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Best thing my LGS does is serve hot food. Granted, their store used to be a resturant, so there's a well equipped kitchen. The amount of gamers buying hot food on a saturday isn't enough to warrant kitchen staff, but the fact that they can, at the start of the day, buy a pack of bread rolls, a few burger patties and chicken pieces, and some salad means that when lunch rolls around, there's 10-20 people handing them up to $10 for lunch each for makings that probably cost them $20 all up.

It's not convenient for all LGS's, but this really helps for me. The fact my friend and I can turn up at 12, order a burger, and by the time we've set up, have lunch then start playing, means we're not spending an hour at some takeaway place giving them money instead.

Having food in-store is complicated from a business standpoint and potentially very, very messy. I went to a tournament where you could "donate" $5 and they would "give you" a burger from the grill outside, since they weren't legally allowed to cook and serve food at the store. I think that having a bunch of snack sized bags of chips and some sodas is fine though; the store owner can buy a 12 pack for however cheap that is and sell the sodas at $1 a pop.

My LGS serves everything 'messy' on a plate. Unless you're the biggest grub in the world, you shouldn't make a mess eating a burger over a dinner sized plate. All they have to do then is wash the plate.

Here is a column about running a gaming store.
http://www.rpg.net/columns/list-column.phtml?colname=businessofgamingretail
and http://www.rpg.net/columns/list-column.phtml?colname=counter
(also some other good columns on that site)

I personally wouldn't go for a full kitchen - try crisps, sodas, chocolate bars, or maybe a small microwave oven thing.

With absolutely no experience in running a store, I would recommend:
1) Friday Night Magic (and whatever other card games you can - low floor space, high revenue)
2) Devoting one gaming table to demo games of a high revenue, continuous purchase game such as Warmachine or Warhammer.
3) Delaying as long as possible until you open the store so you can begin with a large range of stock.
4) Encouraging and even running local tournaments and conventions. Encourage escalation leagues or tournaments of new-ish games to get that game going in your area.
5) Have a strong web presence. Facebook page, Google Places registration. Preferably an online store or at least a comprehensive listing of what ranges you stock.
6) Have your store well lit, well organised, and light... so many games stores just ooze 'nerd' due to dodgy lighting, black fixtures on black walls, etc
7) Open and close late. Most days you won't see people coming in til lunch, but people might want to stay and game unitl midnight if you allow it.
8) Carry a large but sensible range of accessories. Chessex dice in D6 and RPG7 variations, glues, paints, scenery: anything that can be used for more than one of the systems you sell.
9) Work closely with the local clubs: If you can show them even a 5% discount that might be enough to sway their loyalty from online stores offering 20%.
10) Pay close attention to the ranges that are commonly played. Whilst you can encourage games to take on new games (especially the big, 'cool' ones like Dystopian Wars or Malifaux) don't push it too hard. Buying $5000 worth of napoleonics is pretty useless if the historical scene focuses on ancients, or doesn''t exist at all.

A unique smell is a must.

All the cool LGS have it.

Ma55ter_fett wrote:A unique smell is a must.

All the cool LGS have it.

I remember running a regional L5R tournament one weekend, good Lord the smell was horrid.

Ma55ter_fett wrote:A unique smell is a must.

All the cool LGS have it.

How about that one *HOT* flirty staff/regular (female or male... or even one of each!) whose presence and scent is pretty much an aphrodisiac to those interested =3? ^^

Would definitely cover the "unique smell" part of it anyway.

Pro Tip: men will buy more if you have a hottie running register.

One thing to avoid is hiring some snobby elitist gamer who thinks he knows what is best for the customer. I've come across these guys in LGS's before and am always put off by their attitude.

Aerethan wrote:Pro Tip: men will buy more if you have a hottie running register.

One thing to avoid is hiring some snobby elitist gamer who thinks he knows what is best for the customer. I've come across these guys in LGS's before and am always put off by their attitude.

