Interviewing a retro game store owner. Is it worth it to open a store??

[@mauryj.3415]

I appreciate these folk keeping physical stores open

[@ajtstvandmusicarchivechann1585]

In regards to making the customer feel good. I agree. A local shop once gifted me a complete in box psp. It was a birthday present. I shopped with them for years prior. To this day i remember that gesture and continue to shop online with them and even call them up a few times a month to buy from them despite living over 6 hours away from them.

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Gotta love those moments!

[@glikky]

That’s wholesome asf

[@Daniel-it1dp]

And my local retro shop wouldn’t even let me test a game I was getting there in their display system. They just told me I have 7 days to test it and bring it back if it doesn’t work. Not everyone has the time to do that and make a special trip back across town if there’s a problem. They’re only in business to this day because they’re really the only retro shop in Austin.

[@oscaroscar7904]

Yeah i agree making the consumer feeling good and also liking diffrent kinds of people and being welcoming and to me being optemisticly honest, meaning if you have time talking to them about there intrest and what they like and also life in general, but i think that is diffrent from person to person, but i can tell you i listened to a podcast were it was some store for comics or whatever and there was this friendly maybe honest but kind enough guy who recomended something and also said what he meant but was not aggresive or rude but maybd no bu..hit at times and was welcoming, i prefer those types of people over this other guy who always told customers if they liked something and just said " i like it to.." which he dident, it worked for the majority of people but i dont like that sort of service if its these sort of cozy stores since i sort of see through it every time and never buy anything but if they guy like this guy over me said is authentic and welcoming and kind and is himself in a optemistic way then youv got a long term customer at least thats how it works for me with stores like this, if its a supermarket its a totally diffrent thing of course

[@IronWolf277]

This guy is 100% right, you gotta treat your customers well, otherwise they won't come back. No one wants to leave a store feeling like they got ripped off!

[@kilkennybrian914]

I'm a frequent customer of Mike and his two stores. He's awesome. Genuine, smart, and a joy to be around. Not a bad word to say.

[@DoshiGotDeals]

For sure! That’s the homie 🙌🏽

[@WARsportsWA]

You guys are real that’s what’s up

[@TIDbitRETRO]

A store owner actually having a passion for the hobby goes a long way. I have two retro stores near me. One of them the owner is a guy who genuinely loves games. The other is a guy who looks like he wants to hang himself as soon as he sees a customer. The passionate guy’s store gets great business, whereas the curmudgeon’s store is often a ghost town.

[@marccaselle8108]

Where I live there is one retro game store. However, the oldest games they carry are Nintendo, no Atari, no colecovision, and no intellivision. I have a intellivision but I have to get all my intellivision games via eBay.

[@psccomputersmissouri]

The Store Owner seems like a Good Person. Hope he only does the Very Best. Good Interview

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Thank you for watching!

[@jonathanr1992]

That's what I call "retro heaven". ❤

[@chocosmoke0208]

This was very interesting. Thank you Gentlemen. The Retro community appreciates what you guys do , take care.

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Thank you for watching! 🙌🏽

[@Realizationatalltimehigh]

I like store owners like him he is amazing. Great interview by the way and i subbed.

[@DoshiGotDeals]

I appreciate you!

[@jonathanr1992]

No other feeling can compete to playing a video game you haven't played in 15-20 years ago. NStalga at its FiNesT.

[@IamLegend32]

Great video bro and you asked some good questions. And nice of the owner to be so open and honest! Seems like a good dude. If I lived in the area, I'd definitely support. I wish continued success to the both of you!

