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Sell prepackaged food (candy, chips, soda, hotpockets, etc) so you don't have to worry about a restaurant license, and post a sign that says "no outside food." You will be surprised how much money you make on gamerfood. Once word gets out that you have mexi-coke, you won't be able to keep it on the shelves.

I had a conversation with the owner of one of the flgs's in the area, and the way he put it was that he essentially owned a snackbar that also sold games.



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...oh, and if I had a store, it would be called Fort Awesome.

1. Somewhere to play and snacks. Self explanatory.

2. A willingness to order in stock for any game. Basically if I'm spending money on games I want to be doing it through you all you have to be prepared to do is get it in.

3. Internet intergration. Such things as a store forum and the ability to pre-order and purchase online for pick up in store. Show me shiny things at home and get me to spend that money there and then.

Necros wrote:Ah, that sucks. One major challenge I'm going to have is finding a good, and cheap location. I'm not going to be able to afford a mall spot or a "high end" area, but I want a good, visible and accessible location with good parking. Gonna have to do a lot of lease negotiating for a good price. If I can find a place that's been vacant a while, hopefully the landlord will be willing to work with me

If you are going to open any business, especially a bricks and mortar retail shop, you should have a thorough study of traffic patterns be done and make sure you choose appropriate signage that can be put as close to the street as local statutes and oridnances allow. Right now is a good market to be leasing property in most areas so make sure the terms of your lease reflect that. Make certain you set-up yopur company as an LLC in order to limit your persoanl liability and above all make sure you hire an attorney to look over the lease, and or any other documents you execute.

I have seen to many people come to me after the fact when their businesses were failing and watch them needlessly lose everything because they thought they were businessmen.

Absolutely DO NOT open a gaming store just because you are a Gamer and think it will be fun. It is a business and you musdt treat it as one. Plan on having less time to personally game rather than more and make sure you hire honest, competent people to work with you. they do not need to be gamers, they do need to be smart, friendly and professional.

Yes I am definitely doing this for a business. I'm actually not much of a gamer really, I'm more into the painting. But I still love gaming in general, so I wanna build a business around something I love


So, something else I've been thinking about... would an online store be "worth it"?

I'm a web designer now, and have been for 15 years. I am planning to do the whole "viral" marketing thing for my store with facebook, myspace, twitter, etc. In addition to running a blog about my ups and downs opening my store that I will cross post to a variety of gaming message boards like right here on dakka. Seems most online stores for games are discounters, but I won't be offering discounts. I dunno, maybe free shipping if that's doable, but that's about it. The idea popped into my head when I was reading Why we Buy from Paco Underhill (no relation to Frodo, I don't think...), about how so many people "pre-shop" online, and it's true. I do it all the time So my thought was, what if I had this online store that's interfaced with my retail store's POS system so web viewers can see if it's in stock. Then they can place the order online, and come and pick it up in the store. Just like you can do at Best Buy or other stores.

Or if the automated thing isn't possible or remotely cost effective, then I'd have to do it all by hand and maybe send out an email to the buyer when it's ready for pickup, then we just hold it behind the counter for them.. but they've already paid in advance online so I won't be having stock collecting behind the counter that no one comes to get. This could also work great for preordering stuff online. I know I can't have GW stuff in an online store, but I'll be selling more than just GW and who knows maybe if it's pickup only they'd allow it (but I won't hold my breath)

Anyway, anyone think this would work? is it worth all that time and effort to build & maintain or will I be so busy with my store that I'll never have time to focus on the online stuff? Even if few buy online, this would be used as more of a marketing tool, which is why I thought some kind of POS retail software package that can interface with a web store would be ideal.

Strippers.

good luck on your business - keep us updated ;P

What's so good about Mexican Coke? Aren't Mexican drinks unclean? I have never had it though, so I wouldn't know how it tastes.

In the newer hulk movie, gama ray blood fell into a bottle of mexican soda at the factory. Therefore, mexican drinks are unclean!

so, what's really the difference between mexican and american coke?

I don't know if this one is in this thread, i don't feel like reading though the whole thing but here's what I want out of a game store.

I want to know it's there. There's nothing I hate more than finding out there's a game store near me that I never knew about. I used to walk home from work the same way every day until one day there was road work going on on the street so i had to walk around the block. Halfway down the block I had never walked before was a game store i never knew was there or heard of. since then i have dumped a couple of hundred dollars there.

So my advice is to let gamers know where you are. However you do it is up to you.

Have an Ironclad rule about kids. Go see the model molester thread if you have doubts. I'm not advocating banning kids but a simple "no one under 14 admitted without a parent is sufficient; or unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy sign. Kids are the most prolific gamers and a huge portion of sales, however they are the most controversial demographic and keeping a firm thumb on them will go a long way to keeping all your customers happy.

Necros wrote:
So here's the question... What do you want in a game store?

As a customer...
First and foremost I'd want one within 90 bajillion miles of me.
Second, one with less neckbeards. Nothing like finally getting to the store and starting to play when all of sudden you have 4 dudes of varies ages that smell like cheese gone bad and sweat. Not sure how they keep the paint on the walls honestly.

If I was the owner
It seems around my neck of the woods the interwebz hasn't caught on for getting the word out. That would be one huge avenue I'd pursue.
Host lots of painting get togethers and contests.
Stock more than just Wargaming stuff. I mean like plastic models from Tamiya, Hasegawa, and loads of accessories.
Host a pot luck type gaming night at least once a month. Everyone bring their army or minis to paint and a food item and eat and play and be merry.
I'd also have an adult type evening where it would be ok to say "grown up words" and talk about "grown up things" without some Dad flipping out.

