Gamers, I need input!

[Saeviomagy]

1. Play needs to be free (personally I'm willing to pay a nominal amount, but there will be at least one cheapskate in every group, and noone is going to pay for him).
2. Play needs to have all the comforts of home (easy parking, decent heating/cooling, wifi, power sockets, a big clean table and good lighting)
3. Snacks need to be as close as the average kitchen is to the average dining table, and buying them needs to be quick and easy. Vending machines that take notes would be fine, and if you want to aim higher, I think table service (or those remote buzzer things) is necessary.
4. Clean loos. Nothing says "I'm not coming back ever" like dirty dunnies.
5. Locker rental. It's nice not to have to truck everything for a game each week.
6. Clean attentive staff who aren't going to disrupt my game by jawing with the players while we're trying to play.

 

[sev]

Traditional board games & chess sets, open so people can just drop in and play. Little tables for two- and four- person games. My favorite coffee shops in college were the ones that always had a chess game or scrabble game going, and half the time I'd go and sip my overpriced latte and watch people play. That vibe is more familiar to non-RPGers & can help bring in people who might not be drawn to a traditional gaming store.

Accessibility: I love my FLGS, but I can't send anybody with mobility issues there, because the store itself is up a small flight of stairs, and their gaming area is up yet another flight, this time a narrow spiral staircase. Other stores I've been in have been crammed full with too-narrow aisles, also difficult to navigate for the not-as-able-bodied.

 

[haakon1]

We reviewed the "no alcohol" issue, but . . . I think a gaming pub might be a workable idea, depending on local laws.

There's an Irish-style pub near me (in Washington State) that has two-person tables marked with chess/checker boards (I've also seen this at local Starbucks), and has a Chivas Regal bag hanging down from each with chess pieces. I've enjoyed beer + food + chess there more than once.

The key elements to a gamer pub would be:
-- European themed (Irish or English, most likely), because it fits medieval fantasy, and pubs that are public houses -- not just noisy bars for drunks

-- No TV -- again, make it a pub, not a bar

-- No music -- for if there has to be music, make it soft and make it "trad" (Irish folk music), not something distracting from a pub atmosphere. And perhaps live music once a week, if there are musicians that fit the vibe you want (in Seattle, there are).

-- You need truly good beer, as in microbrews & imports, not just Bud or Bud Light. They have a better profit margin, fit the theme, and class up the place.

-- Separate areas for pub (food + drinks) and gaming (food & bev rules determined by local law for an area where kids are allowed, plus your discretion on whether you want drinking age plus gamers, or underage ones -- whose parents won't let them play if others are drinking, even if it's legal, most likely)

Would this attract enough customers to make a go of it? I think it might, if it were in an area with a high gamer population, and people who like pubs.

Some pub food for thought:
1) Dave Arneson, co-creator of D&D, by lore had the first scene of the first ever adventure of what became D&D take place in a pub where the original PC's all meet, modeled in his mind on the now defunct Comeback Inn, in suburban Chicago. The Comeback Inn had a medieval German theme, and was decorated with shields with heraldry, etc., in a Tudor-style building.

2) For the campaign I'm currently running, two of the three original players meet me for a long lunch at a local Irish pub's large booth, and we created characters over lunch and beer and snacks, in about two hours.

3) When I used to live within walking distance of another Irish pub, it was fairly traditional for all of us to head down to the pub after gaming. But then I moved, we all got married, etc. So never again, I suppose.

 

[Kodiak3D]

I'm loving the suggestions, everyone. Very helpful stuff.

The lockers is a great idea. I had the same thought yesterday at one of my local stores when I watched one of the guys packing up with Heroclix in a huge satchel. I turned to my buddy and just said, "Rental lockers...we need rental lockers."

 

[hutchback]

Check this place out:
The Haunted Game Cafe | game store and coffeehouse

I have never been there, but their marketing is spot on.

As mentioned before you need to decide before hand which service will be your revenue stream. Either be a gameshop that uses snacks/public play to drive game sales or a cafe that uses games/public play to drive food sales. Personally I think the latter would be more profitable as the margins on food are much higher.

Here is my wishlist for the cafe-centric model:
It has to be clean, Clean, CLEAN. Put your feet up??? No thanks.

Keep a library of tabletop games for people to play for free (and of course copies for them to buy as well).

Staff should do nothing but serve the customers, no playing or hanging out while on the clock. They should also be dressed neatly and easily identifiable as staff.

Hold lots of events. Ladies night, Couples night, Learn a game night, Teach your kids to play night, etc.

I like the idea of selling gaming periodicals.

Love the locker idea.

Keep a very narrow selection of gaming materials for sale. Maybe focus on 2 or three systems, some euro-games and gameaids and accesories.

Have a copy of the core books for the systems you support available for people to reference for when they play. Maybe even have a collection of mini's available to rent for instore use.

As mentioned before, free wi-fi is a must.

