Looking for advice on starting a store & initial inventory

[Jd Smith1]

The best way to make a small fortune in the FLGS business is to start with a large fortune.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

What country are you in? That makes a difference.
Gary Ray has done ok for himself: https://www.amazon.com/Friendly-Local-Game-Store-Middle-Class/dp/0981884075

I sold my store in 2006, so my info is old old old. Just remember - inventory on your shelves doesn't feed your family - CASH IS KING. Get your turns to 3, or 4 if you can. And if you don't know what that means, don't spend a dime on inventory yet...

 

[Eyes of Nine]

There’s an excellent series on RPGnet about running a store. I don’t know that it addresses this point, but it gives lots of good advice.

Business of Gaming Retail Column Listing - RPGnet

Lloyd Brown's a good one, smart guy, I remember him from the various proto-social networks game retailers were in back in the day (does anyone remember delphi forums? Ah, memories...)

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

in 45 years of gaming and living/shopping across America, I've never seen a gameshop charge keystone. I imagine I haven't because it's an excellent way to drive off customers.

 

[thirdkingdom]

in 45 years of gaming and living/shopping across America, I've never seen a gameshop charge keystone. I imagine I haven't because it's an excellent way to drive off customers.

I wouldn't ordinarily suggest charging keystone for product in a normal circumstance, but I could see doing it in the OP's situation, especially if they brought in a bunch of indie zines and similar that a) are harder to get and b) have a lower price point.

 

[Elvish Lore]

No idea what your post is supposed to mean.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

in 45 years of gaming and living/shopping across America, I've never seen a gameshop charge keystone. I imagine I haven't because it's an excellent way to drive off customers.

What do you mean when you say "keystone"?

 

[thirdkingdom]

What do you mean when you say "keystone"?

Keystone is when a retailer marks up products 100% instead of using the MSRP. For an FLGS (I'm not familiar with other retailers) we typically pay around 55-60% of a product's msrp, so the profit on each sale is around 40-45%. Keystone prices are marked up 100%, so the retailer gets 50% of the sale price. This isn't true for all distributors; I just set up an account with the Arcane Library to start carrying Shadowdark, and their discount is 50%, which is very generous. There are a couple of other publishers who do this (usually if you buy direct from small indie publishers); a lot of the zines I carry that I get direct from the publisher are sold at 50% of MSRP.

 

[Marc Radle]

In addition to working through distributors, you can also reach out to companies directly

Kobold Press has a Retailer Resources page: https://koboldpress.com/distributors/ with lots of great info

You can also sign up for the Kobold Press Retailer Newsletter there as well

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Keystone is when a retailer marks up products 100% instead of using the MSRP. For an FLGS (I'm not familiar with other retailers) we typically pay around 55-60% of a product's msrp, so the profit on each sale is around 40-45%. Keystone prices are marked up 100%, so the retailer gets 50% of the sale price. This isn't true for all distributors; I just set up an account with the Arcane Library to start carrying Shadowdark, and their discount is 50%, which is very generous. There are a couple of other publishers who do this (usually if you buy direct from small indie publishers); a lot of the zines I carry that I get direct from the publisher are sold at 50% of MSRP.

RIght. But that isn't the entire story of your margins, though - as it doesn't include the recent (vast) increase in shipping costs. If you're somewhere where you can't just drive over to a distributor, or you're getting stuff shipped direct from publishers, you tend to pay a lot in shipping.

Sometimes a little mark-up from MSRP helps with that. It's not something that is good to do on something like D&D books - nor on anything that has a high MSRP. But it's often good to do on cheaper accessories, where the price still looks like something reasonable after you've marked it up.