Anyone here own/ed a Game shop Cards game and the like? I have questions. Like how much does it cost to start and to maintain? Is there a down side or penalty's to adding things like a Coffee shop upfront? What are the hoops I need to jump through to get the process started?
>>1140206
I have had a trading card online shop and about 5 years experience selling and buying online and also organizing tournaments and having vending booths at majors.
Planned on getting a store, but the hassle wad to big.
I can answer you some questions, if you think i'm qualified to.
>>1140226
When you say the hassle was to big what do you mean?
>>1140230
I ran the numbers. Got my info from fellow tcg vendors with stores and it was quite clear, that having a store was a loosing game in my country in itself. It had one major advantage: being able to buy from your customers. In the us it was a different thing. There it is quite a good business just flipping stuff in your store and not selling online.
The upfront payment of about 50k to get started was rather crippling to my core business model and getting more employess is a pain in the ass, if youre a fringe business.
>>1140236
So what about organizing tournaments? Whats that like?
>>1140259
That is really as easy as you imagine. Having a network of players to spread the word is very helpful. Using player forums and facebook is mandatory. A solid price structure is needed. Being cheap with the prices will damage your reputation immensly.
Making bank with tournaments is the harder part. You have to have some sort of side business. The tournament itself will most of the time be a bit in the red in itself, but if you have stock to sell or are planning on buing from the players to sell online or in your store it's worthwhile. Also selling snacks and drinks gives you a little extra cash. This is actually in the grey area, but no one cares.
>>1140206
sell home made pizza there. the margins on pizza are through the roof (your biggest expense will be cheese) and every greasy neckbeard will buy it to fuel day long gaming sessions. one huge problem with running a card shop is people coming in to play for hours on end and not spending any money. this is great solution.
>>1140206
I honestly would make my career then retire running a TCG shop. Some guys in Los Angeles who were investment bankers - lawyers did that, and they have a fairly nice shop here.
>>1140648
Sorry but mixing greasy food and cards is a no go. The complexity of the food business will drive the time away from the core strategies.
>>1140667
Canned drinks and packaged snacks should be okay though.
Unless there's a convenient store really nearby....
>>1140667
Lease that part of the business out to someone committed to it.
Snacks should be at least around and you should profit from the synergy.
The human condition requires food.
>>1140206
The fundamental problem with a shop like this is the overhead. You should be working full time with just a few part time employees at most.
What it comes down to is offering a service versus selling a product. Truth be told, the local game store is honestly much more like a bar than a retail store. It's a place where people hang out, meet with friends, and incidentally buy food and drinks. It isn't a place where people buy things, and then leave. Your relationships with your customers are very important. Your customer base has to be a certain niche age and demographic, and you need to cultivate the proper environment over time.
some common problems:
>no outside food, but you only sell chips / soda
>gross bathrooms
>theft is a major problem, employees and customers
>people don't want to spend money, they just want to hang out
>one or two bully customers or smelly autists who make the environment poisonous for kids or women
>fake cards
>better stores stealing your customers
>Magic online
>XMAGE
>literally, your patrons growing up and becoming adults
You need to come at the entire experience from a service perspective, that you organize tournaments and sell experiences, that you offer prereleases, etc. If you get caught in the retail store meme then you die.
My best advice is to try to make money from TCGplayer or craigslist from buying collections, and making connections in your local community. Often, a really fantastic LGS will close because the owner will retire or die and you can just take over their community, like a crab in a shell. There needs to be a significant community and demand for an LGS to exist and survive, and being a comic shop or a cafe is a good way to keep that going. I would prefer the restaurant / cafe route, like Cafe Mox.
Dealing in cash is also a plus.
Source: I move a lot of collections and use the nerd community to fund vacations, and happily never owned a store. It's not easy.
