"Store Owners Please Help" Topic

Hi all. I'm thinking of opening a FLGS in my area, and I've put some thought into it on my blog.

angrypiper.com/gaming/?p=123

I would greatly appreciate the input and opinions of any Brick and Mortar FLGS owners. PLease let me know what I am not considering. Any insight and opinions would be helpful. Feel free to comment on this thread, on my blog, by PM, or email me at angrypiper at angrypiper dot com.

Not a store owner, but I've known more than a few, so I sent you a PM. Actually, I need to send you another PM because I forgot a couple of things.

Not an owner, but a friend of one who has more than a few times minded the store for him.

How you stay in business isn't competing with amazon or ebay. Businesses with a physical location can't hope to compete on pricepoint with businesses whose only overhead is webhosting and the cost of shipping. You have to compete on something else. Something a Drop-shipper can't.

Either you need to be able to compete on the "instant satisfaction" aspect of having everything the customer wants right then and now (something hard to do without a LOT of up front capital) or you need to grow a client base of loyal customers.

I will tell you right now that second one is harder than it sounds. You're more likely to set up a successful saltwater aquarium in a public swimming pool than build up a loyal client base big enough to support a gaming store completely from scratch. You can do EVERYTHING right and still fail. Don't take it personally. Game stores have a higher failure rate than restaurants, and EVERYONE eats out. Not everyone games.

You said you don't want the store to generate money so much as support itself. That's good, because in all likelihood it won't.

All that said, here's some tips from my own observation:

I recommend that you devote no more than 50% of the stores square footage to retail shelves and racks. Devote the rest to play area. DO NOT COMPRIMISE ON THIS. You are there to provide a good experience for the customer, that's the only reason they'll come. CLean floors/carpet, nice chairs (aka not falling apart) and a decent amount of room for customers to wander from table to table. Get a large fridge for cold drinks. Stock snacks like chips and candy. Provide wifi for your customers. Have separate tables for "standing" games and "sitting" games.

As for the retail space: Stock high margin items, like CCG's (Pokemon, yugioh, magic the gathering)for at least a third of this space, and try to cultivate a league presence. Don't let the league run the place, but realize that the quickest way to get new blood into your store is to make it kid-friendly. Kids like to hang out in packs, and parents LOVE to give them ANYTHING else to do other than computers and videogames.

You can't beat the online sellers for price or selection, but if you hav a decent selection at a decent price RIGHT THERE, kids (the ultimate impulse buyers) will always spend a few bucks at least.

For the other 2/3's of your retail space you need to split that evenly between the "popular" stuff that the players want (Reaper minis and WotC books for the RPG'ers, GW and Privateer for the introductory wargamers crowd) and the more obscure stuff YOU like but want to get people into, or maybe a little more heavily for the "popular" stuff.

Have a computer that you have bookmarked all the fun stuff you can special order and set up some display cases to literaly "display case" things you want to push. But don't let the case get stale. Change it every week. If a customer asks about something one week, try to have it displayed the next (if you have it) don't be afraid to display your own private stock.

organize free events. Nothing gets a body in the store like a free event. Every month or so, buy a cheap box of bulk plastic figs from one of the "not GW" lines you want to push and build and prime them. Then do a "paint and take" event and invite everyone to come. For the cost of a 20-30 dollar box or two of zombies, or pikemen, or samurai, you will have eager people in there in YOUR store painting up a figure. And when they are done, try to run a little game for anyone interested. When they're all done, let them keep the fig they painted. It cost you less than a dollar, and now the customer has ONE zombie/pikesman/arbequesor/phalanx soldier. What fun is THAT? You can then talk them into buying and painting more, and playing with them RIGHT there.

Do the same thing with terrain building. Assembly workshops. organize events with low cost but that promote a feeling of "I like this place, they do cool things".

I have more but this is a start… I'm sure others will have more to say

You might want to check here:
link

They are actually willing to help. They have info for retailers new and old.

There are several store owners on the board even including the Secretary.

