Bartertown.com

Hello btown!

So lately a friend and I have been talking about opening a Brick and Mortar hobby store. We have to drive an hour+ to get to one and even then most are sloppily run, dirty old stores. To get to a decent store you must drive easily 2 hours!

Before we jump into anything though, we are making sure we do heavy homework. Everything from talking to distributors, checking out properties and its monthly bills (rent, utilities, etc), to even setting up open rooms at the local community centre to host "Wargaming" nights to see what the general public has for interest (it'll also show us if there is an interest in the hobby at all in the area). One thing I would like to do is get experiences, opinions, suggestions, etc from the Bartertown community, both store owners and people who go to their FLGS'. We want to make sure we understand everything before we make a final decision.

So for store owners (present and past):

What was the most difficult thing in opening your store?

If you could go back, what would you change?

What can you suggest that would make things easier for a new store owner?

Do you find you must direct your approach towards a single demographic? (example hobbyists, parents, children, etc)

What size is the "perfect" store? Is there a too big? too little?

Do you focus on one product, with other products more as "filler" or do you equalize your store?

Do you find yourself selling more of one thing than another?

We are thinking of including board games, Magic cards, Pokemon cards, etc.. For those of you who also do this, how well do these sell compared to wargames?

How many people run/work the store?

What do you find is the best hours a store should be open for and on what days?

Discount vs income, what are the average discounts you give on your store products? Have you tried different amounts? If so, what happened/why did you change?

Using distributors, how well do they treat you? How is shipping/ordering? Do you find it's easy or a hassle?

How do you layout your merchandise? For example, do you put the sales items in the back so customers must pass the normal or new release stuff first? Do you split the store into easily manageable sections? etc, etc

Do you have anything else that would help us, and anyone else with the same questions, in opening a new store?

Feel free to share your own experiences when you opened your own store or whatever else.


For those of you who are the customers:

What do you look for when you walk into a hobby store?

What annoys you when you are in a hobby store?

Discount vs income: What motivates you to purchase an item? What demotivates you? What kind of discount do you look for when purchasing your hobby goods?

What hours do you like in a hobby store?

Do you find yourself going to the FLGS more for playing or buying? and why?

If there was a locker system in place, where your models would be secured in the store and you didn't have to haul them around, who you pay for a weekly/monthly cost?

If there was a membership card where when you bought an army, you were given a card with your name and army on it (kept at the store) and it had a certain amount of purchases required in each category (so HQ, Troop, Core, Fast, Solo, Warcaster, etc) before you got a free blister/kit for that category, would this interest you in purchasing more at your FLGS?

What keeps you going back?

What made you leave/look elsewhere?

What can you suggest to us, and anyone else looking into this same thing, for opening a store?

Feel free to share experiences and anything else!


Thanks guys! Anything that will help us in our decision would be great!

Want to make your hobby un-fun, do it for a living.

You'll have friends who'll expect discounts. Don't do it. You either loose money or friends or both.

If you don't have a history of business, don't do it.

There's a reason there aren't any stores in your area. Think about it.

1 of the biggest reasons people go out of business is because they think they know better than everyone else and can do it better.
There's a reason everyone else does it this way or that way; to stay in business.

How much money can you afford to lose every month? Not just in the business but personally? How are you going to pay bills; business and personally?

Don't go into business with friends. You won't stay friends or in business.
If you ignore the above, who's going to be in charge? 1 person must be the boss and make all the decisions. He'll also have to be responsible for all the mistakes.

Take classes and then take some more. Then you'll see how hard it is to run a business.

My parents had a small business for 10 years. It was family run. We couldn't go on vacation. We got broken into 13 times in 10 years. Who will work if you're sick?

I took some small business courses in college. My original major was accounting, then it ended up being business; specializing in small business.
Now I work for the post office. My wife has opened and closed several home based businesses. I warned her.

You have to live your product. You have to promote it 24/7/365. You have to be that pushy guy that is always promoting your business, always networking, always looking for new lines. Be prepared to realize that you think a certain product is great, no one might. It sucks and you need to sell it at a discounted price just to get any money back. Product that sits on a shelf is lost profit. Are you a store or a warehouse? Any price over cost is profit, even if it's a reduced profit. Selling it at cost isn't a loss, it's a zero return on your investment. Selling it at less than cost is a loss. Having it sit on the shelf for monthes and not selling it, is a loss.

It might sound like a lot of negative thoughts, but most people just ignore the counter side to opening a business, and is the biggest reason so many businesses fail within the 1st year. Now that's changed to the first 5 years.

