Hobby Shops and Arcades

There's an old $Movie in my old town that shut down. I was thinking if I was able to buy the place to turn it into a retro arcade and hobby shop. Maybe even rent out some of the rooms for parties and what not.

Why is it a hard business to get into a hobby shop and or arcade? I've only seen maybe a handful of places make it work.

If I'm able to do this, what would I do to make it work Veeky Forums?

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because nobody goes to an arcade anymore this way they just play the game on their computer xbox ps etc so you're stuck selling a niche service to a customer base that will pirate everything possible before they pay for it

True, I was thinking this too. So what do you think of the eSport domes over in other major cities? Do you think that could work?

If theres clients for that niche. Its hard man, just dont go crazy

Don’t listen to the hater.

Get a beer liscence, start brewing some crap— I mean “craft” — beer and turn it into a brewery/arcade. Hipsters will eat this up.

Or fuck it, just sell beer that you buy.

Holy shit, this guy's got a good idea.

If you do end up buying it and need a website done hit me up, OP.

This. I went to a hipster arcade bar in Tulsa once. It was packed with people. Our childhood has become ironic kitch for young hipsters.

KEK this,
>Pizza
>Craft beer
>Arcade machines
>Pool tables

Before you knew it the place would be packed with soy boys looking to spend their money

You drink craft beer, vape, and have a groomed mustache, don't you OP?

I pretty much lived in arcades all of my early life. Don't do it user. Arcades are dead. It was painful, but I had to accept that. It could work still, but ONLY as a bar in a nightlife area of town. Then it works perfectly because it's fun, it's unique and normies feel comfortable bringing their girls because there's alchohol and an overall chad vibe.

Checked. Don't lie OP, tell the truth.

Cater to mtg players they are the only ones that will consistently need a public place to play

You better learn how to repair the games yourself, because they break down constantly. Other than that, it isn't a bad business model if you live in the right place with low rents and a large potential customer base.

more than likely what I would end up doing is going straight for social media. It's the fastest way. As much as websites are nice, lets be real here, facebook is free

No :(
Honestly, I hate beer.

>MTG players
>Public place
These guys are worse than bronies. I should know, I use to play MTG. These fucks are autistic as they get.

start small go big is what I'm thinking.

16BIT
1UP

LOOK IT UP
Arcade bars are killing it across the country. I've actually moved to an up and coming city to open one up myself. These guys pull in like 10gs a night

jesus
So paying the place off wouldn't be hard

Theres a bunch of these in New York City. Look up barcade. Bar is overpriced as hell but the business model is good.

It already exists, it's called Barcade. They wheel in a bunch of arcade games, charge an arm and a leg for beers and shitty tacos place is packed day in and day out.

my dad and I can cook really well
Doing the bar would be easy. I have a few friends who can cook amazingly too

>beer, pizza, and pub games is "soy" now
absolute state

LOL no. The concept we are opening up is similar with some tweaks.
a similar concept that I was doing business with(selling beer to) was doing 60k usd average on a Friday night. 70k on Saturdays.

What if I made it where my barcade or whatever had cosplay night? And if you come in with a cosplay, you get 20% off on anything in the store

weekday deal would be if you come in with "Nerd shirt" say like a GL shirt, Wonder Woman or a Nightwing shirt you get a % off

Better off with a retro arcade bar. Free games but you make all your money off selling snacks, meals, beer etc

Of course. You constantly have different theme nights: cosplay, trivia, arcade tournaments... anything to build a community of regulars to help you get through that tough first year.

Awesome, I was hoping not to sound too much like a tard at the idea of Naruto cosplays

Just know you are going to be putting in like 60-80 hour weeks the first few years, and restaurants/bars have a terrifying failure rate. Most do not make it through the first year. If you've never ran one, get a partner with experience.

I would get a feel for what people are playing in your area and cater to it. Do something different a few nights a week. Board games, lan set up for casual tournaments(fortnite, counterstrike, overwatch etc), magic the gathering. I'd have a few TVs set up for whatever big thing is streaming on twitch. You could throw on some cult classics in the day time.

Pay attention to the people coming in, if they're talking about a new board game or whatever tell em' you've got it on the way.

Make sure you nail the vibe of the place, the lighting is important and so is the decor. You can do whatever you like, a retro feel, cyber punk, eclectic whatever just make sure you do it right.

These places don't make money hand over fist but it's laid back. You're going to make money off of bull shit. So make sure you've got snacks, redbull fridge, a bunch of dumb shit like Pop figures and tee shirts. You could do BYOB after 8pm so you don't lose the teenager market.

Oh yeah thats what I was thinking. If anything, I would run it with my dad, he knows how to set things up and run them, he's just bad at managing the fund which is where I would come in. I'm OCD about my money when I have to be.

I have a general idea and if anything what I would do is not do the bar part for at least 6 months to know I have the right amount of customers before hand. Then expand.