Same applies to women. Women will buy more if you have a hottie running register. But this thread isn't about advising OP how to run his business.

Its about what makes a good LGS. So, good looking guys and girls please.

Location. You need to be central to your customer base. Easy to get to via car or mass transit. Mom aint letting little Billy head 10 miles down Deliverance Lane just to play with plastic soldiers.
Strip malls work well. Plenty of parking and you usually have 2-3 food places available (note: if you allow food in your store be ready to stay late cleaning crumbs and shampooing the carpets at least monthly or the bugs/rats will stink up the joint and break your Lease). Large indoor malls give you good foot traffic, but your hours are tied to the malls closing time...which is bad news for game night. It also gives mom a place to dump the kid for a few hours of gaming while she goes and gets her hair done and shops around. It also ensures mom will keep Billy in new plastic-crack ($$$ for you) just from the stress relief of not having him bored and cranky while she tries on new bras.
Gaming space. Our FLGS has a large enough space for a dozen+ 4x6 tables. Half the tables are regular size for the card players, but on 40k night their are 4x6 plywod toppers in house to use. Don't chince on the House Terrain. Find a local gamer who can make SOLID durable playable good looking terrain and trade store credit for his service. The gaming space needs to have some physical separation from the purchasing/stock space. Customers won't come in if they have to walk a minefield of gamer-funk.
Create a set schedule for various game groups priorities. 40k on one night, Fantasy on another. Flames of War and CCG on their days. Seek out the other FLGSs in area and see what their schedule is, then make yours different so your not competing for the same bodies. Especially with big events. LA has lots of LGS and you always see 3-4 RTTs scheduled for the same day, then nothing for a month. It must be to hard for each of them to pick a different weekend to maximize a good turnout for all.
Don't get in the rut of CCG and plastic. If you have the space make an area of shelving/display for poker, chess, puzzles, and traditional games (Monopoly et al). Daddy swings by to get more poker chips for saturday night and Little Billy gets enamoured by all the cool plastic. DING. New customer.
Bathroom: well stocked and kept clean. Yeah, a PITD with a room full of 10yo CCG players who dont know how to lift the lid or use a trashcan.
Lighting and Ventilation. Lots of windows for natural light in the day (plus it attacts walk-in traffic when they see all the cool armies being payed) but good lighting at night too. Dont get the cheap Lease in the back where its always dank and musty.
Security cams. Yeah, it sucks to say it, but Failcast is small and pilferable in a crowd. Especially to young boys who jusy HAVE to have that Special character.
Staff. Friendly and knowlegable. They need to charm mom into getting Billy a $100 battle set then turn around and run your RTT in an impartial manner. Having an Award winning painter on staff to also run a weekly/monthly class would be huge (and let him do commission work on the side...that will encourage people to purchase your crack so your Golden Demon employee will accept the commission).
Speaking of which, some corner with good lighting as a modeling painting station. Dosn't have to be large, but some folks like to hang with their buds who are playing while they work on their latest HQ.

I second the microwave... one of the stores I hung out as as a kid as a 'nuker and popcorn..it was awsome someone would make popcorn then everyone in the store would want it...im honest it workes =o]


#1 rule... Location location location. This can't be stated enough, if you have the most awsome store in the world but it's in the middle of nowhere...your fethed.

Good luck =o]

Location: It's got to be convenient, but not *too* convenient. It can't be super accessible to every Billy D-ckface football player that wants to roll by and shout nonsense at your customers. It also helps to have (good) food and drink nearby.

Staff: You gotta have staff that is not just knowledgeable about what you're selling, they need to be able to (at least convince the clientele that they) care about the customer having fun.

Worglock wrote:Location: It's got to be convenient, but not *too* convenient. It can't be super accessible to every Billy D-ckface football player that wants to roll by and shout nonsense at your customers.

OP's "flag" implies that he is in the US. I assume he is looking to start up the store in the US as well. I hope I can assume that, being a supposed first world country, that the people in the US are civilized and tolerant enough to mind their own business and not do dumb things like in said quote.

