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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gamersrealm" data-source="post: 642078" data-attributes="member: 8462">I'd like to have space for people to play.  I'd like to have things going on all the time and people playing all the time.  I don't want to do it to lose money though.  Most of the gaming stores in this area have some places for people to play.  I'm going to do some market research tomorrow; visiting other stores on Long Island.  I'll have to see how important having tables are for them.Again... what you will find is that MOST of your customers, even your regulars, will NEVER use your game space... less than 10% of them ever will.  However, game space, when properly utilized, can do worlds of good for your bottom line. Wow!  I don't know why, but I had a MUCH higher starting number in mind.  North of $30k.  This really changes the initial startup picture.You can spend quite a bit more... and I would almost recommend doing so.  However, you must remember that all of your initial inventory purchases are based on ASSUMPTIONS of what your customer base will buy, not hard data.  It is better that you only order ONE of any item, and if you sell out, re-order it, than to order two, and be stuck with them.  Remember, product on the wall does NOT equate to money in the bank!  You can make a game store LOOK very full by face-out displays with $15k in inventory.  I would think $20-$25k is a better number, but you will build your inventory levels over the first three years based on what your customers ask for... remember... Special Orders = Data Mining!!! I just can't understand why retailers WOULDN'T want to do special orders.  Seems like basic common sense.  You get an order with no inventory.  I suppose if you get burned alot it will hurt, but if that starts to happen, you can require a 10% or 20% deposit to order some high ticket item (like a Warhammer army or a full Master Maze set).I don't either.  We rarely get burnt on any of them, either.  When we do, we generally do not worry about it... simply put the item on the shelf for sale.  We only require deposits for extremely unique items we would not otherwise stock (50% down), or on exceptionally large orders ($200 plus... 20% down generally).    Granted, even I've screwed up a few special orders in my times... lost them, forgot to order it... I am human, and I kick myself when I do things like that.  However, in most cases, the customer places the order, we get the item, a sale is made, and a customer is happy.  There is no better way to make a new regular customer than to be able to acquire that item they have been searching desperately for.Re: Not Discounting.  Already leaning heavily towards this.  The people that are going to order online, will.Correct.  The fact is that discounting is here to stay.  If you offer 10% off, I can offer 15% off.  Some guy onm the 'net can decide to offer 20% off, and some kid who just inherited thousands can offer 30% off... it is a no-win situation.  The customer who is only interested in price is not your customer, and never will be.  You need to cater to the customers who will appreciate your store for the service, selection, knowledge, and friendliness of the business... not the price point.  Obviously, we are on the Internet while writing this, so I expect to get flamed tremendously now.  Great point.  How long do you normally wait on an in-stock inventory item before putting it into the bin?Hard to say.  It's more of a "play it by ear" thing.  D20 products are arriving faster than rabbits multiply, so I am a lot faster with the Clearance Trigger on those.  Plus, we order less and less of the smaller and newer D20 company products for regular stock... they simply do not sell well enough.  Other items may take 6 months or more... it's more of a shelf-space issue for me than anything else.  If I have nothig else to put in the Dead Item's space, then I do not worry about it... but as soon as I need the shelf/wall space for something better... poof... the Dead Items are Clearanced, Donated, or Trashed.You're the second person today who has been adamant about that.  I hadn't planned on attending (at least not this year) but I think that I'm going to have to revisit that decision.  Perhaps I'll see you there and you'll let me buy you a drink to thank you for all this great info.I was adamant because I met Dave Wallace there, and learned more from him in that one meeting than all my 20 years in this business had taught me.  Further, I am a firm believer that if anyone is SERIOUS about being in business, then the expenditure of airfare and a few hotel room nights should NOT be a major expense, nor a deterrent.  Keep in mind, all the food functions are paid for by the manufacturers, and you can easily walk away from the show with enough freebie product to more than make up for your travel and room costs!I'm going to check that one out.  Thanks.  Since I'm not going to be the full time manager, I'm going to rely heavily on the POS system for trends, hot items, stale inventory, etc.  Things that I'm sure I would know more intuitively if I was in the store all the time.Shoot me an e-mail, at <a href="mailto:Rob@gamersrealm.com">Rob@gamersrealm.com</a>, and I will send you the PDF files of their manual and reference guide for the program. While you willnot have the program to work with, it will give you some good insights into its capabilities.The rest of your points are great too.  I am making sure that I save all this information to use as a reference.  If you don't mind, I'd like to give you a call or shoot you an email if/when more specific questions come up.You can reach me this evening in my Cinnaminson store (856) 829-2900, and when I am not there, I am in my West Windsor store (609) 426-9339.  Feel free to call me at either store, at any time.Where is your store.  Perhaps I could stop by one day if I'm in the area?We get lots of customers that come down from the Long Island area.  Feel free to stop by.  The West Windsor store is just off Exit 8 on the NJ Turnpike... just east of Princeton.2025 Old Trenton RoadWest Windsor, NJ 08550Feel free to keep asking questions!</blockquote>

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