[@DoshiGotDeals]

I appreciate that! He didn’t know anything I was going to ask and there weren’t any cuts so those answers were definitely genuine 🙌🏽

[@eaglesnphillies13]

My brother this is an impressive interview. I hope your channel grows

[@DoshiGotDeals]

I appreciate you brother 🙌🏽 can’t wait to show everyone what we can do

[@malcolmar]

Great interview. Thank you for showing independent show owners like Mike some love. You can tell he is passionate about video games and cares about doing right by the costumer. In a time when corporate companies are pushing digital and in the case of Sony and some of their digital movies, they tell you you don't own them at all and can remove them even after you paid for them, I believe retro game stores and physical media are going to be even more important going forward. Keep up the great work. Subscribed!

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Thank you so much! I appreciate you

[@wesblakely9990]

Great interview! Makes me wanna open a physical location asap. Been selling online for over a decade and like he said its a headache and people are awful on there. Ive done it so long ive learned how to trick ebay into letting me win almost every appeal i make when a customer is being a jerk. That is not a skill i want to have. I hate ebay so much

[@GodyP]

GameStop is definitely soulless now

[@bakaneiro]

Great interview. Hope to go to your shop one day when I go to NY. Cheers from Portugal!

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Thanks for watching!

[@Swamp-Bat]

Loved this video. This guy is definitely inspiring for collectors like me who want to branch out into selling.

[@boboscar99]

Great video and you seem like one of the most fair business men I have seen in quite some time, good on you brother and hope all stays going well for you. Thank you for sharing and being honest.

[@DoshiGotDeals]

I appreciate this a lot brother thank you. Hopefully you’ll really enjoy the videos in the future 🙏🏽 nothing but genuine honest content

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

I recommend putting the store name in the title of the video so those looking for info or reviews can find your video. Seeing the attitude of the owner even before stepping foot in the store is a big plus for a prospective customer.

[@DoshiGotDeals]

His store name is in the description 🙌🏽 rather keep the titles a bit more general to be honest

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

@@DoshiGotDealsI'm just saying that it would help get the word out about his store, since it would be google-able.

[@ajay_tejwani]

Thank you for making this video!. Great questions, very interesting and shop owner was awesome. Keep up the good work!

[@DoshiGotDeals]

I appreciate you! Thank you

[@Leny1777]

This is exactly the type of store I want to open.

[@mattm7798]

Alot of these hobby turned business shops require you to take off your hobby hat and put on a business hat. I think the one thing a hobby->business shop should do is emphasize the experience of a physical store. It you want rock bottom prices, you can find that on the internet. The appeal of a pysical shop is the feeling of going there. In this case, being retro, lean into that. Make the customer feel like they are back in the 0s and 90s. Sell the experience, and they will willingly pay more people of that experience.

[@RetroSho]

Legit interview! Shoutouts from upstate NY!

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Thank you for watching!

[@heartbreakiid687]

Respect to the big homie love the grind respect he has for his employees, customers and love of gaming 🙌

[@jamescardella2133]

What an awesome video/interview. I am from upstate New York. I used to have such a passion for collecting retro games because it brought me back to when I was a kid and remembering the great times I had with my friends during the simple times. I am really thinking about getting back into it.

[@stankwho]

Wow great interview! Mike seems like a genuine dude. Really good insight 👍

[@redcrimson1028]

Pandemic was the best to have a gamestore. Thats when me and everybody else was buying lots of games to play in the house. Makes sense.

[@airhawaii23]

Good stuff right here! Just soaking up game

[@Anobodythatgames]

Great interview! Great watch

[@olw4196]

Much respect to business owners. I'm in queens. I'm coming up to Yonkers to visit and buy :)

[@kerryoaki8681]

Great video. Inspires all!

[@GeorgesChannel]

Great video and interview! Keep it up!

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Thank you my brother 🙏🏽

[@chrisb6079]

nice interview, good questions and spot on responses.

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Thanks for watching! He had no clue what I was going to ask either so you know those were some genuine responses 🙌🏽

[@budgetking2591]

Saw a few retrostores and what surprised me is none of them are selling the handheld emulators, theres a huge demand for these things, it would attract a lot of customers i think.

[@martinlaoshi]

If your core business is selling retrogames then it makes very little business sense to sell emulators.

