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Pro tip:
NEVER EVER NEVER go into business with your friends. ITs incredibly dangerous. I have seen too many examples of this happen in my own extended family (one of the reasons why we moved out of that sumphole and across the ocean). I wish you luck and all the best, but seriously considder if you want to go into business with friends, if you can trust them when tensions run high, etc.

regarding GW stocking items.


Apparently when they first enter into an arrangement with you, they like to dictate what you stock, ie: you cannot pick and choose what you want.
Its only once your elevated to the "all powerful" next level that you actually get more choice in picking.
A friend of mine found this out the hard way when he begun stocking GW products, they sent him crap that just sat there.
The paints however as someone else mentioned shifted pretty well!


providing a gaming evening or location is a great way to gather interest and get sales as many people have mentioned! The "veterans night" at my local store (not GW) is always busy and people often place orders on that day to! Also it helps build up a regular base of loyal customers

Several stores operate a loyalty card programme to, with 5-10% off on new products which also helps to boost sales (you can even charge a yearly membership of £5 for this to give yourself some extra revenue)

the snacks thing is a nice idea, but make sure you check regarding the legal requirements for that in the UK and if you do go for it, it would have to be in a different area. (nothing worse than stock being ruined by sticky fingers, spillages etc)

ALSO if its just a small town business will there even be enough people buying "snacks" from you to justify the space used for it? when you could easily put more stock or a gaming table there, the mark up on snacks may be good but its still a matter of pence when you will be wanting pounds.

(+ ontop of that most people usually buy/eat before they arrive at a gaming store not during)

poda_t wrote:Pro tip:
NEVER EVER NEVER go into business with your friends. ITs incredibly dangerous. I have seen too many examples of this happen in my own extended family (one of the reasons why we moved out of that sumphole and across the ocean). I wish you luck and all the best, but seriously considder if you want to go into business with friends, if you can trust them when tensions run high, etc.

One person has to be in charge. Committees suck. One person has to be the owner/chief/boss/nob whatever the hell you want to call it. Many of your friends will suck at running the store, let you down, do 'my share' and then quit to play a game.

Gamers want to game, not work.

Two partners can work. It should be the guy who always has your back, that you've worked with before, and who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty.

Opening a store means 90 hour weeks, and no profit for a while. Not a picnic.

As a customer, I look for:
-Consistent Pricing. It really irritates me to have prices vary depending on the staffer who is selling to me. I've seen this happen a lot- one guy prices something at £25, the next guy tries to sell it to me at £27.50.
-Space and time to game. Game stores are social venues in a lot of ways. To me, space and time to game are a huge incentive to go in. If I'm sitting in there chatting to someone, or gaming, or whatever, I'm a lot more likely to get enthusiastic about something on the spot and make an impulse buy. Happened to me on thursday- the shop lets us run our RPG in there, and I ended up dropping £33 on a hordes book and beast completely unplanned. So be prepared to stay open late for events and evening gaming, and you will make more money. Most of the shops that I know that do this only keep one staffer on at these times, however.
-Seems obvious, but you've got to be selling what I like. I'm a gaming enthusiast, so I will jump systems and try new things a lot. But if all you're selling is one system I'm not too interested in, I'm going to go elsewhere.

First off, I congratulate the entrepreneurial spirit, I would love to own a game store.

However, I am also a business guy, and I have started several small business ventures before, some with friends and family members.

A few comments;

1 - Starting a business with a friend or family member can be very risky. You MUST 100% define upfront the roles and responsibilities of each person, and set the expectations up front.
DO NOT DISMISS THIS (oh, we will just work it out).

If you want to test it, have the three of you go on a long camping trip. See by the end if everyone did their part. Those little annoying things "he did not pick up the trash" turn into "he did not pay the electric bill or order stock".

2 -Take a business course at a local community college. At least an accounting class, then a business management class as well. Many even have classes in running a small business.

3 - Plan out how much capital you need to get started. Then double it. If you don't know what capital is, DO NOT PROCEED.

4 - Customers want concessions and they have a very good profit margin. One of the businesses I run, we almost make more on concessions than we do our core product.

5 - Most businesses wont make a real profit for years; this is normal.

I salute you for your efforts, and hope you guys can do it, but you must be prepared. Its easy to say 'we are willing to work hard" but believe it or not, the hardest work is right now; being prepared.

