This thread is for the discussion of my latest article, Off Topic: Great Card Shops. We would be grateful if you would let us know what you think, but please keep your comments on topic.
It's interesting that you note at the end of the article
Amazingly, I would say 60% of the time the person running the cash register knows nothing, little, or has been out of the game so long they are severely outdated.
but earlier noted that most store owners won't budge from the listed price on Scrye. Correlation much?
It's interesting that you note at the end of the article but earlier noted that most store owners won't budge from the listed price on Scrye. Correlation much?
The person behind the register isn't always the store owner.
Good article. It made me think of the places that I go when I'm at home or at school. The place at home is really nice, because things are generally less expensive (whoo $12 drafts!), but more so because of the really nice, knowledgeable people and the organization. They have a mixed system for card display, with standard/other money cards in a series of many glass cases, and all the older stuff in large card storage boxes organized by set (they've been in business a while, so they have a ton of these).
I also liked the discussion of play spaces. The place I go while I'm at school in Cambridge has a huge basement, with different areas for different kinds of play. To give an idea of size, we've been having FNMs recently with 40+ people, and there's still room for D&D or cube drafters to be doing things! Having the play space divided really helps keep things focused, and I'm sure also helps prevent theft.
Both stores have fridges with drinks for sale, as well as junk food. The place in Cambrige actually makes pizza orders during long events (big Saturday tournaments) and has people call out want the want and pay by the slice. While pizza and cards don't always mix well, this has worked fine for them.
Food - the first store I managed was in a horrid location, but had the advantage of being the ONLY shop in the area (this was back during Ice Age). I can't tell you how many times I told the owner that he needed to move to a new location, closer to a major population, and closer to fast food... but he wouldn't budge. Soon enough being the only place in town wasn't good enough to keep him in business. Of course it didn't help that his head judge (me) had left and was working for the competition in the next city.
Microwaves... sorry, but no. At the last store I was involved with, the owner and I took a tour of game stores in Michigan. You know what they had in common? It was like playing in someone's basement. Some customers do care about how they treat the gaming area, but the vast majority do not. They do not clean up their messes, they piss all over the toilet in the bathroom (if they manage to even hit that), etc. An extra food prep area like a microwave would just be too abused unless you place it behind a counter where only an employee could get to it... but then you have to dedicate an employee to running it during busy times - the exact times you need that employee to be doing other things.
We have the grand book of menus, and the local pizza places all know us - and some of them even offer discounts occasionally to our customers if they're having their food delivered to our store. It works out just fine.
Customer service - the problem you describe is common at places like Best Buy, etc, where they just throw a guy in a uniform and put him in a department. Those car dealers you're talking about? They know what they look up on the screen, they don't have everything memorized. Now in a niche store, some experience is certainly required... but you still can't expect any one employee to be familiar with ALL the items the store sells. If the store is big enough to be able to afford 3 or 4 employees, they can probably bring in a diverse group to cover the big items, but no major store will ever be able to have employees that cover EVERYTHING.
That's where you customers come in. Help your local game store succeed. Before I got involved with my local store, I was one of the people that customers just assumed worked there because I was always there and I was always talking to new customers about the areas I knew about.
Card storage - recently we adopted my suggested method, binders. Each set gets a binder. Each card gets a page. Not only is it easy to find the cards you want, it's easy for an employee to go through the binders every Monday morning and write down what cards are needed to fill out the binder, and then the list is typed up and posted on our bulletin board. Showcases take up too much room, and leaving the cards out where customers can get to them results in way too much theft and destruction of cards. Not to mention most customers will not put things back where they found them, meaning the next guy coming in looking for 4 Llanowar Elves doesn't realize the idiot that was there before him was color-blind and failed elementary school, and filed those cards in the blue section under "G."
Another thing we have done is this - we take every fat-pack players guide and put it in a binder. Want to leaf through all the cards in the set without having to go through heavy binder after heavy binder? Here, take a look at this one light binder.
I could go through more... but it's almost 3am, and it's way past this old man's bed time.
I think my store scores 9 out of 10, especially regarding food.
