I know. In my store I had one customer who browsed board games, with the catalog of Germany's (then-)leading board game mail order store in hand.
He never ever bought something.

But that was before Amazon, Noble Knight, or similar services. And it was one customer.

Welp, they're hugely successful, so...yeah.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;717282There's a way to do both.

My FLGS is Cool Stuff Inc.  They have a huge gaming area out front, some small amount of product on display, loose/singles click minis under the display case (along with snacks and so forth)...and (except see below), that's it.

The other thing they've got is a series of computer terminals, all pointed at the store's website.  You can go to the store, place an "online" order, and it generates an order number at the front counter.  Once you're done shopping, you walk up to the front and take your item(s), and pay for them there when they pull them out of the back stock.

It works really, really well, I think, from a shrink control standpoint.  All the stuff has images up on the webpage so you can see it beforehand.  I like their system a whole bunch.  Oh, and despite being an "internet business" with deep discounts, they're a brick and mortar too so I can get my shop on.

I can do my order at home and go in to pick it up as well if I want.

To my mind it's a damn near perfect model.

That is brilliant! I'm passing this on to the guys at my FLGS.

Also keep in mind when talking about Coolstuff, their prices are very competitive with Amazons. Especially if you can do pickup.

I have to have mine shipped from them, but you get free shipping on 100+ dollar orders and I'm in the neighboring state so its pretty fast.

(I do most of my board and rpg game orders through them, I just rarely have a reason to go into a brick and mortar anymore, because its not necessary to meet gamers with the internet being what it is)

With Amazon et al. and the internet in general, you have to think what they can't provide and that's service. I say I'd like a playing space more than anything, so I'd say a gaming cafe over a shop. I'd want a place with food, drinks, round tables and a minimal selection of games and books. I'd want accessories for sale, miniatures, paints, paper, dice, I'd stock main gaming books but main space towards people, tables and chairs. Cater for people playing board games too, hire games hourly, table space for hours or free with X amount spent on catering.

Quote from: Emperor Norton;717443Also keep in mind when talking about Coolstuff, their prices are very competitive with Amazons. Especially if you can do pickup.

I have to have mine shipped from them, but you get free shipping on 100+ dollar orders and I'm in the neighboring state so its pretty fast.

(I do most of my board and rpg game orders through them, I just rarely have a reason to go into a brick and mortar anymore, because its not necessary to meet gamers with the internet being what it is)

Oh hell yeah.  Deep, DEEP discounts.  So much so that the old, established game store in these parts (1701/Sci-Fi City) had to try to meet their prices, which is unheard of.  That store was hidebound.

Also it should be pointed out that the store is VERY clean, brightly lit, windows on all sides, they have a code of conduct and dress, etc.

It's really the future of B&M hobby stores, I think.  The perfect hybridization of online shopping and store shopping.

Also they have tiered discounts for loyal customers based on how much you've spent with them. I'm almost to the highest tier.

I might have a spending problem (more of that is board games though than RPGs, as RPGs unless you buy tons and tons of stuff you will never use, or are a magpie collector, doesn't really create the level of spending that board game playing can).

Quote from: The Traveller;717257You'll be pissing away fifty grand plus on a modest non flashy game store, which won't be selling any PDFs over the counter, and probably won't be selling much period. Five grand will get you a swinging website with a decent marketing spread. If that works out think about the gentleman's club afterwards.

Every single game store I know of has closed, as have most of the comic shops and videogame shops. Don't waste your money.

He said with unlimited money.  If I had that, my game store totally WOULD sell pdf's over the counter.  I'd throw in for one of these and give them the option to buy whatever they wanted, in hardcopy.  And I'd work on contracts with guys like Brett and Brendan to get their stuff on shelves for the walk-in exposure.

Then snacks and space to play in.  Sell minis and cards as additional items.  I'm not a businessman overall, and I'd probably fuck it all up in the real world, but that's how my dream store would work.

Oh, and we'd sell meat pies.  Don't ask what type of meat, if you have to ask, you don't want one.

No stink.
No creepers.
No stinky creepers.

No lecturers behind the counter.

