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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spacecrime.com" data-source="post: 987170" data-attributes="member: 753">I've mulled this a fair bit, actually. There's some experiments I'd like to try, but I'd need a store layout that provides more separation of play space from merchandising. We may move next year; if so I'll be looking out for a location that can handle that plan.That said, I think you'd be surprised just how expensive that kind of membership would be. Our play space costs literally hundreds of dollars a month, and it's not nearly as spiffy as I'd want a "Bally's of gaming" to be. To really do it "right", I think you're probably looking at a membership fee of $20 to $30 per month, especially if there's a product discount built into the membership. I could build you a hell of a good gaming club on that kind of fee structure, but here's the problem -- the desire you're expressing in your post is the desire to save money. You're talking about something like Bally's, but I have a sneaking suspicion that what you really want is Sam's Club, which means that I'm skeptical of how many customers like you would flock to a business built around this kind of plan.(Sam's Club is a spiffy business to be in, of course, but warehouse clubs depend on the kind of sales volume that hobby gaming is not going to achieve in my lifetime.)The other element to consider is that even with a monthly fee, it's a bit questionable whether or not the store would be more profitable. I was idly kicking this idea around with my partner earlier, and she reminded me that golf pro shops have been having real trouble losing sales to discounters, so much so that they're becoming a drag on country club finances rather than a source of revenue. A "club with game store" might see similar problems. A $20-30 monthly fee would not be enough to match deep discount prices (my guess is that it would support about a 15% discount), so bargain hunters would still shop elsewhere. Which means that (as is usually the case with small-store discounting) the store just giving up profit on sales it would have gotten anyway.None of this invalidates the idea of a membership-based gaming club.  I just think it should be directed at a different audience, and that customer segmentation is a lot more important to a game store's success than trying to be all things to all people. As DonAdam said, big and little stores provide different services for different kinds of customers (or moods, a very wise observation). I've experimented with a variety of approaches over the years, and I've always made more profit offering premium services at premium prices than by offering discounts. If I do a gaming club in the future, it's going to follow that premium model and try to provide an amazing experience to folks who are willing to pay for it. I think that's a better bet for a small store than trying to appeal to people who want to spend as little money as possible.cheers,</blockquote>

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