Does owning a Local Game Store Work?
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- čas přidán 30. 06. 2024
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Magic the Gathering will always have a place in my heart, but I also love exploring new TCGs. I started playing games in college after years of failing at sports and have been addicted ever since.
Pokemon started the craze and addiction - moving me away from baseball cards and into the world of constant organization.
#mtg #mtgcommunity #Magicthegathering
#mtgarena #mtga #mtgo #mtgcommander #mtgfinance #mtgixalan #mtgneon #mtgMH2 - Hry
I used to go to a TCG+ place once that managed to buy out what used to be a dollar theatre. They had tons of space for gaming, they did stuff with projectors and fun indie movie showings, and also had a food bar set up where the burgers and shakes were quite good quality. I loved it. Really healthy amount of people showed up regularly and had some great game nights.
Sadly a local community college moved in and put pressure onto that area, and forced the lease to inflate in price to where they couldn't make ends meet as they were.
Really wish I could see something like that exist again, was a really great experience.
Thus is exactly something I was wanting to do. Tcg/gaming chill store but also food drink selling so there is more profitably in total. Keep people happy and they stay. Do you have a link or name for this place would love to look into it to get more ideas
Yeah it seems like any time an LGS gets big or tries to expand into other niches, it gets pressure from the government / local business owners.
@@AdogZer0 Again, sadly, it was forced out of the location I spoke of roughly before 2012, I'm not sure if they're still in business even, so the name of the location is not likely as useful at this point.
My local store took over the location of a former thrift store so they had a very large back area that they converted into a great gaming area. Sadly, they could not get a food vendor license so they had to shelve their plans to sell hot dogs and paninis. :( The store owner is constantly afraid that when lease renewal comes up, the landlord will ask for too much money and force the store to have to give up all that.
People tell me Tolarian is the everyday man in touch with every corner of the fandom...I tell them they don't know Louie from WV then.
There can only be one.
Yes sir Louie!
I strongly feel that people who watch CZcams every day watch for personalities not particular interests.
These types of people will always find something to watch or people to follow regardless of a genre.
The benefit is for any creator to grab that audience by showing how real of a person they are
Thanks to for the video. found your video threw recommandations. I'm going to check all your content. REALLY interresting stuff!
Welcome to the channel!
So wait, hold up. Are you saying in my 10 dollars entry fee to FNM doesn’t fully fund the store? This economy man…
I knew of a store that was a mix of the 0% and Store+. They helped run a couple of Bowling league at their local bowling alley. In exchanged the bowling alley let them use their Party room when it was not in use to run events and bring in card displays like venders at conventions. Some of the magic players ending up joining bowling league and some bowlers started to play some Magic.
I'd love to be a 0% some day when I retire where I can have a "store" that's not for income but just for giving back, making connections, and enjoying life
Awesome shirt, I love Any Hull!!!
A good plus in my mind is printing ONLY token proxies on sight. "Need a squirrel token? We have these arts." boom tokens the way you wanna see them on site instead of waiting weeks for Etsy. (Only tokens though otherwise it interferes with the stores singles sales).
There used to be a "0% store" in my hometown growing up lol. When Yugioh got big and started taking over the ONLY lgs in town that had gaming space, this guy got pissed at them and found them obnoxious(for context, mtg players in the area were mostly older people, hardly any middle school aged kids) and didn't like the how crowded the space was becoming. So, he opened his own place specifically to play mtg with a couple of private rooms for ttrpgs. He sold basic snacks and very limited boosters(idk if he was certified and got them from distributors, or just bought booster boxes for the cheap elsewhere-I'm going with the latter because he would sell at quite bit lower than the lgs). Anyway, he just wanted space for tournaments and to play mtg only, no yugioh. The place was only open Friday nights and all day Saturday until midnight. He didn't pay rent on the building-though it was leased to him, he sub leased to a church which had run of the place sun-thurs lol.
These are my favorite type of videos. I frequently have them on while I am packing my my orders and love the down to earth info.
One huge leg up I have seen, that you have, is having an owner with charisma. This isn't a nerd den hobby anymore. Nowwa days people are not going to go to a mom and pop, dollar and cents store . They want a community. The successful LGS's in my area are all sweat equity owners who spend time in their stores interacting with the customers. Gaming stores are so niche now because of online sales if your not fostering community or building trust you will not succeed.
I feel most terminally online people without a following will burn out, fail and hate the LGS experience within a year. You need to thrive on other people.
