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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zaruthustran" data-source="post: 405096" data-attributes="member: 1457">Cool, thanks for the info. If you're trying to attract the college gamer crowd then I have a bit of humble advice. First, college kids are social animals. Instead of one game room in back, I'd design your entire store concept around hanging out. Have as much game space as possible, and consider making the place almost a lounge--a place where gamers can come and hang out. In Seattle we have a bunch of very successful book stores/coffee shops; you could try for a game store/coffee shop. This would mean your store would carry newspapers, magazines (game magazines, including computer game and small-print magazines like Asgard and maybe printed-out copies of that d20 Weekly zine), and have a number of small tables and comfortable couches. You'd have a large selection of novels to browse, but you'd have to be careful about theft and damage to books. You could even look into having movie nights or large-scale game nights (RPGA, social board games, non-collectible card games) or tournaments on the weekends. The stereotypical college gamer isn't exactly awash in invitations to frat parties and other college weekend festivities. Point is, you want lots of traffic.Second, college students are poor. They won't have a lot of money for buying books. Consider a credit card-secured book rental or even loan program (if you don't return it, you buy it--if you decide to buy it, you can deduct the cost of the rental). Watch out for theft, especially of high-cost books and small items like mins. But even poor college students need to eat, and go out and socialize. Make your place a hangout, and they'll be able to spend at least a little money with you.Third, even if you personally dislike CCGs you have to recognize that they make money. You might want to view them as a necesary evil, especially during the summer when the college kids aren't around--but the younger kids are looking for something to do/something to spend money on. Game Studio has a perfect operation going if they've managed to get moms to simply drop off their kids for an entire day.-z</blockquote>

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