Or am I wrong in this assumption?

Kouzuki wrote:

Worglock wrote:Location: It's got to be convenient, but not *too* convenient. It can't be super accessible to every Billy D-ckface football player that wants to roll by and shout nonsense at your customers.

OP's "flag" implies that he is in the US. I assume he is looking to start up the store in the US as well. I sure as hell hope that being a supposed first world country, that the people in the US are civilized enough to mind their own business and not do dumb things like in said quote.

Then again, the poster of said quote also has a US flag thing...

Don't mind Worg...he's mostly harmless, just don't leave any Troll food around and you should be fine [/sarcasm]


But do agree with Worg about the location..maybe not 'to' accessable, across the street from the major mall area instead of in it kinda thing. Good call there Worg. A strong transit hub is usually a good thing though. The new GW in Vancouver(burnaby) is opening up in a 'new' mall in the middle of butt-feth no where, off the major transit routes (skytrain), about about 10 city blocks from 'hooker row' great way to get little timmy to the store eh?

Aerethan wrote:One thing to avoid is hiring some snobby elitist gamer who thinks he knows what is best for the customer. I've come across these guys in LGS's before and am always put off by their attitude.

Top advice that.
The model shop near me (I also build RC cars) does a nice range of paints, airbrush accessories and scenery stuff.
I would be in there more often if it weren't for the absolute douche nozzle they have working there.


I'm 34, he's in his early 20s.
I was doing a commission and although my purchase wasn't a great piece of kit if you are into racing my customer wanted to re-live his childhood and wanted a particular feel.
He openly criticised my purchase in front of a store full of people.

Another time he was telling a customer about the HPI Baja as I came in to collect some upgraded dog bones for mine (cheaper online but I was supporting the shop).
He mentioned to his customer that the Baja was insanely tough and that the parts I was buying were not necessary since it is impossible to break the originals.
I just said "you're not trying hard enough" and slapped the original (utterly ruined) ones on the table.
I'd brought them in to show the other staffer who is a really nice guy.

The one that really set me off though was this:
I used to drive a MK1 Skoda Octavia (for the US members it is a Czech made car from the VAG group, similar to a VW Bora).
Mine was the vRS, de-badged, rear wing removed and turned into a bit of a sleeper.
Underneath was a full handling package - coilovers, adjustable camber and caster, quick steering rack, LSD, uprated ARBs, chassis braces, uprated and lightened brakes and enough work on the engine to produce about 350hp.
I made it subtle for a reason and it used to catch people by surprise all the time.

The problem was that el doucheo had a MK4 Golf GTi (same base engine, gearbox and front end essentially) and he would always mock the car.
Every time I came in: "how's the skip", "car's running today is it?", "would you like me to take you out in a proper VW?" etc. etc..
I just took it and I didn't want to waste my time correcting him.

The problem was the manager never, ever had a word with him about it.

This happened so much that I got the nice staffer to give me his work schedule and just stopped coming in when he was working.

You can't have people like that working at a shop, they will drive away your customers. I'm not an introverted passive aggressive but there will be a fair few among the regulars of a games shop and they will all be shut out by a guy like that.



BTW in the end - I went in with my wife to buy myself a few items and ol' clown shoe was in on his day off collecting something.
He left as I did and tried to race us down the slip road onto the motorway (ramp, freeway).

My wife was driving and she totally humiliated him.

Apparently the shop's other employees (also sick of him) enjoyed asking how his race against a girl in a Skoda went.

Kouzuki wrote:Something like a veteran's night on a Friday that goes on to very late. I don't mean gaming veterans, but really, older, more mature customers/gamers who have full time jobs, come off work at 8PM, and drop by your store, so it would have to go on to pretty late (I'm honestly thinking like 10PM or 12 midnight.) You could perhaps close the store itself and just use the game tables for gaming (Store Staff may be able to join in too depending on their personal situations.) After the gaming, the whole group could probably go out to a bar/club and enjoy themselves as well. Bonus points for having a small "storage service," where your customers can safely leave their baggage at the store for a few days/weeks... (perhaps even semi-permanently) for a small fee. Both above services would need to be highly regulated by you/staff. As said above, its aimed at mature working gamers and you would probably need to ban under 18, or even 22, just on principle.

