How to Find a Warehouse to Raid

Hyde

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In the time I have been on these forums, I have read many people's stories about going on warehouse raids and pulling out lots of classics, parts, and artwork for cheap prices.

I would love to go on a raid myself, but I have no clue on how to go about finding a warehouse first. And I know that a warehouse like that would be especially hard to find down here near San Antonio.

So if anyone out there who has actually been to an arcade warehouse could chime in and help a newbie to find one for himself, that would be great! Even a couple of pointers on how to track down an operator's old stash of games would be awesome.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
Ask around. I have "raided" two operators warehouses because they were downsizing and they happened to be a friend of a friend. I have also picked up many spare boards and parts from people who previously owned machines and found the parts just sitting on a shelf.
 
I guess lookup "Amusement" on your local phone directory site, see whats it your area and call around. I found a closing warehouse close to me and thats where I got a bunch of stuff for free/cheap.
 
I guess lookup "Amusement" on your local phone directory site, see whats it your area and call around. I found a closing warehouse close to me and thats where I got a bunch of stuff for free/cheap.

I think I'll give this a shot, I was thinking about something similar to this a while back. Has anyone out there had success with this method?

Also, any other tips for tracking down a warehouse?
 
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Believe it or not they sometimes show up on CraigsList. They don't always say "I'm closing my warehouse come and raid me". Sometimes it's just a few games, go and chat the guy up, he may have more stashed away or he knows somebody. To find a good stash to raid is mostly a question of timing, having the cash (or getting trustworthy partners) and having the contacts that will let you know when they hear about something.

My big score started off as just buying a couple of cabinets out of a storage unit full. I kept in touch and a couple of weeks later they invited me back to rummage around again. I ended up buying the whole lot at a great price. Why, because I chatted with them. I asked about the games, where they had been, why they were here, which ones they liked, which ones they hated, etc. In the end they said they were glad I came back, because I was the only one that actually talked to them. Everybody else was "How much for that cabinet?" and "What else can I get for free?", or said the box was a POS and offered $10 for it.

It is all about timing, contacts and sometimes a little luck.

ken
 
Believe it or not they sometimes show up on CraigsList. They don't always say "I'm closing my warehouse come and raid me". Sometimes it's just a few games, go and chat the guy up, he may have more stashed away or he knows somebody. To find a good stash to raid is mostly a question of timing, having the cash (or getting trustworthy partners) and having the contacts that will let you know when they hear about something.

My big score started off as just buying a couple of cabinets out of a storage unit full. I kept in touch and a couple of weeks later they invited me back to rummage around again. I ended up buying the whole lot at a great price. Why, because I chatted with them. I asked about the games, where they had been, why they were here, which ones they liked, which ones they hated, etc. In the end they said they were glad I came back, because I was the only one that actually talked to them. Everybody else was "How much for that cabinet?" and "What else can I get for free?", or said the box was a POS and offered $10 for it.

It is all about timing, contacts and sometimes a little luck.

ken

You know, I never really thought about that. But I guess that makes sense to actually make friends with the owner and just have some small talk.
 
I think perfidious is out your way. Chat him up. He is #7 on the VAPS hoarder, I mean, collectors list. He has a warehouse full of goodies somewhere out your way.

ken
 
another thing is to check with other locals in the area. there are a few guys here that flip games and collect a little as well, and they have done some raids. always check with fellow collectors in your area, there's always someone who knows a guy who knows a guy with a ****load of games...
 
be nice to everyone is what i do. go to arcade auctions whenever you can and talk to people. when you develop relationships with people there you can find out about all kinds of things including warehouse raids. friends i have met know others, and when an opportunity arises they might want you to go in on a deal cause they cant afford the whole deal.

i have also found them on craigslist. i search craigslist 3, 4, 5 times a day. one person selling one non-working game for 75 and i talk them down to 40 cause im the first one there constitutes for me, a mini warehouse raid.
a small raid but they add up so fast i have rented a storage unit.

people with games die all the time. relatives have yard sales to clean up, and post sales on craigslist.

think of craigslist as an ongoing, everyday, warehouse raid.

:)
 
for me its just been a matter of who you know...

the more guys you know, the more of those guys know ops or are ops...

the more of them you know, the more warehouses...


sometimes its dumb luck too like somebody comes to your houseparty and says "hey my grandpa used to have a game business... hes passed away and the old games are stitting in storage and my family is sick of paying the rent on the building"

stuff like that...

Most ops arent just going to trust some guy off the street to come to thier warehouse and dig through all of thier stuff, therefore you kind o fneed a have a rapport with somebody who can get you in there....
 
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many of the bulk game buys my buddy made from a warehouse were from a guy who runs an amusment supply place in oregon. We had no clue at first of this, becuase we first responded to his CL ad, then eventually talked more with him. BUT.....

