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Lodi Gamers Etc. hosts tourneys, lets customers try out games before buying [Lodi News-Sentinel, Calif.]
[September 20, 2014]

Lodi Gamers Etc. hosts tourneys, lets customers try out games before buying [Lodi News-Sentinel, Calif.]


(Lodi News-Sentinel (CA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 20--A new and used video game store has plugged itself into a shopping center on Kettleman Lane, offering customers a place to buy new and retro games and compete in tournaments.

Liem Tran opened his first store, Gamers Etc., in Stockton in 2007 after purchasing it from Play N Trade, but the former real estate agent wanted a bigger, flashier location where he could shift his stock around. So in May, he opened a second location in Lodi.



"It's not as easy as everyone thinks," Tran said. "We do everything. When I did this store, I did the build up, the marketing, I tried to make it look professional." The key to his trade -- and selling games -- is picturing the customer on the other side of the counter and knowing that not all customers are the same, Tran said.

"It's not like buying eggs," Tran said.


Every customer comes in wanting something different.

Maybe they're a customer wanting to buy an expensive new game console for a 5-year-old grandchild. Tran's staff will often convince those customers to go for a cheaper, more child-friendly console such as a Nintendo Wii or Wii U, he said.

"We educate them on what to buy, we don't just force it on them," he said. "That's the difference between us and those other guys. You gotta be different or you're going to sink." The Lodi location has eight chairs for gamers to use and a flat-screen TV for each one, allowing the store to host video game tournaments periodically.

Each tournament cost roughly $15 to join, but none of that money goes to the store. Instead, it is split 60/40 between the first- and second-place winners.

Gamers Etc. also has a private room for birthday parties and other special events. It has six gaming chairs, six flat-screen TVs and two red couches centered around a projector and screen.

The store provides a rental option, allowing customers to rent a game for $5 per hour so they can try it in the store. That way, they can make sure they enjoy the game before purchasing it.

Gamers Etc. offers a repair service for broken hardware, and $6 disk cleaning to get rid of the scratches and grime that can build up on the reflective surface of a game disc and prevent it from working.

Tran worked in real estate until the housing bubble burst in 2007. He then went to work for Play N Trade as a manager, until one day he decided that he wanted to run his own store instead of working for someone else. That's when he bought the Stockton location.

"This (video game industry) is a multibillion-dollar industry, so I did the math," Tran said.

Gamers Etc. sells next-gen games and consoles such as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but Tran said that a good portion of his business comes from retro games.

Tran himself hasn't played a game since "Super Mario Bros." was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Staff favorites and best-sellers include "Minecraft," NES and Nintendo 64 consoles, anything "Pokemon"-related -- including the original Red and Blue versions of the game -- "Contra" and "Life Force." Tran said having two locations offers a large advantage -- the ability to shift inventory from one store to the other, making it easier meet demand in each location.

Contact reporter James Striplin at [email protected].

___ (c)2014 the Lodi News-Sentinel (Lodi, Calif.) Visit the Lodi News-Sentinel (Lodi, Calif.) at www.lodinews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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