This... oh so much this...

Now then, I am in now way bashing younger gamers, indeed they can be more skilful, eloquent, mature and fresher smelling than people old enough to be their parents, but personally I would like my gaming night to be a more adult-oriented one, by which I don't mean it should be a lewd-joke-swear-fest, but I prefer to game and 'banter' with people my own age, rather than 12-13 year olds.

Also, despite having never experienced this, I can imagine that a most excellent idea would be to offer snacks, perhaps a vending machine offering soft drinks, sweets and other snack foods. But also offer things like pop tarts and those instant-noodle-cup things (for when you didn't have time to get food between work and gaming night). Oh an tea/coffee, either in the form of 'buy a cup' or available making facilities...

Bloodfist wrote:Thx all, for the great replies! so much good info, its really appreciated. kouzuki i totally agree with what you said, definitely a lot of what i was thinking i work 45-55hrs a week and havea wife and daughter and have often thought it would be great to be able play a game either late from after work or able to go after my daughter goes to bed. also the army storage would really be killer if it was done right!

anyway thx again to everyone and dont hesitate to keep shelling out the awesome! Go Dakka!

This concerns me a bit. Opening a FLGS is a huge time commitment. Not that you shouldn't take a bit of time to hang with the customers, but how much time do you want to see your daughter? My best advice is to PM Mikaila and ask him to really layout for you what kind of time commitment is necessary to startup a game store. Not saying it can't be done, but it's definitley going to take many more hours than you are currently working. How do you feel about 70 hour weeks?

As for what makes a LGS great:

-One thing that really makes some FLGS stand out to me is having some what to interact with the "used" market. Whether it's a periodic auctions for store credit, or just buying cheap lots of figs and selling them in the store. My FLGS has gotten a good bit more of my gaming dollar since they started selling used stuff.

-If you are going to do special orders make them a top priority. Gamers who have to wait too long for their stuff will go online. Consider a small discount 5-10% to reward those who are willing to wait for you order something you don't have in stock.

For me I dont want to feel like an outcast when I walk into the door. Old store I never felt welcomed cause I am not a regular. Atleast my current FLGS makes me feel welcomed to be there.

The game store I'd visit in college was run by a couple. The wife worked elsewhere during the week, but would be at the game store on the weekends.

She was young, had banging double D's, and wore tight, low-cut shirts.

THAT made for a great gamestore experience.

Staying in business.
Doesn't matter what a store does that you like, if they aren't around anymore it doesn't matter. There are a huge number of great gaming stores that no longer exist, and it's a shame.

The store has to be run as a business, not a clubhouse. It has to make a profit, pay the bills, and have the cashflow to keep a steady supply of stock coming in to fill customer needs.

Part of this means attracting and keeping the customers that will support your store. It's a symbiosis between the store and the community. If one doesn't support the other the store goes away.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Worglock wrote:Location: It's got to be convenient, but not *too* convenient. It can't be super accessible to every Billy D-ckface football player that wants to roll by and shout nonsense at your customers. It also helps to have (good) food and drink nearby.

Staff: You gotta have staff that is not just knowledgeable about what you're selling, they need to be able to (at least convince the clientele that they) care about the customer having fun.

My shop's in a mall, with a 16' wide door, across from a Chic-Fila. We have a huge number of people that come in to look at the games.
Very rarely do we have someone try to heckle the gamers, the huge bulk of people are just curious. Some can actually be hooked into the game with not too much trouble. The best advertising for a game is to have people playing it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Eilif wrote:Bloodfist wrote:
Thx all, for the great replies! so much good info, its really appreciated. kouzuki i totally agree with what you said, definitely a lot of what i was thinking i work 45-55hrs a week and havea wife and daughter and have often thought it would be great to be able play a game either late from after work or able to go after my daughter goes to bed. also the army storage would really be killer if it was done right!

anyway thx again to everyone and dont hesitate to keep shelling out the awesome! Go Dakka!