We have two Pizza restaurants, two kebab shops and a piadina shop in 2 minutes walking distance
Great article. you did leave out one other crucial piece, though you hinted at it.
Inventory. All but one store in my area rates a big fat zero on this scale. It's amusing to go into a store with my wallet full of cash to buy cards and stare at the empty shelf of boosters, or have a store owner tell me he can't sell me any boosters because then he can't cover the draft. And the singles that are available are next to nil.
Then the same store owners BMC about how everyone runs to ebay to buy stuff. Sigh.
Fortunately we had a new one open in the fall - and he's doing everything right so far - though he could use a bit more space.
Also - expand on your customer service category: If your clerks (or the storeowner himself) are jerks - don't be surprised when people go play Magic elsewhere. I can find rude and obnoxious at any local grocery store - I don't need it where I go to have a good time.
As one of the previous posters has done, I'm going to do a brief (hopefully) write-up of my local.
Food
Burger King is pretty much the food of choice of anyone who plays at my local gaming store. The store is located almost equidistant from every kind of quick and edible food, with BK being about 3ish minutes walk away. Frequently during a draft, or tournament, people will ask how long until the next round before disappearing out the door only to return with a brown bag in-hand. Otherwise, during events which happen in daylight hours, people will send off supporters to fetch anything from Chinese, Subway, McDonalds or maybe even Sushi.
There are various kinds of junkfood available in the store, and even a drinks fridge. Frequently, stashed among the regular soda will be found a variety of milk teas, ice teas and unusual concoctions which are usually only to be found at the Asian supermarket. Octopus flavoured rice crackers and Calpis anyone?
Technology
Unfortunately, there is no access to WiFi as yet. However, there are approximately 10 computers set up and able to LAN should anyone get the urge to DotA someone into submission where their deck could not. Usually the person on the counter will happily oblige a quick lookup for card rulings if there are just a few regulars hanging out and playing.
Facilities
As the store is the local venue for everything from half a dozen kinds of card-floppers to table-top miniatures players to players of a weekly Go league, lockers are pretty much necessary. They're rented out for between a few hours, to ongoing weekly rental. Everything you need for your particular brand, or brands, of game is safely and securely held within the store.
Also, as this store is a convergent point for people of multiple disciplines of gaming, there are tables on wheels which can be brought together, or separated as required to satisfy whatever event is going on. Of the total store area, about a third is given over to tables for the gaming community.
Organization
The first thing you're confronted with as you enter the store is pretty much the glass cases, filled with their treasures. An island which you can make your way around, looking at the jewels they contain. There are about a dozen varieties of game catered to, with singles available for sale for the most popular ones. Because there isn't an apparent or huge demand for singles from the local community, the singles available are generally fairly limited. The ones available at that tend to be a little steeply priced. Generally, if singles are to be bartered for, it'll be done among the community itself.
Customer Service
The person selling you the game generally has played it, is playing it, or will happily learn and play it against you. When the store is quiet, or there's just a couple of regulars in testing decks, or just hanging out, they can frequently be lured out from behind the counter to join in some proclivity. "We're 1 short on out two-headed giant. Come play" is sometimes enough. When they aren't working, they'll frequently be partaking of the games they sell.
Although the store isn't huge, catering to about 40 people at maximum capacity for a pre-release, it has a very friendly community. It's good to walk in and address everyone by name, and have them do the same to you. I'm going to pass on the Calpis water though...
Inventory. All but one store in my area rates a big fat zero on this scale. It's amusing to go into a store with my wallet full of cash to buy cards and stare at the empty shelf of boosters, or have a store owner tell me he can't sell me any boosters because then he can't cover the draft. And the singles that are available are next to nil.
Packs / boxes - I can't speak for every store, but I can say that our sales are varied. You can sell 3 boxes worth of packs (individual packs or box sales) one week, then the nest week you can move 7, then the next week you're down to 5. Sometimes unexpected sales happen, and if that's the case a store has to hold product back for a tournament. It'd be great if we all had the money to hold back two cases of product in reserve at all times, but the reality is that a store has other product to keep stocked, new product coming in, and bills to pay. So we have to estimate what we think we're going to need and occasionally we're still going to have someone come in and wreck that by buying two extra boxes because they're having a couple booster drafts back at the dorm.
