Starting an FLGS

[Son_of_Thunder]

Hope this helps!

Hello,

I seriously considered for a while there opening up a gaming store. I even came up with a pretty good plan.

So here goes:

As has been stated, keep your place clean. It’s going to be unavoidable to have smelly unwashed gamers but have ventilation, maybe some candle warmers and good lighting.

Service. Can’t emphasize this enough. I can’t tell you how many times I walked through the LGS and not have the person supposedly running the joint even look at me once. Be friendly, give the buyer a minute or two to look then approach and ask if there is anything specific they want. Get to know the regulars, unless they are bottom feeding scum, then boot them out.

Knowledge of product. Make sure you stay up to date on various product. Ask friends or well known associates to run demos. Keep in stock what sells but don’t be afraid to special order.

Is this store strictly hobby games or will it include family friendly games? If it will have family friendly games, have a family game night such as chess or apples to apples or catch phrase or abalone etc. Keep away the suggestive posters, paintings and such. As has been said, a parent will not want to see those elements (most parents I should say).

Speaking of nights, have a collectible card game night every Thursday say, and a D&D night every Tuesday. Have an ever-changing genre night. You might think of having a ladies night for the gamer that has a lady in their life, and most do. The ladies can come in and earn a 10% discount for presents for their husbands, brothers, sons etc. or even for themselves.

Be prepared to handle undesirable people. Don’t be afraid to ask someone to leave, particularly the above mentioned unclean. Go to the following site:

http://www.actsofgord.com/

Lots of good stories there. He deals with a video game store but his experiences are priceless.

As for other product. Sure, sell the D&D comics from Kenzer and other comics, tasteful anime, dice (goes without saying), and the more popular TCG’s.

How much room do you have? Maybe a bank of networked computers. Definitely tables for mini, card, and role-playing games. Think about limiting the playing time to slots of various hours, like at cons. But when the doors close for the night play with your buds till the wee hours of the morning.

Presentation. Learn where the eye level of your various age groups are. When I worked in a grocery store we put the popular and higher priced stuff at eye level (easy to grab and look through). Which brings up another thought. Will you have perusable copies of game product? Will you keep a lot of stuff bagged?

That’s it for now,

Good Luck

Son of Thunder

P.S. Oh yea, seriously think about an online presence; web site, pre-order page etc.

 

[thalmin]

I do run a gaming store, we've been at it for about 22 years. Some things no one has covered yet:

Try to use several distributors. You get more variety of products, and you are less at the mercy of their individual restocking cycles.
Look for distributors that are close. We are lucky enough to have 3 that deliver our orders the next day. With next-day delivery, you don't need to stock most products very deep.
Place orders every week with each distributor. You could order from one on monday, on wednesday order from your second distributor reordering what the first was unable to fill.

Start with the games you are passionate about, but don't exclude games you personally don't like. If your cutomers want you to carry fantasy, but you only like historicals, listen to your customers.

Contact GAMA, the Game Manufacturers Association. They have a retailer division designed to help new stores (and retail membership is only about $60 per year) and attend the GAMA trade show in Las Vegas next march. Seminars and roundtables, plus a chance to meet many manufacturers and distributors, all for the cost of membership.

Good luck, I'll toss in more later.

 

[Dogbrain]

Capital--you will need more than you think you will need.

 

[kenobi65]

I go to Curt's / Thalmin's store a lot (like, every two weeks or so). A few of the things that they do that keep me coming back.

- A frequent buyer's discount card. You spend $100 at Games Plus over a 6-month period, you get a $10 gift certificate. Games can be expensive, and that incentive often is what pushes me over the edge to buy one more supplement (knowing that I'm basicially getting it for free.) I know that Curt has two full filing drawers full of 3x5 cards for this, so it must be working OK.

- Host demonstrations and game days. A lot of game companies have local people who do demos, and many also do some sort of organized play. Let those demo folks / ambassadors / gurus / whatever they're called know that you welcome them. Host HeroClix tournaments, Magic tournaments, Warhammer tournaments, RPGA game days, etc. That can help get the players in your door; once they're there, there's a good likelihood that they'll buy something. (Though, do make sure that you've got stuff in stock to support what's being demoed / played -- give the players the opportunity to buy while the urge is still strong.)

- Do special orders. You may not carry every game that's out there, but if someone comes in looking for something you don't have on the shelf, do what you can to get it in. I know that, the few times (really, very few; Games Plus has an amazing selection) I haven't found what I wanted, Curt could order it within a day or two, and have it in my hands within a week.

- As Random User pointed out, board games like Settlers of Catan, etc. may also prove to sell well for you. I know Games Plus has a big section of them.

 

[rushlight]

A little over a year ago I watched a friend open a game store. It was his dream, ever since we were in high school. I spent many nights there, and I had the misfortune to watch it all fall apart.

My friend had his heart in the right place, and he worked very hard. Unfortunatly, heart and work aren't enough.

From my experiences and observations I can tell you some things:

1) Have enough money. If you think you do, the double what you've got. You'll spend that and more LONG before you ever break even. You should be able to keep the store running for at least a year without a single penny of profit. That means utilities, rent, employees (if any) and most important: restocking.

My friend was counting on revenue coming in to be able to restock. Revenue is a slow trickle - especially at first. He couldn't restock fast enough, so he lost sales. Lost sales meant less revenue - and less restocking. That's a death spiral.

