How to Own and Operate a Successful Video Game Store - Kelsey Lewin's Panel at MO Game Con 

Like I said in the description, the audio is AWFUL and I am so sorry! I did my best to edit it...it was actually much worse if you can believe it. But it's still bad. No hard feelings if you can't get through it ;) EDIT: Here's a link to some FIXED AUDIO! www.dropbox.com/s/zu5ixq9tbni2iv2/MO%20AUDIO%20NR.wav?dl=0

Great job on your Panel Kelsey. I went into mines blindly just for fun, but I love how yours was set up.

Owning a successful store at your age is super impressive, good for you =]

You did a great job with your discussion! I think it's amazing that you're 23, and you are a business owner!!! This is a subject that I've been curious about :) I've thought of opening an online video game store, and I just happen to discover this video :) Thank you for sharing your experiences with us!

Kelsey, you are so cool! This panel was run so smoothly! I look up to you a lot; keep on doing what you’re doing!

Perhaps next time the camera guy can sit on the first row? lol

LINK TO FIXED AUDIO, COURTESY OF BRANT: www.dropbox.com/s/zu5ixq9tbni2iv2/MO%20AUDIO%20NR.wav?dl=0 THANK YOU!

Owning a game store is a ton of work. Very impressive at 23! definitely will visit if I am ever in the Seattle area.

Thank you so much for putting this out there, Kelsey. Not even gonna lie, it's a dream for me to own and operate a gaming/movie store out here on the east coast and this video helps a great deal in moving that direction. You did great on your panel, and I enjoy your content here on RU-vid :)

Great video that answers a lot of questions. I've always wondered what it would take to run a store. Now I know it's not for me! I'm much older but you know a thousand times more about video games and business than I ever will. Keep up the good work.

Amazing as always. Sorry I missed this one. You are very smart and I am happy that you bring that part of you to these things instead of just talking about your hobby. Keep up being awesome !!

Yo! I respect you a whole lot more than i already did before watching this video now. In school AND owning a business full time!? That's incredible!! You're an inspiration :)

Hi Kelsey Lewin! What you do is not easy, and I'm sure there is a lot of stress involved day to day. We had a small shop open up locally, and it sadly went under after two years. The people that frequented this shop held together like a family, but unfortunately the family wasn't big enough to keep the lights on. My hats off to you and your enthusiasm to thrive! Deals or no deals, there is no business without the customers and support! Love ya K!

I can respect you for being so young and being a small business owner.Not to mention,it's a business that you're passionate about.I watched some of your videos regarding obscure hardware and learned some new stuff.You take your craft seriously and I wish you luck.

Awesome vid, very informative! Me and some friends have thrown around ideas for a store so it was good to hear some real world information that we could use practically.

Too bad for the camera placement, but this panel is amazing. It shows how much talent and smarts you've got. You should do this kind of things at schools and such to inspire and educate. It's so well structured, educational and still fun thanks to your great personallity. Keep up the good work and can't wait to see more... ;-)

Kelsey such a great job.I have been collecting and selling games my whole life since the early 1980's . Unfortunately only locally at Flea Markets and online .Such as Amazon and EBay.I always dreamed of owning my own video game store.I have always hated going into a GameStop or any other video game chain and seeming to know more about vintage games than most of the people who work there.We don't have any places locally like your store here in South Florida Boca Raton wish we did.I always like watching your informational videos along with Metal Jesus rocks you both know your stuff.

Wow I didn't know you were actually a demon with actual horns. LOL. Love watching and learning from you and the MJ crew.

Thanks for uploading this! So happy to finally get to be able to see the one panel I missed!

Very awesome. It's cool to have someone you can listen to who's been in the game industry for awhile, who's also young, and owns her own business. It helps inspire people who are looking to own there own game store!!

This was great- you had a lot of really solid business advice.

Keep it local is my motto.....support physical stores, much love kelsey

good job Kelsey..congrats on the store and i hope for many many years of success and happiness..

I turned up the volume and put on my headphones, heard everything without problems. I think the interesting subject made it easier to accept the lesser quality as well. Thank you for sharing!

Dude you're a couple years younger than me and own your own game store, meanwhile I'm working a dead end office job. As if I needed more disappointment in my life after I just failed to preorder an SNES Classic...

This was very interesting. Thank you for bringing your unique perspective to the masses. I didn’t hear anything about a web strategy so maybe consider that for building on what you have created so far. Other than that great job and I wish you continued success in your businesses.

