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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MNblockhead" data-source="post: 7720215" data-attributes="member: 6796661">You really have to know the market. In areas with high population densities, people will pay just to have a nice space to play at. But in much of the USA, for example, those who can afford to pay for space and gaming-club membership probably own their own homes or have apartments with enough space to host a game. And for most, it is more convenient and comfortable to play at home. As DM, I don't even like to play at other peoples homes, because lugging all my stuff around is no fun. Gaming stores have to do more to draw people like me in. One the one hand, as a 40-something professional getting back into gaming, I have much more disposable income than I did in high school and college. On the other hand, I am much more busy and much more demanding. I also have lower tolerance for poor service and inconsiderate customers. But community is a powerful draw. I think smart game stores can bring people in with nice playing spaces, good food and beverage options, events, and creating a space to bring gamers and other providers together. I spend a lot of money at my nearby game store. About twice a month I go there with my two sons. Sometimes with one or more of their friends in tow. Sometimes I meet my friends with their kids there. We'll spend $10-20 on food an drink over the 2-3 hours we are there. I almost every other time I'm there, I will buy an expansion to a game or a new game, simply because I'm there and we are ready to play. My gamer friends and I will often go their instead of a bar or our homes. Unless there is a great band playing, most bars and pubs given an awful entertainment return on money spent. I would rather get some beer on tab at the game store where we can actually hear each other talk and play some games (yeah, I sound old, but even in my teens and 20, bars were boring to me if there was no live music). I don't know how well video arcade games would fit into the picture, but many of the other ideas seem sound, especially if you offer club memberships with discounts and priority on table rentals, lockers, merchandise, and services.Offer on-line table reservations. Every table should be numbered.  You reserve the table for specific time slots for a small fee. Offer classes on miniature painting for a fee that includes a miniature and paints. Similar classes can be offered for terrain building. You can also offer classes for cross-over interests. Maybe have a doll-house maker show the tricks of the trade for making miniature furniture. Something many DMs who make their own battlemap terrain would find useful but will also draw people from outside the normal gaming community into the store. Offer discounts for programs like big brothers and big sisters to give mentors another inexpensive option for bringing the kids they are mentoring to—while introducing kids to gaming. Host traditional game nights where people teach old card games and various games from around the world and from history. Again, gamers would like that but it would also draw people from outside the traditional gamer crowd. Have a number of private rooms that can be rented for parties. Have them equipped or offer service to set up for on-line streaming of the games (as others have mentioned above)Rent out complete terrain sets. If the price is right, people would do that. I've seen game stores have terrain that people can use for free, but I think for the right quality and convenience people would pay to have access to great sets that they can't afford or would not want to buy or create themselves for a single session. Host 1 day or 1 week summer "camps" for kids (not sure when we started calling every summer activity for kids in the USA a "camp" but that's the norm now).  I've seen gaming camps offered and a game store that already has kitchen facilities and if it has sections that can blocked off, like large event rooms, could do this for not much more investment and these "camps" can make good money. Other mentioned 3D-printing services and someone above stated that you can just do this at home. Yeah, I guess. But most home printers are slow, need space, and just are not that convenient if you don't enjoy it.  I think people would be willing to select a terrain item or miniature and purchase it to be printed at a game store. Libraries already offer this service as do some traditional copy/print shops. I may make sense for game stores to partner with another company for this. Take a small percentage but have someone else responsible for running and maintaining the equipment. There are many other things that clever shop owners could do to make them not reliant on just moving product.   Of everything listed though, I think the food an alcohol are what will make the money. Everything else is to create community and bring people in. They would also likely make more money selling product as well, because of impulse/convenience purchases.</blockquote>

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