Looking to Start a Computer Repair/ Arcade Buisness

**Bobby718** · 01-15-2008 12:26 AM

Im looking to start up a Computer Repair+ Maintenance/ Arcade Store in New York City. Im currently a Freshman at Brooklyn College, so probably a few months after college. Im a Computer Science Major, and personally believe I'm pretty good with computers, i have built my own computers,etc. I was wondering basically how i can start this up and hope to make money off it and maybe even become rich. Im looking to do this together with a friend who is a Business Major.

**rogercbryan** · 01-15-2008 09:40 AM

Before you start using the word rich try writing a business plan. I know retail space can be expensive in NYC. I’m also a little concerned about the repair shop / arcade idea. It may be a negative to combine the two. They clientele that you would need to run each successfully seem to not blend well. This is my opinion and I’m open to criticism on this. If my lap top crashed I would be more likely to take it to someone who specializes in computer repair then I would be to take it some place where people are playing video games.

If you have to pick one of the ideas which would it be? Would you open a repair shop or an arcade?

**akula** · 01-15-2008 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by Bobby718

Im looking to start up a Computer Repair+ Maintenance/ Arcade Store in New York City. Im currently a Freshman at Brooklyn College, so probably a few months after college. Im a Computer Science Major, and personally believe I'm pretty good with computers, i have built my own computers,etc. I was wondering basically how i can start this up and hope to make money off it and maybe even become rich. Im looking to do this together with a friend who is a Business Major.

like rog said, the 1st (of 4) steps is opportunity selection
it's premature for you to settle on "looking to start up a Computer Repair+ Maintenance/ Arcade Store"

the only right time to settle on an opportunity is when you have confirmed customers waiting for your product. before this point what you have is only an idea..and those things are bad for health

**Bobby718** · 01-15-2008 04:03 PM

well Compute Repair,wound;t bring much business? I think. So if we combine the TWo, we can have buisness with arcade and fix computers also on the side. Like an internet gaming cafe. I am going to get C++ Certified so its going too go official, so we are going to speciaize with TWO difrrent kinds of clientele . Also we aren't talking about cheap arcade , it would be more of like a professional place

**rogercbryan** · 01-15-2008 04:13 PM

A common mistake made by startups is that they try to be everything to everyone. This rarely works. If you think the repair shop won’t bring much business why would you do it at all? You’ll need to put all your resources into one idea if you want to make it work to the best of its potential. Spreading yourself thin trying too much will only lead to headaches. This is just my opinion… good luck

**bryanG** · 01-15-2008 04:14 PM

I personally like the idea of instead of making the arcade the traditional arcade with standup style games, make it more of a LAN party type of place (Warcraft, Xbox Live, etc.). People usually bring their own Xbox's and laptops and whatnot to these places anyway. In other words, they are already there. If something on their laptop gets messed up or they want to upgrade before they play, it would be very profitable to sell the parts and services needed to perform the on-the-spot upgrades. This way you CAN blend the two clientele together.

**Bobby718** · 01-15-2008 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by bryanG

I personally like the idea of instead of making the arcade the traditional arcade with standup style games, make it more of a LAN party type of place (Warcraft, Xbox Live, etc.). People usually bring their own Xbox's and laptops and whatnot to these places anyway. In other words, they are already there. If something on their laptop gets messed up or they want to upgrade before they play, it would be very profitable to sell the parts and services needed to perform the on-the-spot upgrades. This way you CAN blend the two clientele together.

Yeah thats what we're looking to do. Like a Modern Professional Look.With Modern consoles hooked up to HDTVs and up-to-date computers. So normal people can play Crysis and such.

**stlsmoore** · 01-15-2008 07:06 PM

Yea a few of those type of deals opened up here in St. Louis. One was exactly what you were trying to do but it bombed pretty bad. The main reason being that it was in the worst location imaginable (behind a night club). So you literally had to drive around the back of the night club to even find it.

Another one has recently opened up being strictly a LAN party type of thing in a local area mall. They spent quite a penny on there hardware but I'm not sure how well they're doing. I just happened to stumble along and find it allllll the way in the back corner of the mall where no one goes. When I walk inside the guy said I was the first person to visit and they were open for a few days already.

