Retro game shop owner talks profitability, online shops

In the era of smartphones, easy emulation, and instant digital transactions that we currently live in, brick-and-mortar shops dedicated to selling video games have been marginalized in favor of online shopping, and digital downloads. In the UK, GameStation shut down years ago (Game bought it out), and Game has heavily reduced the number of stores that it operates around the country. Game is the UK’s equivalent of GameStop in the US. GAME (which has a monopoly on the high street video game market) was bought by The Fraser Group in 2019 and is a shadow of its former self in terms of the number of stores and its overall revenue. However, Independent stores selling video games are as rare as they’ve always been. They do still exist, and it’s a delight when you come across one. This article takes a closer look at one such store, Retro Giant.

Retro Giant, located in Romford on the border of Essex and London, is accessible from the Elizabeth tube line. It is a gem of a retro games store. I’ve made a habit of visiting the place on days when Romford is part of my routine, and the shop stocks everything from Pokemon cards to old gaming magazines, as well as rare games from any system you could think of. Unlike chain stores, Retro Giant also sells and allows trade-ins of modded consoles. Read on for a short interview with Retro Giant owner, Steve.

Interview chat

Daniel Leal: Hi Steve, how did you first start selling video games and is there a story behind the origins of Retro Giant?

Steve (Owner): I started the company at 16 by selling my games on a market stall. I knew I could sell anything to anyone but an obstacle was that I only had £500 from my parents to start the business. I used that for market licenses, rain sheets, and clips to hold the sheets together. I then lived in Bromley but the best market was in Hackney. My friend who was a year older and drove used to take me to the market. I paid him £50.00 per day to take me to Hackney and I did it seven days a week for a year until I passed my test. Then I made the journey to Hackney on my own seven days a week and worked 6 AM till 6 PM. I got established on the stall and worked like this for seven years. Then in 1998 I finally saved enough to open a shop in Hoxton Market, Hackney. I was there selling new releases until 2012.

The digital era was coming and I was struggling to pay my shop bills so I started changing the business and getting it to be a retro and collectible shop. We sold games, comics, trading cards, and figures and I was saving a business that was dying. By 2016 it was completely overhauled and I saved the shop from failure. Then another bomb shell hit as the landlord of the shop wanted a lease renewal and wanted £15,000 more than I was paying at that point so I had to close the shop. Instead of closing for good, I relocated to Romford in 2017 and for 3 years of being there, I just about paid my bills and lived on beans on toast with hardly any money. Fast forward to 2024 and I’ve got loads of regulars and have a warehouse full of stock upstairs and a warehouse full at Brentwood. I never stopped believing and the shop is finally becoming successful.

DL: Wow, that sounds like you’ve worked hard to finally make the shop profitable. Thanks for the brief overview of the origins of Retro Giant. You stock a lot of rare retro games, have you always wanted the store to have a retro focus?

S: I wanted it to go retro mainly because my knowledge and passion is in retro games. Also, if I stayed selling mainly new releases my shop would have closed a long time ago because of changes in the industry.

DL: Now that online retailers are replacing high street stores, is that a positive or a  negative in selling retro video game content? In other words, do people clamor for physical products as there are fewer places on the high street to buy video games?

S: It’s a negative to high street stores as peoples’ way of shopping has changed. I’m just lucky as we don’t sell online but give customers an experience when they come into the stores.

DL: Is there a story behind the Street Fighter arcade machine that you have in the store?

S: Not much of a story, but I built that arcade machine myself to make the shop feel like a 90’s store and give customers nostalgia and remember what it was like back in the day.

From Master System to Playstation Vita

Nestled on the edge of Greater London, Romford is a multicultural boiling pot that retains an Essex charm. Retro Giant has two branches, one in Romford, and one slightly further out into Essex, in Brentwood. The store is not a huge space, but the walls are covered in retro gaming. Shelves include spaces dedicated to Master System, SNES, N64, and GameCube. As we can tell from Steve, Retro Giant began focusing on retro goods to survive since the market began to change and most people now buy their modern games online. People still seem to love entering a space that sells retro gaming merchandise. The store also has a big section specifically for Pokemon cards.

Not only does Retro Giant stock rare merchandise but the value is quite good if you are prepared to take some time looking. I picked up a boxed copy of Donkey Kong Country for GBA for £18, as well as a boxed copy of Turok 2 on N64 for £17. There are also old video game magazines on sale. These range from £12 to £5 each and I’ve made it a habit of picking up a Nintendo magazine for £5 every time I visit the store.

Time travel back to 1999

As Steve expressed, the store has not always had its focus on retro gaming content. It has adapted as the market has moved on, and currently fills a niche for customers looking for specific types of entertainment. Retro content can be valuable, but often too many stores have high prices which means a lot of their stock just sits on the shelf. This isn’t the case with Retro Giant. It has a lot of good deals, and even if you don’t pick something up every time that you visit, the staff are so nice that sometimes it’s worth coming into the shop just to say hello. For me personally. the N64, GameCube, and Pokemon items on display help to mentally take me back to a simpler time, and it’s that nostalgia that brings people to many retro gaming stores like Retro Giant.