As for singles, the store is at the mercy of the customers for trade-ins. Sure, most stores open up a lot of product when a set comes out (and if they don't, they're crazy), but after that it is not financially sound to open another couple boxes of product just because they're short one $20 rare that people want. So we do our best to get people to trade cards in. However, since we're nice enough to allow customers to trade with each other, it creates a bad environment for us - will a customer trade that $20 card to us for $10 store credit, or will he just trade it to another customer for $20 worth of cards that he needs?
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L1 MtG judge (L2 coming soon) and Dominion tournament coordinator serving Flint MI and its surrounding cities.
Microwaves... sorry, but no. At the last store I was involved with, the owner and I took a tour of game stores in Michigan. You know what they had in common? It was like playing in someone's basement. Some customers do care about how they treat the gaming area, but the vast majority do not. They do not clean up their messes, they piss all over the toilet in the bathroom (if they manage to even hit that), etc. An extra food prep area like a microwave would just be too abused unless you place it behind a counter where only an employee could get to it... but then you have to dedicate an employee to running it during busy times - the exact times you need that employee to be doing other things.
Heh, my local store has had a microwave (or two!) in the gaming area for at least 6 years (the time I have been there) if not the 10 years the store has been in business. It is cleaned regularly, and the management is sure is crack down on the bastards who don't clean up after themselves (whether it is food, product packaging, you get the idea).
While the store itself only offers the typical chocolate, chips and pop, there are a bevy of restaurants in town, and sometimes there is "Pizza Day" (or Burrito Day, or whatever) randomly once a month. The store owner goes out and buys a bunch of X food item and brings it in for everyone. I think Burrito Day from Chipotle was my favorite, although "hot dog day" when the shop owner grilled outside the shop for everyone was really cool.
(Plus the shop is near a bunch of awesome restaurants, like the aforementioned Chipotle, but also Georgio's Pizza, where you can get gourmet pizza by the slice... like Baked Potato Pizza, Taco Pizza, and my favorite... Black Bean!)
Anyway, other than that, the shop is pretty standard (or even lower... the singles selection for rares SUCKS). The rares are in the "glass case o doom" and most are in individual plastic boxes inside the glass... you need to ask the clerk for a specific set to look through (it's like a more-annoying binder).
The commons and uncommons are in a huge "dresser" away from the counter. Going through it is easy and "out of the way." The "drawers" of the dresser are just 5000 count cardboard boxes, and the price is set: 10 cents per common, 50 cents per uncommon. Yes, I have gotten 50 cent Swords to Plowshares (although most of the good commons/uncommons are under glass, someone did manage to grab a bunch of sea drakes from the "dresser" after an ownership change).
Anyway, enough blabbing about my local store. Great article, and hopefully people will print it out and take it to their local store owner to give them some ideas for their shop.
Before my local store shut down, they actually did allow food in there. I completely agree that food=people, and it was especially nice having a Subway right next to the store.
And just to nitpick, I don't think 40 new sets is ~20,000 cards.
Wouldn't it be:
20*249 (first set of a block and a core set) + 20*145 (2 small sets) = 7880? Unless I've done something horribly wrong.
Packs / boxes - I can't speak for every store, but I can say that our sales are varied. You can sell 3 boxes worth of packs (individual packs or box sales) one week, then the nest week you can move 7, then the next week you're down to 5. Sometimes unexpected sales happen, and if that's the case a store has to hold product back for a tournament. It'd be great if we all had the money to hold back two cases of product in reserve at all times, but the reality is that a store has other product to keep stocked, new product coming in, and bills to pay. So we have to estimate what we think we're going to need and occasionally we're still going to have someone come in and wreck that by buying two extra boxes because they're having a couple booster drafts back at the dorm.
As for singles, the store is at the mercy of the customers for trade-ins. Sure, most stores open up a lot of product when a set comes out (and if they don't, they're crazy), but after that it is not financially sound to open another couple boxes of product just because they're short one $20 rare that people want. So we do our best to get people to trade cards in. However, since we're nice enough to allow customers to trade with each other, it creates a bad environment for us - will a customer trade that $20 card to us for $10 store credit, or will he just trade it to another customer for $20 worth of cards that he needs?