A bit of general advice on running a business.

1) go and look at a few other shops in a similar situation to get ideas. I recomend the games shop in daventry (I forget the name) and games keeper in Oxford. Try a few bookshops too. They are in the same sort of middle income well educated hobby Market.

2) don't be screwed by reps. I've seen to many people open businesses open shops and ask reps what they need. The answer will always be "whatever gives me the best commission". Talking of reps, always push for more discount, a credit account and better payment terms. Talk to your suppliers. Get everything you can from them.

3) as the guys say, diversify. Food and drinks seem like a good idea. You may think it's going to make a mess but take a look at bookshops that do this. If they can do it then you can. I can see why you woulD not want to though.

4) diversify. Not just food and drinks but other products. If there is another hobby shop in town do something they don't do. Maybe role-play or borde games or making the shop a forbidden planet style bookshop, with books and minis and colectables. Just a few ideas. Diversifying will draw more people in.

5) take legal advice on setting up an llp or ltd. Both have good and bad points.

6) whatever you do have fun. Enjoy your job and you never have to work again.

7) be ready to invest. There is nothing worse than a business that gose down hill because the owners take too much out and put nothing in.

Talking about investment .. while you may love 40K/WFB, you have to invest the time to be knowledgable in other systems and game. Walk in traffic is going to come in and ask, "what game would you recommend for a 8 year old?" and you have to be able to help a customer with that, even though you might never play it yourself.

wow, thanks for all the tips and ideas guys

We have found a perfect location and will be hopefully going the bank for a bussiness loan of about 100k in the next 3-4 weeks.
We will be stocking:
*Warhammer 40k
*Warhammer fantasy
*LOTR
*Hornby
*Airfix
*Humbrol
*Spartan games
* (possibly) mantic
* assortment of hobby related books and games (pc etc)

We will NOT be selling food and drink as it will be too messy and time consuming.
We will be having at least 2 club nights above the store in a very large area perfect for gaming.
we will have 3 gaming table in the center of the store and one good sized painting/modeling station near the main counter.

I have probably missed alot out but i'm getting tired and can't be bothered to type much atm as i want food (nom)

Thanks again guys, and please give any and all advice you can

LazzurusMan

Just to play devil's advocate, what is the reasoning to buy from your store vs. the internet?

I can see the following reasons:
Instant Gratification (I want it now)
Loyalty (If I know you guys... and I've got the extra cash...)

Not trying to be harsh, just provoking conversation. Also, have you talked to distributors or reps from any of the game companies yet?

Again, devil's advocate...

How messy can bags of chips and cans of soda be? My FLGS sells these items, and it never seems to cause a problem, and they have a pretty small area. I really think you're missing a great source of some profit by not selling at least soda/water.

LazzurusMan wrote:wow, thanks for all the tips and ideas guys

We have found a perfect location and will be hopefully going the bank for a bussiness loan of about 100k in the next 3-4 weeks.
We will be stocking:
*Warhammer 40k
*Warhammer fantasy
*LOTR
*Hornby
*Airfix
*Humbrol
*Spartan games
* (possibly) mantic
* assortment of hobby related books and games (pc etc)

We will NOT be selling food and drink as it will be too messy and time consuming.
We will be having at least 2 club nights above the store in a very large area perfect for gaming.
we will have 3 gaming table in the center of the store and one good sized painting/modeling station near the main counter.

I have probably missed alot out but i'm getting tired and can't be bothered to type much atm as i want food (nom)

Thanks again guys, and please give any and all advice you can

LazzurusMan

For further stock options, get in touch with Warlord Games - they do some lovely ranges of historical minis and also are a distributor for The Army Painter amongst others. There's also a company called Creative Models, they stock a vast range of stuff including full ranges of Vallejo paints. PM me and I'll give you a contact name and number for both of these if you like, otherwise just look them up on Google.

You don't need a business degree to get relevant information, but I highly recommend taking just operations management or productions management (same thing, different name). You'll learn in there exactly what it is that businesses such as GW do wrong, and how to avoid doing them.

Also, understand that when you start a business, it's a BUSINESS. You are not there to play or mess around, and first and foremost you have to have the attitude of wanting to make your business succeed. Honestly, kiss your free time goodbye. It takes a lot of effort to make a game store work. Remember, your customers are your lifeblood, so pay attention to your customer's needs, not your needs, not GW's needs, not your friend's needs.

