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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Olgar Shiverstone" data-source="post: 629714" data-attributes="member: 5868">Some observations: (not from direct gaming store experience, but from a long time watching general hobby-shops go under, and the fact that my in-laws run a marginally successful specialty retail store).- You have to know what makes you money.  Everything else is essentially a loss leader for your core products.  I haven't visited a game store that lasted that had RPG products as their prime money maker: it was either comics, or CCGs, or miniatures, or general board games.  My other hobby is R/C, and there are few hobby shops that survive on R/C sales alone -- most rely on the plastic model market to justify their inventory of other high end stuff.- You have to balance inventory against likely sales.  A good POS tracking system helps.  To little inventory and you lose sales -- only your most loyal customers are going to wait a week for your to order something, when they camn order it themselves cheaper and have it delivered to their door.  Too much inventory, of course, and all your capital is tied up in inventory that isn't moving.- You need some systems that bring people into the store and make them want to buy -- tougher to do with RPG games that require relatively minimal investment, but tie up a lot of time and space in the store.  Much easier to do with miniature wargamers or CCG'ers.- Service matters.  If your employees are idiots, you're losing a lot of repeat business.- Know when your prime business time of year is.  Stock up for it, then have your fire sale and move that useless merchandise.- Location, Location, Location.  It's got to match your target market.  If three gaming stores have failed in your area, the fourth most likely will too, unless they've all been making the same mistakes.</blockquote>

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