No arguments there. Thing is if its a one off occurance (even the store I've come to like now occasionally doesn't have packs to sell me til 'the order comes in') no one would bat an eye and it's understandable.
It's when you're running your business that way that sinks the ship. Don't ask why you're unsuccessful and customers are going elsewhere if you can't provide the grassroots of what you're open for - selling product!
Singles... your discussion is valid. I think the problem a lot of store face is just what you said - they want to offer customers $3 for a mutavault they can trade to someone else for $20 or $25. But its a vicious cycle of not trading for anything of value - then no one bothers trying to trade - then no one bothers coming to see if you even have worthwhile singles. Not every trade the store makes has to be a windfall (buying duals for $2 a pop) to be successful. A dollar earned trading a single card is more than you get trading nothing.
//realizes our area just sucks lately - I get to travel for work and see NICE stores where I wish I could move next door to.
First off, the shop that is no longer open: Decent shop space, clean walls, floors (for the most part carpeted with that thick office-space carpeting that vacuums easily), tables that were cleaned daily. Separate gaming room for tourneys. The LAN area was separated from everything else (sometimes not far enough away! The combination of summer heat, 10 computers blowing out 76 degrees each, and the particular collection of unshowered kids on those computers often wafted out to the game area). A drink cooler was often filled with whatever soda was on sale, and that was often good enough. There was a couple of TVs that often had some sort of nerdy video game or movie playing, with comfortable chairs to lounge on. The Magic stock was an issue, but singles were usually taken care of by a third party, who would hold email auctions, and get us singles for decent prices.
Currently, the shop I frequent needs a lot of work. There's ample space, but the facilities are falling apart. A single bathroom is often disgusting (and currently inoperable, spewing forth the foul stench of sewage). I'm surprised there's ever even any girls willing to hang out in that place, even if they have to go elsewhere to use a bathroom.
Stock is very limited. They don't open product, at all. They trade for new stuff as it comes in, but their first priority is to build a set for themselves, therefore no product is available for customers on release. I try to help how I can: I tend to order a playset of commons/uncommons for each new set online, then trade/buy the rares I need as the new set affects my decks/meta. That allows me to give to the store for measly amounts of store credits all my commons/uncommons that no one else needs. However, if the store expects to be able to sell $30 Elspeths, they need to have some in stock, either via trading from customers, or ripping product.
The customers are another big issue. Currently, in our small town, the customer base consists of young teenagers and adults who are too poor to buy many things. The few of us with jobs will occasionally buy boxes (I won't at the $120 price when I can get them online for much cheaper, but some people still do) and I buy some singles (even at the inflated Scrye-based prices). However, the only time people will draft is Pre/release parties, when the regular FNM with the uber-cheap entrance fee of $2 is replaced with the $15 drafts. People like to play, they just can't afford to. Mr. Smith with his 5 children really has to budget for these drafts (except now a few of his children have jobs of their own, finally, and so can support themselves). However, when we've loosely organized weekly 2HG tourneys (often for free) people still turn out to play.
I know it's difficult when even though you're the only shop in town (well, in the entire area, and I'm talking 70 mile radius), your small customer base just won't spend the money... but there are the few of us who are more than willing to spend a slight markup in lieau of waiting for shipping, if the singles/boxes were available. I know I've spent $160 on singles preparing for the summer's standard season just this week, and would've loved to have supported the shop over some random ebay seller, but the shop has none of the product I need, or it's over priced.
I mean, c'mon! There's even a website that aggregates the current online vendor prices of Magic singles! It shouldn't be any harder to do a search than it is to look up a price in Scrye!
(Side note: we were able to get Engineered Explosives for really really cheap, because even though they were exploding (pun intended, heh) in use and price, the Scrye was released when they were still $8! The store could've gotten twice the cash if they had a more up-to-date pricing system!)
Ok, enough of a rant. I guess I'm just jealous of all these other, cool shops that people get to experience!