If the three of you aren't on the same page about this concept, the store will fail.

LazzurusMan wrote:wow, thanks for all the tips and ideas guys

We have found a perfect location and will be hopefully going the bank for a bussiness loan of about 100k in the next 3-4 weeks.
We will be stocking:
*Warhammer 40k
*Warhammer fantasy
*LOTR
*Hornby
*Airfix
*Humbrol
*Spartan games
* (possibly) mantic
* assortment of hobby related books and games (pc etc)

We will NOT be selling food and drink as it will be too messy and time consuming.
We will be having at least 2 club nights above the store in a very large area perfect for gaming.
we will have 3 gaming table in the center of the store and one good sized painting/modeling station near the main counter.

I have probably missed alot out but i'm getting tired and can't be bothered to type much atm as i want food (nom)

Thanks again guys, and please give any and all advice you can

LazzurusMan

Sounds great, you must either have a good business plan, or have put your houses on the block for the loan.

I suggest again you look at;
* magic cards - yes, you hate them, but they are an amazing revenue model, players keep needing more, and they have a high profit margin.
* snacks - again, look at the margins. Most snacks and drinks have anywhere from a 50% to a 300% gross margin. Compare that to your games where you are at best getting about 40%. Why do you think the other stores sell them? Also, your customers will like them. If you are worried about mess get less messy versions; soda bottles with screw on tops offer less spills, and candy bars don't spill on the floor like chips do.
* Gaming space - thats a lot of space. Space that does not have a revenue per sq ft. Just take it into consideration.
* Fixtures - you are going to need about 10k for fixtures. Go used if you have to, to save cash.
* Roles and responsibilities - did you guys define there? In writing? Again, I have seen many people say "oh, we don't need to". Know what you call those people? Broke.
* Webpresence - if you dont have a standard website, at least get a blog/cms site, something like wordpress where you can put up posts about the store, etc.
* Discount card - yeah, its cheesy, but know what, I go to the store that has a card which gives me 10% off.

Again, I salute your desires and hard work...I highly suggest you guys either get an accountant, of someone take some business classes.
It will be worth every moment of your time.

best of luck!!!

LazzurusMan wrote:wow, thanks for all the tips and ideas guys

We have found a perfect location and will be hopefully going the bank for a bussiness loan of about 100k in the next 3-4 weeks.
We will be stocking:
*Warhammer 40k
*Warhammer fantasy
*LOTR
*Hornby
*Airfix
*Humbrol
*Spartan games
* (possibly) mantic
* assortment of hobby related books and games (pc etc)

We will NOT be selling food and drink as it will be too messy and time consuming.
We will be having at least 2 club nights above the store in a very large area perfect for gaming.
we will have 3 gaming table in the center of the store and one good sized painting/modeling station near the main counter.

I have probably missed alot out but i'm getting tired and can't be bothered to type much atm as i want food (nom)

Thanks again guys, and please give any and all advice you can

LazzurusMan

I would very seriously consider adding:
MTG, even if you only sell it by the pack and have a few boxes behind the counter, it's a money maker.
Flames of War, probably the fastest expanding historical rules system.
Warmachine/Hordes, doing very well right now.

Can't sell what you don't have, the more you have, the more reasons a customer has to come buy from you.

I dont think messy and time consuming are really the best reason to avoid snacks. As others have repeatedly stated, snacks will be your boon. They will help get your ends that much closer to meeting. If you have to spend extra time with a broom and dustpan, so be it.

Not that I have any experience in running a game store, but it seems like that is a very limited range of products. Maybe you are just glossing over the major points but I would suggest:

1) Having at least one other TTG system. GW's range are losing market share and gaining price. Whilst they would be the perfect ones to have as a display game, stocking something like PP or FoW would be greatly beneficial I would think.
2) Card games. Considering you can stock 3 entire lines of card games in a single square foot of space, you'd be mad not to do so.
3) Accessories, specifically scenery supplies: In my experience, half of the model train hobby is the scenic supplies. These also segue nicely with pretty much anything else you would sell. Woodland Scenics is obviously the biggest name, and train people are often after plasticard as well.
Other accessories you might find useful are dice (chessex), carry cases (sabol/KR/battlefoam) tools such as brushes/clippers/drills/saws, spray paints (armypainter)...