Sadly i'd probably go bankrupt in a few months but it would be awesome while it lasted!

Necros wrote:so, what's really the difference between mexican and american coke?

I think it's supposed to be made with real sugar instead of high fructrose corn syrup. Different taste. You can get something similar in much of the US around passover as kosher soda is also made with cane sugar.

Yes neckbeards are something I worry about... but in a hobby like this you're gonna have em no matter what. In some of the seminars i've been listening too some shop owners have addressed the issue, they just pull em aside and tell em they have to bathe if they wanna hang out in the store, because the stench is making them lose customers. It's one thing I hate about the gaming & nerddom in general, so it's something I'll definitely stay on top of.


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Also as far as mexicoke goes, if it's just about using sugar vs corn syrup, look for Jones soda. It's great! they make it out of sugar and there's tons of different flavors.


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Also, for kids, I won't/can't turn them away if they're going to account for a lot of my business (well their parents will, through them). However they will have to know the rules.

#1 - Look but don't touch. If you feel like you have to touch, ask first. If you touch without asking, mom will pay for what you break! (I don't think I can legally go after a mom for that, but still)

#2 - Quietness is next to godliness.

seriously though, if mom wants to drop billy off with $20 while she goes shopping in grown up stores, that's fine with me. the kid will just have to be well behaved and if he can't be, mom will have to get a talking to.

Necros wrote:seriously though, if mom wants to drop billy off with $20 while she goes shopping in grown up stores, that's fine with me. the kid will just have to be well behaved and if he can't be, mom will have to get a talking to.

Be careful with this though, the store I play at had to institute a no unattended kids under X age policy when a parent dropped a kid of for a Yughi-o tournament with no money, and then couldn't be gotten a hold of for another
5 hours. 30 minutes of which were after closing time.

hmm, yeah that's a good point. Something to think about for sure

Necros wrote:In the newer hulk movie, gama ray blood fell into a bottle of mexican soda at the factory. Therefore, mexican drinks are unclean!

so, what's really the difference between mexican and american coke?

Well, I mean that water in Mexico is dangerous to many Americans, as it is not cleaned as well as our water and contains a great amount of germs that our body can't handle. Coke has water in it. You get the point. Although, if the MC is not made in Mexico, than your safe.

Mexican Coke IS made in Mexico. It's all sterilized, and is perfectly safe.

And Necros, Mexican Coke has a certain appeal that Jones soda simply does not have. You may want to keep that in mind.

make a gaming club so its in WD people see it then more people come

I don't if anyone has really addressed store hours. You want to be open when people are not at work and can game/shop, so I really suggest being open late on the weekends and on most holidays (except Christmas). Also, people like to shop on their lunch breaks, so don't be closed during the middle of the day 11:00 to 1:00 as is sometimes common for little small businesses.

A game store is likely to get sales from me if it offers something unique, whether it's discount used minis, special events, etc. If it's just a standard store that doesn't offer anything special than you just competing with online sales and you'll lose that price war every time. Good luck.

As far as locations, next to movie theaters are good, kids and teenagers hanging out waiting for movies to start, etc.

There's a few local stores around that are open usually noon-10pm or thereabouts, so I will probably do something similar. I'm thinking I'd be open in time for the lunchtime shoppers, and in the slower period between lunch and schools letting out, I can take care of the biz kind of stuff like inventory, restocking, working on the website, etc.

I know I can't compete with online places. not at all, so I'm not even gonna try. Everything will be full price with possible discount day sales here and there. In my research the pros out there just say discount stores don't last, but it works ok for online stores because they have very little overhead (ie, no storefront to pay rent on, can be run from mom's basement)

I've decided to brand my store as a game center, with the drive being it's a place for people to play. That means I will probably be looking for a larger place than I originally planned (2000ish sq ft vs > 1500) and I hope to have a lot of planned in store events and tournaments such as Friday night Magic, wargame tourneys on saturdays, board/rpg day sundays and other things scattered throughout the week. I also intend to build out my store so that the gaming area is separate from the retail area, as to not scare off the soccer moms.

And yeah I intend to list any and every event I can in the official magazines and websites. I feel that will be my best form of advertising besides just word of mouth.

I have looked into Gameing stores also and the one thing that seemed to be consistant was = Sole "Gaming" stores failed rather quickly even in areas that do well, (malls etc)

The reason most game shops have comics is because comics provide a consistant revenue source. Gaming does not provide it consistantly, (unless you were charging for game nights etc).

I agree that the comics industry takes some drive to command, but it may be the only thing that keeps the store open as you refine you business skills and get gamers in there.

I would also suggest hanging around other local shops to see how the local feel is - make sure the location you pick has a need for the shop, traffic flow and patterns are a must - (know where drivers move to and from work, school and shopping.)

The common game industry wisdom is that stores that sell just comics or just games do better than hybrids. I think it's critical to be diverse in your game offerings, but it's often not desirable to diversify out of that niche. It might sound simplistic, but do one thing, very, very, very well.

On the discount thing: don't offer discount days, because it encourages people to buy mostly then. Instead do something like "If you bring in with $100 or more of reciepts, 10% off your next purchase". That way, they've already spent $100, it's on them to keep track of reciepts if they want a discount, and it encourages future purchasing.

blackdiamond wrote:but do one thing, very, very, very well.

Thats my plan

as for discount days I was thinking more like once a year, maybe a black friday sale or something like that. But I was also thinking of army builder discounts, where if you buy a whole lot of models you'll get a discount. I was also thinking maybe selling things like battleforces for 5% off normally, and megaforces/army deals 10% off.

But I have a long way to go before I get into that unless I win the powerball this week...