I think a lot of problems with stores arise when they are interested in other things such as warhammer 40k or selling comics. There is no problem doing other things to support the store (the comic shop in my area is mainly in comics but supports magic because the demand for it). Some stores treat magic and magic players badly because that's not their "game", and I feel that is a mistake.
I used to have a store in my area, and the owner only cared about warhammer and D&D, which is fine. But if you're going to have magic cards then be a complete douche to anyone looking to play or buy magic cards, you're probably going to go out of business. And he did.
Another store I go to, is mainly comics but they have magic as well. Even though the owner is more into comics and figures, he still has enough knowledge of magic to be useful and courteous, because he knows "we" will buy stuff or trade with him. Unfortunately, he has a group of D&D players come in every wed or thrs and I talk to him every FNM.
He says they never buy anything. EVER. NEVER EVER. If you're looking for a place to play or hang out, the least you could do is buy a rules book from a local store, buy some dice or soda, or a comic from the guy.
Support your local game store if possible, unless the owner is a douche.
I am always shocked to hear that stores who supposedly specialize in Magic use Scrye for pricing, especially in this day and age (not to mention that Scrye is dead). There are decent enough websites out there where finding a reasonable price is a simple click away.
What my store does in addition is uses a 2-line price label--the top line is the date the card was priced (and quite obviously the next line is the price itself). However, the cool part about this is that if you think the price of a card is incorrect and it was priced more than a couple of weeks back they'll look up the price for you on the spot and adjust it. In addition, they will also troll through the cases and binders every month or so and look for cards that haven't been re-priced in some time and look those up as well.
I am always shocked to hear that stores who supposedly specialize in Magic use Scrye for pricing, especially in this day and age (not to mention that Scrye is dead). There are decent enough websites out there where finding a reasonable price is a simple click away.
What my store does in addition is uses a 2-line price label--the top line is the date the card was priced (and quite obviously the next line is the price itself). However, the cool part about this is that if you think the price of a card is incorrect and it was priced more than a couple of weeks back they'll look up the price for you on the spot and adjust it. In addition, they will also troll through the cases and binders every month or so and look for cards that haven't been re-priced in some time and look those up as well.
You've hit the nail on the head for why prices at physical stores can be "absurd" or "too high": different pricing systems meet different expectations and there is a lot of work to maintain accurate pricing on singles. Not everyone can price better than online retailers (like SCG) and some wholesalers run deals to turn stock shortly before rotation (watch some of the prices on Standard staples that aren't currently hot in Extended to see this trend over the next few weeks). What you expect to pay may not fit with a business model that using prices constantly in flux and requires large amounts of labor to properly handle.
Yes. A thousand times yes. They lured me in with Ivory Tower and Zuran Orb, and I kept telling myself "I can quit whenever I want...just look at that untapped disk". That was ten years ago man.....
The 2-line pricing scheme seems easy for a store owner who doesn't play or keep up on Magic (those store employees/owners who came from a comics background, for example). Plus it gives them something to do in those slow days when there's few customers coming in.
I think a successful shop needs to cater to a wide variety of customers, and have on-hand or available knowledge about their different products. Hypothetically, it shouldn't be too hard to call up Jim when a customer asks about D&D, as I know Jim plays each week, and I don't. Then, if Jim is a help, when he comes in to GM this week, I'll give him and the table a free soda or something.
Part of catering to a wide customer base is getting what's popular. Sharing the game room between Warhammer players and Magic players means you have to support both games, but beyond those player groups, a successful store may need to run a current inventory of video games (and do what Walmart and Target don't: throw release parties for the new GTA or WoW expac). They may need to keep a few copies of each week's new comic, or at the very least offer a service to a few subscribing comic customers to get the comics they want each week... that way you won't be spending money on stock that won't move.
I as a customer wish my local store was a one-stop shop for all my nerd needs: games, cards (packs, boxes, singles) maybe even the latest nerd book to be published (I don't read those Dragonlance books, but many people do!). If I could go there with a list of singles I need to finish off this new decklist, buy them, then sit down and play them, all while sipping back on a vitamin water and enjoying food from either on-site or a neighbor, then I'd be more willing to spend my money locally than some faceless ebay vendor.