19:00 Another Castle is great. I like the shoutout. I used to shop with there frequently when I used to live in Lynnwood. I think I went to the Pink Gorilla on University once. Also became a fan of the MetalJesus.

Kelsey you are so impressive!! I have a ton of respect for you in the short time I've known about you. I hope your businesses do well, because you certainly seem to put the work in.

Very informative Kelsey. Thanks for posting this 👍

A very informative panel, thanks for sharing despite the technical difficulties! You're so awesome! ❤

I think it was the buzzing from the lights by the bar area. Just about all videos had that in it.

You are really well spoken and knowledgeable thanks for dropping this!

The video turned out pretty good! The audio I got was like that as well I'm going to invest in a mic for sure but awesome video keep it up!!!

Great video!! I was asking about the rare games and if you struggle with buying or selling them. Thanks for coming to the con!

There was so much great info in this video, thank you Kelsey. As for the hidden gems question, I'm always happy to see videos about them, I saw Valkyria Chronicles for PS3 on one of them, I had never heard of it, but I fell in love with the art style immediately, and being that it was WWII style strategy game, it's right up my alley. It's now one of my favourite games, but I wouldn't have known about it without seeing a random RU-vid video, so I think they're worth doing just for others to have the same experience with some of the games.

I'm around St Louis and this is the first I have heard of this convention. Hopefully it keeps expanding and becomes a big deal.

you are amazing. this was very comprehensive and informative

Greetings from CA. Glad to see and know other successful young business owners. Everyone judges us because we're young, but when you talk about how you grew and made your business successful, they always say oh that was smart, or I wouldn't have thought of that.

Very cool. Stay awesome Kelsey.

Awesome, can't wait to see more new videos once Kelsey have more free time to make often!

Very hard business as I had sought out the idea of owning a game store myself.. Working at a game store. id research 4-8 hours a day on running a business and while I had an amazing business plan, its very competitive with digital content and very very low margins. Alot of game tourneys, playable game stations, cases with artwork on every purchase. game merchandise..i could go on and on! 13 years of retail and being a store manager, not an easy task.

Great panel, Kelsey -- I would TOTALLY wear a pink t-shirt if it means 10% off mah games! Side note: When attending panels/conferences (large or small), I am very aware of where cameras are located and do my best to AVOID *sitting directly in front of them*!! Did the gentleman sitting in front of the camera not see it before sitting down?!?! Dude... :)

ah, I would watch it. good video anyway. nice to see you have your own panel. best of luck!

i could listen to you talk all day, if i see you on Metaljesusrock's channel i'm just like :D :D :D the entire video. You're so awesome and i hope you make new videos soon

What an inspiration! Kelsey for President 2036...

I'm happy to see another video. Keep up the good work.

How were you able to get enough saved to purchase a game store by age 22 ish? Especially while still doing university full time. Loans? Rabid saving? Financial assistance from family/inheritance? Loved the QnA, and love your channel! You’re awesome!

Hey Kelsey. Its Chris from Minnesota. I wanted to say thank you for the photo an signing my white NES cart. It was cool to actually meet you in person at the MO Game Con.

Hey Kelsey! Any chance you've got a link to the slide deck you use during this presentation? Hard to make out whats on the screen! Either way, fantastic idea for a talk here. You bring some really smart insight into the industry and really help dispel the 'you must just play games all day' idea so many people have! Looking forward to more like this. Cheers.

It has to be a very scary time to own a game store. Digital alone would terrify me. I fear they will be as rare as record stores soon. In fact, it may be very beneficial to gain knowledge from them. I love games and really respect the effort that goes into keeping retail gaming alive. Watching this was very informative. Community building info was super cool. Thanks for taking the time to share this. I’m considering hybrid models like craft brewery and console arcade or retail with private areas for events and parties. I want to eventually have a store, but I’m totally over committed to current profession and a family restaurant business. One day! Until then research! 😎

Much Respect. No plans on ever owning a store, but very informative session nevertheless.

Interesting, you have a very passionate entrepreneurial mindset. I wish you the best in your chosen career path miss Lewin.

That's amazing :D I wish I could own a video game store

I really enjoyed this presentation - it would be awesome if you could put a version of it together for RU-vid with better quality as there was a lot of good and useful information in there

Pretty informative panel. Thanks. Didn't know you were originally from Texas. Hope you and the rest of the Seattle crew can make it to Retropalooza San Antonio next year!

i didnt know there was a panel in STL. hope you had a good stay here

More videos on this channel please!!! Lol I like mjr but we want more videos from you on here!!!

