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Author Topic: How would you create an FLGS?  (Read 1904 times)

James J Skach

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How would you create an FLGS?
« Reply #30 on: April 23, 2007, 02:39:52 PM »
Quote from: C.W.Richeson
Reminds me of the Gameboard chain in TN, Koltar.  I actually liked them a lot in part because they were in a mall.  Fewer nasty regulars, cleaner environment, etc.

That's a really interesting observation, CW.  You just made me think about it and I have to say: I've seen more fringe elements in the fantastic standalone game store than in the game store that's in the mall and carries all the boardgame and party game stuff and has a rack or two of RPG stuff.

Is that the mall, the games carried, what? hmmm...
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jgants

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How would you create an FLGS?
« Reply #31 on: April 23, 2007, 05:02:03 PM »
I'd build an exclusive country club-like atmosphere.  

You'd have to pay membership dues of $10,000 a year or more just to get in (assuming you are good enough to get past the membership board, after being on the waiting list for a couple of years).  And naturally only adults would be allowed (probably no ugly adults, either).

It would have fancy leather chairs and couches.  There would be crystal glassware containing fine scotch and brandy, and a fully-stocked walk-in humidor with fine cigars (included smuggled-in Cubans sold under the table).

The entire interior would be made of fine Oak and Black Walnut.  The floors would be marble tile with 24K gold inlays combined with hand-woven Oriental rugs.

There would be a fancy library room with built-in bookshelves filled with every RPG ever produced.

There would be "drink girls" in skimpy outfits that would refill your brandy while you were playing, as well as offer you snacks like canapes, sushi, and caviar.

The bathrooms would have two full-time attendants.  And instead of toilet paper, guests would use bidets and rolls of silk.

And in the game rooms, you'd hear such banter as, "I say, good chap - I do believe my elf gets an attack of opportunity against that orc." and "I do believe my die has gained some kind of gypsy curse.  It rolls lower scores than my gardener's IQ."



What?  
:D
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Ronin

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How would you create an FLGS?
« Reply #32 on: April 23, 2007, 05:11:10 PM »
Quote from: jgants
I'd build an exclusive country club-like atmosphere.  

You'd have to pay membership dues of $10,000 a year or more just to get in (assuming you are good enough to get past the membership board, after being on the waiting list for a couple of years).  And naturally only adults would be allowed (probably no ugly adults, either).

It would have fancy leather chairs and couches.  There would be crystal glassware containing fine scotch and brandy, and a fully-stocked walk-in humidor with fine cigars (included smuggled-in Cubans sold under the table).

The entire interior would be made of fine Oak and Black Walnut.  The floors would be marble tile with 24K gold inlays combined with hand-woven Oriental rugs.

There would be a fancy library room with built-in bookshelves filled with every RPG ever produced.

There would be "drink girls" in skimpy outfits that would refill your brandy while you were playing, as well as offer you snacks like canapes, sushi, and caviar.

The bathrooms would have two full-time attendants.  And instead of toilet paper, guests would use bidets and rolls of silk.

And in the game rooms, you'd hear such banter as, "I say, good chap - I do believe my elf gets an attack of opportunity against that orc." and "I do believe my die has gained some kind of gypsy curse.  It rolls lower scores than my gardener's IQ."



What?  
:D

Can I apply now? :toast:
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J Arcane

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How would you create an FLGS?
« Reply #33 on: April 23, 2007, 05:15:48 PM »
Oddly enough, the current working plan for the next iteration of our old Vancouver game center is that of a private club.

It won't be quite so Victorian as jgant's post of course, but I've been pondering applying as a house chef . . .
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J Arcane

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How would you create an FLGS?
« Reply #34 on: April 23, 2007, 05:18:27 PM »
Quote from: HinterWelt
I am terribly sorry. We seem to have radically different definitions of profit. I am sorry for the misunderstanding. That said, I disagree with your assessment of game stores.

Bill

I would suggest that your assumptions are colored by your own success then.