You're not wrong with the idea of themed nights. Trivia etc. But be careful of stuff like cosplay. You're severely limiting your client base.
you want EVERYONE to come in, not just nerds. Normies make you money my friend. Don't alienate them.

>cult classics
>THE TWILIGHT ZONE
I'd always be playing awesome music, personally I'd be playing a lot of Synthwave from the Newretrowave channel on youtube, or Micheal Jackson

>BYOB
I don't know what this means

Of course not.
Normies would be there to go "dude this place is neat. What do you do here? Yugioh? I played that in Middle school! We through cards down on the table! We had no idea how to play lol"

Alcohol will actually make the bulk of your revenue, so I would at least start up having a few taps or bottles of local brews. The user who suggested pizza was on point too. Just having a pizza oven gives you lots of cooking options for a minimal initial investment. It's the easiest and least expensive way to get a restaurant up and going.

not a bad idea, however, this makes me wonder the idea of Papa Johns and Dominos, so as much as I like this idea, I would worry about the competiton in this market. However, if the market is alright and it's spaced out, it's not that big of a deal. If anything, being a Hobby Shop eatery only makes me wonder how many locals would be willing to be friendly

Food is large overhead and terrible ROI.
That's not even to mention health inspections.
Allow people to order in easily.
Taps/kegs have a much higher profit margin than beer. You can also put root beer etc on tap for non alcoholic options.

Oh, I agree. It just seemed like OP was set on having a food element to the place, and some towns/cities require places that serve alcohol to have food onsite. I just don't have any idea which part of the country he had in mind, so a conveyor pizza oven is the easiest way to get in-house food going: you can make pizza, sandwiches, nachos...

I don't think so, I think just a liquor licence

Alright I'll show you the location

yelp.com/biz/town-center-cinemas-lawrenceville

I use to go there as a kid with my sister to see movies.

They have I think 12 rooms.

And that's why you have a microwave in back with some fucking hot pockets. Couple packages of chips. There's ways around it.

I can't cheap on my customers, that's just not cool

Nice! That looks like a great space with lots of room. I'd imagine rents there are much more reasonable than where I live, so if you can swing it, best of luck to you!

I've seen places that do that, but shooting for a bit higher level of clientele can also yield good results too.

Nah man, you have easily accessible services to order take out. The cheap food is to cover your ass for health inspections.

I've seen a thousand places like this come and go. They are one of those things people go to once and then never again.

That's what I'm thinking. I figured the owner sold it off to the bank.

Buy Hot Pockets in bulk from Sams and then sell 1 for a buck.

also the best way to cook one is stabbing it about 3 times, then 2:30 in the microwabe

Soyboys hate beer, mate

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I will fuckin do it!

Actually, if I could get a "geek" bar off to work I would so let my staff dress up like they want, but I would say "dress in something that wont impede on your work"

And I'll put up a sign like in the last Batman TAS movie where "All the waitress' have the right to defend themselves"

You need to be in a country where everyone is so poor they can't afford a gaymen PC which is almost impossible now

>africa

LAN CAFE THAT SERVES ALCHOL

LAN "BAR"

RENT A COUCH CONSOLE BAR

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Call it "couch surfing"

Thought of something else, what if I did this all but also had a hotel attached to it?

as a semi-normie, I always prefer a standalone website to a facebook page. Having just a facebook page makes me feel like it's not genuine or might be sketchy.
Just being honest man, I miss arcades so I wish you the best of luck with this if you decide to go through with it.

did you check for any zoning issues? locals often have problems with arcades because of teenagers hanging around causing trouble, drugs, crime, etc.

Not yet, I will put it in my notes

Hnnng thigh highs

Please require them to wear thigh highs with little bows but anything they want after that, it'd be an interesting twist to the standard uniform.

dont do maid bars or any kind of "bikini" theme.. they have bikini espressos in seattle and desu nerds fucking stay away from them like the plague.. there is nothing more awkward than paying some bitch to make you coffee in her underwear

and then there are the vapid feminazis that will protest your business on social media

the only people that go to bikini theme businesses are super horny teenagers, and creepy mouth breathing old men.. you dont want those people at your place of business.. nerds, your core customer base, will feel awkward

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btw just to add, you can try to persuade some female employees to dress sexy but it has to feel natural and not creepy and you have to have some normally dressed females and males as well

basically the best is just individual hot cocktail waitresses.. you can tell which ones they are by investigating their social media and what they wear during the interview

also dont be a dick to your employees and dont be creepy either.. there is a way to try and get females to dress sexy without being a creep

yeah basically, I don't want people to be TOO cringy. That reminds me of an old place I use to goto
they had a sign on the door that said "Please put on deodorant and or shower before you come in"

The sad part is that the owner was getting sick of fat ass nerds coming in and running people off. I love TCGs as much as the next geek but god damn, is a shower that impossible for some people?

get some investors. sell them on a partnership with an emerging Augmented Reality/gametech firm. Have them foot many of the install costs. Figure out minigames and programme choice. wire your old arcade to the gills with emerging tech and invest adequately in security and insurance. new laser fag niche unlocked

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Suggestion for you OP, locally there is a VRcade that has popped up, and its actually become popular enough to open a multiple locations. You could still have the retro arcade cabinets, but I imagine the new VR craze would bring in allot more people who would otherwise give your business a pass.

