Starting a blog is something I've needed to do for the longest time and I'm finally pulling the trigger. My name is Jeff Winters and I've worked at Meta-Games Unlimited for the last 9ish years, about six of which have been in management. I mostly run events, do other small marketing activities and study sales data. I'm also a marketing research student at Missouri State University and about a year away from (finally...)graduating.
For those unfamiliar with Meta-Games Unlimited (MGU, or Meta from here on out), we are a store that specializes in hobby gaming, which includes games such as Magic: The Gathering, Yu-gi-oh!, Warhammer 40K and Euro-style board games like Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride. We have been open in Springfield, Missouri for the last 15 years. If you are unfamiliar with these products then the information I provide in this blog will probably be useless to you, or will require some pretty broad applications. For those who are familiar with these types of games, I would imagine that one thought has probably crossed your mind a few times; "Hey, I could run a store like this!"
Gamers trying to run game stores is the reason I wanted to start this blog. There is an extremely high failure rate in our industry because people get so passionate about the hobby that they love that they lose site of basic business principals...or perhaps never knew these principals in the first place. To prevent my first post from solely being introductory, I'm going to lay out a few things to consider before diving into a hobby gaming store and a couple that may help if you are already up and running.
Is there a demand?
As simple as this question sounds, the reason a lot of these stores fail is because there simply is no need for one to exist in your market. Maybe the market is too small to support a store or perhaps there is already a saturation given your population. Make sure that if there is a demand, its a real demand. It cannot just be your group of 5-10 friends saying that you should run a store because more often than not friends don't make the best customers, and even if they did, few businesses can get back with that few clients. You can work on creating a demand for hobby gaming in your area as well, but that requires a certain type of person with a lot of time and resources.
Do not run a club house
If you've frequented gaming stores before, you are probably aware of what I mean. Customers hanging out behind the sales counter, some of the staff getting paid in "store credit", opening and closing at the discretion of the owner or manager's mood, and many other things can prevent the public at large from taking you seriously as a business. If you aren't prepared to run a business that is going to be open at set hours, then don't open. If you can't pay your staff money, then don't hire a staff. While you may think its insane that I would even need to mention paying your staff, I can think of at least three stores that have been opened in the last year around Springfield that had unpaid staff, and there were serious (shrinkage) issues.
Conservation is Key
Many people are familiar with the 80/20 rule and its near infinite applications, but it certainly fits with hobby stores in that 80% of your sales are going to come from 20% of your inventory. This shouldn't discredit that other 80% of your inventory that isn't going to turn over quite as fast, as variety and supplementary items are very important as well, but you will learn very quickly what is hot in your area and what is not. Sometimes you just have to let product lines go to pasture even if they are the reason you got into the business. Keep in your "evergreen" items as best you can, but also remember that almost all of your best sellers are going to be easy to reorder, and if you have a reputable distributor they'l let you know when something is going to be scarce or out of stock for awhile.
Don't Fear the Internet
You are going to have customers come in and tell you about how they can buy a game on Amazon for $1 above your cost. You are going to have customers tell you they can buy a certain Magic card for half as much on StarCityGames. Miniature Market, Troll and Toad, Funagain....you will probably get a sour look on your face every time someone mentions these, because you know there is only one thing on that customers mind; price. My philosophy on this has always been to offer them the game at a price that is close to but not exactly as low as online. Make them pay for the convenience or the game space if that is something your store has. Every time I've made an effort to meet a customer over half way they've always at least appreciated it, and it usually leads to a sale. If they found an item below cost, I always tell them that they are getting a literally unbeatable price and they should buy it before I do. Being transparent with these customers is always the right move, because they've done their research and showing them that you respect their price-conscience position is going to do you more good than telling them something snarky like "well go buy it online then" or "have fun playing that game in Amazon.com's game space." (For the uninformed: hobby gaming stores traditionally have gaming tables for people to play games on, and usually play host to events and tournaments around games)
There are about a thousand other faux pas that take place regularly in hobby shops but those are four of the biggest ones I see. I hope that if you are reading this you found it useful and I look forward to my next entry.
-Jeff
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