[Bruce Abbott]

Originally Posted by JonSick

If you wanted to run a totally retro physical store, given your outgoings your customers will have to pay more than the online prices to keep you running.

There's a computer shop here that sells and services second hand PCs. If it was my shop I would keep the PC side but also go truly retro - buying, selling and servicing vintage home computers and importing the latest stuff for retro machines, as well as making and selling my own hardware. I would also start up a retro computer club to get local people interested. I bet I could make a living out of it and have lots of fun in the process - just like I did in the old days.

Which brings to mind, what would you sell? For current generation consoles, the manufacturers and marketers will have stipulations on how their displays look and where they are placed in stores.

Really? Nobody ever told me what I could put where in my store. That might even be illegal in New Zealand (a washing machine manufacturer here got prosecuted for stipulating that other brands not be displayed alongside theirs).

Given they are your bread and butter, you have to accommodate them no matter what.

Current generation consoles my 'bread and butter'? I only know one person with anything close to a 'current' games console, and that's me with an ancient PlayStation 2 (that I never use myself but loan out to friends occasionally). Why would I want them in a retro store?

That pretty much relegates your retro gallery to the back of the store. Given they are retro, chances are they will be packaging-less and nowhere near as pretty as the shiny new PS5 in its blinky lightly glorious display case. That and you have to charge a premium for them in order to justify their shelf space.

No, you have it all wrong. Retro enthusiasts aren't interested in shiny new stuff, they want old stuff - the older and rarer the better. I would have rare machines displayed in the window running demos, with ludicrous price tags on them. Inside the store there would be piles of old computer junk that customers can pick through to get bits they want, towards the back neatly displayed boxes in pristine condition for the 'collectors', and out the back a large workshop that trusted customers can make use of for a fee. The store would also double as a venue for club meetings after hours (there's a hobby shop here that does that for wargaming enthusiasts).

But why would people come into my store rather just buying stuff online and doing it at home? For the backup service, the expertise and the facilities, the hands-on experience, the social interaction and just to be a part of something. All things that 'brick-and-mortor' stores excel at compared to online operations (though of course I would have a website too).

And then you have the tat. While you can decided you only want to stock games and games galore, a lot of modern companies will impress on you that you will indeed need to stock total tat front and centre. That's silly keyrings, terrible funko pop things and god knows what else. All valuable shelf space, but demanded by your console overlords if you want to remain a dealer.

Screw modern companies - they can try to sell their crap in department stores or online. I want no part of it - nor the customers it would attract.

My goal would be to bring back computing as a hobby, like it was in the 80's and 90's. There is a huge resurgence of interest in what is now called 'retro' computing because people enjoy it just as much today as they did back then - though many don't know it because the modern generation hasn't been exposed to it yet. Now this might only be a niche market, but it always was. And just like back then you don't need a megastore selling millions of units to make a viable business out of it.