What SHOULD FLGS do?

[pogminky]

I've noticed lots of posts with complaints about their FLGS. How about putting together a nice, easy list for store owners stating what we want as consumers?

1) F = Friendly, not monosyllabic grunting and no eye contact. How
about talking to your customers as human beings?

2) Host some clubs/groups/events. Don't just wait for people to come
into your shop to buy stuff - form clubs which meet regularly.

3) Cleanliness is good. I don't want to smell the shop, the owner or
the customers from a block away. Take down the 10 year old
posters of Judge Dredd and clean the windows.

 

[hexgrid]

Have everything I might possibly want to buy in stock.

For me, instant gratification is the only way the LGS can compete with online shopping. If they have to order it- no thanks, I can do that myself.

 

[edveal]

So far I agree with all the suggestions. However, as a regular customer of both FLGS in my area it gets harder and harder to justify paying full MSRP when the big online stores are so much cheaper. There must be some price point that can figured out so that the cost is not as high.

One of the FLGS in my area has many cheap items that he give away to customers that spend X dollars. For example I was allowed to pick any one 3.5 ed book I wanted when I pre-ordered (pre-paid) for my 4E set of PHB, DMG and MM. I frequently get free dice and minis from him when I spend a good bit of money. Some of the dice even have his store logo on them. I have seen him give away packs of cards to folks that spend a great deal on the collectible card games, like Magic.

I guess the bottom line is FLGS need to find a way to provide truly added value. This can come in many different ways. The other FLGS in my area doesn't give anything away but provides this added value by hosting many game events and being a place for gamers to hang out. I don't know how many different starter sets of collectible card games I have bought just to participate in a game night with my son. We don't end up playing the game regularly but it is nice to go and play on the occasions.

 

[breschau]

Have everything I might possibly want to buy in stock.

For me, instant gratification is the only way the LGS can compete with online shopping. If they have to order it- no thanks, I can do that myself.

Unfortunately that's not possible. That would put the FLGS out-of-business faster than you think. Spending thousands of dollars on books that customers might buy is disastrous for small shops. B&N and Borders don't even do that. The profit margin for FLGSs is typically so small that they're only in business because of the sure sellers (D&D, minis, etc) and every book they pick up that doesn't sell brings them closer to closing the doors.

Personally, I want the FLGS to be the hub of game activity in the area. Host the games, host events, let gamers put up want ads, offer decent discounts (my FLGS actually rounds up the prices claiming they don't want to deal with change; but the debit/credit card price is still rounded up), and above all, be friendly.

It's a double-edged sword having gamers as employees. They're more likely to stand around reading the new books than helping customers, but they also know the product.

 

[Mercurius]

A couple things:

1) Have used books, and keep track of what doesn't sell after a year or so and then heavily discount them. A relatively local store in Arvada, CO, Black & Read, has a great used section, but there is very little fluid stock--most of it is the same stuff that has been sitting on the shelves for a year. Why not discount that stuff and clear it out?

And here is the key:

2) Don't only do games. Or rather, don't only do RPGs. Have other kinds of games, scifi/fantasy books, musics, candles, Wiccan paraphernalia, neo-Socialist literature, Alien Abduction Survival Kits, etc...whatever is your gig. I can't imagine a store surviving by only relying upon RPGs.

Also:

3) Discount Wizards of the Coast stuff, perhaps by 20%. I know, the profit margin shrinks but sales go up, and if you have other stuff that you make money off of, it brings people in the store. While 20% doesn't compete with Amazon, it gives people some financial incentive to support their local store.

 

[vagabonvoid]

I ran a LGS in conjunction with my ice cream parlor the year before I sold it. These are things I learned.

1: You must provide a friendly service... And you must be clean and organized. If you are not professional (showing up to work late, wearing a cheetoes stained shirt, etc) you will fail.

2: You must provide a vast amount of services. A gaming store can no longer be a nitch store that just supplies rulebooks and some minis. You must expand to meet the times and compete with the online revolution.
Include RPGs, Minis, TCGs, Comics, Models, Videogames, etc...