[@countrickter]

there you go doshi! keep doing stuff like this on the side every now and then. We love it. congrats on bringing in new people. The owner was cool Af makes me want to slide through from BK to check em out. great video all around

[@DoshiGotDeals]

I appreciate you a lot brother 🙏🏽 really means a lot!

[@jadude119]

This is such an AMAZING interview. This is such GREAT insight into the retro world behind the scenes - Wonderful job man! Like the no profanities too. Just subbed!

[@DoshiGotDeals]

I appreciate you! Want to make the channel as PG as possible. 🙌🏽

[@dariancanales3797]

This shit is awesome man. Keep making great content man you’re ⬆️

[@Katwoman4318]

This was great. Best of Luck!

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Thank you so much 🙏🏽

[@1977Eelco]

Very informative video. Like it a lot! :)

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Thank you so much! 🙏🏽 glad to know it’s worth the watch

[@XenoxGOWGODOFWINTER]

Good point, we have all went to a Gamstop and asked for a Super Nintendo.

[@atlanta78922]

Great interview bro, you’re a natural

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Thank you bro! That means a lot

[@Leny1777]

The smartest thing is to collect in your teens and buy 2 or 3 copies of each game and keep 2 for yourself. So in 10 to 20 years when you decide to open you already have a bunch of merchandise.

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

That requires a lot of capitol. New games are $60+. Maybe if you buy on clearance, that would help. Besides money, space is also a resource. You have to think about storage to preserve condition and also consider that you will probably move when you are not a kid.

[@kevinnguyen3389]

I love checking out local game stores. I like how they sell retro games, unlike GameStop, and I try to support local as much as possible. I usually get amazing service at local stores and I just love being able to see the variety that they have

[@rayojordan2838]

Game stop does sell retro games but only online unfortunately it would be nice to have that lay out however GameStop is a corporation and not a mom and or dad stop shop …

[@kevinnguyen3389]

@@rayojordan2838 I forgot about that. Might be a US thing though because I haven't seen it in Canada yet

[@tropicalbeach9225]

This was a great interview and appreciate the business owner taking the time to answer all the questions and talk with the host. The truth is retro gaming and small game shops will probably end up dying and going out ( just like the gentleman said gamestop will eventually go out of business). You do have to acknowledge the fact that too many retro games or many games in general are becoming too rare, too expensive, too old, many of the games don’t even work anymore and are somewhat deteriorating ( such as NES, Atari, Sega Master system). So, this is where digital has its advantage because you are able to preserve, protect, and pass down the games generation through generation. However, look at a retro game like NES, mastersystem, and Atari ( we are in the year 2024). Do you think the physical copies of these games will still work like 20-40 years from now? I am a big skeptical because it may be too old.Emulation has its advantages because you can play any game or expensive and rare games without worrying about the cost. For example, if I want to play PS2 game Rule of rose; I can play it for free on emulation, but if I want to buy it; then a copy of the game could cost me close to $1000 just to play a game. Also another issue is that gaming has turned more into collecting rather than just casual gaming and playing because most people buying retro games now are just collectors. Plus everyone is not rich,

[@user-tu7ro6fp6v]

This video helped me. Thanks for your time.✌️

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Glad to hear it!

[@SUCKAFREE830]

Our store has been open for almost a year and it’s booming but I also love making my customers happy. Even if I have to sell some of my personal items from my collection.

[@justaregulargamer1860]

This is such a fantastic video and what a great business owner. I hope his business continues to grow, these places are so rare now here in the UK.