If you go into most laundrymats, bars, pool halls, whatever there are arcade games. On these games there are stickers or tags for a local vendor/ supplier. You could always just give him a call and ask if he has stuff for cheap. Alot of times, space is more important to them in the building rather than keeping a dying, stale game around which may not been on route for years.
 
I think perfidious is out your way. Chat him up. He is #7 on the VAPS hoarder, I mean, collectors list. He has a warehouse full of goodies somewhere out your way.

ken

All I will say is this is not the way to go, bad advise on this one, and if you find a wharehouse don't say anything to him no matter what. I had first sight on his warehouse told him about it (BEING NEW AND DUMB) because I was out of town and thought we will work together on it, and then just like that it was his, no thank you, or have a free game out of 300 hundred, just gone. I even offered to go help work on them or just clean the years of dust off of them. Just so I could learn or work off a game or two, lesson learned never discuss anything with anyone enless you really know them. From what I hear through the grape vine is he will not share with anyone.

On the same note let me say that if anyone ever works with Modessitt, in Austin there is a KLOV'er that can be trusted and has no problem helping you out and teaching you about the games.
 
I haven't had much other than casual conversations with Mr. P. so I can't comment directly on his style of sharing. I just knew from previous "chats" that he has a pile 'o games out in that direction. If he won't share maybe you should chat up his wife or other next of kin...:D

I do agree 100% that Mod is an asset to the forums here. Steve went way above and beyond the call of duty fixing a G07 chassis for me. And then he posted the details so other people could learn from it. These G07s are getting so old that the fix'em up flowcharts only cover half of the issues and if everybody hoarded their knowledge of these non-flowchart issues, there would be a lot of G07s in landfills over the next few years.

t1233.gif

The point I was originally trying to make is that most of these warehouse deals don't just happen, you make them happen. Go to the shows, talk to the operators, talk to other collectors, talk to your neighbors, just plain talk to people. Because you never know who has a game or two ro two hunderd they would like to get rid of. And the right word at the right time can make all the difference. Sitting back and waiting for a deal to come along will almost never happen. You have to go and make the deal happen.

ken
 
Thanks for all the help guys, I definitely have a much better picture now of what I need to start doing. I guess the best bet is just to try everything that's been mentioned here, and keep going at it.

Special thanks to YellowDog for his very helpful posts, I'll remember to keep those hints in mind when trying to track down a warehouse.
 
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Frytex Lies!

All I will say is this is not the way to go, bad advise on this one, and if you find a wharehouse don't say anything to him no matter what. I had first sight on his warehouse told him about it (BEING NEW AND DUMB) because I was out of town and thought we will work together on it, and then just like that it was his, no thank you, or have a free game out of 300 hundred, just gone. I even offered to go help work on them or just clean the years of dust off of them. Just so I could learn or work off a game or two, lesson learned never discuss anything with anyone enless you really know them. From what I hear through the grape vine is he will not share with anyone.

On the same note let me say that if anyone ever works with Modessitt, in Austin there is a KLOV'er that can be trusted and has no problem helping you out and teaching you about the games.

All I can say is wow I just saw this post today...

Let me set the record straight here:

Frytex found a guy on CL who was selling a few games. When he contacted the guy they met at his warehouse and Jeff walked away with NO GAMES or NO DEAL in place to buy any games. He then went on KLOV and posted about this warehouse and wanted to know if anyone wanted any of the games out of there. You can go back and find the original post it is still here in the archive. I contacted Frytex at that time and said I was interested in the games and that I would even purchase the entire warehouse. He wanted to act as a middle man which was fine with me. We went back in forth for a quite a few weeks and he could never seem to get any information and would not produce any contact information for me for this guy. Finally he gave me an email address after weeks of asking. I promtly emailed the guy and told him what I do and what I feel I could do for him. The owner then called me on christmas eve of 2008 and we had a long discussion about what he wanted to do with his stuff. We set up a meeting and made a deal.

Now the funny thing is that the first thing this seller said to me was he had no intention of dealing with Jeff Fry (Frytex). He felt Jeff knew nothing about the business or even how to work on games. He was looking for someone with experience. It was also mentioned in my first conversation with the owner that he had already been recommended my name from someone else he had been talking to about the pinball machines and was planning on contacting me about buying all the games or setting up a deal to broker them.

Now after the deal was done I did still have contact with Jeff Fry. I Fixed a Q*bert board for him for free and did some other minor things here and there (that I forget) as a thank you. This was made clear at the time and I can review emails to come up with the exact details of what I did for him. Of course now he makes like I just blew him off after the deal was done but that is an outright lie. He came to my shop in Austin and to the warehouse itself long after I had made the deal with the owner to get some of his freebies and I even met his daughter. He was happy with this deal for a while but after about 6 months or so (and after a few locals got in his ear telling him he somehow blew the deal) he started sending me emails demanding free games and other stuff because "I still owed him" etc etc.

