Video games stores | What are you looking for

Now, this is a 100 percent serious post, so please put as much effort and detail into your post as possible.

Please answer the questions honestly and openly, and if possible, give reasons for your answers.

1.What are you looking for in a store that sells video games, and/or computer games?

2.How important to you is the looks and tidyness of a video game retailer?

3.How important to you is the Friendliness and expertise of staff?

4.Please rate the following things in order of most to least important when you look for a video game retailer :

Looks
Price
Friendliness and expertise of staff
Availability of games
Good selection of Retro/Older games
Good selection of Recent games
Sales
Competitions

5.Does buying games in a store take prefrence over buying games online?

6.Please mention some of the things you dislike about the video game retailers that your visit mostly

7.How many games, on average would you buy a year? Where from, stores or Online retailers? Do you trades many in? Do you buy them at full price, or at discount?

7.And finally, give your opinion on trade in games, and, generally, anything preowned.

Thank you guys.

EDIT : Added one more question

[ Edited by blizzard224 on 2005/5/15 16:15 ]

[ Edited by blizzard224 on 2005/5/15 16:29 ]

1. What are you looking for in a store that sells video games, and/or computer games?
Variety and quality.
2. How important to you is the looks and tidyness of a video game retailer?
I personally don't care, but a tidy store is certainly more proffesional.
3. How important to you is the Friendliness and expertise of staff?
Very, I like to be able to get advice from competent staff and maybe even have a friendly chat.
4. Please rate the following things in order of most to least important when you look for a video game retailer:
Good selection of Recent games, Availability of games, Friendliness and expertise of staff, Good selection of Retro/Older games, Price, Looks, Competitions, Sales.
5. Does buying games in a store take prefrence over buying games online?
Yes.
6. Please mention some of the things you dislike about the video game retailers that your visit mostly:
Mostly the poor selection and untrained/uninformed staff.
7. How many games, on average would you buy a year? Where from, stores or Online retailers? Do you trades many in? Do you buy them at full price, or at discount?
I'd get at least 60 games in a year, mostly brand new. (some pre-owned/discount)
8. And finally, give your opinion on trade in games, and, generally, anything preowned
I find that pre-owned games are generally high quality, but the act of trading games in is usually a rip-off... it's a good way to get games cheap.

[ Edited by Epoch on 2005/5/15 16:57 ]

Thanks epoch!

1.What are you looking for in a store that sells video games, and/or computer games?
I look for a good selection, and used games/accessories

2.How important to you is the looks and tidyness of a video game retailer?
Its not too important, but I do like when things are in some recognizable order. Its infuriating to have to flip through games to find the one you want when its all out of order.

3.How important to you is the Friendliness and expertise of staff?
Those two things are a must. I hate it when the staff are rude and follow me around all because I'm a teenager and we have a stereotype of stealing. I also hate it when I ask a question and they answer with I dont know or some idiotic answer that we both know isn't right.

4.Please rate the following things in order of most to least important when you look for a video game retailer :

1. Price
2. Availability of games
3. Good selection of Recent games
4. Friendliness and expertise of staff
5. Good selection of Retro/Older games
6. Sales
7. Looks
8. Competitions

5.Does buying games in a store take prefrence over buying games online?
Yes, I can return them and most of the time they are about the same price. There's also the fact that there's no shipping or a chance of lost packages.

6.And finally, please mention some of the things you dislike about the video game retailers that your visit mostly
Most of them seem to be anti-Nintendo and give me weird looks when I ask anything Nintendo related. Usually old games rarely make appearances in the stores, even just games for systems such as N64.

Added one more question at the top.

Thank's Link by the way.

I updated my response to reflect the new questions...

Stuff E.

1.What are you looking for in a store that sells video games, and/or computer games?
A broad selection, at a good price.

2.How important to you is the looks and tidyness of a video game retailer?
Very little. As long as I can get in and out and find what I want its no big deal.

3.How important to you is the Friendliness and expertise of staff?
Not at all. They don't have to know games, because I do. I don't care if they say "thanks" or not.

