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[G.A. Donis]

I almost posted our location, but didn't want this to come across as spam. We will be located somewhere in the are of Metairie, La. Sunday we looked at a place that appears to be very good for what we need and they should be done remodeling within a month. My wife has actually been working on this for many, many months so the business end is pretty well taken care of. We've done a lot of research, asked and received advice from family and friends that are or were in business for themselves. We've joined GAMA and unfortunately were unable to go to the convention this year, but next year we will definately be attending.

We hadn't planned on charging for the use of a gaming table but do plan on having all the "health" food that gamers love available for a reasonable price. Most likely this won't be a "make money by the fist loads" business, but that's okay. While we are looking to make a profit (it's a business, that's what they do), a love for gaming (and a long time desire to run a game store) is the major motivation.

Does anybody think that having a small "jam box" for background music would be useful. I know that it is a potential noise problem, but this possible location should allow us to seperate the noisy games from everybody else.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Keep them coming.

 

[Whisper72]

Hmmm.. a li'l while ago there was a thread about 'how would you furnish a gaming place if you had 100 million dollars to spend'. While I am sure that your budget is prolly a tad bit lower, but there might still be some useful ideas spawned there to hve a quick look at...

 

[WayneLigon]

Does anybody think that having a small "jam box" for background music would be useful. I know that it is a potential noise problem, but this possible location should allow us to seperate the noisy games from everybody else.

You mean, for background music for the gaming area? I wouldn't see a problem with it. If it's background music for the store area, it depends on what you'd have it loaded with. Generally, I'd consider it a bad idea for the store area.

Have a website, and have a discussion board for your store on it. Gameday Announcements, times for games, the back room schedules, and gamers loking for gamers .. all prime things for a discussion board. Or maybe the hosted forum thing on ENWorld would work for you.

Snack Machine, Soda Machine, working bathrooms that are cleaned very regularly (like, at least twice a day).

I'd suggest looking into a security system of some kind, then never tell anyone you have it until the first miniature-thief tries to walk out with a box of Warhammer orks in his backpack. I have no idea of the expense of such a thing - I assume it's quite pricey.

 

[Hjorimir]

As far as making a whiteboard table: the material you want is called masonite.

If you're going to have a large room for RPGs, I'd suggest some kind of dividers (preferably covered in a cloth material) to cut down on the noise from other games.

We used to game at a shop but stopped because the noise from others was just too disruptive for good role-playing.

 

[Nifft]

Have a website, and have a discussion board for your store on it. Gameday Announcements, times for games, the back room schedules, and gamers loking for gamers .. all prime things for a discussion board. Or maybe the hosted forum thing on ENWorld would work for you.

This is the single best idea for a hosted EN-World forum that I've ever heard.

Morrus, start selling these forum thingies to FLGS ASAP. Money for you (support for EN-World), and new shoppers for them, and a great place for gamers to organize locally.

Genius! -- N

 

[Arnwyn]

Generally, I'd consider it a bad idea for the store area.

Nope, it's a good idea.

<Marketing background on>
Music is usually considered good for the shopping experience, if (no surprise here) done appropriately.

Just as department stores have soft music on in the background, a gaming store can make good use of music to enhance the shopping experience, and better yet - improve sales.

Appropriate music would not be department store musack, of course, but instead be RPG-related - thus soundtracks would be optimal. It should be quiet and in the background (I cannot stress this enough), so that it simply adds a "light atmosphere" to the store.

Music plays to the emotions, and is thus appropriate in the book (and especially RPG) industry - as inspiration and imagination are considered two important aspects of the business, notably for consumers.

Therefore, music is especially useful when consumers are considering a purchase, since it can provide an additional "push" to a buyer that is currently on the fence (e.g. a purchaser looking at an adventure, or even the Conan book, when suddenly the intro to the movie Conan the Barbarian starts playing in the background).

As long as the music is appropriate, you cannot harm the buying experience - you can only enhance it.

 

[Samothdm]

Some Suggestions

First, for a list of things that people hate about their (F)LGS, you might want to check this thread recently posted at RPG.net.