There's a great shop a few miles from my place. It's centered near food, the owner and employees know a good deal about Magic (current and legacy), they offer free wi-fi to customers, have a big screen TV with DVD player in the back of the store, and have a great card browsing system. They run with binders but only keep printouts of the cards in the binders. The cards are stored behind the counter. There's no feeling like you're being watched if you need to look through for specific cards or are browsing. The only negative thing I can say is that the shop could use more play area. When they have a big event, there is not a lot of space to work with. Great store, I wonder if they've read this article yet....
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I don't think shops should focus on making money off singles - sure, they might be marked up a bit, but really, if you give the players the tools to play, they'll continue to play at your store, and the longer they play at your store, the more things you will able to sell to them.
Good points on the need for food, but I would say that microwaves are not preferable because they have the potential for misuse, they make noise, and they give off the "basement" stereotype that we as gamers really need to eliminate in order to grow the hobby.
Also, the wifi is a really great idea, especially if it's so cheap. It would be pretty simple to manage.
You should definitely start a store; you know exactly what makes one good.
I think a lot of problems with stores arise when they are interested in other things such as warhammer 40k or selling comics. There is no problem doing other things to support the store (the comic shop in my area is mainly in comics but supports magic because the demand for it). Some stores treat magic and magic players badly because that's not their "game", and I feel that is a mistake.
It's funny, our store has benefited from that in the reverse... the store that was the only store in the area for the last 10 or so years is all about Magic. They carry token products for other games, but those gamers - especially miniatures gamers - were always treated like crap when they came in the store. When GS opened up, each of the two guys had a particular specialty. The owner knows miniatures, the manager knows CCG's. They added another miniatures guy, and then they also have another CCG guy in me.
As a side note on pricing, we just look up prices when the customer buys the cards. That way we have up-to-the-minute prices all the time.
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L1 MtG judge (L2 coming soon) and Dominion tournament coordinator serving Flint MI and its surrounding cities.
I really liked this article...it was very original and full of good info. You see, where I live now there are only two card shops. One of which specializes in magic. Lucky for me it is one of the best shops that I have ever been to. The owners are married and have extensive knowledge of the game, and they are also avid magic players. They are always very helpful whenever my friends or I need a specific card or deck idea. There is also a regular customer there that will actually sit down with you and help you build custom decks and show you how to play them. I have since purchased two decks that he built for the shop. A nice green elvish deck and a pure artifact deck. The magic experience at this shop is simply awesome!
On a related note to the "food" cartegory, I am interested in knowing what different policies are out there for BYOB situations. Our local shop recently made the decision to prohibit us from bringing beer to drafts, much to the disappointment of several of us players. Mind you this was not any kind of overconsumption or anything, it was just that several of us would bring six packs and such to have a beer or two throughout th night. Nothing excessive. The justification was that there were occasionally younger kids around (although I've only seen one or two kids beyond upper high school range in the last year), but none of us ever would have given someone underage a drink, and had never done so. I was just wondering other people's oppinions of this.
On a related note to the "food" cartegory, I am interested in knowing what different policies are out there for BYOB situations. Our local shop recently made the decision to prohibit us from bringing beer to drafts, much to the disappointment of several of us players. Mind you this was not any kind of overconsumption or anythign, it was just that several of us would bring six packs and such to have a beer or two throughout th night. Nothing excessive. The justification was that th would have given someone underage a drink, and had never done so. Iere were occasionally younger kids around (although I've only seen one or two kids beyond upper high school range in the last year), but none of us ever was just wondering other people's oppinions of this.
If your store doesn't have a specific liquor license (Class B liquor license in Wisconsin), they could easily lose their business license if people are drinking on the premises.
On a related note to the "food" cartegory, I am interested in knowing what different policies are out there for BYOB situations. Our local shop recently made the decision to prohibit us from bringing beer to drafts, much to the disappointment of several of us players. Mind you this was not any kind of overconsumption or anythign, it was just that several of us would bring six packs and such to have a beer or two throughout th night. Nothing excessive. The justification was that there were occasionally younger kids around (although I've only seen one or two kids beyond upper high school range in the last year), but none of us ever would have given someone underage a drink, and had never done so. I was just wondering other people's oppinions of this.
