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An Eon or two ago there was a guy from Hong Kong posting here, Snord. He talked about a club that got space from the Police club or something like that?

I think the first step might really be a semi-professional club, rent regular space and a locker for terrain, have a web site or even web store. Throw regular larger events, tournaments, mega battles etc.

And see if you can then justify sinking money into a lease and inventory.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:

 Iapedus wrote:
Due to the complete dearth of a decent FLGS in our immediate area (the last one having just closed its door and moved far, far away ), a friend and I briefly mused on the idea of setting up our own store. Having found a decent spot and put a simple business plan together, we are both utterly stumped at how an FLGS can make any money or indeed stay in business

In general, you don't (make money), and can't (stay in business).

Most FLGS will go out of business in a year's time, after they burn through their seed money, and try to recoup some pennies on the back end via clearance sales.

95% of all businesses close in 5 years. As a small business owner, let me tell you there are really good reasons for this and not all of them are financial.

Having a business actually survive is the exception and not the rule.

 Easy E wrote:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:

 Iapedus wrote:
Due to the complete dearth of a decent FLGS in our immediate area (the last one having just closed its door and moved far, far away ), a friend and I briefly mused on the idea of setting up our own store. Having found a decent spot and put a simple business plan together, we are both utterly stumped at how an FLGS can make any money or indeed stay in business

In general, you don't (make money), and can't (stay in business).

Most FLGS will go out of business in a year's time, after they burn through their seed money, and try to recoup some pennies on the back end via clearance sales.

95% of all businesses close in 5 years. As a small business owner, let me tell you there are really good reasons for this and not all of them are financial.

Having a business actually survive is the exception and not the rule.

Oh, no doubt.

However, most of the wargaming "stores" I've seen are *designed* to lose money. And then the expected result occurs, completely as I might have predicted.

The long-lasting stores are actually run like real retail stores with an emphasis on converting inexpensive floor space into recurring revenue.

That was my main point, and I don't see why anyone would object to it.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:

 Easy E wrote:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:

 Iapedus wrote:
Due to the complete dearth of a decent FLGS in our immediate area (the last one having just closed its door and moved far, far away ), a friend and I briefly mused on the idea of setting up our own store. Having found a decent spot and put a simple business plan together, we are both utterly stumped at how an FLGS can make any money or indeed stay in business

In general, you don't (make money), and can't (stay in business).

Most FLGS will go out of business in a year's time, after they burn through their seed money, and try to recoup some pennies on the back end via clearance sales.

95% of all businesses close in 5 years. As a small business owner, let me tell you there are really good reasons for this and not all of them are financial.

Having a business actually survive is the exception and not the rule.

Oh, no doubt.

However, most of the wargaming "stores" I've seen are *designed* to lose money. And then the expected result occurs, completely as I might have predicted.

The long-lasting stores are actually run like real retail stores with an emphasis on converting inexpensive floor space into recurring revenue.

That was my main point, and I don't see why anyone would object to it.

You know, a lot of that sort of idea which has been recurrant in this thread, that is "Gaming stores bad, retail stores good" is exactly the business model GW have used for the last number of years (minimise gaming, maximise selling) and it doesn't seem to have benefited them at all.

GW are a bad example because they're offering a narrow range (of their own product, even) at full RRP.

They're often small and with limited gaming space, so they don't fit the two possible business models, either a kiosk focusing on high margin or high turnover items with low overhead or something more expansive that acts as a community focal point, and are somewhere in the middle doing both poorly.

I've noticed a few similarities are the FLGS's that have survived while I've lived in the same place...and we've had a GW store come and go within that period.

1. Sealed MTG. Duh. Also Pokemon and Yu-gi-Oh.

2. Community building and in-store play. Game stores don't make piles of money from walk-in customers. It's from the players that come in and spend money regularly, especially at launch and special events (something else MTG does well).

3. A friendly atmosphere. The stores that are dark holes in the wall populated by beardy trolls have mostly closed. The ones that are left are clean and organized, as well as inviting in person and on social media. One has 1 or 2 nights a months where they do a potluck meal during MTG or 40K events.

