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<blockquote data-quote="FitzTheRuke" data-source="post: 7957268" data-attributes="member: 59816">Thanks for making me feel better about the future of my store! (Sorry for the unnecessary sarcasm). <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue&nbsp; &nbsp; :p"&nbsp; data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> On a brighter note, my particular FLGS had a record year in 2019 with highest sales in the 27 years I've been in business. It was actually the only year in the 27 that I didn't worry about it's future prospects. (We've always done well, aside from the late '90's, where I had a 2nd job, but I always worry anyway.)...Obviously this event has been far worse than anything I ever worried about - but at least I'm not alone!Yeah, my store doesn't rely on MTG at all, I mean, we sell it of course, but it's just one aspect. I think I might sell more $ worth of 5e hardcovers in a year, but I'd have to double-check that. At any rate, with Board Games at an all-time high, and D&amp;D, Pathfinder, WizKids minis, and Warhammer, we do well (when we are not forced by pandemics to be closed). Games is only a third of my store, Comics is two-thirds, and what we've lost in slumping new comics sales, we've been making up in increased back-issue sales.Across the WORLD, my friend.One thing I've already noticed, and who knows how long this will last, is an increased desire to &quot;support local&quot;. Our biggest competitor is AMAZON, really (undercut us vastly on D&amp;D books and Graphic Novels), but even now a lot of customers who may have normally ordered online are placing orders with us out of a sense of community. This social change might end up being the thing that saves us.Of course, a big push to digital will take some of that away, too, and I think that's pretty inevitable. Who knows what the future holds. All I know is that I will never give up. I like my store!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="FitzTheRuke, post: 7957268, member: 59816"] Thanks for making me feel better about the future of my store! (Sorry for the unnecessary sarcasm). :p On a brighter note, my particular FLGS had a record year in 2019 with highest sales in the 27 years I've been in business. It was actually the [I]only[/I] year in the 27 that I didn't worry about it's future prospects. (We've always done well, aside from the late '90's, where I had a 2nd job, but I always worry anyway.) ...Obviously this event has been far worse than anything I ever worried about - but at least I'm not alone! Yeah, my store doesn't rely on MTG at all, I mean, we sell it of course, but it's just one aspect. I think I might sell more $ worth of 5e hardcovers in a year, but I'd have to double-check that. At any rate, with Board Games at an all-time high, and D&D, Pathfinder, WizKids minis, and Warhammer, we do well (when we are not forced by pandemics to be closed). Games is only a third of my store, Comics is two-thirds, and what we've lost in slumping new comics sales, we've been making up in increased back-issue sales. Across the WORLD, my friend. One thing I've already noticed, and who knows how long this will last, is an increased desire to "support local". Our biggest competitor is AMAZON, really (undercut us vastly on D&D books and Graphic Novels), but even now a lot of customers who may have normally ordered online are placing orders with us out of a sense of community. This social change might end up being the thing that saves us. Of course, a big push to digital will take some of that away, too, and I think that's pretty inevitable. Who knows what the future holds. All I know is that I will never give up. I like my store! [/QUOTE]

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