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For me it will always be well stocked as the primary factor. I don't game in stores and I have had too many times where I have special ordered through a store and then their distributor(s) have also been out of stock (or they just blamed them for not ordering it yet). If I go online to a store that has reliable stock levels (Miniature Market, The War Store, many eBay sellers) I know I'll be getting my order and it really will be on its way to me.

I'll pay full retail over a discount if it means the person has it and will immediately mail it to me (or put it in a bag after I pay in person at a store).

The two main aspects for me are: Product I'm interested in buying (at a price I'm willing to pay) and a location that isn't inconvenient to get to are about it for me.

Lighting is also good, but I've also spent time in more than a few gaming dungeons. I don't require a store to be more than that.
Certainly not as a gaming location (which also rules out the social/league/tournament/painting classes options, too).

The store staff don't have to be humble - but usually, I'm not in long enough to care. Go in, browse, buy stuff, pay and leave. Just like any other retail establishment.

Provide money-making services that the OLGS does not!
* Drinks and snacks
* Game flea markets
* Demos from game company volunteers
* Paint supplies
* Magic the Gathering
* Tournaments and other social events that are not possible over Meetup and local gaming groups

Specifically, your advantages are:
* No waiting for product: Impulse items (eg. food) and trivial items (eg. dice).
* No shipping fees: This means small inexpensive items (eg. pot of paint, dice, food), rather than large expensive ones (eg. boardgames, paint sets).
* Social food markup: If you have the skills and money for it, consider a game cafe or coffee house. Even ice cream parlors have a huge markup.

Game Cafes: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/11/board-game-bars/382828/
Markup: http://www.businessinsider.com/products-high-markups-2014-7

(If you can somehow combine healing stones with boardgames, you're gold.

 insaniak wrote:
Too many game stores seem to work off a model of 'Keep the fast sellers in stock and special order everything else'. If I'm going to have to order it anyway, I might as well just order it online, have it mailed to my house and save myself a trip. The whole point of a physical store is to be able to walk in and buy what you want.

Agreed.
Any time someone tells me "I can special order it for you", I ask myself the same thing.

Most of a gaming stores sales could almost be described as impulse purchases.

For me (not in the order), it's:

*Prices. At least for me, 20% off product is the line where I will either buy from wayland or support my local store. Knowing about how much GW (because I only care about Gw ) actually costs before shop taxes (not counting mandatory pvm), I will just smile and say "thank you" if a store charges full or near full retail prices.

*Relaxed atmosphere. A place where you can bring a pizza, have a beer while gaming. (Not leaving a mess behind is an obvious thing to do, ofc)

*Quality terrain, gaming mats. Because gakky terrain just doesn't do it. No pleasure in playing on the same green board over and over again.

*Good light source. While not mandatory, a really nice addition for people who come to play.

*Cool staff. They are the representatives, people with whom customers/visitors have to deal on a daily basis. If they are unpleasant, then the outcome is pretty much clear, imo.

For me it is "Are you well stocked."

gaming stores come and gaming stores go. That has forced me to find avenues and locations to play that are not tied to the traditional store. If your store isn't there, I will still find a place to play.

However, if you want me to purchase something that assist you in keeping the lights on, then it best be on the shelf. If you tell me "I can special order it for you" what you are actually saying is that you are competing with every other internet mail order business, and as such, best have the prices to compete.

95% of the time, not many brick and mortar locations can do that. Some webstore, someplace else will beat you on price.

A lot of those things on the list are important. When it comes to the backbone I guess, the best thing is probably going to be your stock, pricing, staff, appearance and location of the store. Getting a thriving community will help keep it floating and those things will probably be what gets that spark that starts one off at first. It's like planting a seed and looking after the sprouting plant with stuff like store events and store inventory as the fertilizer that helps it grow; your sales are the water that keeps it alive. How it grows however is something it just will seem to do on its own when you look after it just right.

First impressions are the most important thing to remember, how the store looks will generally decide if someone will even walk into it I think. Then if you have good staff and the right selection that should encourage them to return and/or spread the word about the store.

The absolute #1 is Staff who are there to help you get what you need. Locally, we have had three games stores go under because the staff was too busy playing games or otherwise preoccupied to meet customer needs.

I will also say that when I walk into a game store, over 90% of the time it's for some impulse purchase. I go in, if you have it in stock, I'll buy it right then and there. If it has to be ordered and will show up a week or later, you are suddenly in competition from anywhere I can get it online (and possibly cheaper).

A few things in no order,
Courteous staff
Clean Bathroom. I do not like feeling dirtier when I enter the bathroom, Not having to hold my breath is a plus.
Drinks/snacks. Very nice and convenient.

