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I bet i'm not the only one here that dreams about having their own store. But like all dreams, the grim dark reality of mankind is usually very far from the idealistic fantasies we have. So i wanted to know from you guys that are living the dream, or have been involved at any level in opening a hobby store...

What was it like opening your own store?
What would you have done differently?
What's the best and the worst part?
Did the store diminish your love for the hobby in any way?

Phloop wrote:I bet i'm not the only one here that dreams about having their own store. But like all dreams, the grim dark reality of mankind is usually very far from the idealistic fantasies we have. So i wanted to know from you guys that are living the dream, or have been involved at any level in opening a hobby store...

What was it like opening your own store?
What would you have done differently?
What's the best and the worst part?
Did the store diminish your love for the hobby in any way?

heh, would take hours of typing to give you non-trivial answers.

I've had shops for 21 years. I opened a small store because my local shop was run poorly, and after working there parttime before they closed, wanted to do it better. I loved opening the store, designing it, setting it up. All 230 square feet. More than 10x as big now, with two locations. In hindsight, I'd have done everything different. I'd also have invested in microsoft and bought a pallet of alpha edtion MTG. Hindsight is irrelevent. Didn't know then what I do now. Best part is being your own boss, and being surrounded by what you love. Worst is the responsibility of knowing that if you screw up, it all goes away and you don't have a job. The 70 hours a week can be annoying as well. Owning the store didn't diminish my love of the hobby, because I didn't let it. It did take away a lot of my free time to game though.

Opening a store is lots of work, and is a gamble that you can make things go right. You need to open a business, not a hobby or hang out. Can be very rewarding, but is also a hell of a lot of work.