4. They are all pretty much 1-man operations, and it's obviously out of passion rather than for the money.

 Deadshot wrote:
You know, a lot of that sort of idea which has been recurrant in this thread, that is "Gaming stores bad, retail stores good" is exactly the business model GW have used for the last number of years (minimise gaming, maximise selling) and it doesn't seem to have benefited them at all.

Except GW isn't really a retail store like a private one. GW doesn't sell cards or X-Wing or any of the hotness.

Every game store I've hung out in runs MTG for the profit margin to support the rest.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:

 Easy E wrote:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:

 Iapedus wrote:
Due to the complete dearth of a decent FLGS in our immediate area (the last one having just closed its door and moved far, far away ), a friend and I briefly mused on the idea of setting up our own store. Having found a decent spot and put a simple business plan together, we are both utterly stumped at how an FLGS can make any money or indeed stay in business

In general, you don't (make money), and can't (stay in business).

Most FLGS will go out of business in a year's time, after they burn through their seed money, and try to recoup some pennies on the back end via clearance sales.

95% of all businesses close in 5 years. As a small business owner, let me tell you there are really good reasons for this and not all of them are financial.

Having a business actually survive is the exception and not the rule.

Oh, no doubt.

However, most of the wargaming "stores" I've seen are *designed* to lose money. And then the expected result occurs, completely as I might have predicted.

The long-lasting stores are actually run like real retail stores with an emphasis on converting inexpensive floor space into recurring revenue.

That was my main point, and I don't see why anyone would object to it.

No objection from me. I agree.

Sometimes it just feels like as a society we are conditioned to think that any business that stays opens is the norm. They are not the norm. They are the anomaly.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
The long-lasting stores are actually run like real retail stores with an emphasis on converting inexpensive floor space into recurring revenue.

That was my main point, and I don't see why anyone would object to it.

I object because it's completely wrong. If you have a store based on efficiently selling product in the minimum (low-rent) floor space without space-hungry things like gaming tables you are doomed to failure. If you don't have any gaming space to offer then why am I ever going to come into your store? Everything you sell is cheaper online, so at most you're looking at selling me the occasional pot of paint when I need it ASAP to keep working on a project. And with that low-rent location you aren't going to be recruiting new customers because you're going to be stuck in a low-traffic location where hardly anyone will know your store exists. So great, your expenses are low but your revenue is zero. IOW, you go bankrupt and sell the dusty remains of your inventory on ebay in a desperate attempt to pay off your debts.

The only way you're going to get people to pay higher prices for stuff is if they're already in the store and don't want to screw around with looking elsewhere. And how do you get people into your store where you can sell them things? Lots of open gaming space so they keep coming back regularly.

The community builders grow their recurring customer base. There was one local store that did that years ago and even though it changed hands, the store kept its regulars for quite some time until they eventually slowly dwindled away because the new owner de-emphasized game play.

They cancelled FNM (the new owner liked how magic sold but could not be bothered to learn enough about the game to be able to run an event) and made the store close early enough each night that gaming there any time other than Saturday was pointless. People couldn't get off from work, get there, get a game in and clean up before the store closed and after a couple of times of "we had to pack up before the game was done because the store closed," they stopped coming.

It kept going for quite some time just based on the good will and community developed by the previous owner.

Sell concessions.

Depending on you demographic, sell beer.

 Traditio wrote:
Depending on you demographic, sell beer.

This is definitely a 'depending on' thing. Although The Games Den has an off-licence (came with the premises), we don't sell beer because we want to create a space that is safe for everyone; and alcohol has the potential to make that... difficult.

But definitely sell soft drinks, water, snacks, coffee, that sort of thing.

I just can't comprehend the sheer level of energy that would be required to run one well. Running even a quiet to medium store single handed is tiring, getting a lunch or toilet break difficult, cleaning/replen/cashing up all having to be done after hours. And then, after a standard retail day, having to make new terrain, get upcoming releases built and painted, plan events to keep people coming, reading up on rules for demoing new games, trying to find time for your own hobby. It's no wonder it burns people out. I know there are ways to minimise some of these, but still, fair play to all those machines that are able to do it, and do it well.