There's countless individuals who did not succeed at similar ventures.  

The odds are not good, not good at all.
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jgants

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How would you create an FLGS?
« Reply #35 on: April 23, 2007, 05:21:46 PM »
Quote from: J Arcane
Oddly enough, the current working plan for the next iteration of our old Vancouver game center is that of a private club.

It won't be quite so Victorian as jgant's post of course, but I've been pondering applying as a house chef . . .


Embrace the baroque!  Embrace it, I say!
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HinterWelt

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How would you create an FLGS?
« Reply #36 on: April 23, 2007, 06:59:48 PM »
Quote from: J Arcane
I would suggest that your assumptions are colored by your own success then.

There's countless individuals who did not succeed at similar ventures.  

The odds are not good, not good at all.

I deal with over 60 game store retailers on a regular basis. I visit and discuss on industry fora. I got to industry trade shows. This is all the experience I bring to the table. Failure of game stores is real. Making them a success is usually, as with any business, a factor of planning, capital and knowledge. The businesses I see fail usually are a result of the lack of one of those. I do not doubt that many game stores fail but it is not assured or even predisposed to failure.

And again, I must not understand what you mean by profitable.

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James J Skach

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How would you create an FLGS?
« Reply #37 on: April 23, 2007, 07:09:06 PM »
Quote from: HinterWelt
I deal with over 60 game store retailers on a regular basis. I visit and discuss on industry fora. I got to industry trade shows. This is all the experience I bring to the table. Failure of game stores is real. Making them a success is usually, as with any business, a factor of planning, capital and knowledge. The businesses I see fail usually are a result of the lack of one of those. I do not doubt that many game stores fail but it is not assured or even predisposed to failure.

And again, I must not understand what you mean by profitable.

Bill

And that doesn't even mention business that are profitable but still fail - in the long run. And that's the experience I can bring to the table :haw:

But in the end, it was a failure to plan, as Bill points out. Had the knowledge, had the capital, failed to plan.

It's why, in the long run, I'd probably never open an FLGS, cause I wouldn't have the immediate cash flow to sustain for ten years my ignorance in planning...
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J Arcane

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How would you create an FLGS?
« Reply #38 on: April 23, 2007, 07:38:59 PM »
Quote from: HinterWelt
I deal with over 60 game store retailers on a regular basis. I visit and discuss on industry fora. I got to industry trade shows. This is all the experience I bring to the table. Failure of game stores is real. Making them a success is usually, as with any business, a factor of planning, capital and knowledge. The businesses I see fail usually are a result of the lack of one of those. I do not doubt that many game stores fail but it is not assured or even predisposed to failure.

And again, I must not understand what you mean by profitable.

Bill
Maybe if you'd actually read my posts instead of condescendingly dismissing every word of them, it might be more clear.
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HinterWelt

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How would you create an FLGS?
« Reply #39 on: April 23, 2007, 07:44:05 PM »
Quote from: J Arcane
Maybe if you'd actually read my posts instead of condescendingly dismissing every word of them, it might be more clear.

Dude, did I insult you in another life? I read your posts. You seem to think profitability equals excess cash. In a properly formed BP profitability means you are making $0 excess cash. All you bills are paid, your salary is paid, expenses covered and you have $0 left over. That is a profitable business.

To me, condescending is assuming you are an idiot and having to define everything for you. I have done neither, barring this post (in terms of definition), in the posts.

Please, if you think I am so insulting and my posts so worthless, put me on you IL.

Again, sorry for this confusion.

Bill
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ColonelHardisson

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How would you create an FLGS?
« Reply #40 on: April 23, 2007, 08:27:54 PM »
I think it would have to be a multimedia store that catered to more than one genre. Sort of a cross between a Barnes & Noble (complete with Starbucks) and Collectors Warehouse. Collectors Warehouse is one of my all-time favorite places to go in Cleveland. It is a combination comic shop/game shop/movie poster shop, with all manner of collectible stuff besides the obvious.