Well the facts are he had a chance to buy all the games or whatever games he wanted the day he was there. He did not.

The owner never had any intention of making a deal with him and had no desire to broker all his games on klov or to many different buyers. He wanted someone with experience and the ability to work on the games which Jeff is not.

It is ludicrus to imply I somehow took advantage of you on this deal when you were never in the running for it to begin with nor do you have the ability or knowledge to take on such a thing. The owner made it clear he did not want you at the warehouse after all your sour grapes and name calling after the fact so I could not even offer you work for games.
 
Well the facts are he had a chance to buy all the games or whatever games he wanted the day he was there. He did not.

The owner never had any intention of making a deal with him and had no desire to broker all his games on klov or to many different buyers.

The above 2 sentences sound mutually exclusive to me. Not taking sides, I could care less, just pointing it out.
 
I don't fault Frytex for being pissed about losing a deal for 300 games. And I don't fault Perf for swooping in to make a deal on 300 cabs that weren't sold yet.

This happens on CL all the time where we warn people not to count on anything until you have the games loaded up. Often the guy that shows up with cash in hand gets the bounty.

There may be a subtle abuse of trust here since the email address was provided by request and then used to gain access to the seller and ultimately seal a deal, but really, if you don't have the cash or knowledge to make a deal happen then how long should someone that does have the cash resources wait for you to ponder what to do.

I see both sides on this. I think ultimately, the nice thing to do would have been to offer a thank you gift of a cab or two (since we're talking 300 cabs) to Fry for giving you the connection to make this deal happen. But I also don't think you can hate on Perf for sealing the deal, either.



.
 
I don't fault Frytex for being pissed about losing a deal for 300 games. And I don't fault Perf for swooping in to make a deal on 300 cabs that weren't sold yet.

This happens on CL all the time where we warn people not to count on anything until you have the games loaded up. Often the guy that shows up with cash in hand gets the bounty.

There may be a subtle abuse of trust here since the email address was provided by request and then used to gain access to the seller and ultimately seal a deal, but really, if you don't have the cash or knowledge to make a deal happen then how long should someone that does have the cash resources wait for you to ponder what to do.

I see both sides on this. I think ultimately, the nice thing to do would have been to offer a thank you gift of a cab or two (since we're talking 300 cabs) to Fry for giving you the connection to make this deal happen. But I also don't think you can hate on Perf for sealing the deal, either.



.

Casting no vote either way I say the gift of a free cab or two should have fallen upon the seller if anyone. He got to move 300 games at once and that has to be worth something.
 
The above 2 sentences sound mutually exclusive to me. Not taking sides, I could care less, just pointing it out.

To clarify what I mean there:

Jeff was in the warehouse with the owner before ANYONE else knew about it. He walked away not only empty handed but with no deal in place whatsoever for even 1 game. That is a HUGE mistake as anyone will tell you. If he was a serious buyer he would have had cash in hand and at least purchased something. This is what turned off the seller most of all imo. He was not looking to sell 1 or 2 games or to meet a bunch of people who are "shopping". While I do think Jeff could have bought a game or 2 that first day and got out of there. When he did not he became a "waste of time" as the owner put it and he had no desire to deal with Jeff or anyone on a small scale after that. (does that help Joe? :) )

When he gave me the email info he was basically giving up because the owner had not returned any of his emails or phone calls for about a month. We had no agreement that I would do anything for him at that time as I had no idea if I would get a response either. Only reason I did get a response is because the owner recognized my name and had been trying to get in touch with me about this place already.

Jeff was compensated for his effort as I mentioned above. He was happy with said compensation for a while but at some point he decided he was not and has attempted to bad mouth me ever since. He wanted me to find him a Tank machine. I told him if I had a Tank in there I would make him a good deal on it but no Tank machine was there. I had planned on bringing him in later to help work on games and get some games for himself but after his emails and ranting the owner said he did not want him on the property and actually went to the trouble of putting up cameras to make sure he does not come there when we are gone. I also lost any desire to deal with him. He really sealed his own fate with that one. I do not own the building so I can not say who comes and goes there.

In all honestly I liked Jeff. He was a newb but he had the one thing we old collectors lose, Passion for the hobby. He was not jaded or bitter like most people who have done this for any length of time. He was into real classics not mame or multi's, hell he even wanted a B/W game! Patients would have served him better in this situation but I feel he let others opinions reign over his better judgment.
 
You know what I am wondering? How the heck do you store 300 games? I'm running out of room with only 3!

But seriously, not taking sides here; in the collector world you need to be ready with cash on hand... and be ready to purchase multiple games at a time when need be.
 
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