Getting into the retail gaming business

[Drawmack]

I suppose those detector gates cost an arm and a leg, out of rach of a FLGS. Anyone know of lower cost alternatives?

Buy one of those nifty new counters that's got glass show casses built into it. Put hight theft items there so people have to ask for them. Sure if you're busy someone might still walk off with something but you'll know who did and remember them next time they walk in.

Keep the cards (at least the singles worth money) behind the couner in binders. Goto tigerdirect.com and buy a cheap refurb laptop. Set up a database of your instock cards on that and have that where people can access it. you may need a couple of computers eventually but 1 is enough to start.

''Paid'' Security. Have a policy of payment. Someone informs you of a thief (before, during or after) and you reward them. Maybe 10% of slavaged product price in store credit. After all 10% is better then 100% and you'd be surprised how many people would sell out a friend for 10%. I wouldn't advertise this just tell a couple of kids once you get to know who you can trust.

Mirror ceiling tiles and ceiling bubbles. you throw up some of these babies stick a sign by the registered that says ''Premisses May Be Monitored by Closed Circuit Television''. Every thief in town will be convinced you use video survalience. (Just don't let anyone - even employees - know that these are decoys.)

Edge Mirrors on the walls and aisles. Strtegically place these bad boys and you can watch the whole store from behind your register.

Register placement. Put the register right by the front door, not in the back or the middle of the store. Make sure that thief has to walk right past you when he leaves with your stuff in his pocket and make it policy to greet every one and wish them off. You'll be able to pick out most of the thiefs.

Warn them how much you hate thiefs. Hang up signs proporting your hatred of thiefs and your abilities to legally prosecute them.

You don't have to do all of these but a good mixture of them can be cost effective and work wonders on shrinkage.

 

[Ulrick]

Mirror ceiling tiles and ceiling bubbles. you throw up some of these babies stick a sign by the registered that says ''Premisses May Be Monitored by Closed Circuit Television''. Every thief in town will be convinced you use video survalience. (Just don't let anyone - even employees - know that these are decoys.)

Or you can take this a step further and actually have video survellience.



Hey...its what my FLGS does. It's worked too.

 

[WayneLigon]

Warn them how much you hate thiefs. Hang up signs proporting your hatred of thiefs and your abilities to legally prosecute them.

Too bad they've outlawed the crow cage.

Next time I'm there, I'll ask him what areas he sees shrinkage in and pass along those ideas. The register is right at the door, and the cards are all behind the counter right now.

 

[Glacialis]

The guy's been for all intents and purposes a manager at a WotC retail store for quite some time, and was at Babbage's as well. He has lots of retail experience...good or bad, you decide . As for accounting/finance-handling, I don't know. He's managed to save $$$, so I'm assuming he's pretty good at it. The GAMA mentoring program someone spoke of is an excellent idea, and I sincerely hope it's implemented well. I've forwarded the link to this thread and the GAMA link as well to him.

He's the the best business sense of all our friends, and while that's not saying much in a gamer crowd he does have the instincts. Business, not hobby. An enjoyable business, but he's taking this very seriously.

 

[Golandrinel]

I once helped run a gaming stall in our local market. Although there was a steady trickle of income, it was never going to make us rich. Strangely thieves were a problem and we lost a lot of stock (mainly minatures) that way.

My advice: Don't get into any sort of retail, there is no money in it. If he can't resist I'd say do it all on ebay, that way you keep absolute control over evrything with out having to rent shop space.

[edited poor spelling ... again]

 

[tf360]

From my twelve years of working with small businesses, the most common mistake made by new business owners is undercapitalization. It's really just a fancy term for lack of working capital. Having a large wad of cash is a good thing, since it takes several years to build a solid business. Credit is also essential. Cash flow is never a constant, it fluctuates constantly, so if the business experiences a slow patch, it can rely on credit to maintain its inventory and meet expenses without having to purchase such items C.O.D. Most novices go into business thinking that once they purchase their inventory and pay some of the upfront costs, i.e. lease on the retail space, fixtures, employees, renovations, etc. that all they have to do is count their money and live off the profit. The person soon finds out their initial investment dries up, and they are unable to keep the business afloat.

Location is also key, but it doesn't compensate for poor business sense or lack of customer service. Two comic book/trading card businesses situated right near the local schools went out of the business in the past two years, largely because the owners priced themselves out of the market by charging tremendous markup's on the CCG's that they sold. Once Pokeman and Magic, their two big cash cows died down, they promptly went out of the business. This definitely proves that the business requires some diversification, i.e. sell more than just d20 and D & D material as well as maintain competitive pricing. Other gaming systems, such as Warhammer and wargaming also help. The one major local FLGS sells a lot of products on ebay, since ebay provides a guaranteed sale rather than having a product, especially a marginally popular one, sit on the shelf for months at a time. My advice is that the person running the business has to have enough working capital to meet the upfront costs as well as another 18-36 months of capital to absorb any losses attributable to the business. It also helps if you have a two-income household so long as the other income earner is not contributing to the business. Just a few of my personal insights.

 

[Glyfair]

I suppose those detector gates cost an arm and a leg, out of rach of a FLGS. Anyone know of lower cost alternatives?

Drawmack has some reasonable suggestions, but has missed the most important way to reduce theft. That is to use good customer service.

Be out on the floor as much as possible. Greet everyone who comes in the store. Walk up to them and ask if you can help them. Engage them in conversation (If they're looking at the Creature Collection, ask them if they have seen the Tome of Horrors, for example).

When you show interest in someone who is just in to steal or someone who might be thinking about stealing, they'll usually go somewhere where they aren't being watched.

You also get a side advantage in that good customer service is important, even if you have zero theft problems. As a side note, never bash a companies products. You never know when you might be talking to a fan of theirs. You can make a negative comment, but couch in terms that make it clear that it's an opinion that might be differed with ("Personally, I don't really like the system.")

Also, never be in the store alone. Always try to have someone up front while someone is one the floor. You don't want to be too vulnerable to being divertable away from where the theft is taking place.

Third of all, make sure you have a clear view of the front of the store through windows. Admittedly, it may never become important. However, a lot of major incidences leave warning signs you can see just by looking out the window (waiting cars, empty shopping carts sitting around, suspicious people loitering for no apparent reason).

Glyfair of Glamis

 

[Drawmack]

I forgot something else too, put teeth behind your warnings. If you ever catch someone stealing you go for the throat.

a $20 product for a $300 fine most won't try it if they know you're serious.

BTW: good customer service would not have stopped me in my stupider days. We'd have used that against them as distraction. Get them into a conversation about stuff while others walk off with kitty to be devided up later. X employees just means x+1 thiefs as well.

 

[Glacialis]

Excellent responses, one and all! I wonder if we couldn't put something up somewhere about retail gaming since I've been told it's quite the common topic.

 

[Greybar]

I have a friend who has been struggling to try to set up a shop. Here's a (mostly positive) piece of advice that kept him going when all of the paperwork/money mess looked like too much:

(paraphrased)
"You're young. If it doesn't work, you can start over. But if you don't try you will always wonder if you could have made it work."

John