Used Shop Selection

[omegadot]

I'm pretty sure there are plenty here that either own or have worked in used game shops. Is there often a threshold on the amount of games that will likely just sit on the shelf? There's two shops in our mall. One is a collectible shop that's sort of a pawn shop and the other is an actual used games store with a few other locations in the area. The used game shop is actually more annoying to go to because of the raw amount of just filler to decent games.

[fiddlepaddle]

No smart business person wants inventory that nobody will buy; it costs money every month (rent and lost sales on more desirable items). Even so, some shop owners display "attractive" merchandise in the belief that having more choices brings in more lookie-loo shoppers (who might spend money while there on impulse).

 

However, sometimes shop owners aren't really in it for the money, but want to be at the nexus of trade-ins in order to build their personal collection (I've met several of these over the years). Yet others just enjoy the museum-like aspect of running a shop.

 

 

BTW, If there IS a "Threshold", it's a pretty good game, IMO.

[imstarryeyed]

I will say at our shop here we live by the 80 / 20 rule. 20 percent of the games we sell (the marios, zeldas, GTA San Andreas, etc) make up most of our revenue. The other 80 percent are slow sellers or "shelf sitters" (try saying that a few times fast without using a bad word haha). Those games sell very slow and with a lot of coaxing to get them to sell and often get returned for store credit. Those games are important however as every customer wants to walk into a "gaming wonderland" with shelves full of games that catch the eye.. even though they in reality will generally buy games from the popular case.

 

I have now been doing this 10 years here in Corpus Christi, TX and have learned a lot.. games are a fun store, but go work somewhere else to make decent money.. hahahahaha