As others are saying above, who is in charge? Do you have set roles, and is there a set way for these roles to change? What if someone wants out, or needs to be put out?

As I said originally, I think it would be a massive mistake not to sell food & drink of some variety. I do understand the mess concern, sort of, but you've got to sniff out the money in this industry. It's NOT going to be easy to turn a profit (especially for 3 people) so I honestly think it's necessary. Get yourself a Makro card, nip down and buy a couple of crates of pop and crisps at trade price, triple your money.

I'd agree with stocking M:TG, too. It's not high-profit as somebody mentioned, it's more reliant on volume, but it IS a constant. I worked in a gaming store for over eight years and there were days (plenty of them) when Magic was ALL we sold. Buy some boxes, split them down into singles, put them in a folder and sell them individually. THAT is good money.

EDIT: Typos.

It's kinda silly not to include MTG in a gaming store, considering it's such a small footprint with a good profit margin. You may personally hate the game with every fiber of your being, but that doesn't mean your customers feel the same way. You need to stock what they want, not what you want.

Yeah whats up with no MTG? That kept all the game stores open (That i went to) during the great Game Store apocalypse of the 90s

You need card games as wizards has produced a business model that forces people to buy stuff every expansion unlike GW's where you can buy your army and be done forever

I agree regarding the Magic, its a shop staple and really is worth buying in.

but I disagree with others on the snacks crap...

alot of them will likely just sit there and not be purchased for many many reasons..... (some of which I stated in an earlier post and some I will repeat here as people will obviously argue this one)

Its space you can use for more actual gaming related stock (especially if your room is limited)
Theres the mess factor as well as chubby/sticky/greasy fingers pawing at your stock..which in turn will make it less likely to sell,
The profit margin is not as big as people are trying to make out,
You may need to abide by silly UK rules especially if you plan on selling them during shop opening hours/allowing people to eat them on the premises (your a shop/venue not just a venue),
Alot of the "snacks" will likely not sell as people will buy them for less elsewhere (unless you undercut a supermarket which will make buying the snacks pointless in the first place)
People tend to buy a meal like mcdonalds then turn up to vets nights etc


for a large shop or american venue alot of these points become moot because they have the space and the large customer base who will be @ the shop all day and want to eat in a dedicated area/side table. You will likely not have those luxuries / wont be able to afford to spend money on stuff you will likely end up eating/drinking yourselves.

No i cannot.... Best of luck to you though!

I must preface this by saying that I also have no experience in actually running a store, but will merely provide suggestions based on what i have seen as being successful:

Its been stated, and it may be kinda a dead horse, but MTG. Also, I would consider looking into stocking comic books. The one store in my home town is extremely successful because of both MTG and Comic books. I think though, that if you got MTG, you may also be generally saddled with WoTC, and therefore need to carry at least some DnD stuff.

If you have a decent gaming community in your town already, I would suggest possibly searching out companies that sell terrain or basing materials, such as Gale Force 9, etc.


Just as another suggestion, perhaps, when you do get the store opened up, on the first weekend of gaming, having a large event designed to draw people in, etc. If you have some sort of "tournament" or other gaming event, and you do not currently stock snacks, you could easily take a sort of impromptu poll and figure out what sorts of general snacks would sell amongst those players. This way, you won't be stocking somehting like Snickers bars, and the town HATES snickers bars.

Its been mentioned before, but does deserve a remention. What sort of hobbies are the people in that town into? Use that to pull people in. For example if you have lots of model trains, or scale modelers, or historical people, get that sort of stuff. Or comic books, or whatever else.

your regular gamer may buy a box a week, but they will buy 2-3 bottles of coke a day. (And its not hard to clean). But in the end, thats your choice as the business owner.


Otherwise, as stated above, PP, M:TG, Malifaux sell great for me, Flames of War not so much. It depends on what type of gamers come in, older gamers usually do Fow, but if the majority of your clientele is in 20s-30s, I wouldnt concentrate on it.

Wisbech? I used to live in Ramsey for years when I was "growing up" and there'd be little to do but game/roleplay etc...however it wasn't as popular as it is now.

