Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
WotC and brick and mortar retail stores - Greg Leeds weighs in
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 5131988" data-attributes="member: 15538"><p>I think it is worth considering that the dot-com bubble may have changed the hobby store in important ways. First, I think excess geek cash led to a culture built on rapid sales of fad items, which is just not sustainable. I think, reasonably, a hobby store should plan to operate year-round primarily as a specialty retail store, with the occasion ka-boom when something big lands. Second, once upon a time, it was semi-acceptable to live your dream as a comic book store/game store/whatever guy. Since that time, the low end of the wage scale has slid considerably compared to the rest of the economy; what was once not a livable income is now barely an income. An adjustment to minimum wage has probably helped. What has happened, I think, is that those devotees have realized they can now live their dreams making some serious bank in computers, autocad, game design, e-commerce, etc. Thus, it is likely the only long term industry person working at the store is the owner, and maybe the general manager if there is one. To be successful, a modern game store has to be a fairly person-centered operation, since there is no feasible way I can imagine to hold onto truly knowledgeable staff with good people skills. Instead, the owner/manager has to be the heart of the things, dispensing needed knowledge, constantly retraining staff as they graduate from school/move away/sell out to the Man, etc. I think in a fairly populous area, during a good economy, you could probably staff a couple of dudes at a nice hourly wage and it would totally be worth it from a business standpoint. Sadly, I think the current economic climate dictates holding onto less staff and toughing things out for the next year or two. Eventually, the death of retail stores will create new regions for growth... a good game and comic store could sprout up somewhere between where an old Waldenbooks and another dead game store used to be. when times are bad, you have to expect the likelihood of some creative destruction before things got better.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pawsplay, post: 5131988, member: 15538"] I think it is worth considering that the dot-com bubble may have changed the hobby store in important ways. First, I think excess geek cash led to a culture built on rapid sales of fad items, which is just not sustainable. I think, reasonably, a hobby store should plan to operate year-round primarily as a specialty retail store, with the occasion ka-boom when something big lands. Second, once upon a time, it was semi-acceptable to live your dream as a comic book store/game store/whatever guy. Since that time, the low end of the wage scale has slid considerably compared to the rest of the economy; what was once not a livable income is now barely an income. An adjustment to minimum wage has probably helped. What has happened, I think, is that those devotees have realized they can now live their dreams making some serious bank in computers, autocad, game design, e-commerce, etc. Thus, it is likely the only long term industry person working at the store is the owner, and maybe the general manager if there is one. To be successful, a modern game store has to be a fairly person-centered operation, since there is no feasible way I can imagine to hold onto truly knowledgeable staff with good people skills. Instead, the owner/manager has to be the heart of the things, dispensing needed knowledge, constantly retraining staff as they graduate from school/move away/sell out to the Man, etc. I think in a fairly populous area, during a good economy, you could probably staff a couple of dudes at a nice hourly wage and it would totally be worth it from a business standpoint. Sadly, I think the current economic climate dictates holding onto less staff and toughing things out for the next year or two. Eventually, the death of retail stores will create new regions for growth... a good game and comic store could sprout up somewhere between where an old Waldenbooks and another dead game store used to be. when times are bad, you have to expect the likelihood of some creative destruction before things got better. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
WotC and brick and mortar retail stores - Greg Leeds weighs in
Top