I dunno how I feel about VR, It's not that I don't want it it's just I feel like VR is not going to be around for too long.

it’ll take time before implementation soaks in. in the meantime, please realise your idea is altogether retarded and that you should buy REQ.

oh yeah it really is but ever sense I was a child, I wanted to get into a business like this. Every hobby shop I goto, I feel at home for some reason.

REQ = ?

We finally have the tech for viable VR, it's here to stay this time and still on the lower end of the S curve

wrong
i'm not a hipster like the rest so i don't go for the craft beer but i go to the old north arcade in Columbus, OH at least once a month since it opened a few years ago

just fun to hang out and play games

I hope so, I just hope it's not another fad

if your love of the feel and the image truly gives you a compulsive happiness, you are well advised to its roots follow lest you gaze back upon the sum of your years in regret. However, this happiness must outweigh the crudest realities of not making rent or property taxes and shuttering due to a failure in your plan. Select well your clientele and find the most prosperous models to develop your own special touch.
But brick and mortar is dead. Walk awry one step and you will to pink wojacks succumb

What novel did you walk out of?
but I get your point

I talk to shop owners a lot of times and they say their biggest downfall is trying to find more people, right area and figuring out what sells. I mean, shit I'm a geek, I know what normies like and I know what the nerds like. I dont want to go to big and then fail, but I dont want to go to little and not have enough

When starting a brick and mortar business the most important part of it is location. Does your old town have the population and age demographics to possibly support this business?

Also this business idea is incredibly niche, the only way I could see it working is if you applied for a liquor license and turned it into one of those trendy hipster places targeted at 18-30 year olds, which also means don't put all your eggs into arcade games and maybe include live music.

I love arcades too and hope this works out for you, it is a tempting idea when combined with a bar. When you guys say arcade machines do you guys just keen super retro shit? Where I live there is one of these and they seriously only have a few super old arcade games. Would newer ones even be worth it? Probably not, seems like the hipster homos only enjoy super old stuff. Would be sweet to have new arcade machines but I doubt worth it

>As much as websites are nice, lets be real here, facebook is free
gonna need a social media manager and marketer though. I do that too

These places would be ok if everything you touch wasnt covered in the grease of 10,000 neets

Yeah, I'm not sure what I'm doing atm, everything is brainstorming right now

I run 2 pages right now for fun, I have a personal blog and then a meme like page. I would get more hits if I paid for advertising but I am broke also it's not that important.


omg thank you user

Literally just went to a place like this last week called "Cidercade" and they sold homemade hard cider. I'm not a big cider guy but that shit was actually delicious and I got pretty hammered and played arcade games.

I would go to arcade to play classics like this.

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>barcade

their website is shit. Thanks user, I'm gonna hit them up

You can buy some old machines, (warning: you need a good repairman to fix them every now and then, there was a corner of a barcade I've gone to that had a bunch of broken machines waiting for repairs all the time). Or rent machines from a company and they supply a repairman or do a combo of both.

Games should be anything from skeeball to pinball to galaga to time crisis and shit like that.

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>Why is it a hard business to get into a hobby shop and or arcade?
Niggers. I hate to sound racist, but that's what killed malls and killed arcades. Malls are alive and well in countries that don't have niggers. Arcade scenes are also the same.

Ways to avoid the niggers to make it an entrance fee. If you want to make it a hobby shop then you need to be keen on removing people for just taking up space.

>Niggers. I hate to sound racist, but that's what killed malls
Oh God, you're so right. Every time I go to a mall now I feel nothing but anger. They consist of nothing but minorities swaggering around and oggling at the 16-year-old mixed-race whores in skin-tight leggings

fuck

But pins does 100x the money as old north.

hello Dallas friend. Cidercade is the place I was referencing when I replied to OP.

I feel this, I've watched my malls turn from mostly white, clean, fun places with lots of activities into slices of nigeria and India with a side of niggerville, all the activities are closed and barren, and there's garbage and petty theft everywhere. They're a plague.

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Look up Ground Kontrol in Portland, Oregon. It’s what you’re describing and is slammed with customers all the time

Hobby store where you sell TCG's and miniatures and such needs to be in a white neighborhood or at least in well-off neighborhoods. Your customer base is there. Where I live in LA county two popular ones are in Manhattan Beach and Pasadena. Your profit margins are going to be razor thin to begin with. Minorities tend to see hobby stuff as gay shit and when did you ever see a brother in a store to buy Arkham Horror?

Thats not entirely true. Interactive games that require expensive equipment is not pirate friendly. Games like ddr, in the groove, and pump it up ate exsmples of games tgat oeopke need an arcade to play correctly. Arcades in japan are doing really well because of this.

i know it all too well user

:(

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Aka dave and busters