found an old bank, and it was cheap and on the main road. Says John Kaufeld: "It depends on your customer base.
If you plan to sell mainly to gamers, then you can go just about anywhere because they'll find you. If you plan to reach a broad audience, you need a more visible location.
Be patient—don't rush a decision. You can find a great space if you look for it. And what they need to do in regards to sales to survive. Realistically though I think that's a rather low number. If a store can afford it, more is better. At least to a point Spending money on product nobody in the area wants is a waste. Open with a more minimal amount of inventory, but an inventory-budget reserve, figure out what people want Nearly nobody does this, but we were never really profitable until we reached a certain point of having enough selection.
Don't forget the fixtures! Most newbies have no clue how much retail fixtures cost or how to shop for them. One fellow I spoke with thought that all retail spaces included fixtures as part of the lease. He figured that he'd buy a cash register from Office Depot and be ready to go. For the record, I talked him out of starting a store. Adds Mike Webb: "Depends entirely on the store space, product mix, etc. But it is way more important to keep some flexible reserve cash as above than to push for a higher startup inventory.
Tennant says: "Undercapitalized to start with, no reserves once opened, and unreasonable revenue expectations. Marcus adds: "Biggest Rookie Mistake—nearly universal in my experience—signing a lease you don't understand. Too long, too one sided, no out clause, other things that make it hard to get profitable. Kaufeld warns: "Watch your inventory like a hawk. If you think you should buy six of something, buy one and reorder when it sells.
If it sells consistently and you find yourself reordering frequently, buy two next time. If you think you might sell just one of something, make a poster of the product and offer to special-order it.
Says Mike Webb: "Assuming that because you like a game or a category that everyone else will. Running a store allows you some degree of latitude in deciding a product mix that you personally believe in, but many stores have made the error of excluding a profitable category, or including a money-sink product or category that they could not afford to.
After experiencing the same issue as originally posted, I had to complete the update for the game in the Microsoft Store through the Downloads and updates screen.
Gears 5 was amongst the 3 dozen outstanding updates I had I elected to update all apps anyway. Once it finished updating there, it worked again. Thank you! This thread is locked. You can follow the question or vote as helpful, but you cannot reply to this thread. I have the same question Report abuse. Details required :. Cancel Submit. Gaming Services, literally just had an update, try have a look on the pc windows 10 store to see if you can download the update.
How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site. Had the exact same problem, and this fixed it for me: Update windows with all patches, then Just like every other business that faces threats and challenges, the video game store business is no different; as an entrepreneur, you should be prepared to handle whatever threats and challenges that may arise during the course of starting or running your business.
Some of the threats and challenges you may likely face when running your video game store in the United States of America are; the intense competition in the industry, the increase in mobile game lovers which will see customers buying less of game hardware and accessories or even software as they can download whatever game they prefer from their mobile phones, economic downturn that will see consumers spending less and the arrival of a competitor offering same services in the same location.
Threats and challenges will always exist, how you handle them as an entrepreneur will determine the success or failure of your video game store. There are four types of legal entities in existence in the United States of America for those intending to go into the video game store business and they are; sole proprietorship , partnership, corporation and Limited Liability Company LLC.
The sole proprietorship kind of legal entity is that which is run by one person who is in charge of the whole business — both assets and liabilities. While this is a great option if you are starting small, should your business run into debt, you will be held personally liable.
The partnership kind of legal entity is one that is run by two or more partners who have formally agreed to run the business. All partners jointly make decisions and are also held liable for any debts that the business might incur.
A corporation is formed when certain people have decided to form a business which will be regarded as separate from them. There are usually two types of corporations — S and C — and both have its advantages and disadvantages.
A Limited Liability Company LLC is also a form of legal entity that is regarded as separate from the owners just like the corporation. Most entrepreneurs usually go for this type of legal entity due to the tax benefits and other advantages. Having a catchy name for your video game store is very important and so you must take this aspect very seriously; customers do not only like a name that is unique and creative but one that they can easily remember and identify with.
Having an insurance policy for your video game store business is very important because it will protect you against any liability that you might incur during the course of running the business.
Your insurance policy will protect you from having to pay from your own pocket should there be any damage or theft to your products or if a customer gets injured in your store. While having the basic insurance policies are very important, you should seek the advice of an insurance agent or broker so you can be advised on what insurance policies will best suit your video game store business.
Below are some of the basic insurance policies that you would have to purchase if you intend starting your video game store in the United States of America;.
The video game store business is one that deals majorly in sale of games hardware and software to the end users. This means that video game stores are retailers and therefore not involved in the production of games and therefore have no need to create materials that would need to be protected from theft by applying for an intellectual property protection.
There are however large scale video game stores that have been involved in the production of games and those ones would therefore need to apply for an IPP but this is not a usual occurrence. Most of the entrepreneurs that own a video game stores usually seek to protect their logo, slogan or jingles and so would get an attorney to file for IPP on these with the USPTO.
The video game store business involves the buying and selling of video games hardware and software which requires no special skills and would therefore have no need for an entrepreneur to get professional certification.
There are associations that you can however join so as to boost the profile of your video game store for when you would need to create a relationship with stakeholders in the industry such as video game developers and publishers.
The United States of America is very strict as regards starting a business; this means that businesses are expected to have all the necessary documentation with them. Lack of proper documentation is regarded as a very serious offence that might not only lead to you having to pay a huge penalty but you may also be banned from running the kind of business ever again. Therefore, before starting your video game business, it is important that you find out what documents your state requires from you.
You could also approach an attorney with experience in the video game industry to help you out as regards what documents you would need in order to run your business successfully in the United States of America.
Some of the basic documents that you will therefore need to have in place before you can start or run your video game store are;. Even though you have a passion to run a video game store, without having the necessary finance for your business, your business is likely to remain an idea.
This is why it is absolutely necessary to have a business plan as sourcing for start-up capital is what an entrepreneur must do because not all entrepreneurs can afford to run the business they have in mind with the funds at hand.
A comprehensive business plan is not only intended as a document to help guide your actions and decisions, it is also intended to show those you intend to approach for start-up capital how serious you are with the business and how you intend to pay them back. Therefore some of the options that you might need to explore when it comes to seeking for start-up capital for your video game store are;.
Deciding where to locate your video game store business is very important as you would need to be located in an area where there is high foot traffic so that you will have people come into your video game store to get a video game or its accessories.
Places that have high foot traffic include shopping malls, cinemas, shopping centers and large scale grocery stores, and other such places where teens, young adults and adults are likely to visit. There are some that run their video game store business from home and if this is the option you intend to choose, then you would have to build a responsive and secure website, as most of your clients will be making payments via your website and so will want to be sure that their data is kept safe.
Asides from selling your products via your website, you would need to sell via a combination of online platforms such as online auction sites and e-commerce platforms and even via your social media platforms as well. In order to get all the technical and manpower resources you would need for your video game store, it is essential that all requirements such as finance are in place.
Having the necessary finance will enable you to allocate what you will need in order to run the business successfully. In acquiring the equipment and supplies that you would need to run your video game store business, you might need to go online to source for wholesalers so that you will get good prices for the games you will be buying.
However, it is vital to conduct a research on the games you will be buying especially those that you will buy in bulk. You can also get a deal on some used games and consoles especially in online auction sites, flea markets, garage sales as well as thrift stores.
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