Not an owner, but one I heard of told all of the kids that if they are going to be there all day, they need to buy something. This way it wasn't a Saturday baby sitting job for free. I don't think the parents had a problem with the kids (teenagers) being out of the way even if it cost them 10-20 for food and stuff. What a deal for the parents, they had their kid out of the house for the Saturday and it didn't cost them that much.

There is a place near me that rents out space to gamers for whatever they want to play. I don't know how successful it is, but I could see the appeal for regular groups as they could rent space and an know they have something semi-private. I still think you need public tables just the option to have something better.

And on the GAMA topic, look at their trade shows, they look like they have very useful topics

As a former gamestore employee, I admire your gumption, and hope you make a go of it.

I do want to point out your reason number two ending in:

"But the simple truth is that if I want to play miniatures games (and I do), then the burden of buying and painting miniatures and buying, painting and constructing scenery lies with me and me alone. It would be nice to have other gamers who really love the hobby help out with that."

This is something I've heard a lot from would be game store owner/operators. You will need someone else doing your heavy lifting if you plan to game while owning a game store. In fact, what you really need is for someone else to take the risk entirely and just go to the store to play.

There are gamers who will become like family, who will dedicate many hours to improving your store and running games in it. Then they'll ~really~ start acting like family, and take liberties you would never expect sane persons to take with items and space belonging to your store (meaning.. your stuff).

By all means give it a go, but in my experience, running a game store will include:
-Watching the last copy of a game you've been dying to play walk out the door.
-Hoovering and sweeping up after people.
-Putting aside your gaming to sort out why your helpers ordered 14 cases of something you'd never personally have stocked.

Don't let this dissuade you, but don't be surprised if starting a store so you can game more has the reverse effect.

As a former banker who did small business loans I recommend you remember a key thing -- it's a business. Many of the small business owners I dealt with got into it because it was something they loved doing, but they forgot things like sales, marketing, and making a profit so they could survive.

Unfortunately it's not a hobby…if you treat it as a hobby you won't last long. Unless you have an income flow to support yourself outside the business.

Ok, as a former owner of a successful game and plastics shop… (BTW, I find amusing that most responses so far start 'Not a shop owner…' Excuse me, but until you've been there, you have absolutely no clue as to what you're talking about…). Warning: The following is not nice or pretty…. But it is factual.

First, my 'credentials'. Purchased the store in '79. At the time, it was grossing $125,000 USD yearly with an inventory in the $100,000 USD range and an overhead that was eating any profit alive. Its main draw was D&D (which had just broken into the big time) with related RPGs, plastics a strong second, and wargames a distant third (and forget historical minis; those weren't even worth carrying). Within 3 years, we were grossing $500,000 USD and had driven the overhead and inventory down (inventory was now a slender $80,000 USD and overhead was half of what it used to be). 3 years later (after the D&D craze crashed; should've sold sooner), I sold out (at a decent profit). So I do have some perspective….

A few random points:

If you expect this to be an extension of your hobby, forget it. This is a business, and it will consume you and your hobbies whole. During my 6 years, I didn't play games or build models (both main hobbies for me). I got to the point that after 10 hours a day, 7 days a week of being in the store, the idea of gaming was the last thing I wanted.

You want a gaming area. We tried that and it failed horribly. The myth is that such areas generate sales. Well, I certainly didn't see any increase (at least not enough to justfy the extra dead square footage that could otherwise be dedicated to inventory. Or better yet, closed off altogether so I could reduce my rent). Remember, every square foot not generating sales has to be paid for by the rest of the store. That is just hard reality. Now we did stage gaming weekends as special events and these were modestly effective.

Finances. Yeah, you damn well better pay attention to bean counting. For every dime you spend on rent, employees, insurance (and you better have business insurance), fixtures, bags, cash register, lights, resale license bond and all the other crap under the heading 'overhead', you going to need to turn a quarter in sales. If you don't, you're out of business and fast. And if you expect a small business loan for start up, forget it. In the current climate, you have a snowball's chance in hell. You're going to need to finance this thing out of your own pocket (or get some investors). And you better have a good sized cushion to fall back on for at least a year. Oh, and one more thing: the failure rate for new small retail is 80% within the first 5 years.

