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A Neon sign that says "Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult." Maybe not Neon, but I'm willing to wager you don't want to be playing the role of Daycare Dad on weekends.

If you can swing it, seperate areas for hobby/hanging out and gaming.

Get a terrain club going to build terrain for the store.

Hold youngbloods nights so that the "obnoxious kids" can learn the right rules/how to play.

Tables-6 to 8 if space permits.

Chairs are great.

NO DRINKS ON THE TABLES!

Don't upsell anyone over the age of 14 unless they are a noob (had to put at least one joke in).

Offer alternatives to GW products for modeling/painting. Vallejo, for example, makes a great glossy black.
Gale Force 9 makes great glue.

Don't get so attached to your vision of the store that you start making poor choices. Remember that it is a buisiness.

The types of events I personally like are dedicated escalation campaigns, such as 750, 1,000, 1,500, and 2,000 point games every, oh, saturday or so.

Winner gets a free box up to $50 USD, or something similar.

Food and Snacks are also good, but be careful. I've seen coke spilled on someones army (Not at an FLGS, but still, caution is key)

Also, if your store is running warmachine, Flames of War, etc. make sure you reserve at least 1 table for these games. Although many of us play GW games, many of us also play Flames or Warmachine/Hordes or even DnD or something.

So far so good. However, I probably should have said from the outset that I've once again packed my soul into a Blister pack and am now working for GW again.

Many many good suggestions thus far. Most are practicable, many are even already doing (got space for 6 6x4 boards in the shop, three of which are up the back away from the stock) and sadly, a few which we cannot implement, such as supplying Bogs and Snacks. Thankfully we have a Tesco's just over the road, Bogs just down the road (Which are well kept and clean, for once) and a Burger Cafe next door where our customers can claim a 10% discount (should probably mention that to the Parental types. Keeps them close at hand whilst we do what we gotta do!).

So onto events. Tournaments of some kind are of course a must. It gets people through the doors, and we can maintain some kind of balance against the more competitive lists by making up scenarios specifically for. Escalation leagues are also a good suggestion, as the points creep drives sales (sadly a necessity in my job. But far from the only concern).

How would you feel about invitational challenge days, where perhaps we (the staff) pick a fight for you (the customer) with other stores, inviting them to send their biggest and best down for a sound kicking? We have three other GW's within easy driving distance, so this could well work. In fact come to think of it, there are direct bus links between us all, with my Store being at the 'hub' of connections. All of them drop off right behind. Hmmm. Will look into this one.

Right, enough disgressing. So, beyond Tournament type games, what would get you into the store? Apocalypse, Kill-Team, Sieges? Do you feel that beyond the appeal of playing new people, such games should have something a little extra? Be it new Terrain types, big gribblies to fight etc?

Campaigns. You want to get people coming back, you run a campaign. Doesn't have to be map-based, or even that complex, but something that rewards players for showing up and playing. You can even insert little events that alters things, tie it into painting challenges and whatnot.

Yeah, and don't sell Stompas to people who just want to buy glue. I think I might'a mentioned that one...

What about a Baneblade? Surely you must want a Baneblade to use the glue on?

My store just about doubled its 40k player base earlier this year by running a 4-month campaign and giving a discount on all GW products to new players during that time. In 10 years of gaming I've never seen so many new people start playing - or building up their first armies so fast!

Other prominent features of my FLGS:

-heavy on the "F" in FLGS
-bathroom
-vending machine
-separate gaming room with six 6x4 tables
-separate room for CCG players (se we don't have to smell them)
-two 4x4 tables in the main area for demos, Warmachine...
-runs tutorials, demos, terrain workshops, etc
-lockers for the regulars to store their armies
-carries all sorts of products inc. Warmachine, FOW, Inifinity, Anima Tactics, Alkemy, Freebooter...
-hobby products inc. airbrushes, KR cases...
-can order any product I want, and I mean anything
-if they can't get it at trade, they'll buy it at retail and pass it on to me at no profit

Khornholio wrote:Sell pop and a small selection of snacks. So even on a slow day you'll make some cash. I know in my experience from the FLGS I used to go to that gamers on the weekend would spend at least $5 each on junk food at the store. A coke machine near the front door might also get walk ins on hot days.

Good, but also keep in mind pop and food spillages/people with greasy hands picking up models. Perhaps have a small drink rack/snack holder or something extending from the short edges of the tables. I am imagining a wood square for a bag of ships and a hole to put a drink in. It's pretty simple to create, and is easy enough for holding food.

