Hi Everyone
My name is Anthony, I am the owner of The Retro Gaming Store. I would like to introduce myself and the reasons and passions behind creating this retail and online business.
When I was 6 years old my parents bought me my first computer a Commodore 64, I nagged them for a whole year for this present and it was and still is one of the best presents I received as it was my first real introduction into gaming. Within 24 hours I had broken my first joystick, experienced the run error when the tape failed to load but I was hooked.
My parents thought me the value of looking after my things and to this day I still own that computer and it still is in perfect working order along with 1000’s of other games and consoles I have accumulated over the years. I grew up in Wexford Town and my Saturdays were always based around 4 shops for me. Quinnsworth where they had 2 arcade machines at the back entrance by the Wexford Quay (Pac-Man and Space Invaders), Hassett’s Chemist where my Dad bought me my Commodore Games, S&K Computers where I would question the owner on what new games were coming out and my favourite store…Arthur Kelly’s electrical on the main street, this is where I spent most of my Saturday’s, talking to Arthur Kelly himself and also it was the place where we used to be able to rent out video games and the consoles for the weekend.
As I grew up I never lost the passion for video games, even when all those stores slowly went out of business or moved away. I was determined to one day open a game store but it would be with the same values as what I experienced as a customer back then.
I have traded on and off over the past 20 years and have made some fantastic friends and contacts around the world and I have also travelled around the world on more than one occasion and lived in different countries and experienced different cultures but I still got the same feeling when I walked into a game store. I tend to avoid the multinational chains and support the local independent shops as I have always just preferred the customer experience.
In July 2017 I was sitting down with my Fiancée Laura and I just turned around to her and said ‘I am going to do it, it’s a risk but if I don’t try, I will always regret it’ She understood what I meant and a few days later we were taking apart my existing shop to split it in half to build stands and shelves and make it welcoming for everyone who would set foot in store.
Over a year or so I had spoken to a good friend of mine who had owned a gaming store and he had all of the stock in his garage after he had decided to call it a day, he owned 2 other businesses that were higher earners and was willing to let the stock go at the right price. Within a week of deciding that I wanted to open The Retro Gaming Store, I had gathered the funds (it’s time to thank my parents here and again Laura for allowing me to dip into our wedding fund). I spent the next two weeks cleaning and testing every single game, console and accessories that I had purchased as Laura spent that time building internal side of the shop to accommodate such a large volume of stock. Somehow we achieved this and The Retro Gaming Store was ready to be opened.
On the 2nd August 2017 The Retro Gaming Store opened its doors for the first time. My aim with the shop was to allow my customers to take a walk down memory lane. Not just that, I want my customers to come in and spend time here, have chat and a laugh and share experiences of yesteryear. I wanted to bring back that feeling I got growing up when you walk into a shop and the owner is there to greet you, chat to you, knows you by name and simply offers fantastic items for excellent prices.
We are different than any other store. There are no wholesalers no constant supply, no guarantee of new stock every week. That is why we love what we do. We have to work for everything we get, every item of stock is sourced the old fashioned way, local & UK boot sales, markets, private collectors, house clearances, people simply who come in to store or contact us asking if we are interested in what they have. We also have a policy of testing every single item that comes through our doors, be it a console, game or an accessory. Each item is cleaned and ready for the shelves. We pride ourselves on this policy and yes it maybe time consuming but we love doing it and we love it even more when our customers come back to us saying worked perfect, great condition and that is why we are in business.
We look forward to meeting you in our shop or right here on our website.
Just in case you would like to check out our facebook page the link is
https://www.facebook.com/rgswexford/
We also carried out a really cool interview with Dailytrend.ie with the link attached below
