Dragon Snack
First Post
Lot's of good advice here. If some of it is contradictory, it's just the balancing act you have do to make your store successful. It's not a set formula either, I've seen all kinds of different stores that are successful enough to stay in business (which may mean different things to different owners).
How many game stores are there in your local area? It almost seems to need to reach a sort of critical mass...
In Rochester, we have 7 LGSs (within a half hour drive). Yet Buffalo and Syracuse have only two or three. Additionally, Buffalo has had at least 3 fail in the past few years and Syracuse's biggest store recently changed owners.
Why can Rochester support more stores than other cities only an hour away? We have our share of colleges, but so does Buffalo (and Syracuse has at least one huge college). Additionally, Rochester does not have a large military base to draw from, which is normally a big source of customers. My only theory is that enough stores in the area grows the hobby for everyone (and people will search out the stores that they like).
While that may not be something you can do anything about, one thing you can do is to encourage people to demo in your store. While you can do it yourself (as suggested above), you don't want to overextend yourself. Lots of companies have their own demo teams that you can utilize for free. If they don't have a local rep, encourage someone (you trust) to sign up for their team (most give out perks) and help them get started (a little push could net lots of sales down the road for you). I've seen out of production games that still sell because of someone willing to demo it (that part is a catch 22), I've also seen successful (in other areas) games sitting on shelves because nobody is pushing the game at that store.
FWIW, I looked into starting my own store a few years back (decided the margins were too thin with discounting), but went with another business opportunity.
Good luck!
How many game stores are there in your local area? It almost seems to need to reach a sort of critical mass...
In Rochester, we have 7 LGSs (within a half hour drive). Yet Buffalo and Syracuse have only two or three. Additionally, Buffalo has had at least 3 fail in the past few years and Syracuse's biggest store recently changed owners.
Why can Rochester support more stores than other cities only an hour away? We have our share of colleges, but so does Buffalo (and Syracuse has at least one huge college). Additionally, Rochester does not have a large military base to draw from, which is normally a big source of customers. My only theory is that enough stores in the area grows the hobby for everyone (and people will search out the stores that they like).
While that may not be something you can do anything about, one thing you can do is to encourage people to demo in your store. While you can do it yourself (as suggested above), you don't want to overextend yourself. Lots of companies have their own demo teams that you can utilize for free. If they don't have a local rep, encourage someone (you trust) to sign up for their team (most give out perks) and help them get started (a little push could net lots of sales down the road for you). I've seen out of production games that still sell because of someone willing to demo it (that part is a catch 22), I've also seen successful (in other areas) games sitting on shelves because nobody is pushing the game at that store.
FWIW, I looked into starting my own store a few years back (decided the margins were too thin with discounting), but went with another business opportunity.
Good luck!