I know that most of the "hobby" shops that friends of mine have opened are way more then that. part hobby, part comic book store, part magic (whatever flavor card game) store, and then some real hobby stuff like trains/planes, models.

mini games really have a small dedicated market base and with online sales biting into their profits a lot have had to diversify with miniatures as a secondary market.

Most of the successful ones have about 30 tables that are all reserved for MTG tournaments and other stuff, but the core thing about some of the most successful stores is that they give people a reason to come in.

exm: once a month a 40k tourney is run with a 10 dollar entry fee. Top three players get dollar amount prizes in store credit. This means that if you market it well and get between 10 and 20 people that is 200 dollars in guaranteed sales. They do the same for MTG (with cash prizes where they take a percent) and other mini games.

Got to give people a reason to come in.

Thank you guys for the replies so far.

@Kturock - Very grateful for the reply, this is exactly why we wanted to do our research before jumping in. We want to make 100% sure of what we are doing, and the points you bring up are very good.

@Bluemeenie - Thanks, the posting is very helpful.

Just dug through my bookmarks from when I was researching this very topic.
My conclusion was that you have to focus on CCG's and plan on breaking even.

That said, this guy Gord has some hilarious stories about his own gaming store...
http://www.actsofgord.com/Chronicles/chapter27.php

And some more in depth sources on the inner workings of a gaming store.

http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles ... tore.shtml

http://www.rpg.net/columns/businessofga ... il46.phtml

I would also recommend joining GAMA and tapping into their resources too.

Best of luck!

Here's what little I know:

If it's popular in your area, M:tG WILL sustain a reasonably run business if properly managed. You'll need to have multiple events a week (Friday Night Magic, etc), booster drafts, special events around new releases, etc. You'll probably want to sell singles, as well. Store owners have conflicting views on this part.
Don't charge to use your gaming space.
You'll have to offer a discount to get good sales. Sadly, most people (or, if not MOST, then ENOUGH TO MATTER) won't buy your 40K at full price when they can get it online at 20 to 30% off.
Speaking of online... you'll need to sell online. As kt said, if there's no store in your area, there's probably a reason. Online sales can help keep you in money when the locals aren't.

Oh... and prepare to be an afternoon and weekend babysitting service, often for free.


Eric

The only advice I would offer is to find a good location. Location will make or break your store and if there are people in your area who scout locations professionally I would suggest hiring them.

Just set up next to a Tim Horton's... Should be set!

Really though, as MM said, Magic is the money maker. The only way to really make steady income on minis is to push faction ADD. My biggest challenge in buying from my LGS is the easy availability of 30% off retail (for Warmachine) online. Even though I want to support my LGS, having to pay full retail plus tax means a 37% shift in pricing which ends up just being too much to give up. There definitely has to be some form of competitive pricing through either a straight discount or a loyalty program to really hold all of a gamer's business. You mentioned the 'build an army' type reward system, which I don't think is a particularly good idea, as it actually discourages faction jumping, which is where you get those big buy-ins that drive sales. Anyway, best of luck to you on your endeavor!

Thanks again everyone for your replies. Lots of good stuff to think over!

@ Bahamut
Do you game at your LGS regularly? If not, the following question won't hold as much weight but, if you do, i'm VERY curious about your answer.
For that matter, it's a good question for anyone who games at thier LGS and buys online, due to discounts.

If your LGS offered 15% off of GW (anything that wasn't "direct only") and 20% off of all other games, would that make your more prone to spending your money there?
Basically, I'm trying to see if a lesser discount is worth it to you to (a) have it faster and (b) support your LGS.

Thanks.

Eric

I get a 10% discount at my LGS. A discount most people get who buy stuff regularly. Considering any place online that does 20% makes you pay for shipping, its worth buying local and keeping the store open.

Some other stores in the area have started charging fees for using the tables, something that hasn't gone over well in the community.

To answer your question MM I would say yes. I would much rather support my FLGS but there is just no way to afford retail price. So if I could get it online for 30% off or in my local shop for 20% off I would take the 20% and run.

Tordek, I agree. I'd give more to a FLGS than an online store, but I can't bring myself to pay GW retail... Really, ANY games retail any more. It's all getting so expensive that it's all pricing me out of the "new" market without discounts.

Eric

Seriously who can pay GW retail anymore. It is totally on the plastic "crack" levels of cost nowadays. I swear they are going to price themselves out of the market eventually.

tordeck wrote:Seriously who can pay GW retail anymore. It is totally on the plastic "crack" levels of cost nowadays. I swear they are going to price themselves out of the market eventually.

There will always be the people who will still buy it. i know of at least two people who buy everything shiny that comes out of them each release.... straight from their local GW...
When you make good money and are addicted to plastic crack you don't see what your dumping.