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<blockquote data-quote="Stormonu" data-source="post: 6180941" data-attributes="member: 52734">I'm in an area that has about a 46K local population.&nbsp; As long as I've been here (over 30 years),&nbsp; we've never been able to support more than 2-3 local FLGS at the same time.&nbsp; Whenever a 3rd crops up, likely one of the other two's customers start to fall off and within a year one of the three will close its doors.&nbsp; Oddly enough, the longest-lived one was a hole-in-the-wall with about 5 parking spaces and no place to play (until about 2001, and then that was in a local community center on Friday nights).&nbsp; They sold RPGs, CCG's, comics, trains and models.&nbsp; I first went there in about '91, and they folded shop only about 5 years ago when the owner passed away.&nbsp; As cavern-like and messy as their shop was, I don't know how they managed to stay afloat so long - though I expect it was the fact that part of it was their rent was dirt cheap and it was family-run.&nbsp; Their set-up seemed to defy most of the business wisdom I've heard over the years, but they outlasted at least eight other FLGS's in the area.&nbsp; However, in their waning days it was clear that they weren't getting their income from RPGs - after the early 3E boom, thereafter whenever I went in there their RPG stock never seemed to change and I stopped going as they never had any RPG product.&nbsp; After the 3E bust, MtG and Clix games seemed to make up the bulk of their ongoing &quot;gaming&quot; profits.&nbsp; They were surprisingly, one of the few FLGS's in the area that refused to carry GW models after 40K 2nd edition - due to some strange stocking rules GW apparently had.&nbsp; Several other FLGS managed to actually make a tidy profit in the area because they ended up catering specifically due to this, but they'd quickly go out of business when local GW interest would wane.I think, in the end, the successful game stores are those that run them as businesses - not as a way to get cheap hobby supplies for themselves and friends or as a place to hang out with their &quot;friends&quot;.&nbsp; They may not have to be ruthless or overly aggressive in selling their wares, but they have to treat those coming in as customers whom they can offer games and supplies to at reasonable prices.&nbsp; In short, it's a lot of hard work, not an excuse to play games all day.&nbsp; The latter has been the single most damning reason I've seen for every local FLGS that's closed in my area.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Stormonu, post: 6180941, member: 52734"] I'm in an area that has about a 46K local population. As long as I've been here (over 30 years), we've never been able to support more than 2-3 local FLGS at the same time. Whenever a 3rd crops up, likely one of the other two's customers start to fall off and within a year one of the three will close its doors. Oddly enough, the longest-lived one was a hole-in-the-wall with about 5 parking spaces and no place to play (until about 2001, and then that was in a local community center on Friday nights). They sold RPGs, CCG's, comics, trains and models. I first went there in about '91, and they folded shop only about 5 years ago when the owner passed away. As cavern-like and messy as their shop was, I don't know how they managed to stay afloat so long - though I expect it was the fact that part of it was their rent was dirt cheap and it was family-run. Their set-up seemed to defy most of the business wisdom I've heard over the years, but they outlasted at least eight other FLGS's in the area. However, in their waning days it was clear that they weren't getting their income from RPGs - after the early 3E boom, thereafter whenever I went in there their RPG stock never seemed to change and I stopped going as they never had any RPG product. After the 3E bust, MtG and Clix games seemed to make up the bulk of their ongoing "gaming" profits. They were surprisingly, one of the few FLGS's in the area that refused to carry GW models after 40K 2nd edition - due to some strange stocking rules GW apparently had. Several other FLGS managed to actually make a tidy profit in the area because they ended up catering specifically due to this, but they'd quickly go out of business when local GW interest would wane. I think, in the end, the successful game stores are those that run them as businesses - not as a way to get cheap hobby supplies for themselves and friends or as a place to hang out with their "friends". They may not have to be ruthless or overly aggressive in selling their wares, but they have to treat those coming in as customers whom they can offer games and supplies to at reasonable prices. In short, it's a lot of hard work, not an excuse to play games all day. The latter has been the single most damning reason I've seen for every local FLGS that's closed in my area. [/QUOTE]

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