I've thought about what I'd do if I ran a store and I have to say I'd add a lot of variety, as much as possible - I'd go for a TCG/Roleplay/Wargame store myself - get some Black Library and Fantasy Flight stuff in if I could. Get into contact with local gaming groups from the nearby towns, with the local paper etc - advertise within the gaming community and get a website up straight away, hell even post up a blog as you fit up the store - the more press the better. Post on EVERY major wargaming forum - scour the internet for players/gaming groups nearby, ask Beasts of War to add you to their list or mention you online during Turn 8 etc. I'd be tempted to set up a seating/hang out area. I never went to Wisbech much but if you can become known as a cool place to hang out that would help - find out if there are any historical groups or other gaming groups set up within the local schools, contact the local community network, the local counsel to see if you can get ad space in their newsletter, go to any local trade shows/wargaming or modelling shows with some stock and/or fliers etc - put yourselves out there - go as far as Kings Lynn and Cambridge if they have groups/tournaments - chances are the people from the other towns/villages will go to such groups. Hell I'd even travel to all the local villages within an xx mile radius and see if I can advertise in their local newsagent's or village posting stands or whatever

As others have suggested I'd stock Warmachine/Hordes, Malifaux, Mantic are getting bigger so I'd stock them for sure, also Historicals of somekind - I'd also sell Vallejo paints and Army Painter stuff - their colour primers should sell well and if you could stock general modelling supplies and scenery etc you'd bring in more people from arying modelling backgrounds who may have kids etc. Also you have to consider how good you guys are at painting/scenery making - if you want to run test games make sure they look as good as possible. If you can try hooking up with a local business in a similar vein to arrange deals etc to help support one another on occassion then do it.

Events and competitions would also be great, try attending local tournaments or else make your presence known at such events, go to every local tournament or club with fliers etc get your friends to spread the word, do whatever you can to get yourselves noticed - if there's a local charity event then participate...If you could run GW Specialist Games nights that might be a good move too...

Regarding food and drinks you'd have to look into that. I can see good and bad sides - it may be worth having a kettle round back and offering any reasonable adults cups of tea or coffee - the longer you can get someone to stay in the sotre and talk about stuff the more likely they will walk out with something - again with health and safety being what it is in this slowed country you'd have to think about stocing stuff, but a small fridge with cold drinks wouldn't hurt you on a games night.

I commend you for starting a new business. Out of curiosity what location within Wisbech are you thinking of setting up? If it's near the market square that would be very good. How are independent stores their fairing in general? I wish you guys luck but I'd say educate yourselves thoroughly and don't rush into it - read up on business, stock control, the law - make sure you know what you're doing and don't sell yourselves short - go to citizens advice and ask about any laws etc that may concern you - if none of you have taken a business course it may be worthwhile doing.

Also it may be a hobby you guys love but a business is a different mentality - I loved films and worked as a projectionist but rarely went to see films anymore as I worked in a cinema all day - it's worth considering. I wish you well and hope you find the suggestions we've all given to be useful

What are you going to call the store? Whatever it is make sure you get a good looking graphic, print some T-shirts and fliers/business cards you can put into a purchase advertising your events or offering money off coupons and be as professional as possible.

Yeah my local gaming store opened 2 years ago and is in the process of renovating for the 2nd time. I frequently talk to the owners (a trio for the record) and they have admitted that MTG is the top seller, by far, at the store. You really don't need that much space either; they use behind the counter to hold the cards, sleaves and such and the same tables we play 40k on 4-6 players can play magic on. (we use 2 4x3 tables to play 40k)
They do sell snacks and stuff, but they put them in what would otherwise be wasted space (drink machine and microwave are under the stairs and snacks are on a rack on the counter)
The best thing about my shop though are the rules, i can't for the life of me remember them, but they're really basic things. (like no drinking, no swearing, clean up your messes, don't be obnoxious, practice decent hygine, etc)
That plus the fact the shop is big, bright and clean makes it a good family enviroment which gets even more people in to the store.

Lol speaking of hygiene. I was in a store where I live once. I went because they said they carried Vallejo paints. When I got there, there were 2 guys working. I asked about the paints, but they said they didnt have any and werent really expecting anymore, which is annoying but it happens. The big problem, though, was that these guys reeked of bo. Reeked! Maybe they both missed their showers, and I was just there on an off day but it was brutal.
Anyways, the had p3 paints so I grabbed a few of those. When they asked me what I was gonna paint, I answered honestly. Space Marines. I wanted to paint some Salamanders. Their response, "ugh another space marine player".
Ive not been back since lol.