4.Please rate the following things in order of most to least important when you look for a video game retailer :

Price
Friendliness and expertise of staff
Availability of games
Good selection of Recent games
Sales
Good selection of Retro/Older games
Looks
Competitions

5.Does buying games in a store take prefrence over buying games online?
No, I prefer online. Shops have to charge more, as they have more staff to pay, and have to pay for the upkeep of the shop. Online has a wider range, for less money.

6.Please mention some of the things you dislike about the video game retailers that your visit mostly
I don't really go into games shops.

7.How many games, on average would you buy a year? Where from, stores or Online retailers? Do you trades many in? Do you buy them at full price, or at discount?
Around 15, I would say. Mainly from online retailers, ebay, or people on forums. I trade none in, and buy none at full price.

7.And finally, give your opinion on trade in games, and, generally, anything preowned.
Good if the box, disc etc. are in good condition. I wouldn't buy preowned from Game, as they are expensive and rubbish. Ebay is good for 2nd hand games.

Now, Blizzard. Why do you need these answers?

msenyszak wrote: Now, Blizzard. Why do you need these answers?

None of your bees wax.

OK, I'll tell, but, you'll think it's stupid. I'm writing a plan at the moment, I'll post the main pointers of it up in about an hour.

1.What are you looking for in a store that sells video games, and/or computer games?

Massive range for all platforms, availability, good prices.

2.How important to you is the looks and tidyness of a video game retailer?

Quite important, if it helps get you to the section you want faster, and generally makes the place seem tidy and welcoming.

3.How important to you is the Friendliness and expertise of staff?

Very important, I'm tired of assholes from game. Having staff who are gamers themselves would be great, giving advice, recommendations and actually knowing what they're talking about.

4.Please rate the following things in order of most to least important when you look for a video game retailer :

6) Looks
2) Price
3) Friendliness and expertise of staff
4) Availability of games
7) Good selection of Retro/Older games
1) Good selection of Recent games
8) Sales
5) Competitions

5.Does buying games in a store take prefrence over buying games online?

Amazon have never been out done, except maybe by other online stores. Cheaper price, less hassle, arrives at my doorstep. You do the math.

6.Please mention some of the things you dislike about the video game retailers that your visit mostly

Staff sometimes don't know what they're on about, give bad service, Gamecube section is over-shadowed by Xbox/PS2.

No one is willing to really help, or give advice. I can ask one person something, come back a day later and get completly different advice from a differet person from the same store.

7.How many games, on average would you buy a year? Where from, stores or Online retailers? Do you trades many in? Do you buy them at full price, or at discount?

I probably buy at least 20+ titles a year. I do trade a few games in, every now and then, and almost everything comes from online with discount. If I trade in, I trade in at a local game store

whats it for? I'll write some answers in a second..

Well, basically, me and my parents are seriously thinking of opening a videogames store and website.

See my response in the topic you made on Nintendo HQ, don't forget:
http://p067.ezboard.com/fnintendohq14987frm1.showMessage?topicID=3500.topic

Thanks beam!

Great to hear the opinion of a real gamer, not like the other hacks that've posted in my thread.

wow, thats awesome blizz. If you do end up doing this, I''ll be your first regular!

1.What are you looking for in a store that sells video games, and/or computer games?
I look for a good collection of up to date games. I rarely buy retro games, rarely buy preowned games. Ussually I end up buying the popular ones. Having demo stands in the store is something I find BRILLIANT about games stores. I often wait around at game stores while parents are shopping, I have a look around the store, play some games and often end up buying something.

2.How important to you is the looks and tidyness of a video game retailer?
the looks and tidyness of a videogame retailer are important to me. Especially good lighting and nice open space.

3.How important to you is the Friendliness and expertise of staff?
friendliness of staff is moderately important to me. Nowadays I don't ussually need expertise in staff but I used to when I was younger - I used to ask for advice and that sort of thing. Its common for me to see people unsure of what to buy and its nice for staff to be able to give advice and at least know what they're talking about. The most irritating thing is when staff generally make fun of your gaming decisions.

