Pin OP opportunity at 747 Flea Market

[tim.sanderson]

So something interesting happened the other day, I'm not sure I'd call it an opportunity or a pipe dream.

I happened to be wearing a pinball related shirt yesterday, when I was approached by gentleman. He asked if I played, and if I had any machines. When I replied that I did, we started talking. He was the owner of the 747 Flea Market. (link below) He said he has always wanted a booth at the market with pinball games available to be played by customers, sort of like a mini arcade. From what I gathered you'd pay your booth fee as any other place in the market, so the operator would not do any profit sharing. I thought was a very neat idea, albeit not one for myself to tackle. (not yet, anyways) I asked him for his info. He said he thinks it would hold 7 or 8 machines. When I told him I knew people with ten times that many games it blew his mind. (to be honest, it still blows my mind!)

He gave me his contact info in the event I could generate any interest. I've done a bit of research on the topic of hobby operating. I'd love to put a machine or two somewhere in the wild, but me and my humble 2 machines can't give that sort of thing any serious thought for a while yet.

Anyway, if anyone’s interested, I can pass on his info.

http://747fleamarket.com/

 

[Monkeybug]

Re: Pin op wanted at 747 Flea Market

You pay for a booth, you pay for maintenance, you pay for your licenses/taxes and you get to keep all the profit?

I am not seeing the incentive.

 

[tim.sanderson]

Re: Pin op wanted at 747 Flea Market

That's different than any other business how, exactly?

 

[ThunderStorm]

Re: Pin op wanted at 747 Flea Market

it could be very profitable, lots of people walking around looking for something to do while their significant others shop...
i am too far away to make it worthwhile, especially from a service perspective.
but people out that area, not a bad idea at all. especially if you have too many games sitting around filling up storage spaces...

Thanks Tim

Eric

 

[Monkeybug]

Re: Pin op wanted at 747 Flea Market

That's different than any other business how, exactly?

I am not seeing the incentive if the owner wants this. I assume there would be some perk for setting up at his flea market instead of another route location.

 

[frolic]

Re: Pin op wanted at 747 Flea Market

It's only open 2 days a week, the same games could be earning 7 days a week somewhere else. He'd have to give the space away to make it attractive. Basically if he thinks it adds something to the flea market having some coin operated games available, then give the space.

 

[tim.sanderson]

Re: Pin op wanted at 747 Flea Market

It's only open 2 days a week, the same games could be earning 7 days a week somewhere else. He'd have to give the space away to make it attractive. Basically if he thinks it adds something to the flea market having some coin operated games available, then give the space.

But, at the same time, there's 70% less wear-and-tear on the machines. Less maintenance. The machines are essentially being stored the rest of the time. How many of you guys have machines in storage? It would be interesting to know what the difference is between storage fees and booth rental fees...

*EDIT* I've re-worded the title of this thread... it wasn't the owner seeking an OP, so much as me thinking it was a neat idea.

 

[Monkeybug]

How does security differ between storage and a booth at the flea market?

 

[tim.sanderson]

I'm not sure... apparently there are gates around each booth.

And don't talk storage security with me. I lost everything I had in a storage fire a while back.

 

[Slam_Tilt]

That place is always packed with people. So getting people to spend money on the games should not be an issue. The problem is that two days of profit a week may not be much or non-existent depending on the rent of the booth. You need to find the cost of that space.

 

[frolic]

Their website says they need first & last month rent, so it would be a 2 month commitment for someone to test the waters.

 

[ThunderStorm]

Or see if you can do a test for a month or two doing a 50 50 split on the coin box with free rent.

Worth asking.

 

[Menace]

Yep, Eric's got the idea. If the owner of the market wants to add something like this and he's got space available it's no sweat for him to comp the space and split the take.

D