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From my own point of view, running a game store seems like a bad idea, especially when you gotta "keep up with the trends" so to speak. Often I have wondered if running some other kind of store that also happens to have gaming space/tables available might be a better idea. Maybe a hardware store or something.
It just seems like, #1, you wouldn't have to worry about enforcing anti-3d printing rules or something like that, #2 you wouldn't have to cater to games/crowds who, might make your gaming store money, but are either not the kind of gamers you'd want in your store or just not the kind of game you'd want to support, #3 you could cater to crowds of people who want to play games that aren't "new and shiny", like older editions of games or games that are dead.

Maybe its just a dumb idea, I dunno.

Well, let's see....
I've played games at:
● 4 different comic shops - two of wich sold no gaming stuff beyond any special order, 1 wich only ever had 1 little spinner wrack for Reaper minis & a book shelf for some RPG stuff. The 4th sold MTG & had like two tables (mostly for MTG, but they didn't mind other games - 1st come....)
● An Auto Body shop. The owner loved 40k & since he was a businesses got his own act vs buying from others & converted some space for gaming. You only played there by invite.
● the back "party room" at a local Dennys diner. The only time the room was ever realky used was Sundays for a church group. So for awhile we hosted Thur night boardgaming there. We just had to order some food & drink - but since we had to eat dinner anyways....

As for running some other type of business with the addition of gaming/limiting games/access?
You can certainly do that.
Infact you can run a game shop with limits.
The one local shop (now long gone) A) didn't allow any RPGs or MTG (or other ccgs) to be played there. B) only allowed you to play anything there if you were 18+ it worked for him for years. He's ooB because he eventually retired, not because of his no MTG policy.
You don't want something played? Simply say no.

Obviously, the optimal business for supporting a pure gaming space is a restaurant. You already have a space full of tables, play on the closed day.

There's a store in Sweden that combines tabletop gaming space with a burger bar. I've never been there but I'd definitely love to visit some day.

Our gaming club used to meet in the back room of a bar / restaurant but unfortunately it closed during Covid. We looked at other venues and almost went with a music venue but ended up in a community centre.

My gaming club is housed in a local community centre, it has a bar for drinks and lots of space. Sometimes some of the other (mostly older) people who also have their gatherings there come see what were up to but mostly its just gaming in our little corner

Gaming cafes/bars are pretty common here. Mostly for board games but they occasionally have a wargaming table or two.

Office spaces after hours make for nice gaming club locations.

A store at working hours and shared space between customers and players, not too good of an idea. I don't play at gaming stores for that reason - noise, bumping into people, pressure to buy. No, thanks.

You could even run a profitable store in location A and pay for a hobby-space in location B. They don't have to be in the same locations.



In the end so long as the two are compatible you can do it. You might have to make some accommodations to ensure that things are good for both sides.
Eg if you run a store selling knitting supplies chances are your average customer doesn't want to hear shrieks of "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD" every few moments.

Meanwhile your gamers might be happy for some food during the games if its a bar, but they might also want tables a good way away from the food itself. It's one thing to have a snack but no one wants greasy hands from a burger all over their models, terrain and table.



Of course one reason many store+gamer locations end up running a game store is simple - you've got a bunch of captive customers engaging in your site so you might as well profit from them. So even if you ran a store that was entirely different chances are you'd end up picking up dice and other gaming accessories. Even if you don't go all the way t osomething like a GW stockist, you will likely end up providing things for the gamers because they will ask for them.

Of course if its a side-business then chances are you can be more focused on stocking what you want; eg niche games or titles that might not sell fast but which you want to promote and support locally etc.

I suppose ultimately OP's question boils down to

How to financially support a gaming space for people who want to play for free...?

And at that point there's really no reason to couple it with a business. You can simply pay rent for a gaming space out of your wage from whereever. It's the same thing as siphoning money from your business so people who aren't customers can play.

Played in a casino in Sydney, Australia. My local meet up was in a pub where we played once a week for years.

