Hi, folks-
This is an interesting thread, thanks.
What we have found at our store is that you start by asking what makes an inviting store, of any type, and then plugging in the product line(s). In our case that's comics, graphic novels, RPGs, and board games.
We're limited by high commercial rent in the size of our shop, but we try to provide play space for any who desire it and regular gaming events (we're hosting D&D Game Day this weekend and Free RPG Day in a couple weeks, frex.).
We do our best with the used games, but we're entirely at the mercy of folks bringing in collections on that, and the ease and ubiquity of eBay means that decent buys are relatively few and far between, most of what we see is trashed Rifts books and 1st edition Vampire. When we do get decent used stuff in, it sells pretty quickly, though, and we have a number of folks who regularly stop by just to check that section.
A spinner devoted to Small Press/Indie RPGs seems to be working well, and we stock as broadly as we can on core rules of many different systems without exposing ourselves to undue inventory risk.
The pricing problem, I'm afraid, has reached the point where those for whom price is a primary consideration won't ever shop with us no matter how nice we make the place. That's not evil or cosmically unjust or whatever, it just IS, and my crying about it won't change it.
A typical independent retail small business runs with a 5-10% profit margin or so... if we make a habit of giving even just 10% off on a regular basis, that means the money has to come from somewhere else if we want to turn a profit, and that means cutting back on all that 'value add' stuff that is supposed to make us an alternative. (Math aside: Please remember that 50-55% of the price you pay for an RPG book is our COST on that book... it costs me 15 bucks just to put a $30 book on the shelf without paying any other expenses. Every point of discount we hand out actually costs us TWO... a 20% discount means we've reduced our potential gain on that book by FORTY percent.)
Purchasing for the lowest possible price is a perfectly rational and utterly reasonable consumer decision and the only time anyone needs to apologize for it is when they committed an order that they bagged on because they found a lower price after the fact. But there are many consumers, and the trend seems to be growing, for whom local buying and 'sustainable' practices are an intangible (but significant) value-add, especially in our more progressive (or liberal if you prefer (heh)) neck of the woods.
We've found that by running the best possible store we can, one that feels like any other mainstream 'indie bookstore' to browsers, we create an environment where just enough regular gamers will cede to us those value-adds you have been discussing that the much less price-conscious NEW players, gift-giving relatives, and crossover comic customers who are already in the shop when the gaming urge strikes that it makes up for those more serious gamers who have pretty much migrated entirely to online venues because the only 'value add' they're concerned with is the volume of material any given dollar buys them.
Shops are not where most hardcore gamers buy their games, and haven't been for a while. The internet discounting model has paradoxically made those most serious of gamers into a new sort of FLGS 'casual' customer, who may drop in now and then simply because there's a bunch of games in one place and who can resist that even if you've already pre-ordered the full year's worth of upcoming releases?
I'm often struck by the thought that the only possible way to capture even a few dollars of those alpha gamers' bucks is to accept the fact that they're gone and adjust the model accordingly. Those who come back for a visit and see something they like might add a bit to the day's tally, but surviving until next YEAR means not trying to chase them to the detriment of the much BIGGER Potential audience: those who AREN'T currently seriously into gaming. IOW, there's a lot more people who DON'T read ENWorld than do, and they're a better bet to go after as customers if our shop wants to remain profitable.
(Oh, and the importance of a robust, well-organized and transparent Special order system that is easily referenced by the store's entire staff cannot be under emphasized in ANY small retail business, let alone one as specialized as ours...)
-Jim C.
