Sutter Street Arcade

10/17/2020

As many of you know the Arcade is permanently closed. Maybe we will do it again at some point in the future ... but the skyrocketing cost of the tiny space we were renting was already making it not doable. The whole endeavor was about bringing something to the community and something family-friendly to Sutter Street. We are trying to sell the vending machine that was in the arcade. It was posted on Craigslist with little luck. We lowered it to $375 and it can be seen at The Game Getaway at 809 Sutter Street.
I also have a glass front counter top cooler available suitable for commercial use.

08/10/2020

Sutter Street Arcade will be permanently closing. When this all started we were told we were going to be down for a couple weeks to flatten the curve. We tried to hang in there. That became a month, then 2 months and we are on 6 months. If we were not lied to we would have shut down immediately. We were open for a brief couple weeks.
Our landlord gave us a generous break on rent but even with that is is not possible. But I spent way too much trying to keep it going for the people and the community mostly. And the energy required to shut it down and run the Game Getaway wasn’t there.
Sorry but it’s done and won’t be back. If I tried I would likely be bouncing rent checks in a couple months since items since it is separate from the store money wise. Hopefully something will come along to try to bring something more family and everybody friendly.

07/02/2020

06/12/2020

We will be reopening the arcade tomorrow (Saturday the 13th). We will have a few rules in place for a bit such as:
1: One should avoid playing a game right next to someone else.
2: We will limit occupancy to 4 people unless that group is from the same household.
3: Anyone not playing will need to wait outside.
4: Masks are highly recommended.
5: Wash your hands before and after. If you need to wash your hands you can come to The Game Getway to do so. Alternatively a fresh set of gloves is acceptable as well.

Most of this will be self monitoring. But as usually the space will be monitored in real time. We are being cautious these first couple weeks to see how things are going.

I do have a camping wash sink on order for everyone to use. It should be here next week.

04/30/2020

I had someone that said they would help out with rent for a bit. Which will help quite a bit. But someone suggested an idea of renting out the space for private use. Which wouldn't work on it's own. But it did lead to the idea the space available by appointment. I am giving it thought on the hows and it's not a lot but it is a possibility. it might help things move along. If that is something that works who would be interesting in having the arcade to yourself by appointment. Probably makes more sense in groups of 4 etc. I am working out logistical issues but it might be something possible.

04/30/2020

Unfortunately due to issues of gross incompetence at State and County levels, I have a hard time finding ways to keep the arcade open. Our Landlord was very gracious and has been giving us half rent but I am still flushing $425 down the toliet a month. With the new Sacramento County extension that is pretty much will be three months of that, with that date iffy and likely it will be another month or two.
This is even with the announcement of drugs they have now to improve recovery times in development. We were told it was about flattening the curb, which all the graphs have dramatically show has been accomplished. Unfortunatetly that was a deception and If I knew that. I would closed it down a month ago.
Open to suggestions but I see no options. The county and state are wrecking businesses. They already started to fall.

04/02/2020

We been getting calls if we are open still no idea why but it should be obvious ... NO of course not. The nature of an arcade does not work well in this situation. We have no feasible way to clean games after every single way to even imagine being opened. I doubt the arcade will survive this. We are giving it a month. Our landlord was gracious enough to cut our rent in half for this month. But the rent was already at a point where it was too high for the area, foot traffic and visibility. We hope to be open again ... but there is no guarantees. even at half the rent we can't afford to do that for very long. Unfortunately, the federal and or state has nothing in place to help businesses to pause rent. like other countries have such as Italy. There are loans ... but that is a problem piled up to put off a few months from now. It is not a solution.

03/18/2020

In these unusual times we are keeping the arcade closed for the time being until things calm down with the virus. We were keeping cleaning it a couple times a day but it is not realistic to stay on top of it and not worth the risk.
We are not making a lot on a normal day to even break even but we have plans to improve that which won't work with current conditions.
However, we will be able to weather it out for another month and see how things are from there. Our landlord was able to give us some relief with rent. We will take a hit still but it is doable at this point.

10/13/2019

Find out what stores, events, and happenings are going on for September and what is coming up!

08/04/2019

Some news about the arcade, likely bad but with luck it can be turned around.

The arcade had a rough start, but it picked up after a bit making a little money after rent as we approached having maximum amount of games. But we recently got a rent increase which starts in September. After running the numbers it is barely sustainable with the new rent amount.

The reason is because the person that brings in the games does a 50/50 split which is fairly standard, so we only get half or less of what the games make. With the new rent increase, we attempted to renegotiate the terms so it was sustainable to a 56/44 split. Basically, it just brings it back to the levels that were before based on past receipts. The response to the proposal ... the person that brings the games called our landlord about rental rates in our location. Our landlord being a person of integrity called me back telling me about the request and saying he felt uncomfortable responding to them.
Drama aside ... We have very few options.

1: We manage to come to an agreement with the current person that brings the games. Possible but seems unlikely at this point.

2: We find someone else that is willing to go with a 56/44 split so we are at a level we were before, making very little money but just enough to be justifiable to keep it going for the community. without the risk of losing money after September.

3: We are able to find an angel investor for a loan to buy our own games. Possibly from the current owner of the games that are there or from elsewhere. For such a person we would show the last 10 receipts so they have a good idea of the track record of the arcade which is half or likely less of what it actually generates due to the split. With the past track record, it is a relatively safe investment. I have not yet priced out what it would cost to purchase games but will be researching that next.

4: If 1-3 don't happen it would mean we would shut down. It would be too much of a gamble doing a 50/50 split with the new rent amount.

If you know anyone that can fulfill 2 or 3 please have them contact us ASAP. I can be found at The Game Getaway.

It sounds cheesy and a line of BS but we really do keep it going for the community, for the people of Folsom to have fun. Unfortunately, I am not wealthy and can't take the loss. But we do what we do because of Old Folsom and Folsom in general needs a place for family fun. There isn't a lot out there but that is why we kept it going this far.