Starting an FLGS

I'm looking for a little advice. A friend and I are considering starting up a small business devoted to gaming. The do's and don't's of establishing a small business, as it turns out, are readily available and in abundant supply. The specifics of establishing a workable FLGS, however, are not so easily located.

A couple of points: the community we live in, which has, we believe, a serviceable gaming population, currently boasts no such business... an important point, I feel, since it seems risky enough expecting it to support one such store, much less two. Some local market research is certainly forthcoming. Furthermore, the city is of a population of merely 30-some-odd-thousand, with a nearby (50 miles) community of nearly 50-thousand (also without an FLGS), and numerous smaller towns in an otherwise very rural area.

The only competition for gaming products would be the local book-music-video franchise, which boasts a fairly small selection and sells nearly everything at full price.

The specific advice I seek is actually of a more speculative nature. Firstly, any advice geared toward actually operating such a business would be greatly appreciated, particularly from those with experience. Secondly, we are uncertain how to go about contacting and selecting potential distributors... some basic websearching has yielded a few such wholesalers, but I could really use some advice in making the appropriate selection. (Any contacts could really be useful, of course....)

I am also attempting to divine what to sell along with gaming products. I've noticed that a lot of game stores are also comic stores... does this seem a good approach? Some of my friends are real comic fiends, but they certainly don't know anything about the business of stocking and selling them. I've noted the CCG craze hereabouts... particularly amongst younger children. Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, Harry Potter.... What works? What seems to get attention...? We use to be avid MtG players, but that's as much CCG experience as I've ever really had.

What else might make a good product for generating revenue? Potentially related avenues might include genre-related books and movies, second-hand books, anime, new age references and materials, toys, models, puzzles, hobby supplies and materials, games of all sorts...? Any suggestions are more than welcome.

And finally, what makes a game shop tick? I've witnessed a couple of brief ventures by hopeful locals in the decade or so since I moved to this area. Neither store survived more than a year to two years... but the popular theories concerning their failure typically include poor management. (In at least one of the cases, I witnessed this first-hand.) The great thing about them was, of course, the amount of gaming that went on within their store(s), as well as the number of gamers I met whilst patronizing their establishment(s). In your experience (or even speculation), what services, events and functions make a game/comic/whatever-else store popular?

Any particulary helpful resources (i.e. manuals, references, websites, contacts, etc.) would be mighty well-appreciated as well. It seemed the most diverse and eclectic audience I could hope for, with a substantial knowledge of the industry, or at least the product, could likely be found right here at EN World... so thank you in advance in any interest you may take in providing your valuable insight to this project.

If you really want to cash in on the collectible games crazes you need two things.

1. You must have plenty of space for playing. Hold in-house tournaments (sanctioned if possible). You want all those people that are impulse buyers to be able to see people having fun right there and have the ability to play the game right away.

2. Don't let the place look like Weird Pete's from KotDT. You want a clean place that doesn't smell like walking in will give you lung cancer. Avoid chainmail bikini art whenever possible. If you're looking at younger players (Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh), these are the sorts of things that will make parents balk about taking their kids there or sending their money to be spent there.

Disclaimer: I don't own nor have I ever owned a game store.

Aside from location issues (which is probably covered under the general starting a small business section), there are a couple of things that I have noticed:

- knowledgable or at least friendly staff. This I think is the most important. If you can become a resource for gamers, they will come back. Sure, there is the net now and ways to get info via the web, but there is often something reassuring about having a real human tell you their opinions.

- area for gaming. I like it when I walk into my gaming store and there are people gaming there. Now, I wouldn't advocate putting that gaming area right in front. Honestly, I think it might scare some people new but interested in gaming away... it's just too much at once... I don't want people to misunderstand me. I don't think that your average gamer is scary. However, there are many many different ways to game, and you prejudice the novice when you expose them prematurely to any particular style of gaming. Better to let them explore meeting other gamers when they are ready. Thus, I would put the gaming area towards the back of the store, if possible, or at least not right at the front.

Speaking of which, the gaming area shouldn't be smelly, should be well lit, and hopefully comfortable.

- As to product, you might do a poll to see how many (German) board game players there are in your area. Among my gaming group and a couple others I know, board games are popular. Now, I'm not talking about Monopoly or Life or other staples which many of us grew up with (though selling those might not be a bad idea either, depending on if there is a Toys'r'us etc close by). The top 100 list on rec.games.board is a good list to start with. See if there is a market for a store that will have games like Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico, etc. If there isn't a store around that sells those types of games, you may find people who would be interested in a store sponsored game night where board gamers can meet. One of the local stores around here does that, and charges a $2-3 admission (refunded if you buy merchandise).