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Thank you so much! 🙏🏽

[@supersmallchibiwolf872]

When I am around the area I love traveling to Retro X Change 1 and 2. I always find at least 1 great game in both stores on my list for a great price. Mike and his staff are amazing and always go beyond to help customers like me and I really love and appreciate that. We even recognize each other and go into conversations every time is a great time. They know me so well last time was funny a employee I forget names but he is a amazing guy he says something like What's up I'll take these customers first real quick because I know for sure I need some time with you. I love that they know exactly what type of customers they have and remember what stuff they love and in what condition and they tend to take the time to clean and test games right then and there going beyond. I never have a issue with Retro X Change like I have had with other stores unfortunately. Someone once told me in a retro store Earth Bound for the Super Nintendo cartridge only is $ 1,000.00 + and that's the best offer he can do I laughed but ended up getting a deal on 2 or 3 other games. But I don't go to that place anymore and avoid it. This was amazing. Cool video. ^_^

[@DoshiGotDeals]

I appreciate you sharing your experience! I’ll make sure Mike sees this next time I see him. Thanks for watching 🙌🏽

[@supersmallchibiwolf872]

@@DoshiGotDeals You're welcome. ^_^

[@Lowie81]

If emulation didn’t exist it would be a gold mine!

[@thebipolarbear1]

That's cool man best of luck to that gentleman retro game stores rule

[@Level-Mind]

It's warming to see appreciation of the old games. We know quality when we see it. Shame that physical copies are fading in new games.

[@Guns7469]

Great job interviewing

[@DoshiGotDeals]

I appreciate you!

[@X862go]

NICE!

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Appreciate you 🙏🏽

[@A.I.Friends]

Gamestop and Babbages, etc. were great back in the day.

[@lordlord9797]

i remember a huge stack of those earthbounds in clearance for 10 bucks each at walmart. if only had some hindsight

[@ChickenMcThiccken]

difficult now? sure. because many of us 80's kids are now in their 40's. the 30 year olds have bought consoles as well. the 10 and 20 year olds don't have money yet. by 2030; a new "renewal" will occur but this time; the prices of these consoles will be worth even more due to less supply.

[@trailervert]

I really miss our local game store, in Augusta Maine, It closed during covid. It was a great place to hangout. Im glad to see there are still cool spots out there.

[@thegerm574]

I had a bad experience with Mike. I drove from Poughkeepsie NY to try to complete my Wii U collection. I walked in his store and was impressed with the inventory. Picked out a bunch of Wii U games out of a case all the games were priced. As his employee brought them to the register he started changing the prices. I didn’t end up buying any of the games and wouldn’t come back. Hopefully that’s not a common thing there but that was my personal experience. Hopefully that doesn’t happen often.

[@geekworlduk1]

We are opening a shop in the UK soon ourselves. Here is the answer to how do you describe your shop "The Home Of Everything You Love".

[@MikeDavewhatup]

This was great

[@punctuationgamer636]

I’m so sad y’all the local store I had closed. As a high school kid I always dreamt of going there for the old games and to explore their inventory but I didn’t have a lot of money and my dad was an asshole to say the least. Video games were gift from family members and a way for me to escape the hate and neglect from my dad. I wasn’t able to visit the store in person until I was 27 and I could drive there. I would go with my wife and daughter, the people there were always nice and would either share info about the games or recommend other things. RIP to Pandora’s Cube in MD college park I know we will all miss that place.

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Hopefully a legend will open up another in time brother. Glad you had an outlet 🙏🏽

[@omgitsmario7]

Retro stores do well when its not your average retro collector. They actually dont like collectors because most retro game collectors are cheap and picky. Whenever i go to a retro store I always haggle and check my phone for prices

[@cosmicsvids]

Problem is these old games cost more then new ones due to supply and demand it's better to just emulate or mod the console if you can because of that. I would buy a whole lot of retro stuff if it was cheaper then the new stuff.

[@omgitsmario7]

@@cosmicsvids i stop buyinh retro emulating has gotten better

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

You can find some very rare items at physical stores vs what you may find online. Some, miraculously, don't list online, like this seller. While the majority of what you may see is market rate, you may find deals at physical stores because of how they update prices. It's still very worthwhile stopping into game stores even whether you emulate.