4.Please rate the following things in order of most to least important when you look for a video game retailer:

Looks
Good selection of Recent games
Availability of games
Friendliness and expertise of staff
Price
Sales
Competitions
Good selection of Retro/Older games

5.Does buying games in a store take prefrence over buying games online?
I've only bought a couple of games online in my life compared to about a hundred from stores.

6.Please mention some of the things you dislike about the video game retailers that your visit mostly
I really like the atmosphere of chaddy eb. I like the display games in most ebs as well. I love eb's 7 day guarentee but I rarely use it. (if that makes sense) I never go to david jones for games cause they're too expensive and the games section is too far away from the entry. I don't like Target cause their cube selection is to small. I hate all of the underground city type places cause the air quality is really poor and its really untidy.

7.How many games, on average would you buy a year? Where from, stores or Online retailers? Do you trades many in? Do you buy them at full price, or at discount?
I buy roughly 10 cube games, 10 pc games and 5 portable games per year. Around 1/3 of these are from EB 1/3 are from target/kmart/toysrus/similar and 1/3 are from others. I never trade games in. I buy about half of my games new and half after they drop in price.

7.And finally, give your opinion on trade in games, and, generally, anything preowned.
I almost always buy new games. I just prefer the feel of it. I don't really like knowing that someone else has played a game and possibly ruined it. I really hate knowing that the game might possibly be damaged. I never trade in games.

[ Edited by theduffman on 2005/5/15 21:25 ]

You are living my dream Blizz, hope everything turns out ace.

Epoch wrote: You are living my dream Blizz, hope everything turns out ace.

Thanks, nothing's certain yet, but, it does seem to be going all good!

As I said, I'll go into a bit more detail in a bit later.

You are living my dream Blizz, hope everything turns out ace.

Any way. After some more discussion with my parents, it looks set to be that for at least the first 6 months we will be an online only buisness. During that time we hope to build up enough contacts and know-how to begin thinking about finding a shopfront to rent.

1.What are you looking for in a store that sells video games, and/or computer games?
Cheap prices, large libraries or games and accessories, and all round ease of axcess.

2.How important to you is the looks and tidyness of a video game retailer?

Very important, if I have to search a great lengths for games, I am usually displeased

3.How important to you is the Friendliness and expertise of staff?

Staff should be required to offer assistance as well as balanced and informative opinions. They should be more interested in the customer than anything else. The customer should never be second place.

4.Please rate the following things in order of most to least important when you look for a video game retailer :

7. Looks
1. Price
5. Friendliness and expertise of staff
2. Availability of games
6. Good selection of Retro/Older games
3. Good selection of Recent games
4.Sales
8. Competitions

5.Does buying games in a store take preference over buying games online?

For those that are not computer literate, video game stores are very important as some dislike buying online, and it is not always genuinely safe. Although large online retailers are trust worthy, buying in store removes the middle man, which some greatly appreciate.

6.Please mention some of the things you dislike about the video game retailers that your visit mostly

The staff are not very helpful and do not always assist you when needed. Also they are really overcrowded and have small libraries of games as they try and cater for far too many things.

7.How many games, on average would you buy a year? Where from, stores or Online retailers? Do you trades many in? Do you buy them at full price, or at discount?

I buy about 12 games per year,

Wow. Some really varied answers here.

Wow. Some really varied answers here.

Good luck with it Blizzard, I always wanted to run a videogame store since reading http://www.actsofgord.com .

ROFL! thats brilliant! I just read the entry about intellectual osmosis here

and (on topic) so since you're going online first, that measn you're not going into a franchise eh? what're you calling the business?

Well, JUST provisional, one name we've thought of is... Zenith games?

What'dyall think?

Zenith games

I don't like it personally.. it seems very pretentious...

I think you should have a name which gives the idea of you being real gamers, and in touch with your customers.

A name means a lot.