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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tarek" data-source="post: 391158" data-attributes="member: 6661">Success & Game StoresA good game store, one that intends to stay in business a long time, really needs to diversify and carry family games or mass-market products of some kind.At the game store where I work part-time, we carry boardgames, puzzles, comics (a fair number of the off-beat and independant, primarily), and a large number of party games, card games (of the non-collectable type), and beer & pretzel games.We also have the obligatory Wall of Games Workshop products and the less-common Wall of Collectable Card Games. This is all in addition to the D20 stuff, Gurps, White Wolf, the historical wargames & associated miniatures, the terrain-making equipment, all the Clix games, science-fiction & fantasy novels, etc. Most of the stock is RPG-related, though.Oh, did I mention the four miniatures gaming tables, 14 3x5 gaming tables, and the RPG room?The owner's philosophy is that the business is a business FIRST, and it must appeal to and reassure parents in order to draw customers in. Parents are subtly reassured by the presence of Monopoly and chess sets, not to mention the brightly-lit and clean ambiance.Also, the buyer keeps track of what sells and what doesn't sell; anything which doesn't sell isn't reordered, no matter how much it might be a favorite of a store employee. Most game store owners open a store in order to support their hobby, and buy inventory according to their own taste in games. Very hit-or-miss, and these stores usually go under after a few years.And to forestall customers taking all their business to the Internet, the owner does have a program where if you're a member of one of the local gaming organizations, you can get a 10% discount.It seems to be working; 9 years in business and getting ready to open a new store at a new location.A note on in-store gaming; at best it pays for itself, at worst it detracts from the employees' ability to deal with paying customers. The business supports the in-store games but the in-store games can never support the business. That's one reason that the owner doesn't charge people to play in the store.As for shoplifting, yes, it happens. When we catch someone, we sit them down, call the police, and possibly contact their parents. It's very humiliating for the shoplifter. Some still get away with it, but we do our best to prevent it.Tarek</blockquote>

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