Does anyone in here own a game shop that sells good nerd games? I'm thinking later after college, I'll open up a business shop of my own here. Does anyone have pointers with running a great game shop? Any info on this woul be awesome!
What a coincidence.
I do happen to own a shop. We sell everything from Munchkin, LotR TTG, WHFB, Warhammer 40k, MTG, Yugioh, and Pokemon.
The best advice I can give you is move to a well populated area, where there is a large population who does this stuff. That means do your research. Next, get a good supplier. Lots of shops buy straight from these websites that everyone goes to, and that's a terrible idea. Reason being is because they will charge you the street charge, you will have to raise prices to gain margin, therefor decreasing business and going under. Lastly, be patient. If you start from scratch, you will need to advertise as much as possible and let them come. I suggest finding a couple of judges for gaming events that can help you broadcast your events, which in turn, will bring customers.
Also, have a good manager that is as knowledgeable about your highest selling products. For example, my manager who runs things while I'm away is an Area Judge in MTG. Obviously knowing what he is talking about, I hired him.
Luckily for me I bought a business that was going under and brought it back to life. That is not the best route to go if you do not have experience in business. I happen to have my MBA in Business management as well as managing another business. I'm still fairly young for my profession, so I have a lot to learn.
In any case, I hope that helped a bit! Let me know if you need any more advice!
Good luck!!
How is the game shop business? Have you noticed a decline in sales as the new generation settles in, in a nutshell is the table top gaming community shrinking? I just turned 18 and I find I'm the youngest guy in my area that knows how to play magic. So I'm curious what it looks like to a shopkeepers perspective.
Quote from: Shadridium on December 24, 2013, 01:17:33 AM
How is the game shop business? Have you noticed a decline in sales as the new generation settles in, in a nutshell is the table top gaming community shrinking? I just turned 18 and I find I'm the youngest guy in my area that knows how to play magic. So I'm curious what it looks like to a shopkeepers perspective.
I know this question wasn't directed at me, but as someone who frequents various shops on different cities, I can attest to the fact that age varies from place to place. I've seen players at young as 8 years old playing in FMN, and players as old as 50! :)
Quote from: Shadridium on December 24, 2013, 01:17:33 AM
How is the game shop business? Have you noticed a decline in sales as the new generation settles in, in a nutshell is the table top gaming community shrinking? I just turned 18 and I find I'm the youngest guy in my area that knows how to play magic. So I'm curious what it looks like to a shopkeepers perspective.
That's a good point. I do have Warhammer nights, and on those night I do tend to see more people ranging from their late teens to their middle age. I think the reason is that these games require a lot of tactics that most children cannot acquire. Notice I said MOST. I have seen some kids come in a play. As far as the other TTGs, I see a wide range. It's the Warhammer that is the singularity.
As far as your first question, I absolutely love my job. It's really fun to put my mind to use! Some days are pretty rough, but I'm lucky enough to be in a great location!
As far as sales, we do very well! My staff is really knowledgable so it helps quite a bit!
O lawdy I got some work to do...
Like I said, while you're still in school. Do lots of research! If you're in a small town, move or open a shop somewhere else.
I live in Arizona, but own a shop in Nevada. Haha. I am there every other week for 5-6 days. I wouldn't recommend doing that until you're fully settled in and made some decent money. Or you can fully trust your manager.
Quote from: Ertai on December 24, 2013, 02:00:28 AM
Like I said, hike you're still in school. Do lots of research! If you're in a small town, move or open a shop somewhere else.
I live in Arizona, but own a shop in Nevada. Haha. I am there every other week for 5-6 days. I wouldn't recommend doing that until you're fully settled in and made some decent money. Or you can fully trust your manager.
Why do you do that? Why not just move?
Have you ever been to Arizona?
Quote from: Ertai on December 24, 2013, 02:02:50 AM
Have you ever been to Arizona?
Once in August ... Worst mistake ever!
Like Az was beautiful one of the best states but in August dang that heat was just awful lol but true I get what you're saying
I like the heat.
I am from Chicago, and I hate the cold.
If this needs to be a new thread let me know, but since you own a shop do you know much about the card game
Weiss schwarz?
I was thinking of learning
Quote from: ConanEdo on December 24, 2013, 12:41:40 PM
Question for Ertai, who are generally the worst gamers behavior wise? I'm curious, as one game has been banned from both my LGS in the area and I'm wondering if it's just them.
My lgs owner has no qualms about saying that the Yu-Gi-Oh players are the worst behaved in his store by far, for what it's worth. Sounds like there are a number of disruptive and disrespectful tweens that cause trouble just to cause trouble in the bunch.
He makes fun of us magic players all the time, too, but in an endearing way lol
Quote from: ConanEdo on December 24, 2013, 12:41:40 PM
Question for Ertai, who are generally the worst gamers behavior wise? I'm curious, as one game has been banned from both my LGS in the area and I'm wondering if it's just them.
The Pokemon crowd is pretty rowdy. Most of them are small children, but occasionally you'll see the middle aged guy playing and he gets pissed for losing to a child and gets rowdy.
Also, the Yugioh crowd is pretty crazy at tourney nights. We have very strict rules about unsportsmanlike conduct, and if a player loses and flips out, they're gone. I've had to kick out a winner once too. Sore winner are worse than losers.
As far as behaviors go, the warhammer is the most docile. Like I said before, they're the older crowd and they enjoy playing around with no qualms.
Ertai, I too am from the chicago area and I am curious, how competitive is the magic group in your areas of Az and Nv?
Quote from: Trugamr12 on December 24, 2013, 03:08:15 PM
Ertai, I too am from the chicago area and I am curious, how competitive is the magic group in your areas of Az and Nv?
Well there are GP's in AZ almost every couple of months. It seems anyways. The GS's have PTQ's quite often.
My store isn't as competitive as it is here in AZ, but we do get good turnouts for FNM and SNM. It's a big store, so we can hold quite a few people. My manager does a good job promoting, so it works well.
I would love to own a shop here in AZ, the problem is there is a lot of competition around the Phx area. There's probably a good 9-10 shops within the greater PHX area.
Quote from: Trugamr12 on December 24, 2013, 03:08:15 PM
Ertai, I too am from the chicago area and I am curious, how competitive is the magic group in your areas of Az and Nv?
Where abouts in chicago.
Quote from: DirtyMustachio on December 24, 2013, 08:59:11 AM
If this needs to be a new thread let me know, but since you own a shop do you know much about the card game
Weiss schwarz?
I was thinking of learning
Isnt that a foreign card game based on various animes characters? If so i have heard of it