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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dan'L" data-source="post: 5250240" data-attributes="member: 68954">Long winded post warning!:Check out this Vancouver store:<a href="http://drexollgames.com/" target="_blank">Board Games, Chess Sets, Backgammon, Clay Poker Chips, Vancouver Canada, Drexoll Games, Coquitlam</a>Their Vancouver store is set up for retail in the front and game play in the back.  They sell a small amount of snacks, but I'd suppose that most of their income is from games sales.  Even so, I think that they show a nice understanding of how to balance a retail business against providing a "hang out" space.They sell board games, card games, "euro" games, RPGs, Heroclix, etc.  (see the site to get a full idea of their catalog) and they manage to do  this in a relatively small retail area.  I'd guess that their play area square footage is at least equal to their retail area.Their play area has about four or five restaurant booth style tables set up.What seems to be working for them (from this outsider's POV):- They have a supply of open, "store copy" games so that many games can be play-tested before purchase, if one has the time and inclination.- They have a list of ten "guaranteed fun" games which carry fully refundable returns on open copies; they tailor these choices for their locations based on their top-sellers.- One night a week they host a night of game playing after the registers are shut down.- They host weekend events to showcase specific game systems, host CCG tourneys/leagues, etc.Some take away suggestions I pick up from my experiences in this store (all of which they did very well):- clear delineation of space use is important, but don't make it so separated that once customers are in the "play" area they don't feel like they can easily jump back to your "buy" area to plunk down more $$.- make sure your staff is knowledgeable about the games you carry, friendly and willing to give feedback.  But also make sure that you and your staff are solicitous of and attentive to the feedback offered by the customers on what they did or did not like about their game play experiences.- make sure your staff have a clearly defined time of when they can play v. when they are running the store/register.Some words of caution:I think this works well for them because their income primarily comes from sales of games.  When people are hanging out and playing, they are investing in excitement for your game product which can lead to more sales.  When people are hanging out and eating, they are filling up, which can lead to not wanting to buy more of your food product while still taking space away from other potential paying customers.I would recommend making sure that your income stream can survive turning over your table spaces at a rate lower than a typical restaurant.Hope this helps!-Dan'L</blockquote>

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