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We're on the verge of opening a new FLGS in Essex, partly to quench our own desire to Wargame, but also to make some money out of it.

We've agreed to stock the GW range, but are curious as to what else we should make space for in the way of other ranges.

We've got room for 2 gaming tables, and a painting area, and are looking at becoming a focal point for wargaming in the centre of essex

If you have any ideas, please let us know as we want to make this work, and fly in the face of the quickly decreasing FLGS that are about

Thanks for reading this, and we await your comments..

Luke and Matt

Founders of BattleBunker, coming to Witham, Essex Soon

http://www.esdeviumgames.com/ - These guys will sell Warmachine and Hordes, and I believe, quite a lot of other wargaming systems. And most card games. And roleplaying books.

They've been highly recommended to me by several folks.

homerismyidol wrote:We're on the verge of opening a new FLGS in Essex, partly to quench our own desire to Wargame, but also to make some money out of it.

We've agreed to stock the GW range, but are curious as to what else we should make space for in the way of other ranges.

We've got room for 2 gaming tables, and a painting area, and are looking at becoming a focal point for wargaming in the centre of essex

If you have any ideas, please let us know as we want to make this work, and fly in the face of the quickly decreasing FLGS that are about

Thanks for reading this, and we await your comments..

Luke and Matt

Founders of BattleBunker, coming to Witham, Essex Soon

is that as in witham where the military auctions are??

sceneray and modelling stuff-that always gets over looked. non specific military models perhaps??

just a thought, but why not wait and see what your intial interest is before jumping in on stuff. my (now ex as the guy shut) FLGS used to be able to find anything from wargaming to model trains and scaletrix! that made me go back for stuff as he was better then mail order and a nice guy.

one brief question-isnt the GW at braintree a big one with a massive back room. that may have been bromley-im never sure

Depending on space, perhaps some Dolls House apparel? I'm being quite serious. Many strings to your bow and that. Also fits into the general feel of a model shop!

And of course, do try to offer an ordering service. Not necessarily on demand, but requests. Take their name and number, when it's order day call them, get them to cough up, and then add it to your order. This way, theoretically* you can expand your ranges without needing to keep everything in stock.


*MAy not actually work. But probably bears further investigation.

Good luck guys! Ex Blueshirt from my local GW was going to do this in The Chelmsford, but opted for a sweetie shop instead. Apparently the margins on confectionery are really high!

I've not heard of any millatry aucctions in witham, and I haven't heard of any games workshops in witham or braintree. From what I know the closest GW is in Colchester or Chelmsford.
If you have any more details on these we'd love to know.
Man Thanks.
Luke and Matt.

Items that keep me going back to my favorite store:

Evergreen Scale Models- Terrain/ Conversion bits
Plastruct- Terrain/ Conversion bits
Magnets- Sell out pretty quickly
GW "add ons"- Max Mini, West Wind etc...

Yes, most, if not all can be purchased online, but some people prefer to see it in person before buying or the whole pay and take it home the same day.

@OP: Snacks provide good cash flow. For food, chocolate bars and crisps seem to be common commodities. And a nice variety of cold bottled drinks. (Caps prevent spillage). I can not stress the stupid amounts of money I have spent on drinks at the FLGS.

we were looking into doing snacks and bottles, so thats confirmed that idea.

with all the internet retailers undercutting bricks and mortar stores, would a loyalty bonus be a good idea?

we're thinking of 5 or 10% off products for gaming club members from Gw's GCN, in order to entice punters from the local GW stores

also as we're avid 40k gamers, we were thinking of 2 game nights, as we are going to be situated next to a domino's takeaway

cheers for the suggestions so far


Luke and Matt

p.s. anyone near where we're setting up?

homerismyidol wrote:I've not heard of any millatry aucctions in witham, and I haven't heard of any games workshops in witham or braintree. From what I know the closest GW is in Colchester or Chelmsford.
If you have any more details on these we'd love to know.
Man Thanks.
Luke and Matt.

yeah, the withams tenders are in grantham-im going mad!

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/storelocator/results.jsp

bromly is one i was thinking of, but there did used to be a model shop in braintree-im not going mad.

how old are you guys out of interest?

homerismyidol wrote:we were looking into doing snacks and bottles, so thats confirmed that idea.

with all the internet retailers undercutting bricks and mortar stores, would a loyalty bonus be a good idea?

we're thinking of 5 or 10% off products for gaming club members from Gw's GCN, in order to entice punters from the local GW stores

also as we're avid 40k gamers, we were thinking of 2 game nights, as we are going to be situated next to a domino's takeaway

cheers for the suggestions so far


Luke and Matt

p.s. anyone near where we're setting up?

i used to have a great FLGS near me called games plus. they were friendly, well stocked, and had a discount program. basically, for every FULL $10 you spend (not including tax), you get a checkmark. for 10 checkmarks, you get a $10 gift certificate. you wouldn't believe how many extra stupid dice sets and other nick nacks i bought because of that! and, it wasn't just me!

