I am in the northeast Ohio area (Cleveland) and we are looking at a few places that are pretty central.
Currently the buildings we are looking at are more industrial (more space and much cheaper) The one that looks the most promising is 6k sg ft and plenty of parking. But we will keep looking for now.
Please understand that my opinions are based largely on ignorance of the business world.
That said, basically every businessman I've ever heard of preaches "Location, location, location." How expensive or cheap your physical location is only matters
relative to the market available where it is. Nor do I know what zoning laws may apply where you are. Can you put a retail outlet (game store) in an industrial zoned space legally?
I think if it were me I'd look for a business are that wasn't doing very well
because it was too close to a High School or a park, somewhere where all the kids hang out. Depending on the business, being swarmed with teens every afternoon can be really good or really bad for sales. In your case, I'd think it would be really good, in the case of something like a bridal and formalwear shop, not so much.
If the place I got was already a retail business,
1) Chances are there are no zoning troubles.
2) Chances are the utilities (electric, plumbing, etc.) are already suitable.
3) Chances are the parking arrangements are already suitable.
4) Chances are the physical location is already set up for basic advertising, such as a huge sign on the shop or in the parking lot. Back in the day as a copier tech, I was amazed at how some places you could
drive right by half a dozen times and not know that was it, until you finally figured out where they'd hidden the address block or found it by process of elimination, ie everything else in that block
wasn't it, so it had to be that one. You can do that to your copier tech, but if you do that to your customers you won't have any. If the name on your business is placed such that you can't see it until after you've parked and gotten out of the car, you may as well save your money and not put it up at all. Had that happen to me more than once.
If you wanted to be able to expand into LARP, I'd not only look for the dying bridal & formal shop, I'd hope that the businesses around it are dying as well, so I can eventually take them over as LARP set. Some strip shopping center that the nature of the neighborhood has changed since they built it, so the type of businesses that started there aren't making any money there
now.