As to CCG's, it won't hurt to carry product. As to whether you want to run open gaming for CCG's I'm not sure. Overall I don't think there is a lot of overlap between CCG's and RPG's. Or rather, I think that your average RPGer may or may not have played CCG's, but I think most CCG players haven't played a RPG.

CCG's can be pretty lucrative though. You may find yourself running a CCG store that also has RPGs. On that note, from what I've heard Warhammer stuff sells very well.

I'm not too familiar with comic books. I will note that two closest stores I frequent don't carry comic books though.

Lastly, I want to again note that I don't have any actual experience running a store. I do, however, know someone that did own a store, as well as being good friends with an ex-general manager of a store, as well as knowing many employees in another store fairly well. So take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

Paging thalmin. Paging EN Worlder thalmin...

I've never run a gaming store and I don't personally know anyone that has. I do have some education in entrepreneurship, however.

All the game stores I have seen are gaming stores and something else. It could be comic, hobby, or general (as the book, anime, video rental, ccgs, toy, games, minatures, and comic store I had where I went to school). I don't have any market research but I don't think a pure game store would work. You need a hook to get newbies interested (i.e. kid plays and mother/father wanders in ).

If I were to start a store, I'd aim for a game, genre book, CCG, and collectibles.

Speaking as someone who never has nor ever will probably own a game store here are a few rambling tidbits that I can offer from a similar standpoint of managing a quick printing shop a couple of years back.

Recognize that in your situation your biggest competitors will be the local bookstore and online retailers. Use this against them. Time and the hidden cost of shipping for online orders, the local bookstore has limited selection.

Diversify. Just as you said, comics, RPGs, war-games, oddball board games, possibly anime and video games, collectibles if you have a good knowledge of the field. Don't however diversify too far. Stay a RPG store that also sells the aforementioned things, otherwise the on hand stock may drowned you in debt trying to keep up.

When you don’t have any customers, get some. Sounds common sense, but the main reason businesses fail is because they don’t have enough customers. Advertise on your local radio, in the newspaper, with the local cable TV during sci-fi and cartoon shows. Network with your gaming friends and local hobby clubs in your area. No customers means no game store next year.

If you have a customer, keep him. Whether it is their first visit, or their thirtieth, make an attempt to know their names. Be friendly and helpful, and above all make sure they come back. Listen to their ten minute ramble about their Lv1000 Super Saiyan if it sells a book for you. Repeat customers are where the real profits are.

Host games. Keep your customers coming back into your store as often as you can. When people are playing the games, they will buy the games, as well as supplies. The more they come to your store the more they will buy. Same goes for CCG tournaments, everyone needs to beef up their decks at those.

Shamelessly try to sell something to anybody who comes in the door, no matter who it is. "Hey we just received X in this week that you might be interested in" or "can I help you find some Pokemon cards today"

Get to know your clientele. I'd rather see my friend the FLGS owner stay in business than order from some faceless entity. Also when you know your customers you will know what they buy, helping you order just enough to stay a fraction ahead of your sales.

Order what you know you will sell, +5-10%. Keep popular items in stock, as well as the Item Of The Week, remember if it sits on your shelf, it isn’t making you money!

Don’t trust anybody, even your Mom. Someone will try to rip you off, make it hard for them to really hurt your business. Arrange your stock racks so from your cashier station you can keep an eye on everything. Shoplifters won’t be tempted if they can be seen all the time. Also don’t allow anybody other than yourself access to your safe/bank accounts. One of my favorite FLGS's was killed that way, don’t let it happen to you.

And most of all, enjoy yourself. No job is worth it if you are unsatisfied with it.

There have been some really excellent, in-depth threads on this subject, though not any in the past six months or so - if someone could search them out and post links here, I'm certain there will be a wealth of good advice (along with the requisite people telling you you're nuts posts).

games, clean & separation

My 3 pieces of advice are: 1) stock games of all sorts; 2) keep it clean) and 3) spearate the retail and gaming areas.

I've been in many good game stores. Comics & games seem to go hand-in-hand. The store that has been in my home town through the years is more a comics & anime store and less of a gaming store (at least, less of an RPG store--they seem to have embraced any game that is hot [read: making $$$]). I think it better to focus just on gaming, though.

Games HQ in OKC (which is the best & closest I know to your location) may be one of the best games stores I've been it. It is clean & well-lit with clean bathrooms. No bad smell. It is in a nice, suburban shopping center with other reputable anchor stores. They sell all sorts of games, even mundane types like chess. The large gaming area is a separate space from the retail area. It looks like an actual separate suite. That separation seems ideal since the operations are really separate (I've seen it in other areas). It also seems as if it would be easier to control retail security and shrinkage with the gaming area separated. It also allows for the possibility to close the retail side in later hours when your patronage is less but your gaming is greater. You do not want retail staff distracted by in-store gaming. Plus, you can keep all food & bathrooms on the gaming side to maximize your retail space and minimize those intrusions in your shopping area. A proprietor of a good store in Jacksonville, Florida told me that he loses money on the gaming space; but he provides it as a service to his customers.