Avoid the obscure gaming material. It is obscure for a reason.

Just some thoughts.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Magazines can be a pain in the posterior. I worked in a bookstore for four years and we had magazines for a year. People love to read them, not buy them. They don't mind bending the pages so nobody else will buy them. Then you get to return them every month. It is a lot of work and not always profitable.

 

[Mallus]

I'll echo what people have already said: free wifi, keep the snack offerings simple, no booze (and I *heart* booze), make the space clean and as welcoming as possible. Consider allowing people to bring in outside food/have take-out delivered to the store. People like convenience, but dislike being made captive audiences (this falls under 'be welcoming').

Also, the best advice I have is 'be prepared to lose money for a long time' (actually, my best advice is 'be independently wealthy and do this as a hobby'). Small business take time to grow.

 

[guivre]

What games do you think are the most important to carry right now?

The store bit isn't as important to me. I can and do buy online. I wouldn't rely on retail gaming sales.

Don't rely on people to drop in and play. Make a schedule. Warmachine/Hordes is huge right now, have a league night and regular tournaments. Encounters for 4E for sure. Board game night, etc. Leagues will get you a core group coming in every week.

If the gaming area can be configureable all the better. Make sure you have tables to support minis games, or tables that can switch back and forth.

Be prepared to run demo games for mundanes. When you have space available keep an easy to teach, fun to play, interesting board game set up. A 2x2 demo table for games like Warmchine, Malifaux, Firestorm Armada would be a great bonus.

Make sure your employees are competent to run 15 minute demos for a variety of systems, make sure they're friendly.

 

[SquareKnot]

I was going to mention the Haunted Game Cafe, but Hutchback beat me to it. I've actually been there (I live a few miles away), DMed games, played board games with my son, and talked to the owner, Gary, at length about his business. It's a nice place. The board game library is a big success. He doesn't have open gaming, but does do Encounters and ran the Dark Sun adventure from Free RPG Day. While I would hesitate to take my wife to a "traditional" comic & games type store (and she'd hesitate to go...), she's been excited to go to the Haunted Game for a date night of fruit smoothies and a board game.

Two interesting things the owner told me were:

It's trending toward becoming more and more a cafe, rather than a game store. That wasn't his original plan, just how it's working out.

He wouldn't be profitable without Magic. The card flippers keep the place afloat.

 

[Raven Crowking]

There is a lot of good advice on this thread already. Here's my $.02, for what it's worth (probably about $.01):

Important things to sell include minis (random packs, singles), tile maps, battlemaps, etc. Paper, graph paper, hex paper, pens, pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers, dice. The stuff someone discovers they need while playing, but forgot to bring.

Keep an eye out for great GMs in your area. Invest in getting them to run demos and open campaigns in your store. Even a modest discount goes a long way towards this sort of goodwill. Be ready to help these folks advertise their games through store flyers or board postings. These folks will draw others to your store via word of mouth.

Jump on organized play and tournaments with modest fees. 50% to 75% of the fees to enter go toward prizes; the rest towards costs. Consider classic game tournaments, such as chess. Consider sending flyers to local schools, colleges, and universities about these tournaments.

Make a newsletter (available via email/pdf or printed cheaply) with upcoming events, upcoming game listings, looking for players/GM listings, and events in your sponsored games. This will not only make players in your sponsored games feel good ("Look! It mentions we got past the Black Door in Gary's game!") but it makes others interested in joining your sponsored games ("That description of last week's D&D Encounters sure seems cool!").

A return on your investment isn't instantaneous. Most businesses fail within the first year. Even breaking even is a big deal. You need to make sure that you have the financial backing to be in for the long haul. It is better to wait and plan longer, save more, and get a better location than it is to jump in and fail. But it is also important to jump in -- planning forever for a store that never exists is a heartbreaker.

Speaking of location, parking is important, but walk-by traffic is even more important.

Devise means and policies for dealing with shoplifting and prank phone calls. Speak with your local police department to determine exactly what you may do in these regards. For the same manner, consider the possibility of break-ins. When I co-owned Golden City Comics, we used a combination of bars and the fact that you could see the cash register had no cash drawer in it after hours. Every storefront in the neighbourhood but ours was broken into at some point while we were open. Make yourself a less attractive target.

Clearly delineate who is responsible for what before starting. It will save you some angst later. Even though you are "the boss" prepare to work harder -- much harder -- than you would at a 9 to 5 job. After all, your hard work should generate direct returns. Even if those returns are not immediately apparent.

Try to start generating interest in your storefront as soon as you have a spot selected. Do not wait until the doors open to advertise. OTOH, spend your advertising dollars wisely. Find businesses that have a natural crossover with yours, where those owners also want to draw and keep the same group of customers in the neighbourhood. Movie theatres, for example, or video stores. And cross-promote.

Finally, open in Toronto. As close as you can to the Ossington subway station.


RC