There is one store thats been around for decades in the twin cities. It's the Source and it does it by catering to many fandoms. Comics, board games, war games, minis, TTRPG, Managa, Anime, etc...
I love the Source. It is a local institution at this point. Its nice that it has an actively used Play Space, but to be frank, it isn't that great of a play space.
Probably the best in the Twin Cities area is Gamezenter (previously Fantasy Flight Games Center). It had been my main FLGS until I recently moved out of the Twin Cities. I think they've been struggling a bit and have been playing around with different pricing models over the past few years. I think before Admodee bought Fantasy Flight, the store and play area may have been a bit of a loss leader to push Fantasy Flight products and events. After Asmodee bought Fantasy Flight, Christian Petersen kept/bought the game center and made it into a stand-along FLGS.
The Fantasy Flight Game Center had the largest play space of any FLGS I've seen. They also had a great kitchen with good, though expensive food. They had an awesome community game library where you could borrow games. They had a good product selection (but not nearly as large as The Source).
Soon after it was spun off from Fantasy Flight/Admodee, they downgraded the menu to just your basic burgers, hotdogs, pizza, and fries. Gone were the poutine, teriyaki bowls, soups, daily specials, etc.
Then they started by adding private play space and improving and separating the wargame table area. Then they had a membership program that had discounts on room rentals, you could reserve tables at no cost in the main game space, discounts on the kitchen, and on game purchases.
Then they implemented $5 fee for whole-day store access to use a table, with the ability to reserve tables ahead of time. I think members would get a number of free reservations or something. I was out of the country a lot and had end my membership.
The last time I went there, they had closed the kitchen and were allowing you to bring in your own food and drinks. They also had end the pay to play in the store. So you could play at a table in the main area for free. You still had to reserve and pay for the private rooms but they seemed cheaper (though I may be misremembering).
Gamezenter is a great FLGS, but I worry how sustainable it is. I don't know how they can support such a huge gaming space simply through their retail sales. I find it hard to believe it is profitable.
In Milwaukee, where I live now, I think the best examples of a FLGS with great in-store play experiences that seem to do well is The Sanctum. Beyond the Board is also a cool store with an interesting business model. This is already a long post so I won't go into the details. If you are interested you can r
ead my thoughts on Beyond the Board here, and
The Sanctum here.
The only other shops beyond strip mall closets, are ones that feature play space and food. In these shops its clear they want folks hanging out doing their thang. The retail shop is barely adequate, but the space and invitation of it is welcoming.
You are correct, the future FLGS needs to either diversify product, or they need to build a community.