2) Keep the store a business first. Run it like one. Many people open a game store because they like games, and they think it will be fun to run a game store. Make money and play games! If you want to play games, then play. If you want to make money, then you'll have to work. Long hours. Inventory. Stocking. Balancing the books. Cleaning. More cleaning. Outside cleaning. If you want to win at the business of games, then you can't play the games (at least not at first!) My warning to you is this: If you want to run a game store because it will be "fun" then you've already made your first (and most likely last) mistake.

3) Don't be too focused, but don't stock everything that the distributer will ship to you. Herein lies the skill of truly making the store run. Know what your customers buy and stock lots of it - but don't waste money and space on things they won't buy. The first year will be hardest, since you won't truly know what they want - but use your instinct. Keep careful track of what sells - keep records of everything. Learn what goes at a discount, what goes at full price - and what doesn't go, even if you try to give it away. It sounds obvious, but it's more difficult than you'd think.

I don't want it to sound like opening your store will be a bad thing - I just think you should go in with your eyes open. I'm sure that if you've put thought and care into your store it will be a rewarding, if time-consuming, experience. With luck, you might even make some money along the way.

 

[Stormfalcon]

You probably should look into this thread to see what customers like and dislike about various stores, weeding out the debate over prices, certain retailers, etc. You'll probably get an idea of what attracts and keeps customers and what'll drive them away (and you definitely want to keep your customers, at least the ones that aren't scummy).

 

[Kalendraf]

A couple of points: the community we live in, which has, we believe, a serviceable gaming population, currently boasts no such business... an important point, I feel, since it seems risky enough expecting it to support one such store, much less two. Some local market research is certainly forthcoming. Furthermore, the city is of a population of merely 30-some-odd-thousand, with a nearby (50 miles) community of nearly 50-thousand (also without an FLGS), and numerous smaller towns in an otherwise very rural area.

Perhaps more importantly than the size of the city is its composition. Not all cities of a given size are created equal. Here are some things that seem likely to affect game store success.

1) College or University - If one is located in your city, that's a major plus. It means your city will probably have an influx of young adults while school is in session, and a portion of those are likely to be interested in gaming.

2) Technology or information companies - You may be surprised how many gamers work at these types of places. These folks typically have substantial incomes as well. The bad thing is, they may well be web-savvy online purchasers. If they exist in your town, you need to find creative ways to attract them to your shop and keep them coming back.

3) Lack of other recreation opportunities - If your city features a lot of recreational activities, you may find it hard to attract gamers. Why bother gaming when you can go to the beach, skiing, etc. Only you can answer this. In general, coastal cities might not be the best place to set up shop, but a midwestern city might be ok. From your listed info, you might be in luck, if you are indeed from Kansas.

4) Religion aspect - Some cities feature a much more religious population than others. Extremely religious ones may be anti-D&D, while others may be better for gaming. I'm sure every gaming store has to deal with some degree of religious wackos out there, but you probably don't want to deal with constant pressure, picketers, etc. I doubt any town is really that backwards anymore, but I could be wrong.

5) Transportation/location - Location is everything to a business. But close to it is transportation. A lot of potential gamers could be kids without cars. If your shop is easy to reach for anyone (public transit, good bike paths, etc) that will help. Trying to get a location within easy walking distance of a popular mall, video arcade, and so forth will help your chances.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

3) Lack of other recreation opportunities - If your city features a lot of recreational activities, you may find it hard to attract gamers. Why bother gaming when you can go to the beach, skiing, etc. Only you can answer this. In general, coastal cities might not be the best place to set up shop, but a midwestern city might be ok. From your listed info, you might be in luck, if you are indeed from Kansas.

I hear you,...in Miami there's so much to do people often don't want to use their noodle. And some even prefer to damage it on a nightly basis!!

 

[greymist]

Perhaps more importantly than the size of the city is its composition.

Kalendraf hit the nail on the head.

The most important thing you should do before deciding what games to carry, what location to rent, what distributors to use...is to find out if there is any demand for a games store! Market research is your friend!

Find the gamers in your town and survey them...where do they buy their gaming stuff now, and would they be interested in patronizing a FLGS, will they pay more than what Amazon charges (you will likely not get the same discount!), would they want to play RPGs in the store, would they be willing to rent table space, will they want to play board games or card games...etc.

Once you have an idea of the demand, then you can make an educated decision as to whether the financial risk is warranted.

As Rushlight said, you have to operate as a business, not a hobby.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

I hope you find the answers you need.

From personal experience living at my FLGS and studying the nyc market (which has far less gamers then you'd think).

The majority of your revanue will never come from RPG Books. It will come from CCG Games and such. Additionally, you can pull in a TON of revenue if you split your store into an Internet Gaming Cafe.

Kings Games in brooklyn NYC survives because they provide a place to play console games, and have a whole slew of computers devoted to PC Gaming and Net Access.

With these as your primary money generators, you'll be able to also provide products for the traditional pen and paper gamers.

If you go this route however, let me warn you.

Do not alienate the Pen and Paper Gamers. You'll have to provide areas for Card Tournaments and such, but do your best to keep the Pen and Paper gamers comfortable. They might generate the least amount of capital, but they will also be the group that cares about you the most. And I belive its the group you want to cater to in the first place.