 Peregrine wrote:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
The long-lasting stores are actually run like real retail stores with an emphasis on converting inexpensive floor space into recurring revenue.

That was my main point, and I don't see why anyone would object to it.

I object because it's completely wrong. If you have a store based on efficiently selling product in the minimum (low-rent) floor space without space-hungry things like gaming tables you are doomed to failure. If you don't have any gaming space to offer then why am I ever going to come into your store? Everything you sell is cheaper online, so at most you're looking at selling me the occasional pot of paint when I need it ASAP to keep working on a project. And with that low-rent location you aren't going to be recruiting new customers because you're going to be stuck in a low-traffic location where hardly anyone will know your store exists. So great, your expenses are low but your revenue is zero. IOW, you go bankrupt and sell the dusty remains of your inventory on ebay in a desperate attempt to pay off your debts.

The only way you're going to get people to pay higher prices for stuff is if they're already in the store and don't want to screw around with looking elsewhere. And how do you get people into your store where you can sell them things? Lots of open gaming space so they keep coming back regularly.

Some people do just prefer buying local otherwise there'd be a lot of stores, not just gaming stores, that wouldn't exist thanks to the internet, though that's slowly changing and making it less viable.

General hobby stores (not wargaming) still exist in spite of people being able to get everything they sell from online stores for less. Seems to be a dying business though.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 JamesY wrote:
I just can't comprehend the sheer level of energy that would be required to run one well. Running even a quiet to medium store single handed is tiring, getting a lunch or toilet break difficult, cleaning/replen/cashing up all having to be done after hours. And then, after a standard retail day, having to make new terrain, get upcoming releases built and painted, plan events to keep people coming, reading up on rules for demoing new games, trying to find time for your own hobby. It's no wonder it burns people out. I know there are ways to minimise some of these, but still, fair play to all those machines that are able to do it, and do it well.

I don't know of any stores that do it single handed other than GW stores. The local GW manages to get other people to paint things for the display shelves and I believe some of the stuff in there is his own personal stuff from before he was a manager.

But outside of GW, all the other stores have multiple people on. The store down the road I THINK it's actually the owner who spends his own time working on terrain for the gaming tables and running intro games while he employs other people to run the register and annoy customers.

Well, at The Games Den there's me (Store Manager), the Boss (owner), and a coterie of regulars who we trust enough to do stuff like keep an eye on things if one of us is in alone and needs to have a wee or nip across the road to grab a sausage roll or what-not.

Generally speaking it's my dream job - I'm quite literally working for free at the moment as the shop's only three months old - so I don't mind about spending all day in store or working six days a week. As for the Boss, well... what's sleep? Something that happens between the shop and Monster Hunter Time apparently.

Yeah like I said I know there are ways of easing the workload, it was more the sheer amount that you would need to be constantly doing that I was thinking. Even if there are two of you, days off and hols mean that there will be plenty of solo days. My local gw has 4 staff, and it seems that everytime I go in it's a one man day.

 JamesY wrote:
Yeah like I said I know there are ways of easing the workload, it was more the sheer amount that you would need to be constantly doing that I was thinking. Even if there are two of you, days off and hols mean that there will be plenty of solo days. My local gw has 4 staff, and it seems that everytime I go in it's a one man day.

Oh, yeh, definitely. F'r ex, I'm not in today for personal family reasons, but I'll be back in tomorrow. It's just something you've got to suck up and cope with, but... that's why you do it if you really wanna do it, not because it'll make you a zillionaire!

The moneymaker in my local flgs was mtg. 40k made near as much only because all the local 40k players were constantly growing up their armies and also buying things for their army they weren't going to use just to do their part keeping the doors open. the local ork player I think has over 40k points in them before upgrades, and another player can field 20k+ points in three different armies. But that is not the typical. The big things are sell mtg, be friendly, be helpful, be acomidating. You don't want to create a store, but a community.