Sell Battletech. I get a lot of complaints that it is hard to find a store across the pond with it.

Morning all! its Luke here. I'm at work so shhh dont tell my boss.
Thanks so much for all the ideas and things.

@mattlov: i completely agree we have been looking into battletech, the problem is finding a wholesale seller over this side of the pond. We may well look at importing.

@warboss: That was acctually one of the main ideas we had! your an amazing mind reader ^_^

@dirkthe1: in the risk of sounding old, im personaly 21, i cant say for Matt, although i will say he's older than me =]
oh and thanks for the link, i'll check that out in a sec.

Right back to the grindstone before the boss catches me.

Hi guys, good luck with the store!

My advice would be to start with the big companies - GW, PP, FFG, etc because you know that there is interest in their products. Going to smaller manufacturers can get you better discounts and more interesting products but you run the risk of them not being taken up by customers and you've got stock you can't shift.

If you want to move into historicals then pick a period (I kid you not!!) and start from there. The store near me has bits of allsorts and its impossible to get enough rules and models for one period at a time to play a game - so you give up, go online and get the lot from the comfort of your armchair...
For example, if you do WWII then stock up on Flames of War stuff, appropriate 1:72 scale kits, Osprey books for the period, etc and become know as the place to go (become knowledgeable about the period yourselves too).

Finally - and I cannot stress this enough - the most important bit of FLGS is Friendly! I've stopped going to one store near me because the staff are so bl**dy miserable. Also for all its faults GW's 'Ten Commandments' (assuming they still have them) are absolute gold. Find a copy and stick to them like glue!

Anyway, enough rambling. Good luck with it all and if I find myself in that part of the world I'll pop in for game.

All the best, C_C

Uncharted Seas seems to be getting a good following and has good PR online. They are about to come out with some expanded models and a revamped rule book, and have a low entry point (starter fleet £15 - £30, rulebook £15) and the models are easy to paint. Plus you need little to no terrain, so it's very easy to get people to try it as a "second game" beyond their first love of 40k or whatever.

Being an ex essex resident myself I seem to remember that getting hobby accessories such as airbrushes, paint brushes, terrain materials and the like was never easy (yes I know theres hobby craft but eugh), more importantly was that even where you found those items the staff in the stores selling them did not have a clue what each item was specialised for and the pros/cons of each one (I'm specifically referencing airbrushes and paintbrushes here). while this is probably not something for a store getting started it may be worth considering down the line.
Make sure you sell ccg, kids love ccg, and have somewhere instore to play ccg too. Also for your gaming table ensure that the terrain on it does not suck (cool terrain is a draw to a store) and if you've built it yourself from stuff you sell even better as when someone askes how you made whatever it is you can turn it into a sale.

Theres some rambly ideas for you, if i have any more i'll get back to you.

http://www.gsrf.org/index_files/Page358.htm

This is a forum run by existing game store owners for the purpose of helping new game stores get started. Ask questions, and read all the back posts. It could help out a lot.

Product: Set up an account with Battlefront and carry a starter line of Flames of War. They now own Gale Force Nine, so you can also order all your hobby supplies from them. Get the first two racks that GF9 offers. Very good selection to add to a game store. The third is iffy, and has less 'must have' products on it.

Army Painter dips, sprays, and primers.
Avatars of War
Ultraforge Miniatures
...Set up an account at E-figs distribution if you can't find them over on that side.

I'd go with more games than just GW.
-Battletech
-Privateer
-FOW

Carry basic RPG's (dungeons and dragons, whitewolf, mutants and masterminds)
Tons of Dice
CCG's, a box of several of the best sellers. Takes up no space, and can be significant income.

Sabol figure cases
Battlefoam figure cases

I've had gaming shops for 21 years. One thing that keeps us going is having a large variety of stock, and paying attention to the industry. Carrying just some GW and having some gaming tables won't keep you going for long. You need more stuff. Really read those forums. When you get open, join the Games Industry Network as the next step.

Mike at Showcase Comics

@lunawulf: Cheeky bugger, i'm only nearly thirty!!

guys, seriously thanks for the ideas so far, esp the contact website, its helping to firm up the situat
sounds like we'll have to send out some discount card to say thanks when the store's running!

Matt

I would suggest going to a good model shop as 4D models and have a look at the kind of thing they stock like blue foam, plasticard etc
Rather than focus purely on wargames I would go for a wider modeling market.

http://www.modelshop.co.uk/