I'm Opening a Game Store this Saturday

[kronovan]

Congtrats wih your new enterprise/adventure!

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I handle the rpg side of the store, and OSR and indie games are my jamb. Here's our current zine spinner rack.
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Love the standees

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I may send you some DMs to pick your brain if that's okay.

Absolutely!

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I ran on plywood over sawhorses for several years at one place I managed, but that location was meant to be temporary (and wound up lasting an extra two and a half years owing to bad planning). Worked well enough though, never had one flip on us. You might want to invest in some gridless, reasonably generic battlemats for them though. Having an eye-catching minis table is a solid draw and encourages players. The ones available these days are much, much nicer than the old Chessex ones we were using, and much easier to clean if there's a spill or something.

Oh yeah! We have a number of playmats and terrain and stuff.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I handle the rpg side of the store, and OSR and indie games are my jamb. Here's our current zine spinner rack.
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awesome. If I didn't live in a different part of the country I'd stop in.

 

[aramis erak]

You have more Indie and Small Press than my FLGS has all RPGs.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

You have more Indie and Small Press than my FLGS has all RPGs.

Same. The major local FLGS has let their RPG stock shrink and shrink for over a decade, and even D&D has been slimming down as 5e sales steadily tail off. A large part of the problem is the way they shifted their layout to banish non-D&D stuff to a single small shelving island in a cramped and rather dark back corner of the store with the wall shelving loaded with board games. You have easily three times the footage allocated to indie/small press games (and probably three times the stock) but your are out where people can see them easily and have clear signage. The local place is torturous to browse through, and they also aren't consistent about putting new releases out on a highlight display - some stuff just goes straight into the muddled shelves right away.

I assume they're chasing sales and board games are hot around here, but I still have to wonder how much better RPG sales could be if treated better. Same goes for minis - it's really nothing but GW and Paizo D&D stuff these days, with a few straggling Reaper Bones things and other leftovers. Only metal figs in the whole shop are a handful of RAFM CoC figs from last century.

 

[thirdkingdom]

I've been really surprised at how well the indie stuff sells. Probably the most popular are the various solo games that have risen in popularity since the pandemic. It helps that we're located just off a pretty "hip" walking mall and get a lot of foot traffic. Plus, with the smaller press games, it's a lot easier to spend 5-20 dollars on something cool that catches your attention as opposed to a 50.00+ D&D book. We've got a bunch of trifold pamphlet games that sell pretty well and are all under 5.00.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I've been really surprised at how well the indie stuff sells.

It's hard to get physical copies without mail ordering, you can't really browse through a book unless you've got it in front of you, and even in 2024 not everyone likes to shop online.

And, as you said, they're often a bargain. That's a Big Deal. I stood in the FLGS the other day and realized there was literally nothing I could buy with $20 outside of CCG packs or dice or some minis packs. Without indies you really don't have impulse purchase offerings, and you really want some of those. In the dim mists of the ancient past (ie the 70s and 80s) you'd stock microgames from Metagaming, Task Force Games, SPI, Flying Buffalo and have some <$5 stuff, but that genre has practically vanished. Small indie stuff is about as close as it gets, and <$20 is pretty much the new <$5 here in 2024.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm going to defend your local FLGS here, even though I expect that there's plenty of things that they could be doing better. (I'm sure the same is true for my store!)

Same. The major local FLGS has let their RPG stock shrink and shrink for over a decade, and even D&D has been slimming down as 5e sales steadily tail off. A large part of the problem is the way they shifted their layout to banish non-D&D stuff to a single small shelving island in a cramped and rather dark back corner of the store with the wall shelving loaded with board games.

Board games really take up a LOT more room than RPGs do, no matter how much one tries to spotlight RPGs.

You have easily three times the footage allocated to indie/small press games (and probably three times the stock) but your are out where people can see them easily and have clear signage. The local place is torturous to browse through, and they also aren't consistent about putting new releases out on a highlight display - some stuff just goes straight into the muddled shelves right away.

Yeah, okay - I have no defense for this. That's just lazy.

I assume they're chasing sales and board games are hot around here, but I still have to wonder how much better RPG sales could be if treated better.

Probably, but if they're any good at their jobs at all, they give more focus/space to things that are making more money.

Same goes for minis - it's really nothing but GW and Paizo D&D stuff these days, with a few straggling Reaper Bones things and other leftovers. Only metal figs in the whole shop are a handful of RAFM CoC figs from last century.

To be fair to them, that's because metal figures are near impossible to get from distributors. You could deal in the aftermarket, but it's hardly a lucrative endeavour. You'd be doing it for the love.