Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve Cromer.
Hi Steve, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Four years ago, I had been fired from a VP-level job at a midsized family company. At first, I was looking for comparable corporate positions to what I had working. I have a cousin that owns several small businesses, and he encouraged me to look around town for a small business to buy. Buying a small business is complicated in that folks are often selling because their business is down or they have very poor bookkeeping that would prevent financing. One day driving around town I was considering what type of business I would enjoy working with. I have been collecting video games for over ten years I drove to three different game stores in the Metroplex and asked if they would be interested in selling their business. Several months later I bought half of Retro Madness. We have a repair shop and my business partner, Daniel Chamberlin, is invaluable in running that side of our business.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Running payroll and taking care of all the legal filing is a core. Also, 2012b was a great year as all the stimulus money was being pumped into the economy. Adjusting for that spending going away and a slowing business cycle is a challenge.
We’ve been impressed with Retro Madness, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I often joke with folks that “I could be selling plumbing supplies.” Or store sells vintage video games, toys, and collectibles. Our customers are a community. I have gotten to know many of them over the last five years. I have made some great friends along the way. Once every month or so I will have some friends over to play Atari of MarioKart. It is a lot of fun to work with items that I love.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I do consume a lot of YouTube. This is primarily to keep in touch with what is happening in nerdom. We do have a lot of Youtubers that visit and film in our stores., So it benefits we to know what is happening with content creators in the vintage toy and video game space.
Pricing:
- 95% of our products are used so all of our pricing is specific to the item.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://retro-madness-pro-console-repair.myshopify.com//
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retromadnessdfw/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RetromadnessDFW/
