The UK's Top Five Indie Innovators: Retrobution

[Fletcher]

Some with great memories would remember that I worked in a store called Gamestation on and off over three years, and I met some awesome people along the way. Including a man named Dave. (Never take him drinking and ending it with bowls of rice). When our Gamestation store fell victim to the GAME store chain collapse, we all lost our jobs and scattered to the winds.

After a year however, Dave managed to get a same store going all by himself! He called it, Retrobution, “games from all ages, for all ages”. He's done so well, he's been included into MCV's top five indie innovators!

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The next entry in our Indie Retail Month look at the UK's top indie innovators is video game stall Retrobution.

Dave James-Turvey tells MCV how he has created a portable version of his popular video games stall.

How has the stall developed since arriving on the High Street?
It opened on the August 17th 2012, at the time it was the only dedicated games place in the town after GAME closed it’s stores there. People in the town recognised me from my years with Gamestation so it was with their support and custom really that the business took off quite quickly.

How has the stall differentiated itself from High Street indies?
The business’ slogan is “games from all ages, for all ages”. Most games shops tend to have old games in clearance sections or on the bottom shelves, but here the older stuff is displayed to be as cool as the new stuff. Kids get to see their new favorite characters and games and the parents get to see the games that they used to play.

How important is it to innovate?
The success of my stall is all down to being a little outside of the box. Being innovative creates excitement for customers because they are seeing something different instead of the same old charts and prices. It is definitely the double edged sword of getting an indie store on the map. Having an indie store gives you so many more opportunities than being an e-tailer or working for a large company that has a set image. Being different should be the foundation that helps you gain an identity and rise above the rest.

How are you attempting to grow Retrobution?
During peak busy periods like summer holiday weekends and christmas trading weeks I open a portable version of the stall called Retrobution Portable. It’s complete with racking and tables and a custom filing system and can literally be up and ready to trade anywhere in any local town in about 20 minutes. This helps people get a taste of what Retrobution does, gives the business a little more exposure to new potential customers and will be popping up in random towns to test the water to see whether or not it’s worth opening up another Retrobution there. The idea is to make games available for all ages and to present games to towns that don’t really have anything like Retrobution in it.

It's great seeing some good news these days coming out of a collapse of something else. You can't give up. Oh and Dave is literally the nicest person you'll ever meet on this Earth.

Oh and this is a picture from the store's Facebook for a better look at the store:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/h...8950_n.jpg
That blank wall in the back and under the counter has been upgraded for storage since Christmas.

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"Oh chuffing blimey, another day, another person being whiney!"
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