My ideal FLGS would look closer to a Starbucks.  Beverages, quick snacks, free Wi-Fi with a portal leading to many RPG related sites, Drivethrurpg, lulu, etc...  Maybe work out a deal with those on-line retailers to discount purchases through the shop or free shipping.  Primary selection of print RPGs would be a used RPG section with new items being highlighted at the counter in limited quantities plus dice, pens, pencils, notebooks, etc...  Maybe even laser printer services.  An rpg store but one that wouldn't scare the bejeesus out of someone just looking for a cup of coffee or needing to have something printed on the fly.

Quote from: Evansheer;717494No stink.
No creepers.
No stinky creepers.

No lecturers behind the counter.

Yes.  Yes yes yes.  CSI is like that.

Quote from: Piestrio;717281Community, Community, Community.

Oh hell yes.

We have a local FLGS.  It's right on Main Street, in the middle of the downtown.

But see, this is the county seat and the center of business for Massachusetts' most rural county.  It's a small town of 17,000, and the downtown is a throwback to an earlier era -- a lot of foot traffic, a lot of small eclectic businesses.  Many artisan shops, several bookstores, a health food market, a string of churches, and a lot of intellectuals -- it's not that Greenfield has a major poetry competition that is reported above-the-fold on the front page of the newspaper, it's that there are two such competitions here.

And the shop is brightly lit, and spacious, and neat as a pin.  Its RPG section is relatively modest -- most of the shelf space is devoted to board and family games.  There are plenty of gaming tables and a number of games played, but of course the big ticket events are the CCGs.

Even with that, I rarely patronize it.  I game out of my living room, as I have for decades.  The couple times (and it's only been that many) I've needed to get gaming books since I've moved here, I've ordered them online.  When I've sold stuff, I've sold it to Noble Knight.  I've needed replacement dice, but I've ordered that too, from online, because they'll sell them to me in lots of less than 12-in-a-pack.

The FLGS must be doing well, because it opened up a new outlet in the county south of us, but there are just too many gamers who don't need them now ... and those of us who never did.

Quote from: Panzerkraken;717473He said with unlimited money.  If I had that, my game store totally WOULD sell pdf's over the counter.  I'd throw in for one of these and give them the option to buy whatever they wanted, in hardcopy.  And I'd work on contracts with guys like Brett and Brendan to get their stuff on shelves for the walk-in exposure.

Then snacks and space to play in.  Sell minis and cards as additional items.  I'm not a businessman overall, and I'd probably fuck it all up in the real world, but that's how my dream store would work.

Oh, and we'd sell meat pies.  Don't ask what type of meat, if you have to ask, you don't want one.

Well yeah, I assumed unlimited meant some six figure sum.

If I had unlimited money I'd buy a Bavarian castle and move it brick by brick to a freshly demolished area in Manhattan, wherein it would be decked out with wood panelling and expensive antiques, roaring fireplaces (with air conditioning as well as the fires during the summer), stained glass windows and genre appropriate music piped to each of the thousands of game rooms, offset by the sound of players rolling gem studded dice on rosewood tables from their plush leather seats.

I'd found a monastic order to maintain a giant library of all RPGs in the castle, paying them exorbitant sums to devote their lives to the upkeep of the fortress of fun, and I'd build a tall tower to gaze down with imperious disdain on the SJWs milling about outside protesting about the way I didn't spend my fortune on I-only-have-a-gender-studies-degree-employ-me causes.

And meat pies, excellent idea. And not the ones with the air gap under the pastry top either, I mean packed right to the brim.

Quote from: The Traveller;717568Well yeah, I assumed unlimited meant some six figure sum.

If I had unlimited money I'd buy a Bavarian castle and move it brick by brick to a freshly demolished area in Manhattan, wherein it would be decked out with wood panelling and expensive antiques, roaring fireplaces (with air conditioning as well as the fires during the summer), stained glass windows and genre appropriate music piped to each of the thousands of game rooms, offset by the sound of players rolling gem studded dice on rosewood tables from their plush leather seats.

I'd found a monastic order to maintain a giant library of all RPGs in the castle, paying them exorbitant sums to devote their lives to the upkeep of the fortress of fun, and I'd build a tall tower to gaze down with imperious disdain on the SJWs milling about outside protesting about the way I didn't spend my fortune on I-only-have-a-gender-studies-degree-employ-me causes.

And meat pies, excellent idea. And not the ones with the air gap under the pastry top either, I mean packed right to the brim.

Absolutely perfect, I'll get right on it.

One I'd own and that'd bring me a reasonable profit past the year one mark. With space for me to play RPGs. Not necessarily people.