3: Include Rulebooks from the easy to find (D&D) to less mainstream rpgs. Include miniatures from mainstream companies such as D&D, warhammer, and reaper, as well as from harder to find minis (such as from Hasslefree or cobblestone minis). Also, include a painting/modeling service.

4th: PreOrder all your stuff from Buy.com (just a joke)

5: Provide an atmosphere that encourages gaming. In addition to the open gaming tables for RPGA and Warhammer competitions, Add a couple of small lounges that group can reserve for gaming. Decorate these with themes that engourage a play style (flagstone wall-paper for dungeons and dragons as an example). By putting in these lounges you can even offer bonus services such as pizza delivery, snack foods, and beverages.

6: Put in a computer/xbox live lounge that for an hourly rate, patrons can play WOW, Halo, Everquest, etc. If you can, include even older systems (I used to have an original nintendo, snes, nintendo 64, and sega genisis in my store up and running).

7: A gaming store must be in the proper place. It needs to be accessible. Recently a LGS in a nearby city moved from their original location on Main street (near a school, university, town college, and surrounded by neighborhoods) to a location in the middle of nowhere. Their business has since dropped dramatically.

 

[Ghaerdon Fain]

I don't want it go the way of the dodo but I agree with the above that have said it needs to be a place to "experience" gaming... all sorts.

Look at Starbucks... coffee? wtf... it's not about coffee it's about atmosphere. Separate areas for table top gamers and an area for PC's/Consoles, it has to be a place to go and stay, not just brows. Also the price has to be at least a bit more competitive. Jack up drinks or munchies, even anime dolls, but let the paper games come down in price. Never will it compete with Amazon but if it's $90 instead of $100 then the $80 from the internets might be slightly less attractive.

 

[Irda Ranger]

The only retail businesses that do really well have a tactile or visual component that cannot be replicated online (shoes, clothes, TV screens, small electronics like phones or cameras, etc.) or economies of scale that are either too small (7-11) or too big (Costco, Wal-Mart) for shipping costs to make sense. RPG books really are right in Amazon's sweet-spot. The CCG's fit the 7-11 model though, which is why they sell OK.

They can do game meetups and host games. You competitors then are movie theatres, billiards halls and bowling alleys. None of those places are mints, but some manage to stay in business. This is better for large groups of semi-strangers looking for short-term games, rather than small groups of friends meeting regularly - which is again why you see more M:tG meets than D&D meets. The only D&D-like groups that meet in public places usually require some infrastructure that can't be reproduced in most homes - like a baseball diamond or a bowling lane. An FLGS simply can't compete on friends, price or convenience with my living room and a stack of order-out menus.

Games Workshop does well because it has the visual/tactile component that makes shopping online less thrilling than shopping in the store, it has the "meetup and paint" characteristics similar to a M:tG meetup, and it has the infrastructure requirements of large tables committed full-time to game use. D&D doesn't really have any of that - but it could.

A possible model might be stocking up on every mini Wizards of the Coast sells and all the Tact-Tiles (and its competitors) you can get your hands on, and then charging admission for an evening of gaming. For groups that really like the tactical battle-mat aspect of D&D, there might be a value proposition there. It wouldn't be my cup of tea, but then I'm not a very good customer even for Wizards - I buy very few books. My 3.5 library consists of the Core I books and Bo9S, and that's it.

 

[drothgery]

I hate to nitpick on things like this, but shouldn't this thread be in general, not 4e Rules?

 

[crazy_cat]

To be of any use to me a FLGS is going to need to provide me with something extra that I can't already get via the internet.

I found my present group via a post on a gaming website and I have a house to host games in - so having space and a noticeboard aren't really selling points for me.

In the absence of anything extra I'll continue to buy online if I can make a decent saving - I get more RPGs per £ spent that way.

When my FLGS can compete on price (Mongoose Traveller is a good recent example) then I will support them as it is nice to have a physical shop to go to once in a while. But, where once (many years ago) I relied on the store for meeting players, news of new releass etc I can now do all of these things online.

Times change, and the FLGS in general needs to evolve and remain relevant to people if it is going to survive.