1. This is where good social media advertising comes in. Its dollar for dollar much better then any other kind of advertising for this sort of thing. And it would grossly reduce your reliance on foot traffic from people who just happen to be passing by and see your shop.
2. Part of the cramped problem is that the stores are full of crap that no one buys. Instead of trying to have a bunch of rare 3pp stuff and and indy games like most shops focusing on a smaller number of more popular, higher volume sales items would give you more money and space. Offer a good catalog that people can browse and order stuff to the store if they want.
The old style of game store has been dying for a while. It will be completely dead soon. The only real question is whether daring business owners and entrepreneurs will be willing to break the old mold and build a new kind of store that can survive. A store that revolves around being a shared space to play and the social aspects of the game rather then revolves around being the place that you go to buy books.