Having talked to the Managers of the Game Nerdz physical stores your assessment of the shop being a hobby is extremely accurate. The way they put it to me is the shop is "a passion project of the owners" they also said the goal is for the shop to break even, and they are hit or miss each month with wether or not they even achieve that. The online is where the money is made.
The best LGS+ I've seen was one in Raliegh that had a full blown bar inside and one in Terra Houte Indiana that was a pizza palor with a game store inside.
Sadly the town closest to me is always the kind ran for friends and are being ran horribly.
The gathering place?? Love those guys!
In Feb 2020, I bought a craft beer tap room/used book store with free board games to play. I got into selling Pokémon and Magic during COVID amd partially turned into an LGS. It's been fun but i definitely wouldn't be in business if i was just selling cards without beer and food.
I think game stores need to diversify more. You’ve done amazing considering your location. I agree with the Plus aspect, My store is outside of Pittsburgh and my plus is the club aspect, where I offer memberships that give you access to 24/7 gaming, private game rooms with exclusive sales and first dibs on new things. Although I am still a full retail store for TCG’s and tabletop hobbies (warhammer)
I definitely think that stores are in a dangerous situation if they only focus on cards.
Love reading your comments. Would enjoy chatting sometime!
What's your store? I'm around Pittsburgh.
How does 24/7 gaming work though? I thought there were rules against that in retail zoning, considering most types of businesses also can't have the owner living on site as well.
We are opening a cat Cafe and are going to have different game nights, not right away but within a month or so of opening
I feel like if I ever opened one I would open a micro bar game store. But with parent training classes. Where if a parent wants to learn more about the game they can pay just like 25 bucks for one hour or so for a step by step teaching on how to not get scammed and what are the options for your kid to have the most fun cheaply
I actually did a pre release at a game shop that was combined with a bar (Tavern of Tales in Boston). It was awesome.
There’s a local store that has a micro bar and it’s awesome!
I have very low overhead and I still struggle for decent profit mainly because I’m in Mexico and the min wage is like 15-20 bucks a day. It’s a legit business though but I have to sell at 10-30 percent margins due to the 16 percent import fee/tax on all products. Pays my food and a few other expenses at least.
I have an LGS nearby that is half LGS and half martial arts studio. Pretty ingenious if you think about it.
I just found your guys CZcams channel
My uncle used to own a game store in LA during the 80s and when I worked there during the summer. Business was booming back then and I remember he had this bow of dual lands for $10. At his height he was operating a total of 5 game stores throughout so cal. However things started to fall apart when Amazon and the internet took over. It was difficult for him to compete with online stores so he eventually sold it off to another individual whom went bankrupt.
Owning a game store requires a lot of work. It requires a lot of your time. At the end of the day it’s a retail business. Margins may not be great depending on which tcg but if you’re innovative and are willing to put in the work you can make it work, but don’t expect to be a millionaire anytime soon. Your highest expenses will be purchasing, rent, and wages. So realistically speaking if you manage the store well you’ll be looking at around 10%-15% net margins, which isn’t bad but it isn’t great. But most stores that are operating today are either breaking even or have a very thin 1-5% margin.
Honestly i can't understand how people aim for 10-15% margin ~ Is too low, but i understand that economy in US might be differenti from EU
@@alessandroflower3990 well 10-15% margin in a VOLUME business is not bad at all. In Europe it's different. My wife is french and from what I learned people there prefer to make more on an item than sell more. Over here in the US, people want to sell more and make less.
At least here in NYC a lot of stores make a good amount of revenue with high margin from food & beverage.
Hi love your channel! Could you show the revenue and costs of running your card shop? Particularly interested in how much suppliers charge for distribution
Please do a follow-up on how to do it without a retail space. Thanks for the great content!
You don't.
@@LXZTUBEStart a game club. Have a check out library, provide food for purchase, charge a monthly fee. You don’t have to actually sell games.
Get them drunk enough to spend their whole life savings on some dual lands…. I think we unlocked the key to the bar/game shop business model😂
Also did you just call the Banana Stand a trust fund baby?😂😂😂😂
Game Grove rules!!
Kitchen Tabler TCShG
Most 1%er stores are using tcg sales as loss leaders for nefarious means.
0% stores have always mind boggled me.
Our store does not fit into any of these 4, except maybe the + because we are also a video game store. We focus on selling sealed magic product at keystone or near keystone price and we drop what doesnt sell.
What if I just open an online tcg and host in person events at a location such as a brewery? Lol
We have a cafe/lgs. Its small, cramped and you leave smelling of coffee and grease. I no longer go to it.