Other small bits. Keep clean sight lines to the product. It's okay to stack it to the ceiling, but you want customers to be able to see it. Miniatures are a great example. Those blister packs need to be displayed so the people can see them without having to dig through them.

Store ownership can be great. If you can capitalize purchase of the location through a limited partnership of owners and then lease the property to the store entity, that can be a great tax savings.

You might also be able to write off conventions as business expenses. Not to mention the sweet discounts on your own stuff!

Good luck and keep us posted.

What's the comic book store situation there like? If there's anything less than a full-service shop (with all the big titles, lotsa indie comics, manga, magazines and collectibles) I'd go with a combo comic book/game store. The "pure" game store I go to does excellent business during the holidays but is slow to dead the rest of the year. No one's getting rich off that place. Whereas the local comic shop always has brisk business, since people come in about once a month for their fix. The owner seems to be doing very well.

I know that I've often wished Flying Colors Comics and Games Unlimited would mate and have some mutant offspring where I could do ALL my geek shopping.

Yeah, if your area is fairly barren of gamestores, make sure your store is family-friendly, without any posters or the like that would scare off parents. If you sell RPG products that include stuff like the Book Of Vile Darkness, make sure it's in a corner where it won't go noticed by folks who are offended by such material (like myself; I missed out on the Polyhedron issue with Mecha Crusade entirely because the store had those mags with the Dungeon side exposed, proclaiming "Vile Content Within!" which totally disgusted me and caused me to miss out on what I hear is a great d20 mecha game).

Try and include something at the store to keep the interest of parents while their kids are playing CCGs or whatnot, though I'm not quite certain what would work.......maybe a very visible shelf of kid- and family-oriented movies for sale, or assorted board games, or the like. Don't devote too much stuff to that though, the bulk of the customers would still be children and teens, and adult gamers. As was mentioned, have a few gaming tables near the back of the store, with comfortable chairs (ones that don't make you sore after only an hour or so of gaming). Hold a few occasional CCG tournaments, mindful of the time of day, but don't have constant tournaments going; you want there to usually be a table open for roleplayers or drop-ins that decide to play a game or two while they're around.
If you get some of your CCG tournaments sanctioned, be sure to leave some tournaments unsanctioned and more or less free to play in (I don't visit gamestores where I have to pay $5 just to play in one tournament, with no options for playing in a cheaper or free tournament; it's hard to find people to just play a few games with if they're all constantly playing tournaments for cash). Also, the cash-prize aspect of tournaments often makes them no fun for some folks, because others will just play to win as absolutely as possible and will so throroughly annoy the casual players that they'll drive off those customers. So if you do run CCG tournaments, make sure that at least some of them are free or cheap ($1 per person for instance) to play in, with any meager charge going to the winner as a prize (or at least half of the charge, since you may want to be making at least a little money off the gaming tables being used a lot).

Keep the place clean and well-lit, but not blindingly so, and make sure the layout leaves plenty of room for people to stand around watching games while others pass through. As for merchandise, I think selling RPGs, CCGs, and miniatures stuff (maybe a bit of Warhammer and such as well as regular minis for roleplayers) would be good, and also sell a few related magazines like Dragon, Dungeon, Inquest Gamer, and such. Also sell a few boardgames like others have said, stuff like Settlers of Cataan and Risk. Maybe sell some MageKnight, HeroClix, and MechWarrior: Dark Ages stuff, as well (I hear HeroClix is fairly popular currently). If you carry miniatures wargaming stuff, it might be good to sell some basic accessories for that hobby, like miniatures painting stuff and miniatures terrain stuff, and perhaps host a weekly miniatures night to encourage those folks to come in and play, as it can draw in more players to the hobby if they see there's actually an interest.

I don't know if you should sell any anime or the like, but if you do, be mindful of what I said at the beginning (make sure anything that could offend parents or gentlemen is not in plain sight). If you sell comic books, be mindful that it's best to carry a good and consistent selection from two or three publishers; people don't like missing several issues of their favorite series just because the store doesn't carry that comic book every month, they'd rather just know the store doesn't have that particular series and to go out of town to get it. Keep a decent selection of Marvel and DC comics if you do sell the stuff, and keep a few particular comic books series from another publisher maybe (a few from Image, Dark Horse, or McFarlane perhaps, but be consistent; don't alternate the comics unless you find the current ones aren't selling).