This concerns me a bit. Opening a FLGS is a huge time commitment. Not that you shouldn't take a bit of time to hang with the customers, but how much time do you want to see your daughter? My best advice is to PM Mikaila and ask him to really layout for you what kind of time commitment is necessary to startup a game store. Not saying it can't be done, but it's definitley going to take many more hours than you are currently working. How do you feel about 70 hour weeks?

My normal week is at least 55 hours at the shop, and another 20 minimimum at home on the computer or doing orderforms. In better economic times, I worked about 15 hours a week less, and actually took days off now and then. When the business is yours, you don't get a choice about how much you have to work to keep it going.

This ties in to what many of the guys mention about the staff. An owner complaining about his long hours and griping about having to come to the store after he gets off work isn't a great enviorment. Seen that happen to often. Staff has to have a good attitude, and that includes the owner working too many hours. Smile, and get a game in with the guys. Scowl while balancing the bills and no ones around.

Occasional painting contests are fun too.

Community support. From having many tables and terrain available to a good amount of stock on display to sup that impulse buying urge upon. Friendly store hours to have later games happen at least on certain nights. And staff that know the games, the stock and are social enough to help new customers get addiction, er, hobby of war gaming. Sponsoring events weather tourneys or artistry.

(As a note to those reading, i havent read the thread)


MY FGS keeps me coming for two reasons. im great great friends with the staff. They are friendly, and extremely knowledgeable. That's the reason i go to the comic/gaming store 40minutes away instead of the warhammer store(not GW) 10 minutes away. At the comic store, the staff are helpful, know their stuff and actually involve the people who walk into the store. at that nearby warhammer store, the staff are always busy with something. so they tend to disregard people who come into the store. its a small store with most of the space taken up by their tables, but the staff are either gaming or working on models, and thats what keeps me from going regularly. The only time ive ever had the staff involve me in a real conversation was when i phoned the store looking for a specific tomb kings bit, and the guy told me which box to find it in.

The guy behind the counter makes or breaks a store. if hes always too busy in his own thing to help the customer, it'll push customers away. otherwise, a person who sees a customer walk through the door, and immediately asks "hi, is there anything i can help you with?" will keep customers coming back. That has been my experience.


The people who attend said store's events make a big difference as well. We have magic events at the comic store i visit, and they dropped off in attendance almost entirely due to one kid who had extremely bad sportsmanship (i quote on of the veteran players ive know to go to the store for 5 years : "he sucks all the fun out of coming here" and ive only seen him at the store once since he said that, and im there every weekend). Unfortunately, its very hard to control those who come into your store, but that is something i should think you should keep in mind.

Keeping the shelves well stocked with a good variety helps too. The comic store sells T-shirts, comics, books, MTG, warhammer, warhammer 40k, boardgames, yugioh, and various collectibles (i got a plushie star wars AT-AT from them a while back ). That brings in numerous different types of people, which never hurts

-freindly knowleadgable and helpful staff
-tables (for gaming and modelling/painting)
-Beginers and veterans evenings
-tournaments if youve a good number of players
_FOOD!
-decent stock
-small discout (5-10%)

Some things I really like about my LGS is:

Being greeted by name and making me feel that you do appreciate my business I know my LGS owner appreciate my business just by the way he treats me. He's always so friendly and greets me by name the second I step foot in the store.

Being active on Facebook. The owner of my LGS posts stuff constantly on fb. He's always informing us of new products, restocks, events. He also posts pictures from events so we can see all the fun. I can always facebook him with a product request or to ask him to put things on hold for me or to get info on stuff.