Rico.

Khornholio wrote:A Neon sign that says "Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult." Maybe not Neon, but I'm willing to wager you don't want to be playing the role of Daycare Dad on weekends.

As long as the sign also says:

"Adults who act like they are 14 will be asked to leave"

I will split my advice into two parts, 1 advice aplicable to any store 2 advice aplicable to a wargames store.

1 Ensure that the store is clean and kept looking tidy, spend ten minutes each day before you open running the vacuum round, checking for dead light bulbs and making sure the toilet has paper available and no skid marks. Get any staff you have to dust shelves and tidy stock when the store is quiet.

2 Make sure your staff are friendly and approachable, this means good personal hygiene and a uniform t shirt at the very least. Some of your biggest sales will come from new people getting into the hobby and parents out buying presents, nothing will scare them off more than a smelly and disheveled looking guy scowling at them. If you decide to have music in the store, make sure is isn't too loud and that it contains no offensive lyrics.

3 Get the basics right, decide on regular opening hours and stick to them, make sure you are carrying the right amount of stock. If an item isn't selling dont be affraid to stop stocking it.

4 Regularly (every 6 months or so) move stock and displays around, it keeps things fresh and sometimes when someone heads to a particular part of the store to pick up their usual buy, they may see something new and try that instead. Almost all major retailers do this to promote impulse buys.

5 Put your most popular products at the rear of the store, this encourages people to walk through the whole store to get what they want, again increasing the chance they will see something new and want to pick that up to.

6 Keep your accounts up to date, hold regular, whole store, stock takes (at least once a month) this will help you recognise what is selling and what isn't. It will also help to identify where you are making your profit, it is no good selling hundreds of one item for a penny profit each time when you could sell two of another item for a lot more. Get an accountant, they dont cost too much and you will not have the time to devote to doing your tax returns properly when trying to start up a business.

Now for the specific advice!

1 Get a drinks vending machine and a snacks vending machine, as they are in machines you don't have to worry about jumping behind the till everytime someone wants a Mars bar and they can also pull people in off the street. Dont offer any more than this, you are a games shop not a cafe, the last thing you need is a visit from environmental health asking to see your food hygien certificate!

2 Hold a veterans night and emphasise that it is for experienced players only, you may want to make it over 16's. Always keeps your older gamers happy as they have the largest disposable incomes

3 Be wary of loyalty schemes, GW don't have them for a reason, they don't need them. Of course everyone wants a discount so sell the products for slightly less than workshop do. This should be enough to bring people in without having to hand out cards and stamp them every time you make a sale. If you do decide to offer a loyalty scheme it needs to be realistic, you wont be able to afford to give away huge prizes but at the same time it needs to be worth collecting towards.

4 Hold regular campains and one off events, better than loyalty schemes, offer prizes to the winners. You can give out slow selling items or items where the packaging has been damaged, this will reduce your losses and again encourage people into new products.

5 Don't be affraid to stock different companies miniatures, a lot of the smaller companies will offer great incentives to stock their products, you can run introductory campaigns which only require the player to have a squad, this will push sales and again keep things fresh

6 Change the gaming baords around and make new terrain regularly, you could even run classes in how to make it. One thing I would advise against is charging for people to use your tables as this can put people off, especialy if they have already spent a lot of money with you on the figures themselves. The terrain should be to a good standard,t he same as any miniatures you have in display cabinets, however dont waste time and money on great looking figures for your intro games, they will get damaged and worst case scenario, stolen.

7 Little incentives go a long way, every one likes to feel like they got something for free, so when someone makes a big purchase, say over £100 throw in some glue or a can of spray ubdercoat for free, you could even give them the odd minature if you like. It will cost you next to nothing and the customer will feel a lot more valued.

I think thats me done! Good luck with your new enterprise!

