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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ogrork the Mighty" data-source="post: 1910231" data-attributes="member: 19042">First off, you need to be clear on your motives. Are you doing this to make money or are you doing this b/c it would be cool to run a gaming shop. If it's the latter, you'll be out of business within 12-18 months. You always need to keep in mind that it's the influx of money that keeps what you love going. Otherwise, you're just going to be struggling to keep afloat all the time.I would strongly recommend you sit down and write up a business plan (if you're saying, "what's that?", then fergedda about the whole idea) for what you want your store to be and how you want it to function. A lot of the ideas posted in this threat are great, but when you combine them all you get a nightmare. I can't tell you how many gaming stores I've been to that are crammed from floor to ceiling with so much "junk" of such a wide variety that you can't tell if they have what you're looking for and even if you could, you wouldn't know where to begin looking. Plus the employees can't know everything about everything so their knowledge is not up to snuff.You need to decide how much "interactive space" you're willing to dedicate for instore gaming, demos, compute games, etc. That floor space costs money, and you don't want your "store" to become a "coffee shop".You should also focus in on certain games/products. Carrying everything is just going to result in you having piles of old stock that doesn't sell.I'd also suggest you try to make your store a focal point for the gaming community. That means bulletin boards, email lists, and special demos. It also means being friendly to everyone who comes through the door. For some reason, there's a lot of anti-social/socially challenged game store owners and they usually struggle to keep a loyal customer base.Finally, minis are definitely a money maker. But you need to focus on a few brands rather than a whole bunch. Or start small and see what sells in your area. You have to remember that minis also take up A LOT of space that could otherwise be used to display other merchandise. Someone mentioned selling individual D&D minis and I know from experience that gaming stores in my area do this and make a huge profit, even off commons.There are a lot of people who won't buy sight-unseen but when they see that sahuagin ranger out in the open, they've just gotta have it.Good luck.(p.s. if it was me, I'd be incorporating an online store into the enterprise. That's the future, not brick-and-mortar stores. I know several gaming stores that basically maintain a shop just to store all their inventory but online sales make up the vast majority of their business).</blockquote>

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