How much do FLGS owners make?

[micromaximum]

All of the successful FLGS I've seen were very gamer friendly. The owners set aside plenty of room for people to play games in the store. There was one store I used to frequent every week that rented the space next to them when it become available, converted into nothing but gaming space and they became so popular they ended up opening two more locations in the same city.

Sell snack food and drinks to generate a little extra revenue and keep the store open late, especially on weekends. If your gaming area is large enough you could even set-up a deal with a local pizza delivery place and have them bring small pizzas by late at night to sell to whoever's hungry. I've seen that work out well, it keeps the gamers happy and the pizza place can sell a fair number of pizzas.

If you have enough space set-up one room with a TV and let people watch videos and DVDs. If you have enough money to do it correctly and keep the games fresh you could open a small arcade area or set-up console games people can play for an hourly rate.

Selling comics is another idea. People will come in for the comics or the games and maybe end up spending money on both.

I think the most important thing is to give people a reason to come in frequently and spend as much time in your store as possible. The longer they stay and the more often they come the more money you're going to make. I guess that's kind of the idea behind Barnes & Nobles sitting areas and coffee area.

 

[Barcode]

You also have to be both owner and manager. We've had a couple of FLGS crop up over the years that were opened by gamers who came into some money and always wanted to own a store, but not necessarily do all the work. In both cases, they hired a quasi-manager to do the real work, and the stores both went under in less than a year. The last one had some great open gaming space. Trouble was that many of the young gamers that came to play were worse than Kender when it came to filling their pockets with your stock at every opportunity. Kind of takes the joy out of the business when you start to suspect every customer under the age of 21.

 

[Dirigible]

Insofar as I know, the owner/operator of my Friendly Not-Quite-Local Game Store is the richest Asian in New Zealand (according to the Asia Down Under documentary program). PLus, he's a great guy.

 

[Rel]

IANAFLGSO, but...

If I were wealthy beyond my wildest dreams, I might open a game store. And trust me when I say you'd love to shop there. If I wanted to become wealthy beyond my wildest dreams, I would definately NOT open a game store.

I've always said that if you go into the RPG business to get rich, you're a fool. If you go into the RPG and can make a living, you're a genius.

 

[Carnifex]

As has already been mentioned, stores that sell things other than just games tend to be the more successful and wealth-generating. In my experience, the more successful stores I've come across sell, as well as the rpg's, ccgs and board games, things like comics, action figures, more commercial board games and suchlike, sci fi and fantasy books, etc etc. Limiting yourself to just being a game store seems to be a bad idea.

 

[clark411]

Most FLGS owners become HLGS when you even hint at becoming a FLGS owner yourself (and the H is for Hostile) and this is because if you're talking to him, you probably live in an area he considers his turf, or within about 40 miles, which invariably also is his turf.

This is indicative of two things- first, just because a college town has no FLGS doesn't mean there aren't at least two stores in the vicinity that draws customers from it (unless there are no such stores literally within a 20-35 mile radius and it's off most main highways), and second, the rapid drop from FLGSowner to HLGSowner means that they really hate the idea of losing even a smidge of their business- because well, when you get the "I have kids I have a family to take care of how could you even comprehend the idea of starting a store the next state over that's my market I have kids!" line.. you know that they can't be doing great themselves even without competition

 

[Paragon]

Tree-fiddy

Paragon

 

[Rel]

Tree-fiddy

Paragon

An hour, a week, or a year?

 

[TalonComics]

Heh... Sorry, I had work I had to do before I could post.

I love gaming, comics and related stuff. I certainly don't do this because I want to be rolling in the dough.

Unless you're opening a store in a large metropolitan area I'm of the opinion you can't just open a "game" store. As others have said you need to diversify and carry a mix of things. Comics and some toys work for me. If I were closer to Dallas/Ft. Worth I'd probably try other products as well.

Mr. Spacecrime has pretty much told it like it is for just about all of us who have even a semi-successful store or stores. As a owner/manager, you pretty much live your store 24/7.

You have to love what you do for it to be sucessful. If you're doing it just to pass time until something better comes along you're going to be doomed to fail.

Feel free to ask question!

~Derek

 

[TiQuinn]

Diversify into everything that you can reasonably handle. Comic books (new, silver-age, golden-age), CCGs, sports cards, action figures, RPGs...and be prepared to speak as intelligently as you can on each area. If you can, find someone who has such a business and try to get as much guidance and help from them as possible. I know this sounds counter-intuitive...why would a possible competitor help you?....but the fact is that there are folks who are willing to do this. Be prepared to order loads of product that you expect will sell well...and watch it sit in on your shelves. Be prepared to order only a few of another product, and watch it become the biggest thing since Magic: The Gathering....and then have a helluva time reordering it. Bottom line, unless you approach it as a hobby, and you have another way to feed your family, I wouldn't even try it.

And I have absolutely no idea how the internet and EBay and stuff of that nature plays into the business...and I'm sure it has a major impact nowadays.

Edit: Oh yeah, almost forgot. It's as close to a 24/7 job you'll ever have. No, seriously.