 Gen.Steiner wrote:

 Traditio wrote:
Depending on you demographic, sell beer.

This is definitely a 'depending on' thing. Although The Games Den has an off-licence (came with the premises), we don't sell beer because we want to create a space that is safe for everyone; and alcohol has the potential to make that... difficult.

But definitely sell soft drinks, water, snacks, coffee, that sort of thing.

As I said, it really does depend upon the demographic. That said, I do wish to note the following:

Convenience stories (including gas stations), so far as I'm aware, make most of their profit off of spur of the moment buys like drinks and snacks.

Practically all of the profit, from what I understand, from movie theaters comes from concessions.

Bars make money.

[And in fact, a bar is essentially the flip side of what an FLGS is. It's essentially a hang-out spot.]

I think it's unrealistic for a FLGS owner to expect to stay in business from big, relatively high cost items like 40k kits, board games, etc. Sure, some people will buy those. But fact is, I can get all of those things online, often enough, for a lot cheaper, even taking shipping and handling into account. [In fact, this is probably why MTG sells well compared to those things.]

If you are running an FLGS, you are squarely in the entertainment market. You are selling entertainment. But directly selling it (namely, charging people literally to sit down), I assure you, will drive people off/alienate people, especially if this isn't advertised at the front door.

And if you do go that route, better to go with a general membership fee than a per entry fee.

[Come to think of it, even something like a "x number of drinks minimum," which is an actual practice at some bars and clubs, would probably work pretty well.]

Understand, I know virtually nothing about business. So my advice should definitely be taken with just a grain of salt. This is all just idle speculation on my part.

But if you want to stay in business, you should be following the bar/convenience store/movie theater/video game arcade style of business model. Not the Toys-R-Us style of business model. Sorry, but the days of brick and mortar businesses like games shops are numbered. The internet exists now, and you aren't Wal-Mart.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And let me briefly go back to the beer scenario.

How much does a case of relatively cheap beer cost (say, bud light)? How much would it cost to store it and keep it refrigerated?

Now imagine you sell that off (and I'm low-balling this) for $2 per bottle/can.

Now consider this:

A fifth of jack daniels (roughly equal to 14 drinks) is about $20. Add a case of coca cola.

Only the coca cola needs to be refrigerated.

How much do you think you can charge for a jack and coke?

Yeah.

That's why bars stay in business.

If I were you, I'd be like:

Hey. Weekly D&D/Pathfinder games. I'll GM. 2 drink minimum per session (whether alcoholic or otherwise)."

 Traditio wrote:
Convenience stories (including gas stations), so far as I'm aware, make most of their profit off of spur of the moment buys like drinks and snacks.

Practically all of the profit, from what I understand, from movie theaters comes from concessions.

The difference is that theaters and convenience stores have much, much higher sales volume. They might make very little profit per item (especially at convenience stores), but because they have hundreds of people buying stuff every day the end result is decent money. A game store is not going to have that volume at all. Having 5-10 people each day buy a snack item with a tiny profit margin is not paying the rent. And that's assuming you can even get those 5-10 potential customers to buy your overpriced snacks. I never have, and the only game store I've seen selling food or drinks frequently is the one that sells beer. When people want food while gaming they usually go next door and get some real food. So, yeah, you stock some snacks with a long shelf life because why not take what little profit there is, but expecting anything more is a serious misunderstanding of the business.

The way a game store actually makes money is by bringing customers into the store with gaming space, tournaments and other events, etc. Then, once people are in the store, they buy stuff because buying a new model at a 10% discount with no shipping cost and no wait for delivery is better than buying it at a larger discount, losing the savings in shipping costs, and having to wait a week for it to arrive. Then you make some more money off parents buying gifts locally instead of screwing around online, people buying board games on impulse for their party that night, etc.

[MOD EDIT - RULE #1 - Alpharius]

Here in Panama rent is so expensive it is impossible to open a miniature games club or store without card games. Even a 20 meter office space is very expensive. I miss old the real estate prices before 2005.

