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| Jeff AMN:
--- Quote from: ratzz on September 11, 2007, 06:10:21 pm ---I think you need to look at this the other way round. instead of thinking of an arcade and what else you could do with it, you need to think of a good well established business idea that would have a better chance of working and build an arcade in it. I would love to own an arcade, but the now grown up business owner thinks it probably wouldn't work. Very sad ... :-[ --- End quote --- This is true. A media-focused store (books, CDs, DVDs, games, etc.) with arcades near the entrance would probably net you more coins in the ol' bucket rather than a dedicated arcade. Nowadays people are fine dropping in a couple of quarters into an arcade that they come across rather than seeking out a dedicated arcade. I know a local pizza place still rakes in a few hundred dollars a month on their Asteroids, Area 51, and Flash Gordon pinball machines. Not too shabby for some machines sitting in a corner by the tables. |
| 88mph:
I will agree with the sentiments of the other posters here.. Arcades (these days anyway) work best as an add on (parasite?) to an existing business. In New Haven, several years back there was a very nice retro-80s arcade in the back of Cutler's Music. (They sold mostly records and CDs.) The arcade was all in a line on the back wall, so if you were playing their TRON machine or whatever, it had the feel of an 80s arcade. It was great. Then, the college that owned the store decided to move Cutler's to a smaller venue. They also decided that the arcade machines brought in a 'bad element', so they removed the arcade. But, the guy who owned the arcade machines slowly added a few back to the new space, but it never had the same splendor as before. It's a shame really--whenever I saw people playing the games in the original store (which was admittedly rare), it was usually 30 somethings with their little kids, not this mysterious 'bad element'. Ah well--it was fun while it lasted. I just moved and saw a sign for a video store/arcade--but the place was empty. Guess I just missed it! |
| spacies:
Great idea tagging it to another business. But I think a corporate hire instead of quarters would be a sure way to get a few extra dollars from a private collection. I build and sell Arcade machines so mine will be basically a showroom for hire and if you like the machines, I deliver the next day. |
| SavannahLion:
--- Quote from: Ken Layton on September 11, 2007, 06:07:34 pm ---In order to stay open today you must have a cheap rent building, be able to repair the machines yourself, buy the machines cheap, and have food sales as a hook to keep the customers there. --- End quote --- I think that's the rub there. You can't find a place with low enough rent in a high enough traffic area. In my city, I can name off at least a dozen places with really cheap rent that an arcade can move into. A couple of them are in some really old parts of town (ie tourist traps). Are any of these places ideal enough to attract the kind and type of business a place like that needs to survive? Absolutely not. I think people just have to come to terms that the 80's arcade is a dead species. Yes, there are few exceptions of successfully operating arcades, but the idea of dropping .25 or more a play, even to the 80's generation really doesn't sit well with most people. And I can't imagine people in many areas accepting the idea of paying a flat fee to play on a regular enough basis to justify operations. Corporate hires? An interesting possibility. Like vacuum tube radios, LP jukeboxes, and old letters, I think Arcade cabinets true means of survival lay in the hands of earnest private collectors willing to maintain the integrity of the hardware. Japan is still a hot bed of arcades, maybe someday that interest will spread through the West again. Who knows? |
| RayB:
I read somewhere... someone was making the point that in the 80's the "50's diner" made a come-back as a viable novelty business, so why not an 80's arcade now? Welp, I'll answer his question... FOOD is a high-margin product, which EVERYONE needs and wants. So a 50's diner, appeals to everyone, of any age (not just old people who were teens in the 1950's). I don't go to a 50's diner for the cheesy music. I go for a good burger. An arcade though... you have expensive machines to run, maintain, and the profit margin... well, 25c is nothing. You're better off charging a single admission per person so you at least make a minimum $5-$10 off them. But still.. seems like there are greater challenges in attracting people and getting them to spend money in that type of business. |
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