It looks like Kelsey has horns 🤣 😐 Are you Batman? 😮

Amazing woman!!!!!!

I hope you guys are still gonna open in portland!

You're very good at public speaking.

Wonderful audio and the camera placement is pure genius, I love to see the back of this guy's head. Thank you !

Kelsey you're awesome! Cool video

Being honest, compassionate, and not screwing people over is a good recipe. Not that you're not, but I find that model works well in most situation's.

Hey this is awesome, thanks for sharing the wisdom

Thanks for uploading this :)

*AWESOME! You go girl!*

Awesome video Kelsey!

I get where you're coming from when you say you're not comfortable mixing your RU-vid presence with your ownership of Pink Gorilla, but I really doubt anybody would seriously be upset with a little self promotion. Plus it would make pretty interesting content learning more about the ins and outs of running a successful store expanding on what you talked about in this panel.

Very hard to do this day in age with out tons of excess money.I will be coming to see your store. Wish the audio was not so bad could not get through it

SHIT YOU CO OWN PINK GORILLA?! DUUUUUUUDE I LOVE THAT PLACE! Ever since I was kid we'd go in there and look at stuff. I bought a few games there, some nice dude working there gave my brother a broken monster Hunter toy as well, great company and staff! Literally every time I go to Seattle I hit up pink gorilla

Maximum respect!!!

Hey Kelsey do you remember last month a boy coming into your store from California and taking a picture with you? (If you do that's me)

Thanks for putting this up. Any chance of a link to the slides you show in the video? They're pretty hard to read.

Incredibly smart business woman, learnt a ton of video game knowledge i never knew before i saw you on MJ's channel and subbed to you immediately. Kelsey Lewin, The Hottest Girl in Gaming Edit: store owners/workers MUST be able to spot bootlegs and consoles like 360's being opened up or not, they gotta be able to spot that stuff if your working at a game store, good job you teach your staff how. also i hope next gen isnt digital only, hadnt even thought of that, again smart business woman, sees it coming and is somewhat prepared just n case. looking forward to that obscure gameboy video

Nice vid! Go Tejas!

I live in St Louis and I had no idea you'd be in the area. Will you ever come back?

Kelsey ❤

"The outside is the most important" - Kelsey ^_-

have you tried removing the humming noise with audacity Kelsey?

Go Kelsey!

Was Pink Gorilla called Pink Godzilla years ago? I swear I stopped in a place called Pink Godzilla in Seattle in 2007 and it was full of retro games...

"Successful" is in the eye of the beholder. Also someone definitely lend you a hand since you couldn't afford a store at that age alone. Successful for me would be making at least 5 digit paychecks which I doubt she does but you can prove me wrong.

Great information.Im in aus (obviously) and the retro scene here is expensive (especially anything nintendo.I am a console modder and Im looking to build a inventory.Mostly japan models with region unlocks etc.I cover snes genesis o.g xbox wii wiiu psx.Any tips? For me im not offering services as If anything goes wrong I have to replace it.Any input would be greatly appreciated kelsey!!Dabbling in the idea of painting themed consoles.......

cool video talk kelsey

I wish I lived in seattle

I couldn't hear you properly. And beside the buzzing noise, is there also a background music playing?

Does she say where she got the money to buy and run the store?

start a online store, but use it only to move merchandise you find is taking a while to sale. because of where I live all my videogame purchases is done online, and id honestly shop from you just to offer support and for the sake of appreciation

I would've been there if it wasnt for the fact that I am thousands of kilometers away😊

Hey Kelsey! I have an N64 and it auto-resets sometimes while I'm playing games. It seems to do this no matter what game is in. Why would this be happening and how can this be solved? Thanks in advance for any help!

Very informative thank you! Speaking of N64 fakes... I was tricked into spending $90 recently at classic game fest in Austin, TX for Conker's. Oh well learned my lesson!

Do you have a website or ship?

How has the digital market affected the physical market?

Kelsey you do great vids, have great knowledge, not trying to say I dont enjoy you now, but you could go big as well on TV etc. Jesus, reg, john, kins, etc... yall could have a TV show!

You're only 23? Surprising how you enjoy retro gaming.

nice one :)

What is the name of you're store, and has it an online store? :)

Game selling is hard right now. My local game store that's not gamestop is on the path of blockbuster and circuit city. In this market you can't have overhead.

I want to work on that game store