Hey men! How do you actually open an lgs? How you get in contact to distro and stuff like that? Is there any support from Pokémon, wotc, yugioh, Disney to start the LGS?
To open and lgs you Need to make a business Plan in Advance to avoid Major risks. Try to check for competitors , design your business, check if there Is space for community. See if you can find a small Place in a good area, if you have the Money buy the walls rather than playing rent since you Will be spending loads for a business you Will want to run for Life. Once you find the Place you Just Need to contact wpn & Pokemon & konami & bandai or the other products Company for the TCG you are interested in and ask a collaboration to activate the lgs status to be recognised on Maps and as a retail store. They Will suggest main distribution Company for prerelease and stuff like that. It takes time but try to Plan everything in Advance since at the beginning Is scary.
Do you buy cards for cash or is it just for trade/store credit? I’m looking to sell my collection in one go for cash and trying to figure out the best way to go about it eg. EBay, TCG player etc… I have a few revised cards that are worth a couple hundred each. Any advice would be appreciated!
Hey friend! Reach out at KitchenTableTCG@gmail.com we pay cash or store credit :)
@@KitchenTableTCG Thank you so much! I will be emailing soon! ❤
Call me a boomer but I tend to avoid stores that have “features” like a bar and/or restaurant. I go to a store to play a game, not run the risk of having my commander deck soaked with an IPA.
I’m the opposite. Game stores in general are a waste of space. Run a club or provide food and a free game check out model. I don’t want to have to buy your overpriced shit when I can get it online for a fraction of the price. If all you offer is product you aren’t offering anything I can’t get elsewhere.
the TLDR of the topic is you don't make money having a store, margins on products are horrible, as TCG hobbies evolved and online markets flourish there is less and less reason for people to go to a store. At least our store and many others, we make most of our profits from online sales of singles, not from packs, not from tournaments or anything else. All of which could be done in your garage, the only real benefit to the brick and mortar store is having a public location people know they can come to sell their cards to keep the wheels turning.
Pretty much and unfortunately that is why nobody makes money because everyone is trying to chase a business model that just barely breaks even or loses money because it's a "passion". Instead owners should focus on how they can make their local market profitable whether that be through charging appropriate event fees or markup. This can work for stores however unfortunately it completely depends on how much you can stomach the losses until you train your customer base to the appropriate expectations.
@@stevengilland4524 the real hard answer is you cannot just run a store off cards anymore, diversify your products to include other hobbies in the area and get your current players to diversify their interests. Warhammer has done that for us fantastically.
@@jarad9946 yea we actually are extremely diverse. But, I think it does a disservice to shops in general to say to just make a CZcams or do business online to open a shop. The mindset of gamers overall I think in the long term will have to change to where they are ok accepting increased event fees or pay for table space or the experience.
@@stevengilland4524 its not a disservice to say open your business to online markets, its an unfortunate necessity to exist, the world changes and you either change with it or close your doors.
It’s sucks, my card shop is in the process of closing. It’s weird because I thought they were being really successful
Start a club with your community. Our meta uses a space that is huge for free.
Retail dying. Rent takes a lot of the pie. Along w labor and electricity 🎉
Unfortunately physical location is too expensive to pay for the profit from physical people
Surprised you are sharing this content. Being a brick and mortar, you are taking advantage that you are a physical space so you could host events and charge a venue fee. Always thought that was smart. I know some stores are completely unaware of market price for products so it alienates people.
Events are break even at best. You need prize support to get people in seats.
@@KitchenTableTCGor pizza 😂
I wouldn’t be brave enough to start a business in the traditional sense. What I’d rather want to do, instead of opening a store, is just starting a club that also has a clubhouse (store-type location).
Player or members pay asubscription or memberships to keep the lights on, and to have access to club equipment (matts, dice, cubes, commander decks, modern decks, pauper decks) that can be used at the club and only the club.
It will not be for profit. All club income counts as the club budget or fund to expand on what the club provides, or improves the play area. All members can vote to influence certain decisions etc.
It would be run by a committee and eager or the enthusiastic members of the club.
Thoughts?
No. Local Game stores don't work. YOU have to work. You have to know how to do the work, and you have to make sacrifices to build your reputation with.... and I'm gonna say it... the community. Owning a store is a labor of love and it is not for everyone.
Gamer Grove
I dont enjoy local game stores rather just buy it online for half the cost.
You need friends for this to work otherwise who are you playing with?
@@ertai222At your house? Form a gaming club. People in Europe don’t play in games stores, they play in clubs. We have a club in my area in the states. Locking cabinets, terrain for war games we can leave. We use the space for free. Why go to the store at all?