You're opening a new store in this market. Most new business types have little idea just how high start up costs can be. Just to outfit a store can run several $10,000 USD. And don't go cheap; the customers will see it right off. And that's before you even buy inventory. You want $50,000 USD in inventory? Expect a bill for $30,000 USD in 30 days (and you don't want to become known as a 'slow pay' to your distributors; that's the kiss of death). I was lucky, I bought an ongoing store with an inventory and (VERY IMPORTANT) a customer base. You're going to have to build your customer base from scratch and that's HARD. Sure, there used to be a game store in your area, but there hasn't been for a long while and people have gotten out of the habit of visting the local flgs (a term I find absurd, BTW). Enticing them back means advertising (more money up front) and getting the word out. And for at least a year, you'll bleed red ink by the bucket while you build that base up.

You say you want to expand the choice and breath of games. Nice idea… if it works. If you don't remember anything else, remember this: IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU LIKE AND WANT, WHAT MATTERS IS WHAT THE CUSTOMERS LIKE AND WANT. You may think this or that is a great product, but if the customers disagree, then you're screwed. (Remember Thomas the Tank Engine? I rest my case). Every misstep in stocking has a price, just make sure you DON'T make too many ('cuz you WILL make them).

The internet… That demon of the brick and mortar store. In today's market, a retail business that isn't online is begging for failure. If I still had my store, I'd have a robust internet presence. (In fact, I'd probably go strictly online and forget the brick and mortar store). Given the low overhead cost and market potential, a retailer is insane (or suicidal) not to go virtual.

Finally, this is a business, not a hobby. You're risking a very large chunk of green. You can't take time off, you can't just walk away 'to rejuvenate myself'. Believe me, your landlord won't give a rat's butt that you're 'feeling stressed'; all he wants is his rent, or the space back. For the 6 years I had my store, I was married to it. I didn't take vacations, I didn't take time off. I lived, ate, and slept the store 24/7, 365. And that is how you can be sucessful (in fact, the only way).

I'd say based upon your blog, you're chances of success are around 5%. IMO, your reasons are exactly wrong to make it a success.

You don't say where your capital for start-up costs are coming from; but it better be from your current nut, not from your salary or expected revenue from your real job; unless you earn $10 USD-20-30k at a time [like monthly] and don't need that to live.
Because most times, its CASH FLOW that is more important than total revenue. even successful businesses get bank loans for cash flow purposes; they have the account receivables, but not the cash on hand to always make payroll, & bills. it doesn't help you're getting $5 USDk NEXT week. You need $2,300 USD TODAY.

You might have a great product; but its better to have the sales in time to pay the bills.

I think its common that 80-85% of new ventures are under-capitalized and fail before the customer base can come on line to support you. So whatever you figure your base costs to open the doors and have heat/insurance etc…better have 12 months of that $$ on hand.
JMO, YMMV.

Just one more thing to add… After I sold my business, I went into consulting on a limited basis to small retailers (established and start-ups). If someone came to me and gave the reasons you listed in your blog for opening a store, I would have one answer:

DON'T

As rmcaras said, your reasons are absolutely the worse for success.

I've heard 90% fail in the first five years, so yea, the odds are really stacked against you.

Don't mean to burst your bubble, but breaking even is hard, and making a profit is even harder.

Doesn't mean it can't be done, but it is very difficult.

In this economy, I wouldn't open a retail store of any kind.

One interesting model you might consider is that of the Halloween, or Christmas stores, which open up, and then close down shortly after, or on the holiday.

That might work, if you have lots of advertising, and can get stuff stocked and sold quickly, in a short time.

Depending upon the business, many make 40% – 90% of their profits around Christmas, and the rest of the year they just hope to cover their overhead costs.

