Hobbyists Shouldn't Open Game Stores
jasper
Rotten DM
hobbyist who open hobby needs to roll nat 20 to survive. Nat 19 or nat 20 if the hobby has a huge market (sports etc).
And it IS totally logical I seen lots of single ownerships fail. What are the stats 1 out 5 new small start business will still be in business after 3 years. Of if you not into that hobby you don't notice the FLGS turn into FLY(arn)S and now is sweet shop.
"Hobbyist" in this context is clearly shorthand for "hobbyist who aren't also business oriented"; the entire conversation makes no sense otherwise. I don't think we all need to individually point out that hobbyists can also be businessmen and women. The discussion is about retailers lacking that second skill set.
That puts the conversation into the bucket of "shops that suck are run by people who suck at running shops"
I think there's a separate undercurrent that some of us percieve (not necessarily from this article) that gaming hobbyists suck at everything (like hygiene, common sense, running a business, designing a game, relationships, communication, etc).
Now to the article, I find some other things objectionable:
social media is free?
Ask anybody with a well run social media presence, and you'll see a budget for somebody to do it. Every post needs to be carefully vetted and phrased. You can't let some jack-a-ninny sit at the PC and fire off whatever rant they want under your business's account.
Women control 95% of the money is a made up stat.
I get that game shops tend to deter women. But even video games are largely a male adult dominated industry as in that's where the money is coming from. A game shop shouldn't deter women with crappy presentation and such, but they also aren't in a position to change the entire marketing or appeal of the market to women. As long as the product is appealing to 30 year old men, then that's where the money is, and a game shop is a small cog in that machine.
By all means, do all sorts of things to NOT run a sexist, skeevy, filthy shop. But don't be deluded into thinking you can transform the industry when your product line determines your target demographic, not you. You can influence it some, but the general category is locked into men until the producers change the product. There's only so much influence the gas station clerk has over whether sales of Menthol cigarettes appeal to the minority consumer.
That depends on the shop. Some of the ones I know of game regularly, and in store.
To be fair, it is often in the form of running tournaments or demos, but not all. One guy used to host a game- in which he had a PC- after hours on store premises. Another had a store with a play room- he'd play in there with his group during his break time.
To be fair, it is often in the form of running tournaments or demos, but not all. One guy used to host a game- in which he had a PC- after hours on store premises. Another had a store with a play room- he'd play in there with his group during his break time.
Man in the Funny Hat
Hero
Yep!
Yarn-I-OH is pretty popular with the younger set, who are really digging the new collectible knit kits...
I'm a big Wool: The Gathering player myself...
Dire Bare
Legend
It is of course true that other types of retail stores can suffer from the same problems mentioned in the linked article and in this thread, sucky stores are run by folks with little to no business sense. However, we are hobbyists that shop at hobby stores and are particular concerned with having well-run hobby stores to shop at! So, this perennial conversation makes perfect sense in context.
I have four local gaming stores in my area, two are HobbyTown USA locations that are a locally-owned franchise. All have their strengths and weaknesses in how they run their businesses, all do some things well and somethings poorly . . . . but I find myself increasingly purchasing my gaming materials online, not to save money (although that's nice), but I keep getting irritated by the way these local stores are run.
Too many times I'm left whistling at the counter while an oblivious employee plays a game with a pal, or has a non-work conversation with a pal. Too many times I order something, only to have it never show up, or sold to someone else when it does, or to have my order lost. Too many times do I go looking for a new release only to find bare (or nearly so) shelves. Too many times do I have questions about a product, and the employee knows nothing, refuses to try and find out for me, or worse, trys to sell me on his favorite game rather than what I am asking about.
Online shopping and information retrieval is soooo less stressful. The only reason I still sometimes shop at my local gaming stores is impulse buys and guilt-induced purchases for the one store with a decent play area.
On a lighter note, one of the local stores recently hired a handful of women to run the store/counter. These women are certainly attractive (although I don't think that is why they were hired), but more importantly they seem geeky, knowledgeable, and they offer EXCELLENT customer service. The complete opposite of most of the guys that work at this store. None of these women have left me standing at the counter while they chat or play a game, they are helpful, courteous, and have yet to answer any of my questions with a non-committal grunt of "dunno". Good move on the store owner's part! Spent some money in the store for the first time in a long time.
I have four local gaming stores in my area, two are HobbyTown USA locations that are a locally-owned franchise. All have their strengths and weaknesses in how they run their businesses, all do some things well and somethings poorly . . . . but I find myself increasingly purchasing my gaming materials online, not to save money (although that's nice), but I keep getting irritated by the way these local stores are run.
Too many times I'm left whistling at the counter while an oblivious employee plays a game with a pal, or has a non-work conversation with a pal. Too many times I order something, only to have it never show up, or sold to someone else when it does, or to have my order lost. Too many times do I go looking for a new release only to find bare (or nearly so) shelves. Too many times do I have questions about a product, and the employee knows nothing, refuses to try and find out for me, or worse, trys to sell me on his favorite game rather than what I am asking about.
Online shopping and information retrieval is soooo less stressful. The only reason I still sometimes shop at my local gaming stores is impulse buys and guilt-induced purchases for the one store with a decent play area.
On a lighter note, one of the local stores recently hired a handful of women to run the store/counter. These women are certainly attractive (although I don't think that is why they were hired), but more importantly they seem geeky, knowledgeable, and they offer EXCELLENT customer service. The complete opposite of most of the guys that work at this store. None of these women have left me standing at the counter while they chat or play a game, they are helpful, courteous, and have yet to answer any of my questions with a non-committal grunt of "dunno". Good move on the store owner's part! Spent some money in the store for the first time in a long time.
Mark CMG
Creative Mountain Games
Sure but once you state the obvious, the need for the article is summed up in the title and no longer much of a springboard to conversation.
From the article - "It is very well known that women control 95% of all the wealth in the world."
Now *there's* a conversation starter!
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