Indifference and negativity by shop staff really get me. It's hard enough being a gamer without the people who should be catering to you either ignore you or make you feel bad for your hobby.

-MightyG

I know you're sifting through many pages of paperwork, and probably not this thread, however my Uncle runs a gaming store and from going in there over and over and over and helping him stock and such I've found a few things out that REALLY make a store get returning customers. So I hope you take the time to look through this list and I hope it helps you in some way, as a Marketing/Finance major my dream is to open a hobby store some day so I'm very interested in this!(Also, sure you've thought of some of these, not trying to insult your intelligence, just covering everything I think of.)

-This is going to be HARD. Like, probably one of the hardest things you've had to cope with. My uncle put in 90+ hours a week for the first two years of his store to even get it off the ground, while not even making a profit and on top of that he still puts in 80+ hours of work a week, not because of the money, but because he loves hobbying. So just be aware that even with a part time employee and full time employee you're look at at least 80 hours a week if you're going to be the main person running the store.

-Going into business with friends sucks, everyone's said it so I'll leave it at that and you can figure it out for yourself.

-(Purely me) My uncle's store had Game in the name, and it was AMAZING how many customers came in and were like.. is this Gamestop? Coming in looking for an Xbox game, and would walk out with $200 worth of merch. Just always made me lol.

-Be aggressive! So ridiculous how many people around where I live don't even say hi to me when I walk into the store or ask me what I'm looking for. Definitely a must for a small business, as soon as someone's in the door someone at least needs ask them if they need help/what army they play or what they play. If they're new to a hobby and want to get into table top gaming I'd definitely invest in a small demo board and be like GW, what looks most interesting to YOU? Instead of trying to guess.


-Snacks are huge. Like HUGE. I understand that you don't want them in your store, but even if you bought and put a vending machine in front/back of your store(assuming you want people in the back) it's an amazing amount of profit and on top of that it's just nice to go grab a drink or whatever and step outside for a little while so that can solve two problems for you - everyone needs to eat and drink, why shouldn't they pay YOU to do so?

-I'm not really sure about products, and product lines and which companies will immediately ship to you or not however I do know that some companies need you to be an established business with stock in it so it doesn't make their product look "bad". I'm sure you've researched this, but it's always good to know what you're up against.

-DIFFERENTIATE: So key, especially with game stores. I've been into so many Hobby stores that are just bland, offer nothing more to me than the next one, and are just boring. Those are the stores no one wants to spend money in. Why should I go to your store over another?

-I think this has been said, but I would put what YOU want in a gaming store. I mean don't go all willy nilly and put a slide in the back or something, but as a hobbyist I would sit down with your friend and think of all of really good times you've had at hobby stores and all the really bad times and try and figure out why they were god/bad.

-Uniforms: It sounds silly, but subliminally it's a huge thing for a lot of people. Matching uniforms put everyone at ease(especially parents), make you look professional, and make you easy to spot in a crowd of people.

-Make sure you invest in games which require people to actually spend more money, like trading card games and the such. Just make sure your customers not only want to come back, but that you stock the product that most people play in your area.
-This is probably my most important point: It may seem like a little bit of an under the belt move, but why don't you go in and ask the other game store owner what he sells the most out of his inventory? It sounds like he's established and has stock, so why not use his research?

-Cleanliness: Easily said, not so easily done. Maintaining hygiene, and store cleanliness is a huge thing for me. If I walk into a dark dingy store that's dirty I'll do one loop of their stock to be polite and walk out.

And lastly, I wish you the best of luck. Starting a business, especially with friends, is an extreme venture and I hope you have not only a good time with it but make some money as well!

"Uniforms" does not mean specially crafted clothing... You can use something more like a dress code for workers....
Like a simple white buttondown shirt and jeans. Or purple t-shirt and khakis..... Leaves some room for individualism but provides a uniform look.

Echoing the M:TG.... Every three or so expansions they drop new "starter" sets that sell fast.

Also, Noticing and aknowleging people when they enter the store puts most at ease and keeps shoplifters on their guard.