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 Vulcan wrote:
The game shop owners I've spoken too say it's a great way to make a small fortune.

The problem is you have to start with a large fortune...

(I'm almost certain they're joking. Almost.)

It's mean't to be a joke....but ironically it comes true all to often.

Case in point, i got asked to help a friend/customer open a store. It was a nightmare, as he really didn't know how to work hard, had grown up with too much money, and didn't like to work. My wife and I tutored him on accounting and how to pay all the taxes-he didn't bother for two years. We helped set up the store-but he didn't like to clean, organize, or re-order what he sold. He pulled money from the til, told employees to write checks for 'cash' and forge his name when they needed to buy stuff. He signed up for stupid check cashing verification apps and things that were scams.

Eventually, rather than close, he put in a couple hundred thousand dollars, the house his folks gave him, sold the BMW his dad gave him, and lost basically everything. Very determined not to fail...but not dertermined enough to do any work.

In two years he lost more than my stores make in 6 years.

Wow, this thread has really taken off. I've gotten way more response than I had thought I would (a great thing).

Kid_Kyoto wrote:A lot of great advice on this thread, but a lot of discouragement. So let me throw something out, try starting small.

Do research first, find out what moves fast, maybe get into the secondary market for CCGs or CMGs first. See if you like it.

My understanding is traditional minis (assemble and paint) are a slow-moving niche product. I've seen some established online stores that either buy wholesale and sell at a discount or buy used OOP models and sell them. Either of those models might work for you.

I had pretty much assumed that it'd be necessary to offer a variety of games. Especially since it sounds like most GW stores are really struggling with their restricted stock. Also, and perhaps it's just me, it seems somewhat disingenuous to open a game store and then only sell a couple of different games (and/or types of games).

Necros wrote:I had grand plans to open a game shop a while back, and changed my mind really just because of the money required. I had no worthwhile retail experience, so there's no way I'd get a sizable loan, and that's what I'd need to run it and be able to eat for the next 2 years that it would take to start turning a profit (and a tiny one at that). On paper when you first start planning it out, you might think "Hey, I can spend like 10k on inventory and this shop on the corner only wants $1500 a month.. I can do this!!!21" .. no, you can't. You need well into 6-figures in the bank and/or loans to even think about it. You need enough money in the bank to pay all of your bills and salaries for at least 2 years.

Din't mean for that to all sound so negative. Not trying to poo poo your ideas, just that you really have to do your homework, and either way owning your own business requires tons of work with very little or no reward at first. You have to be in it for the long haul.

I value the negative as much as the positive, at least as far as the comments in this thread go. I need those reality checks to help keep things in perspective as I have a pretty big problem about getting overexcited about things and getting in way over my head.

MechaEmperor7000 wrote:

It's really sad to hear that and I wish you the best of luck with your new path. That is definitely one of the things I'm worried about happening and is one of the bigger turn offs of the whole idea. Which is exactly why I'm going about this in an incredibly cautious manner, as going through all the effort to open a store only to find that your passion for what your peddling has died seems like a very bad deal.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Mikhaila is wise.

Listen to him.

Seriously, listen to mikhaila. I've been patronizing one of his stores since the early 90s and worked for him for three years too. He's seen a lot of disasters and even managed to grow his business in a recession while located in a dying mall. He knows what he's talking about.