Hey guys, thanks again for all the great input.

I want to make something that makes customers happy.

Your comments, votes, and suggestions have been extremely helpful in this.

It sounds like you are doing the right things.

Just keep in mind, it is a thankless and difficult job to run a business. Be wary of doing too much charity work (I make them all fill-out paperwork with some stipulations on what they need to do fro me in return , typically getting free tickets to events, name call outs, sponsorship listings, and Social Media exposure), and almost never pay for advertising (Unless there is some extreme circumstances).

Be wary of anyone telling you to do too much food and coffee stuff as the regulations, sales tax, and licensing there are much stiffer.... BUT it is a great way to add value and hedge your profit line IF you don't go crazy on the on-hand inventory/pay roll.

Always be wary of your profit margin and your cash flow. Don't throw good money after bad, and hide your own money from yourself so you don;t spend it all when times are good and screw yourself over when times are bad.

Good luck!

You also can't stock everything, so while many people (like myself) have in stock items as their highest priority, you need to be selective about what you carry. One local store that opened recently and has been kicking ass is only stocking Board Games, X-Wing, card games, etc., and the bulk of their revenue is from Magic: The Gathering. No hobby miniatures at all.

Strippers.


Oh wait, wrong thread...

Some really good suggestions here. A lot of these suggestions, in my opinion, can be boiled down to one thing: run it like a business intended to attract & keep customers, not like a social club which happens to sell products.

@OP: I sent you a PM regarding this. Would like to discuss it further, but over PM.

But really, it's Know Your Customer-base and then cater to them.

Different folks want different things. Some folks want Tournaments and care less about stock, some folks want casual atmosphere, narrative campaign, etc.

Where I'm at, there's:
+ An LGS store that's heavily tournament drive and has less stock but good discounts
+ A GW store that has an extremely friendly welcoming atmosphere, lots of players playing narrative games, and the store has decent stock but no discounts

Both are packed with different sets of customers.

I selected "Well Stocked," but I think in general I want to err on the side of, "buisness first social gathering later." I used to go to an LGS where they had product in another room off to the side so they had space for game tables and such which was fine for regulars who showed up to game and only had to buy a few things a year. But then we had a couple new people start going and they joined our group and played games with us but had no idea they could have been buying 40k stuff from this store instead of online. It turned into more of a clubhouse/ rec center than a store. Later, when profits started to hurt, they instituted club fees and made the restroom only for paying customers and all sorts of stuff when they could have just moved their stock out into the open a little. It was kind of sad because the owners and employees there were really cool but by the time they tried everything they could (including moving around the store layout) it was too little too late.

 Powerfisting wrote:
I selected "Well Stocked," but I think in general I want to err on the side of, "buisness first social gathering later." I used to go to an LGS where they had product in another room off to the side so they had space for game tables and such which was fine for regulars who showed up to game and only had to buy a few things a year. But then we had a couple new people start going and they joined our group and played games with us but had no idea they could have been buying 40k stuff from this store instead of online. It turned into more of a clubhouse/ rec center than a store. Later, when profits started to hurt, they instituted club fees and made the restroom only for paying customers and all sorts of stuff when they could have just moved their stock out into the open a little. It was kind of sad because the owners and employees there were really cool but by the time they tried everything they could (including moving around the store layout) it was too little too late.

I never thought that could happen. That's crazy. Thanks for the heads up.

It all comes down to the employees. There was a store in Boston that wasn't terribly well stocked, was cramped and tiny, and the only terrain they had was stuff from high school I'd donated, but the manager who was usually working there was awesome, and the location was good, so I was there multiple times a week, even if it was just to hang out.

I really love professional, well-lit stores though. There aren't many like that around here but I've gotten to check out a bunch.

Friendly, humble and respectable Employees

The Wizard Wall, a gaming store in my area, closed its door last year after 3 decades of operation solely because the manager kept hiring idiots who thought of their careers first, and basically drove anyone they thought was threatening to their popularity, out of the store. After their online ventures went bust, their gutted local player was nowhere to be found as they moved to other LFGSs in the area, and those are still going strong.

Can't have fun when the people who run a thing are selfish dildacks.

One of the best laid-out game stores I seen has a well-established divider between the play area and stock. People wandering in to look about aren't distracted by the gamers (they're on the other side of some book shelves - you can hear them, but its a bit muffled) and gamers don't have to walk through the stock area (reducing the chance of bumping into/wading through crowd or stock disappearing into their game contents).

In this particular store setup, there's a "canal" of sorts immediately to the right of the door that takes you to the gaming area; if you walk straight ahead, you enter the stock area.