Just a few suggestions based on the game stores I've visited around Southern California, in no particular order:

1) Knowledgeable and non-pedantic staff. Don't be rude to people who purchase games that you don't particularly like. Try to know at least a little bit about all of the games you sell, so that you or someone else on your staff can offer pros and cons about them. This is a huge help, especially to newbie gamers.

2) Clean and semi-well groomed staff. Individuality is fine (green hair, piercings, tattoos, crazy t-shirts or clothes, etc.). Bad odor and unwashed hair is not fine.

3) Greet customers when they come into the store. This should also involve telling your staff that they need to actually get up from the game they're playing (if you even allow them to play during work hours) and offer to help people who come into the store, especially if the customer is not someone they recognize. First impressions are key.

4) Make sure the store is clean: vaccuum the floors, clean the windows, spray some air-freshener once in a while, and dust the merchandise at least once a week. You'll need a good air-flow from fans, windows, or AC if you're going to have people game in the store. You'll also need plenty of air fresheners to get rid of food smell (chips, greasy pizza, take-out, etc.) and also just having a lot of bodies cramped into a small space.

5) Learn who your good customers are. Set up a mailing list and greet them by name. Have a monthly "customer appreciation day" by putting a new game on discount or something like that.

6) Learn which of your customers are experts in particular areas and capitalize on that expertise. If you consistently see one particular customer buying lots of minis, paints, brushes, pin-vices, etc., ask him/her to bring some sample painted minis in. If the paint-jobs are good, ask that person if he/she would be willing to do a short "seminar" on how to paint minis. Give him/her a discount on supplies or maybe just offer a flat fee. You might also offer a display area for people to display their painted minis, and potentially sell them. You could take a small percentage of the final sale as compensation for letting the seller use your display space.

7) The website idea is excellent, as are the forums here on ENWorld. The key is to keep them updated often. Having a website is useless if I check it today only to find out that the last time it was updated was November 2003. Offer discounts for finding the "special code word" on the website. Have profiles of your employees, including lists of favorite games, comics, TV shows, etc. It will give your customers a reason to engage your employees in conversation and get to know each other.

8) DO NOT shrink-wrap your books. Ever.

9) Opt-in e-mail newsletter. Content would include upcoming seminars/game days hosted by the store, new arrivals, staff reviews, and also classifieds for people seeking game groups or OOP games/comics, etc.

10) Organization. I like the idea of having a separate wall for new arrivals, with older stuff organized by company by topic. As someone pointed out, it's also important to think ahead and realize that you'll be moving your "new arrivals" to their regular section pretty quickly and you need to have room to put them.

11) Store you books upright, not flat. Storing the books flat is not only bad for the binding in the long run, but it makes it difficult to take out a book from the bottom of the pile to view.

12) I like the idea of background music. However, be careful with letting your employees bring in their own stuff. You might want to review it first. One of the stores near me plays music sometimes with a multitude of drug and sex references which, while fine for adults, is potentially off-putting for younger gamers and also some people who just don't want to be exposed to those kinds of messages. Film score music for ambience would probably be best.

More as I think of some...

Good luck with the store!

 

[jerichothebard]

8) DO NOT shrink-wrap your books. Ever.

A nice alternative that will please everyone is to use clear poly bags that can be taped closed. That way, you get the protection of the plastic on your merchandise, but customers can still check out the contents, if they are careful.

The FLGS I go to does this. They have only shrink-wrapped one title in my memory (the valar project book). They do spend a fair amount of time bagging and taping, but that is what minimum-wage high school geeks are for.

Some other policies of theirs:

no sales of cards during school hours (to minors) - not packs, not singles. Apparently, they were having a problem with kids ditching school to go to the game store and buy cards.

No trading cards in the store (ever). Want to trade? Go outside. Apparently the owner got complaints from parents of kids who had been "ripped off" on her watch, so she sends them outside to trade. That way, she isn't part of the deal.

All the CCG singles they buy/sell (as opposed to packs) are in boxes behind the counter. They have binders with prints of the cards (either color photocopies or maybe catalog prints from the publisher) available for perusal.

Game demos. Lots of game demos.

10% discount if you pre-order an upcoming title.

Limited amount of used/consignment sales. Keep this to a minimum; your markup isn't nearly as good.

jtb