Are We Becoming a Video Game Store?

Razzle Dazzle Music & Movies is changing and one of the ways we've been thinking about changing revolves around the idea of becoming a game store. If you're new to what we do here, back in April I bought an online media store's inventory. You might wanna actually check that video out because it involved renting out a closed department store, borrowing a forklift, getting bailed out by the homie Sean, and several acts of god - but we made it work. That's aside from the point though. Video games. There's ended up being quite a few in those boxes we've been working through and... well, we sell discs. Video games are discs. Why not sell more discs? 

Before you get hyped on this, we're not selling video games in the shop. We sure did think about it for a minute or two and even talked to some of the other shops in the mall about the idea, but it's not us. Not now. I don't know anything about video games. I don't play video games. And this isn't a slight, but I just don't really care about them in the same way I do music and movies.

That aside, another avenue has opened up that we will be exploring: Posters. The same conversation that brought me over to talk to the manager of Spencers' where we chatted about video games wasn't really the reason I went over there - that was to ask if they'd have any issue with us selling posters. Unlike video games, posters have been part of this shop since day one. And rarely does a single day pass where we're not asked if we sell the posters on the walls. Spencer's was like, "hell yeah lil doggie, sell them posters." So then we were like, "hell yeah, let's sell posters." But then the question came: where do we even get posters from.

That was the roadblock to this point; not knowing where to source them from. Fortunately, Nate from ZZZ Records in Des Moines (which is the best record shop in Des Moines and a place you should definitely visit when you're in Des Moines next) was like "well, partner,  I'm happy to hook you up with my poster connection." And he did. And now we've got posters and a poster rack. We just have to figure out what on earth we're doing there. Then we'll be selling posters.

But that brings about another thing I wanted to talk about. Historically in these videos I say "we" like it's not just me here doing every damn thing myself. The royal we, y'know? But that's changed, too.

A couple months ago I started telling a story using social media. And that story began with a post about how I'm "giving up" on the idea of trying to run this by myself. That story laid a real foundation for what was to come though, discussing the realities of opening a store in a lowkey dead mall in a small midwestern city, selling what the majority of people think are useless items, given how streaming media has evolved over the past few decades. All of that was real up until the post I said "I started looking for help." In the video, that help came in the form of a consulting firm with an on-site avatar that ended up being a deranged puppet that tried to take over the shop. In real life, however, that came in the form of hiring actual humans.

And while the Brandy Initiative was playing out on social media, we real life actual humans got to working behind the scenes and started kicking some ass. We brought in another semi-truck's worth of CDs and DVDs - which us actual humans helped move into the shop by way of a whole bunch of physical labor - which means the back room is filled to the gills with physical media. Since then, Stacy's been working like a madman up at the counter to get cool stuff cleaned up and ready to go for our New Arrival Fridays while Jon and I have been working in the back to get the online side of the business built back up. The plan is coming together.

One of the other things I said in that "I'm Giving Up" video that's true was a line about how the online side of the business is vital to the continued success of the shop and that's what we're working on; really laying a strong foundation so we become as immune as possible to any lurking threat of a retail apocalypse. One of the things we’ll be working on next is ebay, as an example, and I’m really excited to see how this idea I’ve got for blending the in-person shopping experience with that plays out.

What we're trying to do is build this into something sustainable. It started 9 months ago as an experiment and I couldn't have been less prepared for how things worked out once the doors opened. And now I feel like we've really got something here, but one of the things that I want to also share is something that my young friend Savannah said the other day - she was like, "where have you been - hiding from us up here?" And that really touched my heart. I've been asked something similar a few times recently and they've all been reminders of how cool this place is. It's built on relationships - and meeting people and talking and getting to know each other in a friggin' store in a shopping mall in Iowa. How wild is that?

I'm very thankful that y'all are continuing to ride with the shop and help us do what we're doing - this phase finds us working to make sure this is as strong as it can be so it's around for as long as it can be. Because I sure as hell don't want to go back to having an office job or something and I think there's at least a few folks around here that want to see this thing last, too. With or without video games.