- Definitely make sure the staff are friendly/approachable, knowledgable about the hobby and most of all not pushy. I've had problems in my GW where I've gone in to buy a couple of paints and the staff tried making me leave with a Battleforce. If your staff are pushy, it puts a lot of people off from using the store in the future. I'm heavily considering buying my future stuff online, because some of the staff in my local GW are a bit pushy.
- It's handy if facilities are nearby, but I think you already covered this (toilets/food, even if not directly onsite).
- Host a variety of gaming days/activities. Even if 40k is very popular, alternate events between the other games too.
- Supply areas for painting/modelling. This is one place my local GW is good; there's a whole games room as well as a painting table for people who want to paint instore.
- Don't be afraid to enforce rules- enough of us have experienced the annoying 13-year old kid who manhandles everything he touches. Especially if (like GW) you have miniatures on display, you don't want kids fighting with each other around cabinets that could contain hundreds of pounds worth of models.
- Offer the option to mail order models. This is handy for people who want to collect an army that isn't commonly stocked in GW (my local GW doesn't stock Azrael for Dark Angels, or a lot of Dark Eldar models).
- Loyality schemes are great for customers, but make sure you're still getting the best of things too. GW used to run this (does anyone remember the Skullz promotion GW did in the 90s?- I have one of the Inquisitor Grundvald posters ), but it got dropped for some reason.
- Don't limit yourself to GW products. I only collect 40k, but a lot of people here also collect other companies' miniatures. Offering a selection of other games (even if just through mail order) would be a great help for a lot of people.

Good luck in the store anyway- where in the UK are you setting up?

With the above post, the last point is a very good one. If someone comes to the counter with a pile of boxes, give them something like a can of undercoat, or glue. This makes people feel appreciated. This is very good with younguns too. just after christmas a couple of years ago, I had just started the hobby. I was 14. I went up to the counter with a small pile of eldar boxes (Avengers, Wraithlord, Seer council an some extra warlocks I think...) but was about $5 short for glue. This got me a friendly smile from the guy I now know as Pierre, who told me not to worry. This gets me to my second point:

Get onto first name terms with regulars. You don't need to offer people discounts when you know them by name. I know all the staff at my local GW by name, and a large number of the people there. I keep going back. Last time I went just to see who was there tohave a chat, and walked out with the Daemonhunter's Codex and a box of Grey Knights.

Offer painting classes. Doesn't need to be masterclass. Just Basecoat, drybrush, wash, highlight, detail will help any newbie get painting quickly, and then, if they become regulars, give them hints to improve.

That's all off the top of my head. The rest has pretty much been said.

Nurglitch wrote:Ales and whores.

Dude. get a booze licence nerds will come from miles around if you have guinness on tap and a sexy barmaid

On a more sensible note, squilverine makes some excelent points. He clearly knows what he's on about, but I'd like to disagree on the discouraging you from loyalty scemes thing, they're great, the point is, and I think he was trying to emphasise this, is don't cripple yourself with it...the GW skullz thing was great, unique stuff that wasn't worth much, but you wanted it, afterall a poster isn't very expensive to produce, but people would have to buy lots of stuff to get one, and not feel cheated by having to buy £100's of models rather rewarded.

And the sceme can be used to encourage participation in campains and events, 40k radio did a show on legions games, and they had a similar thing, but if you can encourage people to get into the hobby, to play to build, points for finishing a whole squad, points for playing in a campain, points because you feel sorry for them losing the campain miserably. And in return they've boosted your atmosphere by having fun and having nice painted figs on the table, they will want to buy more because they are having fun and are in a good mood, they'll feel very pleased when you hand over a free box of warp spider (they won't notice that they bought a fire prism, 20 guardians and 2 vipers in order to play in the tournament). And if you have an awesome store, people will come from further around to play there.

BTW, where is this magical store?

MDG, I agree with just about everything already said. But you may want to put a disclaimer in the first post or title that you are talking about a GW store. From working for them in the past, I'm sure "discount", "sale", and "free" still aren't in their vocabulary.......

Nor the idea of selling non-GW products.

Yeah.....If it had been an actual FLGS, I would probably have stopped by, but if it's a regular GW.....

lord_blackfang wrote:
-separate room for CCG players (se we don't have to smell them)

A FLGS which I used to frequent before it shut down had a basement for YUGIOH! card players. The only time we would ever see these kids was when they were either coming or going. What a great store

Cleanliness and accessibility.

CT GAMER wrote:

Khornholio wrote:A Neon sign that says "Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult." Maybe not Neon, but I'm willing to wager you don't want to be playing the role of Daycare Dad on weekends.

As long as the sign also says:

"Adults who act like they are 14 will be asked to leave"

Sounds great! If I had my own store I would definitely invest in such a sign.

Also, who the hell suggested a bathroom? Something like that isn't exactly optional in my opinion, if your store doesn't have one it won't last long.