There are many Video Game store chains and all of them seemingly have the same look as the others. There are also many old-school gaming stores, that have a heavy focus on nostalgia and trading with the community to appease that itch to return to a game you once played. Even for gamers who have never experienced these titles, these stores give a look back to what once was in the gaming world.

The owner of Brooklyn Video Games, Esteban Sosa, agreed to sit down for a Q+A to show us what owning a retro gaming store is all about.

Philip: this is Philip Watson interviewing the owner of Brooklyn Video Games, Esteban Sosa, located in… well Brooklyn, about how the business stays afloat and the reliance on nostalgia to keep a retro gaming store open in these times. So Esteban how did you guys get started with Brooklyn video games?

Esteban: I always liked to buy and sell retro games, even since I was in school I used to buy and sell- trading Pokemon cards is actually how I purchased my first Gameboy color (laughs). I used to sell from my house first, but once my wife was having a baby I saw a space for rent- a small booth and I went for it. I was at that location for close to a year, I was still working a regular job part-time also. Once I got laid off in 2016 I decided to go 100% towards the nostalgic video game trade, buying and selling. It does really well, people like us who enjoy the original and what that brings like it.

Philip: So during the pandemic, did you guys have a relaunch or a reopen?

Esteban: Yeah, so we had to close down for 3 months. We were still doing sales on our eBay store and we were shipping out stuff. You know, I knew once we were able to open again we were gonna get new merchandise so I took maybe 25% of the store’s merchandise to my house and started listing it. I sold a lot of expensive items. You can always get the items back, but with bills and rent that keeps coming so let’s get rid of the more expensive items. Luckily when we had the reopening it also went pretty good. We got a lot of support from the community being either sales or people bringing merchandise to sell so it was good. Recently we had to close down for two weeks because our location was in an “orange zone” but we took that time to fix up the store, clean, put in new floors so when our customers come in they feel it’s a nice organized store, clean.

Philip: That’s fair. With online retailers like GameStop, Amazon, how do you guys manage to stay relevant?

Esteban: Well, our older systems and games are really good quality, we process them very thoroughly, we open everything up clean everything out, test them out, and we also let the customers test it in the store. Our return rate is very low we rarely get any returns. Most of the time it’s somebody who didn’t like the game or something like that. But for the most part, all of our games are in really good condition, we don’t buy or SELL scratched games. Anything that doesn’t work we put to the side and when we have time we work on it.

Philip: So, who would you say is the typical customer like day to day?

Esteban:  For us first-time customers our customers that just come and they purchase a system they have nostalgia for a few games and that’s it. But what really helps us out is the repeated customer we try to help them out either being for their collections so we already know sometimes when somebody is looking for a particular game we have a wish list where we send them a text message when we get it in the store, personal stuff like that. We have good communication we post a lot on social media, if customers see anything that they like we are able to ship it to them, or they can pay for it then pick it up.

Philip: Elaborate on that, tell me more about the social media presence.

Esteban: So, on Instagram, we pretty much post up photos of all our new merchandise that comes in and you’re able to claim it and then once it’s ready we open the items up, we clean them up test them out, then it could be picked up or shipped.

Philip: Would you say the pandemic has negatively affected business?

Esteban: It just made you think a lot more outside the box, you realize your online presence is very important because we have seen less foot traffic, we still need a brick and mortar- that’s where we get our merchandise from the community, they bring the items to trade in but it made us realize we have to ship out more items, Luckily we have a good following on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.

Philip: So, you would say that your store primarily operates off of the community?

Esteban: Yeah, pretty much. Basically, we built this trust with the community that a lot of collectors, they want to get a fair deal for their items so they bring them to us like if they want to get an estimate or a quote on their collection they email us at [email protected] and then we are able to give them an estimate, set up an appointment so they can come in if everything is in the condition that they send the pictures in we give them an offer and if they’re interested they will bring it in.

Philip: That’s really incredible. The fact you guys stay open and relevant with such a focus on older games, and such an amazing community. I’ve been here all day, the care you put into each item and the knowledge you guys bring to the table is extensive.

Esteban: Well, yeah the focus on nostalgia brings in collectors, and people who really want to relive the games that they have played when they were younger (laughs) I see the appeal. Having a passion for this is what sets us apart. If anyone wants to check us out, find us on social media at Brooklyn Video Games on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Philip: Thank you so much for your time Esteban, this is Philip Watson from Baruch’s journalism department signing off.