Thanks to everyone who replied,both in this thread and by all other methods. I got some very good and sobering advice all around. I have come to the conclusion that it's not gonna happen. I think I just want to play more, and a store would be a great way to do that…if I had other people run and manage the store, and I'm not going to do that. Plus, just a candid look at the numbers is enough to show me that although I make a decent living with the business I currently own, its not enough to pay my bills and single-handedly fund a store that will, in all likelihood, never make enough to sustain itself. Just not gonna happen.

Oh well, it was a twinkle in my eye for a while. Now, plan B: Liquor store!

if you just want to PLAY more start a gaming CLUB. Rent out the conference room at a local hotel or library (not expensive at ALL) and meet weekly/bi-weekly/monthly/whatever.

Advertise THAT on the internet and at the local college.

The above comments are very good. Coastal2 and rmcaras in aprticular make strong points.

I will not bother to restate their points. (I really hate it when that happens) I will just add a few supporting comments.
Do you plan to open near a university or military base? Those are positives.
The start up cost includes many things that will not produce revenue for example all fo the deposites, the cash register, the pricing computer system including gun. Customer bags, cleaning supplies, marketing signage and adverts, business license, FIXTURES (shelves, spin racks, wall hangers, a shirnk wrap machine, demo games, tables for gaming, etc.

So as was said your start up costs can put you into a deep hole of non-revenue producing items.

Then their is store stock. Are you going to be full service or have a limited number of items and special order. As pointed out miniatures is one of those areas that should be special order.

Shop around for more than one distributor. I have had only one distributor in the past and when they closed up shop it left me in a lurch. Seal with manufacturers on some stuff as well.
As a new store try not to get into a minimum per month and every month purchasing agreement. Thos can put you in a deep hole as well.

Develop policies on every aspect of the store. how are you going to deal with products not bought at your place?

Nelson Time Hobby
Still in business since 1983 but doing much less than I did before 2000. LOL!

Not surprising at all Rudy, since average incomes have been reset back to 1998 levels, and people have lost 40% of their wealth too, in the last decade.

I think part of the problem is that maybe you need a finer point on the question(s) here.
What caused the shops around you to fail:

One had a stack of magic cards stolen that was all of the crazy rare ones.., and prior to that they stopped cleaning up the store, so it became a mess I wouldn't want to take people to.

One only order stock when the stuff was new and never re-stocked.

What are shops doing to be successful:

Have everything for the product lines they carry. From the shop owners lips to my ears if you don't have everything when they want it they wont buy it, instead they will get it elsewhere.

Another shop, the person still works and someone runs the shop when he isn't there.


Another shop has late opening and closing hours, only open 5 days a week. They also have a discount program… something like spend $150 USD and get 15% off your next purchase.

And the best of the best, a model/die cast shop was run out of a house that had two entrances. It was a ranch house on a hill, so the one side basement was open and had it's own parking. That store was stocked. I could imagine you had to pay more on insurance but still, what a deal. I think that would be the way to go if you are serious.

Oh, if you go pure virtual, I don't think one of the larger companies will sell to you. I have heard that you have to have a brick and mortar store or they just won't sell to you.

The key thing, is that if you know inside and out all of the facts and figure of what you are trying to do, you should be able to make a go/no go decision. I think the next step beyond calculating inventory is to find as many things that people think was well done, as well as what they think caused the demise of the shops near them.

Yeah, good decision if your goal was to play more. I used to play miniatures once per week and board games once per week. Then I opened a game store. Now I am lucky to get a game once per month.

Spend the money you would have invested on starting your business having the armies you really want to play painted for you. Then you'll actually have the time to play!

In business since 1998, still growing.

Of the two stores that I know of. Both own their premises so in effect are not over a barrel come rent payment day and can rent out upstairs to tenants. One is also mainly a internet business – so passing trade and visitors is not core.

Both have been around a while so have a customer base big enough to allow them to get through these lean times.