So it would be a place that sells books (scifi/fantasy/horror/mystery, and whatever else the clientèle might ask for), movies, music, posters, art, cards, comics, clothing, and just about anything else you'd find via Bud Plant. Have it be open 7 days a week, and have evening hours - 9-10 PM closing during the week, 10-11 on weekends. Have a Starbucks-style cafe, but also provide vending machines for those with tighter budgets. Have a good-sized room set aside with several tables for gaming (like Game Empire here in San Diego).
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fonkaygarry

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How would you create an FLGS?
« Reply #41 on: April 23, 2007, 10:33:18 PM »
Some smart SOBs on this thread.  I pretty much agree with all the above, though I soopa-doopa-koopa-troopa agree with HinterWelt that the most important thing to do would be to capitalize the unnecessarily bolded fuck out of the store.

I've heard horror stories of shops that turn Monday's till into Tuesday's shipments.  That's suicidal in a business where it can takes weeks to establish yourself as an option and months to build up a following.  

I note that most of the "new" stores in my city are run by men who made names for themselves as big-time employees in older stores.  They bring a built-in loyalty that overcomes a lack of advertising dollars or a bad location.  One shop, focused on local Magic competitors, is the only working store in a nearly abandoned shopping mall.  It has no walk-in business, no advertising and no air conditioning.  Its owner, however, is a professional VS. System player with years of positive history in the local scene.

Another shop so values its place in local gaming history that the rights to use its name run in the low five figures.

Any new store would, rather like the Union army of 1861, have to absorb staggering losses until it could find a viable strategy.  The key is keeping the doors open long enough to find a way to get asses in the seats, buying Clix boosters and chugging overpriced Dr. Pepper.

EDIT:  In all my years in game stores, I have seen only two owners who don't hesitate to drop a conversation with a regular to take care of a customer, even one halfway across the store.  Oddly enough, these two stores are the oldest in town.
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HinterWelt

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How would you create an FLGS?
« Reply #42 on: April 23, 2007, 11:14:04 PM »
Quote from: fonkaygarry

EDIT:  In all my years in game stores, I have seen only two owners who don't hesitate to drop a conversation with a regular to take care of a customer, even one halfway across the store.  Oddly enough, these two stores are the oldest in town.

That was how I handled it. Strangely enough, it was set early on that if a customer needed help whoever was on deck would take care of them. So, regulars understood, and to an extent appreciated, that I would leave them in the middle of a conversation to help a new customer. This is a tough lesson for some new store owners to learn even though it seems obvious.

Bill
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Koltar

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How would you create an FLGS?
« Reply #43 on: April 23, 2007, 11:20:56 PM »
Our regulars are the same way.

 The good ones realize that the store needs fresh customers and good word-of-mouth.

 Hell ...so many of our regulars are happy they have a game strore to go to the past 3 years - that they spread news about us to other gamers.

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O'Borg

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How would you create an FLGS?
« Reply #44 on: April 24, 2007, 04:28:46 AM »
Wow, a thread of mine that has actually lasted a good few pages. Must have been a slow news day :p
 
Most people here seem to have the same sort of vision as I had - less a dingy store stacked floor to ceilng with books, more a Starbucks with gaming tables. The idea of a members area occured to me - reserving access to the bigger tables, a newsletter & possibly a small discount on the coffee.
 
Gaming stores in my locale are a rare beast, and I'm seriously starting to think gamers are an endangered species here too. My nearest gaming store gave up on RPGs years ago and just focuses on old military history books. I went to the Salute 07 convention at the weekend, which although it's primarily a wargamers show, I'd expected it to be a little more packed than it was. Doors opened at 10am, I got there at 10:25 and walked straight in. There was only really one stall you couldnt get near, and that was the 2nd hand bring & buy tables. The only stall selling dedicated RPG books was Leisure Games, who were doing a Convention-Special-Full-Asking-Price-Buy-One-Get-One deal.
 
But I did get some nice dice from EM2 minatures that I wouldnt otherwise be able to buy individually :)
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