Keep the store active with events. My LGS runs all sorts of events every week so there is always something fun to participate in.

quickfuze wrote:Here is what irritates me the most and should be avoided. I travel alot for the army, often i get bored so I check out the LGS sometimes for something to assemble in the evenings or maybe something to read...whatever. Anyway often I have my wife with me. We walk in and I am not bragging..ok maybe a little, but my wife is beautiful. I mean long red hair, 34c-26-34 (damn near a perfect hourglass) at 115 lbs. So point is she attracts attention, especially from gamers. Now we are obviously not regulars, we dress nice and begin to browse the store. However, often, not a single person will ask us if we need help or if they can direct us to a product. Most often this is a result of the employee who is supposed to be working the counter is engaged in one of the following:
a) some epic (at least in his eyes) story about some WoW adventure from last night
b) sitting at a table playing MTG or warhammer or whatever
c) watching his regulars do one of the above.

This drives me crazy. I can tell you if I owned an LGS, first rule would be you are not permitted to game while on the clock. If you want to do demos, have them at scheduled times and have extra bodies there to help with the counter. Anyway thats my

You and me both buddy. Except my wife is auburn haired and likely a little taller than your wife... Oh and I'm up at Fort Myer instead of down in Bragg.

It is a repeat process everywhere I go. I have actually been approached by one employee ever and that is up at Huzzah Hobbies (if anyone who reads this is up there). Friendly guy, you can tell he's a people person just by looking at him. It was literally the first time that I felt I didn't have to work my way into being a part of the community in the almost twelve years I've been a part of the military.

Further, my wife and I like to crack jokes after we leave a store like the one you mentioned above.

MrFlutterPie wrote:Some things I really like about my LGS is:

Being greeted by name and making me feel that you do appreciate my business I know my LGS owner appreciate my business just by the way he treats me. He's always so friendly and greets me by name the second I step foot in the store.

Being active on Facebook. The owner of my LGS posts stuff constantly on fb. He's always informing us of new products, restocks, events. He also posts pictures from events so we can see all the fun. I can always facebook him with a product request or to ask him to put things on hold for me or to get info on stuff.

Keep the store active with events. My LGS runs all sorts of events every week so there is always something fun to participate in.

This was everything that was wrong with the LGS that used to be near me. The staff were always friendly, but if they had done more advertizing and building up a community, I think they still would be around. As my previous post said, gaming was once a week, and the times I went we got a decent turnout. The problem was that it was at night during the week, so aside from the odd person that passed by on the way to the grocery store nearby, no one looked in. Plus, the selection of warhammer stuff was always lacking. I think they only ever had paints and a few boxes of models at any given time.

Things I've seen done really successfully:

Free gaming space. Free gaming space fosters community and gives everyone a place to go to game. It creates demand for the products you sell.

100% prize payout for events. More people seem to show up when they know that they can get all their money back and there's no big store 'cut' being taken out of the prize pool. Events aren't there for the store to make money directly, they build community which in turn builds playerbase which does directly make the store money.

In-store Storage for monthly fees. Once you get your "regulars", your regulars will get really tired of hauling 2, 3, 5 cases/bins of minis, boardgames, and misc stuff to and from the store every week.

A large enough area to keep minis separate from CCGs separate from RPGs/boardgames. The separation of 'stinky people' from 'non-stinky people' is also a pretty big deal.

I'll tell you what's not going to work-

Guy changed his store around and outright called out the weekly players today.


Worst thing about it- he moved all of the stuff out of the playing- to playing rooms and it's damn near empty now. They're not going to win any pals with that sort of an attitude.

Too bad, too.

I just started going to this store.

At my FLGS its a three building thing. But the nice thing is that theres a retail space then a lil gamers restaraunt followed by a giant space the size of most game stores devoted strictly to gaming. Now as a rule no food or drinks are really wanted in the arena area but generaly the people we play with all make agreements. Hell one day we had an all day event and the store owner asked everyone to contribute 15 dollars and he made what can only be described as a feast for us.