I've traveled around to several other game stores around the Midwest and one thing that is very consistent is most of them are dirty and smelly. We go through a lot of measures to make sure Meta is as clean and stink-free as it can be, but sometimes one or two unkempt customers can undo any amount of work you put into your store. What is interesting to me is that all of the other retail jobs I've worked growing up have you constantly facing, sweeping, wiping things down, cleaning public fixtures, and all of the other things that keep a store and merchandise looking good, but all of this goes out the window in game stores. I've seen everything from disgusting bathrooms to dirt covering an entire carpet of a game room.
Its always great when people travel to Meta for larger events and let the staff know how impressed they are by the cleanliness of our store. It feel nice...but at the same time its pretty embarrassing for our community to have such a stigma that even moderate efforts to keep a store clean get acclaim (I've never gone into a Wal-Mart, Best Buy, grocery store, or any other store and complimented them on how clean their store was, even though at any given time those stores are probably much cleaner than ours). So, even though it seems like it should be completely unnecessary to explain this, I'm going to make a quick list of things to know about store upkeep.
Get Your Staff Working
Most stores have at least one or two part time employees, and these are going to be your guys who you'll want cleaning. When their shifts start, they should know what is expected of them. If you want John to dust, clean the bathrooms, and straighten the displays, make sure you show him exactly how you want it done and tell him that he needs to do it. Lots of managers just expect part timers to know they should be kept busy, but keep in mind that your staff consist of people who want to work part time at a game store...they probably have a different view of what their job is than you do, so make sure its clear.
Stock Cleaning Supplies
Never run out of Windex, Lysol, air fresheners, paper towels, toilet bowl cleaner, Swiffers and all the other stuff you need to keep your store looking good. Its easy to put off cleaning when you don't have the supplies, then once you get them its easy to put off cleaning because you are so far behind in doing it, and then you will inevitably fall into the "well, other game stores are like this, so my customers won't mind."
Let Messy/Smelly Customers Know They're Messy/Smelly
Now...this doesn't apply to that guy who smells bad, comes in your store, buys some packs, and leaves. That isn't a long term impact on your business. This applies more to the guys who come in to play games and put their stuff all over your sales counter as storage, or the guy in your store playing games for several hours who has clearly not showered recently, or the blue collar worker who tracks mud all over your store every time he comes in after his shift on Tuesdays. Yes, you can clean up after them every time...and if they spend enough money in your store, maybe that is just the service you are going to choose to provide to them, and that is okay. Customers like these will eventually wear down your staff though, and the smelly ones will wear out your regular customers and begin scaring away potential new ones. Just having a very polite, very well-planned out conversation about their body odor or mess making with them might embarrass them a little bit, but odds are it will embarrass them into bathing/deodorizing/kicking dirt off their shoes after work and not embarrass them into going to eBay for their gaming. Your other customers will appreciate it enough to make up for the loss of one problem customers if it does happen to go bad.
There is literally an endless (and fairly obvious) list of things to do to keep your store clean, but these three I listed are ones that are going to help you the most and are the most specific to hobby game stores. You don't want to scare off potential customers are be responsible for perpetuating one of hobby gamings hardest stereotypes to overcome.
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