[@LidiaVTuber]

The intro has greaqt cinematography

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Thank you so much! Plenty more to come 🙏🏽 check out my latest video

[@IamMarkSmith]

His Xbox games are just sitting? I’m shooting over for a visit from CT. Nice interview. Happy New Year.

[@DoshiGotDeals]

He has an amazing selection!

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Thank you so much happy new year!

[@IamMarkSmith]

@@DoshiGotDeals you’re welcome!

[@JoshuaFreakyVenomFan]

I love my Xbox Series X, and I can still play my original Xbox games, and 360 titles. I don't understand the negativity about the platform, lol. I also enjoy my PS5.

[@necrosadotor]

yeah i'm not into modern gaming, but sometimes i find some cool retro gaming/whatever merch from these places

[@ignaciogodoy7095]

If you first location is doing great, never ever open a second store, because the first one is gonna to pay expenses of the floppy one

[@Neo666233]

Great question…

[@DoshiGotDeals]

I appreciate you

[@thepickinpreacher]

Ebay has changed.. I very RARELY face any issues.

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

Not if you're a seller. Not if you're moving hundreds or thousands of merch enough - enough to pay rent / mortgage and cost to run the business. Maybe you encounter less issues as a seller if you only sell a few hundred things per year.

[@thepickinpreacher]

@@WhatsOnMyShelf I sell a minimum of 10 per day so thats at least 70 a week. right now my average for every 3 months is 600. I do this full time so no I do not face that problem and most of my friends that sell WAYYY MORE than me say the exact same thing

[@thepickinpreacher]

@@WhatsOnMyShelf I mean I literally am a full time reseller. I dont have another job

[@real_shootr]

Of course it’s worth it if you can’t sell in store you sell online and you sleep in the back retail rent is cheaper then residential it’s a win-win

[@_BELMONT_]

i like your style man. earned a sub from me. i think they algorithm is picking you up

[@DoshiGotDeals]

I appreciate you!

[@ignaciogodoy7095]

A physical store can be a online store as well

[@alva909]

Great interview!

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Thank you so much!

[@dantemiranda1727]

awesome video bro, saludos desde Mexico City

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Thank you for watching!

[@epicman5324]

He really doesn't have a sign on his store I just searched it on google maps

[@KelpPardue]

Great video! What’s the address of this store? I’d like to stroll in

[@DoshiGotDeals]

All the info is towards the last minute of the video 🙌🏽

[@TheCosmic64]

just went there today …i rather support this store then gamestop…havnt been to a gamestop in years a store like this is better feels more game comfortable…Surprised gamestop is still around …

[@IceBreakBottle]

Bro you split mic audios left and right. You got the right dude speaking on the left speaker and yourself, speaking on the right. No need to split the audio my guy, just have it coming out of bother L and R. These things are important with production quality and determines if someone watches your channel or someone elses.. Just giving you a tip :)

[@IceBreakBottle]

Great interview BTW.

[@DoshiGotDeals]

I appreciate that advice!

[@mal2petify]

Great video and dope ass jacket!

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Thank you bro!

[@E-Z_Gamerz]

In more time, all retro stores will have everything that’s out there. It will be museums rather than gamestores.

[@ChristianAVS]

Insightful , thanks

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Appreciate you for watching!

[@luisrodriguez-mi8sr]

Nice store with good selection hope is not like the first store where nothing has a tag price then look online for a price.

[@deancolbird2240]

its my dream to open a store.

[@user-uh9uf2se2p]

Do more videos like this bro

[@DoshiGotDeals]

Oh wait til we go to NYC’s most expensive game store 🤩

[@ScaryClown338]

Retro X Change the store that doesn't have price tags on their products. lol. Whenever you see a small business that does that it's a giant red flag especially in NY-why are they keeping the price from me? I wonder... it's a huge red flag that tells you there's a reason why they don't want to show the prices- so you don't look them up yourself and compare and two and so they can change them on the fly if need be. It also shows a lack of trust between the business and the customers and I prefer to give my money to people who treat customers like adults not fairy land where prices don't matter. Sure there's people for whom it's not important and can get past that but I think that's the minority and has always been because price has always been the biggest determining factor when purchasing a product for consumers. Also has a great 4.4/5.0 star google review with plenty of upvoted negative reviews mentioning this very issue for those who might think I'm alone with this concern.