Peregrine wrote:The difference is that theaters and convenience stores have much, much higher sales volume. They make very little profit per item, but because they have hundreds of people buying stuff every day the end result is decent money. A game store is not going to have that volume at all. Having 5-10 people each day buy a snack item with a tiny profit margin is not paying the rent. And that's assuming you can even get those 5-10 potential customers to buy your overpriced snacks. I never have, and the only game store I've seen selling food or drinks frequently is the one that sells beer. When people want food while gaming they usually go next door and get some real food. So, yeah, you stock some snacks with a long shelf life because why not take what little profit there is, but expecting anything more is a serious misunderstanding of the business.

A couple of points:

1. Bars, I assume, enjoy considerably less traffic than movie theaters and convenience stores. They still stay in business, though. Why? Because a bar isn't just about the drink. It's also about having a place to hang out and drink.

I think that this is why FLGSs generally fail. Again, I'm sorry, but I think that, if one were to do the research, the evidence simply would show that FLGSs designed from the point of view of a traditional brick and mortar "we stock stuff here for you to buy" standpoint is simply doomed at this point in time. Some people are going to buy from an FLGS. But a lot of people, even potential customers, aren't. For the same reason that they wouldn't make purchases at a local bookstore.

This is just a guess, but I think that failing FLGSs don't incorporate the "hang out spot" aspect of the business into their business model.

A bar makes money because you are encouraged to hang out there over an extended period of time and keep buying drinks.

That's essentially what an FLGS is well suited for, but owners don't seem to fully capitalize on it.

2. Movies have ridiculously overpriced concessions. People still buy them. Why? Because they generally have a rule at the front door: "No outside concessions." Plenty of people ignore this rule, but a lot of people don't and are willing to fork over the money for concessions.

Why? Because you're going to be there for a while. Might as well grab a drink.

An FLGS would have a much easier time of this. How are you going to pull out a soft drink that you snuck in when the store manager is like 10 feet away?

Note, I'm not condoning $5 cans of coca cola. I'm simply pointing out that there are ways to bring in additional revenue from concessions.

The way a game store actually makes money is by bringing customers into the store with gaming space, tournaments and other events, etc. Then, once people are in the store, they buy stuff because buying a new model at a 10% discount with no shipping cost and no wait for delivery is better than buying it at a larger discount, losing the savings in shipping costs, and having to wait a week for it to arrive. Then you make some more money off parents buying gifts locally instead of screwing around online, people buying board games on impulse for their party that night, etc.

1. How well do the statistics actually support this as a good business model? Sure, I suppose some are willing to forgo the additional money in exchange for saving time on delivery. But just how many? How many in a given area?

2. Just consider 40k. How much shelf space would you need to carry all of the models that your customers reasonably might request?

At my FLGS, the owner regularly keeps a list of things that people request so that he can buy them from the GW webstore.

At any rate, note, I'm not saying that FLGSs should forgo making money on "big" items.

I'm simply pointing out that FLGSs could probably bring in more revenue if they capitalized on other aspects of the business.

One way that my FLGS capitalizes on those other aspects of the business is by charging an hourly rate to play games on the store's Nintendo Wii.

Also, frequent MTG drafts.

Migsulla is really the expert on this, he has two really great stores and even more important gives good advice.

One thing he cautioned, which I like, is unless you are a unique person with tons of experience in both running a game store AND running a cafe/bar/restaurant don't try to do both.

Don't forget in most places serving prepared food/drinks or alochol comes with a couple of phone books full of regulations.

 Traditio wrote:
1. Bars, I assume, enjoy considerably less traffic than movie theaters and convenience stores. They still stay in business, though. Why? Because a bar isn't just about the drink. It's also about having a place to hang out and drink.

Bars stay in business because alcohol is expensive. You can make money when you're selling a bar full of people $50+ in drinks every night. You can't make money when you're selling five people a $1 candy bar or can of soda every night.

I think that this is why FLGSs generally fail. Again, I'm sorry, but I think that, if one were to do the research, the evidence simply would show that FLGSs designed from the point of view of a traditional brick and mortar "we stock stuff here for you to buy" standpoint is simply doomed at this point in time. Some people are going to buy from an FLGS. But a lot of people, even potential customers, aren't. For the same reason that they wouldn't make purchases at a local bookstore.

