FLGS- Please help me stock it!

[Belen]

Hey all,

I wanted to get suggestions for what you all think would be the best of the 3.5 material for a FLGS to stock. Specifically, I am looking at the following companies:

Green Ronin
Troll Lord Games
Malhavoc Press
Necromancer Games
Fantasy Flight Games
Sword and Sorcery
Mongoose

The FLGS is really trying to recover and add new inventory. They were stuck with an excessive amount of older material when they bought the store and they are slowing getting rid of it. I am looking for a list of the best, most eye-catching and sellable products.

Any suggestions?

Dave

 

[Kanegrundar]

That's a good list, but I would also add:
AEG
Bastion
RPGObjects
Kenzer and Co.

Surely there are others, but I can't think of them right now. I think with those companies, you'll have plenty of movable items on the shelf that will fit a wide variety of tastes.

Kane

 

[spacecrime.com]

Sure, I'll bite.

If I were in that situation, I would stock the WotC 3.5 books, as well as any 3.0 hardback books that haven't been superceded (I'm thinking of Forgotten Realms here). I'd carry "The Sunless Citadel" and "The Forge of Fury" but skip the other 3.0 adventures for now.

That's it. If I hadn't done it already, I'd liquidate any old dead product still on the shelves. Then I'd put my money into the best new D20 frontlist that was coming out, but skip all backlist until I had a sense of what lines my customers are actually going to buy.

cheers,

 

[Belen]

That's a good list, but I would also add:
AEG
Bastion
RPGObjects
Kenzer and Co.

Surely there are others, but I can't think of them right now. I think with those companies, you'll have plenty of movable items on the shelf that will fit a wide variety of tastes.

Kane

I'd love to include more companies than in my initial post, but the fact is, they have a small budget for RPG books and they are literally funding new books off the bundles that they are liquidating, so we cannot carry any of the AEG, Bastion etc until they have more liquidity.

They make a ton of money off CCGs, boardgames and puzzles, but they cannot afford to stock a larger number of RPGs until they sell what they have.

Thus, I really need suggestions for specific 3.5 titles from my original list of companies.

I know that I will have them get Castles and Crusades for instance.

 

[Kanegrundar]

Ok. I misunderstood the question. Here's my picks then (from the companies I know and the products that some shops are having to continually re-order more of):

Green Ronin: The Races of Renown series, Psychic's Handbook, M&M, Freedom City, Crooks!, Foes of Freedom, Annual #1, any of the Mythic Vistas books

Sword and Sorcery Studios: EQ PHB/DMG, Monsters of Norrath, Monsters of Luclin, Al'Kabor's Arcana, any of the zone books, I would also add a few of the Scarred Lands books if there is any sort of a following in your area. I would steer clear of the Gamma World line, however, as they don't seem to be selling well in any of the shops I frequent across Missouri.

Necromancer: Tome of Horrors 1&2, and some of the adventures.

Malhavoc: any of the AU books, Beyond Countless Doorways, Chaositech, Book of Eldritch Might

Fantasy Flight Games:Any of the Horizons line (emphasis on Mechanomorphis and Spellslinger), Dragonstar (the only book out of the line that doesn't seem to sell too well is the Race book), any of their various supplement books from the Legends and Lairs line.

There's my list. Hope that helps.

Kane

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Get recent stuff. Its been said a hundred times on these forums that most product sells during the first three months of its availability. So if you buy any of that old stuff - no matter how good it is - it'll just sit there, like the stuff you're currently getting rid of.

Get the new stuff from those companies.

 

[Mark Plemmons]

If nothing else, be sure to pick up our Goods and Gear: the Ultimate Adventurer's Guide. That seems to be moving very well.

Any of our other recent Kingdoms of Kalamar products should translate easily to other settings, and have pretty good appeal overall. Particularly:

Blood and Shadows: the Dark Elves of Tellene

Friend and Foe: the Gnomes and Kobolds of Tellene

the 3.5 DM Shield

Trove of Treasure Maps

And, of course, he should be stocking the Knights of the Dinner Table magazine (and collections), especially with issue #100 fast approaching.

 

[Henry]

My advice (though I'm not a retailer by any means): Given their situation, I would stock very little at first besides WotC newest products and of course the three core books. At most, Green Ronin and Sword & Sorcery (which includes Malhavoc products). I would almost say to put up color slicks of some of the alternate game lines, and a small reading library of the core books (single copy only) of those lines in a more secure location (like near the counter, or towards the back of the store) to give folks a taste of them.

In other words, deal with what you know will sell at first till the old stuff is gone, and they get a feel for the trends.

How are their distribs on the speed of receiving new releases? One thing that will KILL their RPG section is if they take a month or so to get in new releases, because of the "first 90 day" rule.

 

[3catcircus]

You don't mention much in the way of "non-D&D" d20 products or any non-d20 products - have you considered them?

Don't discount d20 Modern or any of new White Wolf Vampire: The Requiem products - depending upon your audience & demographic, this might make a good profit as well.

Also, don't forget any of the GW stuff (Warhammer, etc.) - the WH40K and Warhammer Fantasy books pretty much guarantee that you'll sell a ton of the mini's - and you can then make a ton off of the paints, brushes, pin vises, epoxies/glues, and all of the products associated with building and painting the mini's in order to play the game.

 

[Henry]

Don't discount d20 Modern or any of new White Wolf Vampire: The Requiem products - depending upon your audience & demographic, this might make a good profit as well.

I agree, think seriously about White Wolf - they've got a strong following, and the fact that the line has just been rebooted means that there is potential sales there.

Knowing BelenUmeria, I seriously doubt he's leaving out d20 Modern.

Also, don't forget any of the GW stuff (Warhammer, etc.) - the WH40K and Warhammer Fantasy books pretty much guarantee that you'll sell a ton of the mini's - and you can then make a ton off of the paints, brushes, pin vises, epoxies/glues, and all of the products associated with building and painting the mini's in order to play the game.

The only problem with Games Workshop is that they have a large number of policies to follow - you have minimum purchases to make with them, you have to use certain displays, etc. I don't know the details, and they're worth checking out if your friends have the room, but they need to know ALL the requirements.