Advice on Opening a Game Store

[PatrickLawinger]

ArthurQ,
With all respect to the many wonderful denizens of the ENWorld boards, this is NOT the place to look for advice about starting a game store or any other business.

If your friend is serious, he/she needs to do TONS of research and have a solid business plan. There are people involved with GAMA and a few other places that do know a great deal and can be helpful when trying to set up a gaming/hobby/comic book store. Even those organizations that do give this advice can't tell you what location to choose, or exactly what people in that area are really going to want.

Opening a store as a "nice way to make a few extra dollars" is one of the best ways to lose a great deal of money.

Owning and operating a store of any type is extremely time consuming and requires fantastic organizational skills.

The best advice I can give is for your friend to spend a lot of time researching every aspect of the business they are thinking about getting into. Examine profit margins, likely sales, possible locations, numbers and spacing of competitors, loyalty of customers to competitors, etc. It requires a large capital expenditure to set up a new store, for most this requires obtaining a small business loan. Such loans are not easy to obtain.

Wow, that was smart. I just said don't listen to advice on this board and then gave advice, maybe I should have done that the other way around...

Patrick
Edit, and after I submit the reply I see that someone gave you some real advice right above me.. hehe

 

[GoldenEagle]

Najo and Piratecat both have great advice. Pay particular attention to capitaliation issues and the business plan. The more comprehensive the plan the start you can have. I would also suggest the classes at the small business administration. They can help with great information and, in some cases, help with small business loans.

Tell your friend to keep in mind that almost all small businesses that fail do so due to undercapitalization. There are grants available for businesses owned by women.

Lastly, I would be happy to look over a well though out business plan to give some guidance when you get to that point. (If you have questions about my background I would be happy to answer them, just email me.)

GE

 

[d20Dwarf]

ArthurQ,
With all respect to the many wonderful denizens of the ENWorld boards, this is NOT the place to look for advice about starting a game store or any other business.

If your friend is serious, he/she needs to do TONS of research and have a solid business plan. There are people involved with GAMA and a few other places that do know a great deal and can be helpful when trying to set up a gaming/hobby/comic book store. Even those organizations that do give this advice can't tell you what location to choose, or exactly what people in that area are really going to want.

The best advice I can give is for your friend to spend a lot of time researching every aspect of the business they are thinking about getting into. Examine profit margins, likely sales, possible locations, numbers and spacing of competitors, loyalty of customers to competitors, etc. It requires a large capital expenditure to set up a new store, for most this requires obtaining a small business loan. Such loans are not easy to obtain.

Yes, run from this thread as fast as you can go, prospective store owner! Run ye and get real advice from real businessmen. GAMA, GPA, and the retailer forums at Delphi are where you should be.

Run!

 

[GoldenEagle]

Yes, run from this thread as fast as you can go, prospective store owner! Run ye and get real advice from real businessmen. GAMA, GPA, and the retailer forums at Delphi are where you should be.

Run!

Believe it or not, there are many "real" businessmen right here at EN-World. some of us are even willing to help. The places listed above are excellent resources and should be utilized, but that does not mean that you may get some direction here as well.

GE

 

[BrooklynKnight]

See, i ask on this board because:

A: Gamers post here.
B: Store owners post here.
C. She'll get directed to locations mentioned like GAMA and so forth. Enworld is valuable for all these reasons, and is a good a place as any to ask advice. ^_^

Thank you Najo, i'm she'll find your entry particularly usefull.

 

[d20Dwarf]

Believe it or not, there are many "real" businessmen right here at EN-World. some of us are even willing to help. The places listed above are excellent resources and should be utilized, but that does not mean that you may get some direction here as well.

GE

Lots of "sensitive" ones too!

 

[GoldenEagle]

Lots of "sensitive" ones too!

Sorry. I didn't mean for that last post to come across so short. I am sensitive to the fact that people should be encouraged to open small businesses. Small business is the largest employer in the country. I also know that there are many professionals on this board that have been very open and helpful, and I enjoy seeing and adding to the helpful atmosphere I have seen here. But I didn't mean to be short. I just wanted to encourage people to continue asking for help, and like Arthur said, this is a good starting point.

GE

 

[d20Dwarf]

Sorry. I didn't mean for that last post to come across so short. I am sensitive to the fact that people should be encouraged to open small businesses. Small business is the largest employer in the country. I also know that there are many professionals on this board that have been very open and helpful, and I enjoy seeing and adding to the helpful atmosphere I have seen here. But I didn't mean to be short. I just wanted to encourage people to continue asking for help, and like Arthur said, this is a good starting point.

GE

True enough, but there's also the idea of wading through all the crap to get to the real advice. There are much better sources of information, but that doesn't mean there isn't good advice to be found here. I just think she's much better off focusing her efforts to learn with people that are directly involved in the game industry (which is as different as every other industry on the planet).

 

[thalmin]

Try to establish good relations with at least 2 distributors that carry the full range of what she plans to carry in the store. Place most of the orders with one, to get a better volume discount, and use the second to reduce problems with distributor out-of-stocks.

 

[Cbas10]

Another thing to consider is the possibility of other game stores in the area. Too many such stores in an area is no good for anyone involved on the business side. However, if there are other stores in the area, check them out. Some stores are in business only because there is no competition; others are there because they really are top-notch places. There is a huge difference, and sometimes it can be easier to get a store off the ground by taking customers from a crappy store than it is to start from a non-existent customer base.

As has been mentioned, online discount retailers are beginning to kill the local hobby stores. When running a game store, you really need to find an edge over buying products online; you certainly cannot compete when many online retailers are selling products for LESS than a store owner can buy the same products from their distributors. Find some way to really go out of your way to say "thank you" to the customers who buy from you. As has been stated, listening to the customers and doing what they want you to do is essential. For example, order products more often than once every week or two; ESPECIALLY if you have someone special-ordering something or if there are multiple people wnating a new product you ran out of. So what if you have to eat an extra 30 bucks for shipping; you WILL lose MORE than that if you keep telling people that it'll be in "next Friday" or "next time I make an order."

Pay attention to local trends more than the national trade magazines. People talk so much about certain d20 publishers around here on these boards. In some regions, certain d20 publishers do marvelously. At our shop, the VAST majority of non-WotC products rarely move off the shelf. Similarly, AEG's Warlord CCG never really gave Magic anything to worry about if you only look at the national publications and sales. However, at our place, Warlord was the number one brand of any type of game/product throughout the ENTIRE store for a year straight; even now, Magic:the Gathering is struggling to sell again.

Finally, be absolutely vigilant against theft. More than many other types of businesses, your customers are prone to steal from you. It only takes a couple of hits a month to really dent your bottom line; especially if you sell metal minis or are foolish enough to not keep card games within glass cabinets/counters. Award store credit to some of your regular customers who discover people stealing. When people see you cracking down on the freakin morons and turning around to buy a couple of pizzas for one of the groups that plays and buys at your shop, they'll realize that you mean business AND appreciate them for being there.