This is just a guess, but I think that failing FLGSs don't incorporate the "hang out spot" aspect of the business into their business model.

Yes, but now you're making a straw man of what I said. I was specifically arguing against the idea of being nothing more than a retail store where you can buy products. In fact, the post you quoted even states this explicitly, so you have no excuse for pretending that I'm neglecting the "hanging out" part of the business model.

2. Movies have ridiculously overpriced concessions. People still buy them. Why? Because they generally have a rule at the front door: "No outside concessions."

Movie theaters also have an event that keeps you in your seat for 2-3 hours at a time without any interruptions. If you want something to eat or drink during a movie you buy it at the theater. If you want something to eat or drink during a game event you're usually free to go next door to an actual restaurant and buy a sandwich or slice of pizza or whatever, eat it there, and then come back to your game event.

1. How well do the statistics actually support this as a good business model? Sure, I suppose some are willing to forgo the additional money in exchange for saving time on delivery. But just how many? How many in a given area?

You don't need statistics, it's just common sense and being a person who buys gaming stuff. The tradeoff between buying locally and buying online, assuming you aren't determined to buy locally to "support your local store", is that you get your stuff immediately in exchange for a small additional cost (or potentially even for less money, depending on discounts vs. shipping costs). Therefore the game store has two obvious goals:

1) Be an awesome place to play so that you have a loyal community where "support your local store" is something worth doing.

and

2) Get people into your store as often as possible to maximize the number of times they say "I could save $1 buying this online, or I could have it right this minute and go play with it tonight".

2. Just consider 40k. How much shelf space would you need to carry all of the models that your customers reasonably might request?

Gaming stores already do this. Of course it takes up shelf space, but what's your point? Are you honestly suggesting that game stores stop having inventory because they don't want to use up shelf space on it?

One way that my FLGS capitalizes on those other aspects of the business is by charging an hourly rate to play games on the store's Nintendo Wii.

Which is, again, a nice bit of money on the side but it's never going to pay your bills. Making an extra $5-10 here and there renting your video game console isn't going to keep you in business if you can't sell your primary products.

Also, frequent MTG drafts.

Also known as "selling game products to your customers", not just trying to make some money on snacks and drinks. There's a reason why I specifically mentioned MTG drafts as a big source of money.

As I said, it really does depend upon the demographic. That said, I do wish to note the following:

Convenience stories (including gas stations), so far as I'm aware, make most of their profit off of spur of the moment buys like drinks and snacks.

Correction. The big moneymaker for gas stations is cigarettes. You would be amazed how many regulars come in every morning just for a pack of cigarettes.

Hey all...noob to Dakka Dakka here, but not to games or FLGSs. My wife and I co-own a successful game store in Canada; we've been in business for nearly 8 years and have grown every year in terms of sales (mind you, we've pretty much reached the physical limit of our possible growth, based on our available floor space). We have about a 2000 sq ft store and sell a full range of "unplugged" game products e.g. board games, CCGs and other card games, party games, minis games (including GW), party games, etc. We have one full time and 3 part-time staff.

As an additional bit of cred, I oversaw various business development programs in the region for our provincial government before I retired from that, so I have a chunk of experience working with small, medium and large businesses. All this is to say I think I can speak with some credibility about this!

Here's my take on what it takes to run a successful FLGS:

1. Run it like a business. Yes, the games are fun and cool, but the reason most small businesses fail in their first year is because they don't do the business stuff necessary to keep the place running. Remitting taxes, doing payroll, keeping a good set of books, making sure things like insurance, rent, utilities, etc. are up to date, doing inventory, cleaning the store (especially bathrooms!) and so on are all absolutely essential...often quite tedious, onerous and generally a pain in the butt, but essential.