Oh yea for the Computer Repair thing I've had my own business doing that for while. It will be extremely hard to become "rich" by just doing that mainly because you're offering just a service. Where you have to meet the customer and spend the time to fix the machine. It will take a long while to build up the client's but after that it you should be able to bring in a some what steady income. But you'll have to eventually hire a few other techs because you can only fix so many computers at a time per person. Time=Money clause lol

Best of Luck

**Bobby718** · 01-15-2008 07:37 PM

Thanks, thanks. What would the best possible way to somehow combine the two, or something in that area to generate the best possible income?? And i know Location , Location, Location. Looking to get it on a Main Street.

**GlobalITSolutions** · 01-15-2008 08:53 PM

That would be a tuff one. Your targeting two different demographics kids/young adults that want to play games and parents/college students that don't realy have time for games. I would sperate the two, but give a try it might work being a new concept.

**Bobby718** · 01-15-2008 08:57 PM

yeah we are looking to bring gaming too a mainstream audience and make competitions and whatever. We are looking to make it a more serious gaming place , not some bullshit arcade for little kids with quarters.

**Michael718** · 01-15-2008 09:18 PM

Hey i am the person who wishes to be his partner. What would be the average cost of a decent location in Brooklyn New York? Also how much would renovations cost for a decent size place? I really hope we can get something serious started and very business like. I do not want a place for 5 year old kids to put in quarters but a more serious place. Also how would i get a hold of whole sellers to purchase games or tv's in bulk?? Thanks alot i really appreciate it.

**stlsmoore** · 01-15-2008 09:56 PM

Originally Posted by Bobby718

yeah we are looking to bring gaming too a mainstream audience and make competitions and whatever. We are looking to make it a more serious gaming place , not some bullshit arcade for little kids with quarters.

Yea there is def. a lot of room for that niche for companies to jump in right now before it gets to hot. I did a little market research last year on it and I know one of the big players are MLG but they are more geared towards conventions and meets. I don't think anyone has really created any type of franchise with this idea yet but I could be dead wrong. One thought would be to open a few store fronts and then eventually meet with the people that run MLG and try to be an affiliate with them. Like for example your location could host tournaments would be a qualifier to advance to the MLG and market it that way. The main thing would be doing a lot of marketing research and a lot of marketing to get your name out there. Word of mouth works really good in the video game world so focus on creating a high class place for video tournaments.

**rogercbryan** · 01-15-2008 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by Michael718

Hey i am the person who wishes to be his partner. What would be the average cost of a decent location in Brooklyn New York? Also how much would renovations cost for a decent size place? I really hope we can get something serious started and very business like. I do not want a place for 5 year old kids to put in quarters but a more serious place. Also how would i get a hold of whole sellers to purchase games or tv's in bulk?? Thanks alot i really appreciate it.

Start by writing a business plan. If you all are considering doing this you should start doing your research now.

Cost of Lease- check out your local newspaper and maybe craigslist to see what is available out there. You may even want to call a few places and go look at them. Once you have figured out the right size that you need then you can draw up a draft of what you want the inside to look like. Then come the contractors, you'll need to get quotes on your desired set-up. This will be a bit of work, but you have to do it.

I'm not sure where you can find bulk TV's but I'm sure there are deals to be made somewhere. There are a few people on the forums that run online electronics shops... put up a post of what you are looking for and I'm sure you'll find someone here.

**rogercbryan** · 01-15-2008 10:31 PM

Originally Posted by bryanG

I personally like the idea of instead of making the arcade the traditional arcade with standup style games, make it more of a LAN party type of place (Warcraft, Xbox Live, etc.). People usually bring their own Xbox's and laptops and whatnot to these places anyway. In other words, they are already there. If something on their laptop gets messed up or they want to upgrade before they play, it would be very profitable to sell the parts and services needed to perform the on-the-spot upgrades. This way you CAN blend the two clientele together.

This isn't a terrible idea if it is done right. You need to think from a marketing stand point of the cost of attracting one customer to your place. I would recommend dedicating 100% of you marketing budget to gamers to get them into your 'lounge' to play. If you personally as the owner are planning on doing the computer repairs then you'll have a zero cost basis for staffing your 'repair shop'. If this is the case then you could pull it off.

If you planned on having an employee doing the work then I would not like the idea. Basically you will personally be taking on two tasks but you will only be marketing one.

If you are going to create a place for gamers to hang out you may also want to consider an on sight game exchange (buy/sell/trade). Again you wont advertise this service but it will complement everything else you are doing.

If you are going to be there (or your partner) everyday then you can do some of these other ideas. Make sure to concentrate your marketing on your main product. You'll need that to be successful before you'll have any chance of making you ancillary products successful.... WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN ASAP to encapsulate all of your plans. I like this idea a little more now....