You know, after I posted this, restaurant was another thing that popped into my head as a place to run. I was thinking hardware store because gaming tables/terrain usually use a lot of hardware supplies.
There might be some food safety issues depending on the hours of gaming vs hours of food, and even in good times I hear that most restaurants usually go out of business so you'd have to be quite dedicated to it and have good success to have your restaurant remain open and successful.
There is one gaming cafe I can think of in my general area, I've been there a few times, they do seem like they mostly have card games and board games (like catan and the like) available.
I would say that most of my "tabletop gaming" experience has been in "gaming stores" and things like MTG, Pokemon, and 40k dominated the space, and sure there'd be other stuff, usually in smaller quantity, but it would be harder to find time/space for smaller games.

My local area we started playing at a Art Store. We attracted so many eyeballs and interest that eventually they started selling minis and did miniature painting workshops.

I have also played in dedicated Art Museums, a Bakery, Coffee shop, and spare rooms in bank, government buildings, libraries, and Student Unions.

Many of the most successful game stores I have seen also have dedicated food and beverage as a big part of their business plan. This includes a couple places having a full-scale Take-out delivery business as part of the store business model.

I've played in breweries plenty of times. Cafe's and the like are great venues. The challenge is less about whether people are willing to play there, as much as what value the players bring to the business. Does the business want people taking up that much space gaming?

Game wherever you can.

In general a game store is going to be the most convenient and most economical place to game. Anyplace that serves food (so they have a financial incentive to host you) and has available weeknight game space is a close second.

Community spaces that have an interest in hosting community events for free or low cost are a third (Rec Centers, Park Districts, libraries, schools, churches) option.

Beyond that, unless the owner has a thing for gaming, you're looking for unused space that you can negotiate a low rate for.

I've almost always played at FLGS's or folks homes, but I've gamed at restaurants, and a friend of mine would host gaming at community centers and libraries.

General if somewhat discouraging advice?

If you think you’ve found a gap in the market, always stop and have a think why that gap exists. And accept a valid, and entirely possible, answer is “because it’s a bad idea that can’t be made to work”.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m categorically not saying this is the case here. But do be honest with yourself.

If it’s just for gaming space? See if there’s a community centre or public hall you can hire out. That’s how most UK Gaming Clubs manage, using Church Halls, Scout Huts, Community Centres etc. Membership fees cover the hire costs.

I would game there. At least, if there's the right kind of crowd and everything. But I think that dedicating space to gaming is something that brings a fair bit of cost (you need the space, facilities, and everything) but, especially if you don't sell gaming stuff or the like, After all, gaming space is a loss leader. For gaming stores it somewhat works because they tend to sell to these customers, but for other kinds of businesses it's much harder to justify. Especially because lots of people aren't going to be paying for the table (which would be next to nothing compared to your costs for that space anyways).

Restaurants and bars sometimes work, but the market for gaming space while eating isn't that big, and for general eating you are competing with other restaurants that don't have the extra expenses of your gaming tables and the issues of the kinds of people that might attract. I for one don't want to be taking iut my fiancée anywhere where you have unwashed shouting nerds, to put it very bluntly.

So before you start making any investments, I'd make a very good business plan to see how the two different elements combine to form a solid business. And as an aside, I'd be very careful about not having the most popular games supported. They're usually the moneymakers too.

I had a whole group going at a non-GW affliated store once. well. more of a recreation centre really. We got banned.

Back in my Star Wars CCG days, we reserved a party room at a pizza place and held a tournament there. We also hosted a tournament in the student lounge at Louisiana Tech, which we reserved. We had 20 or so people attend.

Good times.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
General if somewhat discouraging advice?

If you think you’ve found a gap in the market, always stop and have a think why that gap exists. And accept a valid, and entirely possible, answer is “because it’s a bad idea that can’t be made to work”.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m categorically not saying this is the case here. But do be honest with yourself.

If it’s just for gaming space? See if there’s a community centre or public hall you can hire out. That’s how most UK Gaming Clubs manage, using Church Halls, Scout Huts, Community Centres etc. Membership fees cover the hire costs.