[@Joelda23]

Fuck this store owner. I was there with him from the start and he told me to never come to his store because I backed out of a deal he lowballed me on

[@PlutoNycc]

this is false my uncle doesn’t put prices because they constantly fluctuate up and down in price so yeah think b4 you write👍

[@Joelda23]

@@PlutoNycc that’s not a good business practice wtf. Plus he looks up eBay prices and adds 20%. Tell him about Joel, he knows about me. Plus he bragged about buying cheap games from a women who son passed away. Screw your uncle

[@MrLops914]

Another reason He has no prices is because he’s open to a good bargain. So stop spreading negativity there’s a reason he’s got TWO stores.

[@Joelda23]

@@MrLops914 that’s cap. I was with him since the beginning bro.

[@JessPlaysStuff]

❤❤❤❤❤ I wish this guy had a shop in Manchester UK solid dude ! ❤❤❤❤❤ ❤❤❤❤ That's how retail should be ❤❤❤❤❤ love you guys ! Now people are lazy and don't seem to care sadly ❤❤❤ you give what you get peeps ❤❤❤❤

[@DoshiGotDeals]

This means a lot thank you for watching all the way from UK! 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@JessPlaysStuff]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ your welcome great video ❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@daveclosinger6697]

You could have mixed the audio channels better bro, only one ear at a time is currently enjoying the video

[@IISourAyyII]

shout out to my NY ninjas

[@ajtgamecore1765]

Madden 05 is a seller!!

[@byjacobc1880]

is it youst me or did that ring noise scare you to. its midnight here tought someone rang on the door lol

[@lululu7681]

yo man i like to play video games too!!

[@iamkakashi20]

i have no retro game store in my area. our walmart is gonna stop selling pysical games on xbox sieres X, digital is taken over. i like pysical better. it was fun to get out of the house and go drive to town that is a 30min drive just to go buy a new game. now today we just sit on our conch and just download our games at home and still be a house cat. it was fun to pre order pysical games. go to the store for midnight releese. now we can pre order games digital and play em right away on midnight releese. now that we have fast internet in my area with 1GB upload and download speed i can just buy my game and download it fast. the only bad thing about digital is we won.t own forever. the compney can just remove our games at will. there is a retro store in my provinces but its a 4 hour drive. it could cost me to gas up full tank for there and back.

[@caseystrange]

Retro game store owners made me take a different set of eyes on the value of games in general. They tend to low ball everybody and sell very high. I'm destroying my games when I no longer have use for them. They were mass produced anyway and have been preserved. Take away the $$ signs and it's only worth what you make of it.

[@cv643d]

Bro, I will move to the US of A and open up a chain of stores around this bro, will bring my collection of sports games to the store and looking for making my first million dollars bro

[@ericmartin5001]

Video game online piracy (illegal downloads) and illegal distribution through unauthorized consoles are also killing these video game store / shops who are just doing it right. Big video game developers and corp should not stop being resilient

[@JRChuxx]

So this generation will have digital retro stores in the next 20yrs?🤔💭

[@Mr.Persia958]

That earthbound won’t last now. This video is gonna get a buyer for sure

[@DoshiGotDeals]

I hope so I wanna see homie win 🙏🏽

[@joelarc7635]

What he said about Ebay is true. Ebay most of the time sides with the buyers.

[@oscarhernandezist]

What a cool video and humble business owner 🤘💯🙌

[@_BASIC_INSTINCT]

good time to collect for xbox tbh