2. Having a good and diverse selection of products. MTG as a "revenue stream" keeps coming up and, sure, you can make a fair bit of money off it, but by itself, it's just not enough to reliably support a sustainable business. If MTG slows down and it's your focus to the point of being a crutch, then you're in trouble. We have about $300K in inventory at any given time, and MTG probably accounts for maybe $10-$20K of that (including single cards). Our best sellers by far are board and party games; we could run a profitable store selling nothing but those, in fact. GW and other minis are "nice to do" products. I enjoy minis games, so we carry them, and they make us money, but frankly, not a lot. And GW isn't even our biggest seller most months; it's usually Warmachine/Hordes, FFG Star Wars games, Heroclix or Flames of War, to varying degrees.

3. Be a destination. Having a strict "over the till" retail sales operation probably won't cut it in this era of online shopping. We devote about 30% of our floor space to game tables, and have many, many events, from board game nights to organized play for various game lines. In and of themselves, these things don't make us any real money (aside from sales of pop, chips, chocolate bars, etc. for which the margins are obscenely high). However, they bring people into the store again and again, forming a community, and encouraging people to buy product to participate.

It's not easy. It's a lot of work, and a LOT of that work has nothing directly to do with the fun of gaming. And the up-front investment is substantial (I'd suggest you need about $100K in inventory for a reasonable start-up that's going to have a decent selection of product; this is on top of fixed costs like rent, and the cost of fixtures like shelving, displays, point-of-sale system, etc.)

So there you have it. Run it like a business, have a diverse selection of products you tailor (as much as you can) to demand, and be a destination around which a community of gamers can develop. Again, a TON of work, but really satisfying when it all comes together!

 Iapedus wrote:
Due to the complete dearth of a decent FLGS in our immediate area (the last one having just closed its door and moved far, far away ), a friend and I briefly mused on the idea of setting up our own store. Having found a decent spot and put a simple business plan together, we are both utterly stumped at how an FLGS can make any money or indeed stay in business

Can anyone please enlighten us?

We had to make some assumptions when it came to the Trade Price offered by GW on their products (we assumed 30% lower than RRRP since other FLGS regularly offer 25% off) but even assuming this discount and a fairly unsustainable turnover (over 20,000 GBP per month) we still could not get the figures to work out.

You start out with building a business plan. Give it a lot of work, and let your team shoot it full of holes and continue to revamp it to the point of reasonable workable, and sustainable. You want a game store? Don't go in like a gamer, build a business.
Sales- Sell what your customers will buy, and add on carefully, only after market research, and keeping your ear to the ground on angles. You can get a couple of new games in the shop, but your going to have to demo, so that's where you go for your audience, and get their Privateers, demo teams, etc. to push the games. Of course you have to vet them, so they do not upset the balance of the business, and you can't let them start dictating sales.

You also have to go in for the social media angle. in 2016, word of mouth is supplemented with social media, it can make you or break you. Web presence, developed web page, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Snapchat, etc... You have to almost have a dedicated web presence, and interlink in with the community that you have locally. Webpage, business cards, fliers, advertising...

You want a game store, you can also develop game clubs, or branch off to the development of community events. ANy way to generate sales is what you want to do. As much as GW is demonized, you need to take a page out of their book, and other companies to cultivate and develop your business in mindset, not just because your a gamer that wants to run a game store.

At the end of the day, AIDCC: Attention, Interest, Desire, Conviction, Close. You are running a business, run it like a business. run it interchangeably, and the time comes when you can change out games for widgets.

Strong start is a strong plan. Good luck, now get out there and sell.

 Grot 6 wrote:
At the end of the day, AIDCC: Attention, Interest, Desire, Conviction, Close.

You're making it too complicated. AIDA...
A - Attention
I - Interest
D - Decision
A - Action

hobojebus wrote:
I'd really reconsider selling GW stuff they will force mandatory sales on you making you stock the new stuff before you can buy what you want, they won't easily refund stuff that's not selling and they won't let you have any kind of sale to clear stuff that's not moving.

And if you should do well they'll open a store nearby and screw you over on new releases so people go to them.

GW is scummy to flgs owners.

That's like one in a long list of reasons to hate them.