Always..... always make a business plan. I have run the number so many times, and I have found a way to make it work. Just to break even takes a lot of effort.

The best way to make $50K as a game store is to start with $1M.

A local FLGS owner told me running a game store was a great way to make a small fortune... out of a large one.

 Vulcan wrote:
A local FLGS owner told me running a game store was a great way to make a small fortune... out of a large one.

Exactly!

I could never make the math work in a way to make any money and do much more than survive. However, it could make a great tax avoidance strategy! Talk to your lawyer and accountant for actual advice on the matter.

Hmm yeah, I mean I currently work as an engineer, but sometimes I think about starting my own business. As a kid I wanted to run a game store, but I know it would be financially terrible. So I am thinking a little bit about how running a different kind of store might still allow for a small gaming space because I'm just kinda selfish like that.
I'm glad to see that so many people have played in many different stores/places.

 Easy E wrote:

 Vulcan wrote:
A local FLGS owner told me running a game store was a great way to make a small fortune... out of a large one.

Exactly!

I could never make the math work in a way to make any money and do much more than survive. However, it could make a great tax avoidance strategy! Talk to your lawyer and accountant for actual advice on the matter.

Is one of those Lawyers a Criminal Defense Attorney?

My only issue is playing somewhere where you don't spend money.

There is a local comic /card shop that has tables set up, but there's nothing there I want to buy.

I guess I could buy more dice, but I feel bad just taking up space during the day.

 Vulcan wrote:
A local FLGS owner told me running a game store was a great way to make a small fortune... out of a large one.

Same with running a video game studio!

There were a couple of videos going round social media a few months back from a group of gamers who had bought a disused wedding venue (in the US) and turned it into a gaming space. I was wondering how they funded it an discovered one of them had "won $10m on a $30 scratcher"... (EDIT: Guildhouse in Silicon Valley)

 Easy E wrote:
Always..... always make a business plan. I have run the number so many times, and I have found a way to make it work. Just to break even takes a lot of effort.

I wrote out a business plan for a gaming space pre-Covid - then I'd have needed to either sell models or food and be very lucky with attendance to break-even; and post Covid a lot of local gamers now have a table at home. I still look at the plan and potential properties every so often but it's not happening any time soon!

 Quixote wrote:
My only issue is playing somewhere where you don't spend money.

There is a local comic /card shop that has tables set up, but there's nothing there I want to buy.

I guess I could buy more dice, but I feel bad just taking up space during the day.

I sort of feel that way, but in the past I've special ordered things from FLGS's where I play if they don't carry what I want (and they rarely do). Not alot, just enough to let the owner know that I appreciate the space and want to spend a bit of $ there.

I don't even play at my local shop but I like to buy stuff there because at least it keeps the shop open and I'd rather have a local shop open and available.

 Quixote wrote:
My only issue is playing somewhere where you don't spend money.

There is a local comic /card shop that has tables set up, but there's nothing there I want to buy.

I guess I could buy more dice, but I feel bad just taking up space during the day.

Ask them if they can special order stuff you do want?

 Quixote wrote:
My only issue is playing somewhere where you don't spend money.

There is a local comic /card shop that has tables set up, but there's nothing there I want to buy.

I guess I could buy more dice, but I feel bad just taking up space during the day.

Remember if the store doesn't sell what you want; and if they can't get it in then you're not obliged to pay for things you don't want.
Also if you game with people who are customers and who are spending then you're still providing value to the store. Their paying customer is getting games and social interaction with you which is a value to them; so they hang around and hte store keeps getting their money.

The only issues with this come if the store has a lot of gamers who aren't buying and at that point its actually on the store to address that issue.


IF they aren't paying because the store doesn't stock anything they want; its 100% on the store to find out what the customers want and see if they can provide it. Or provide alternatives (food/drinks); or even start charging for game time and such.



Basically its good as a user of facilities to want to support those facilities and help with their upkeep so that they keep being facilities provided for your use. However don't feel compelled to make purchases on things you don't want etc.... Part of running a store is also making money and so there is an element of responsibility for that on the store staff too.