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The staff is make or break for me. Not the knowledge base or how much they play, but how their social skills are. There's a place not to far from where I live called GenX Comics, and I despise it. It's got great selection, plenty of events going on, but the employees there are just god awful to deal with except for the manager. I brought a friend in before to check out the wares, and the guy behind the counter made a gay joke. I'm not averse to crude humor, but I mean seriously, I don't even know the guy that well. Awkward and obnoxious. Next couple of times I bring a friend and his fiance. Same guy was working there, and basically tried hitting on her almost immediately. It's stores like these that make me feel not a single twinge of guilt for ordering almost always online or through craigslist.

- Friendly, happy faces.
- Helpful staff who know their stuff but won't go OTT on trying to sell me a tonload of stuff.
- Great offers.
- Awesome displays.
- And wonderful people who make Space Marine cupcakes...

What makes the games store I frequent great would be the way I'm treated by the owner and staff.

The store is like my CHEERS (minus the booze). They treat the regulars (and randoms) wonderfully; and the owner is one of the nicest people I know.

Example: Everyone was a little worried about the new paint releases and how they would mesh with their current half painted armies, so knowing what each of the regulars played and their paint schemes, he saved us all the colors we used regularly instead of shipping them back to GW; and gave us a hefty discount at that.

What makes a gaming store great? The people, if the staff don't want to be there, no one else is going to want to come, if the staff is friendly and joking making people smile, then the people will want to come back and stay. Also events are great fun, I probably wouldn't be so into gaming if it was always straight battles but about once a month there is a little competition.

Thank you all for the amazing input as I push this towards reality.