To be honest, I don't think the question of alcohol has ever really come up at my store. Really, it's about as relevant as drinking in public anywhere.
This is probably because in order for BYO to be allowable, you need to have the appropriate liquor license.
To be honest, I don't think the question of alcohol has ever really come up at my store. Really, it's about as relevant as drinking in public anywhere.
This is probably because in order for BYO to be allowable, you need to have the appropriate liquor license.
Does that work the same for restaurants? Because I know of several restaurants locally that don't have liquor licenses (or at least do not serve liquor/beer/wine and I can't imagine them having a license and not serving) but allow BYOB. I was under the impression that a private establishment was able to determine it's own policies as long as it does not actually sell the alcohol.
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Live and let die.
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The person behind the register isn't always the store owner.
Good article. It made me think of the places that I go when I'm at home or at school. The place at home is really nice, because things are generally less expensive (whoo $12 drafts!), but more so because of the really nice, knowledgeable people and the organization. They have a mixed system for card display, with standard/other money cards in a series of many glass cases, and all the older stuff in large card storage boxes organized by set (they've been in business a while, so they have a ton of these).
I also liked the discussion of play spaces. The place I go while I'm at school in Cambridge has a huge basement, with different areas for different kinds of play. To give an idea of size, we've been having FNMs recently with 40+ people, and there's still room for D&D or cube drafters to be doing things! Having the play space divided really helps keep things focused, and I'm sure also helps prevent theft.
Both stores have fridges with drinks for sale, as well as junk food. The place in Cambrige actually makes pizza orders during long events (big Saturday tournaments) and has people call out want the want and pay by the slice. While pizza and cards don't always mix well, this has worked fine for them.
Again, great article!
I am hitting my head against the walls, but the walls are giving way. - Gustav Mahler
MOTL Refs:Here
eBay Refs: Here
Food - the first store I managed was in a horrid location, but had the advantage of being the ONLY shop in the area (this was back during Ice Age). I can't tell you how many times I told the owner that he needed to move to a new location, closer to a major population, and closer to fast food... but he wouldn't budge. Soon enough being the only place in town wasn't good enough to keep him in business. Of course it didn't help that his head judge (me) had left and was working for the competition in the next city.
Microwaves... sorry, but no. At the last store I was involved with, the owner and I took a tour of game stores in Michigan. You know what they had in common? It was like playing in someone's basement. Some customers do care about how they treat the gaming area, but the vast majority do not. They do not clean up their messes, they piss all over the toilet in the bathroom (if they manage to even hit that), etc. An extra food prep area like a microwave would just be too abused unless you place it behind a counter where only an employee could get to it... but then you have to dedicate an employee to running it during busy times - the exact times you need that employee to be doing other things.
We have the grand book of menus, and the local pizza places all know us - and some of them even offer discounts occasionally to our customers if they're having their food delivered to our store. It works out just fine.
Customer service - the problem you describe is common at places like Best Buy, etc, where they just throw a guy in a uniform and put him in a department. Those car dealers you're talking about? They know what they look up on the screen, they don't have everything memorized. Now in a niche store, some experience is certainly required... but you still can't expect any one employee to be familiar with ALL the items the store sells. If the store is big enough to be able to afford 3 or 4 employees, they can probably bring in a diverse group to cover the big items, but no major store will ever be able to have employees that cover EVERYTHING.
That's where you customers come in. Help your local game store succeed. Before I got involved with my local store, I was one of the people that customers just assumed worked there because I was always there and I was always talking to new customers about the areas I knew about.
Card storage - recently we adopted my suggested method, binders. Each set gets a binder. Each card gets a page. Not only is it easy to find the cards you want, it's easy for an employee to go through the binders every Monday morning and write down what cards are needed to fill out the binder, and then the list is typed up and posted on our bulletin board. Showcases take up too much room, and leaving the cards out where customers can get to them results in way too much theft and destruction of cards. Not to mention most customers will not put things back where they found them, meaning the next guy coming in looking for 4 Llanowar Elves doesn't realize the idiot that was there before him was color-blind and failed elementary school, and filed those cards in the blue section under "G."
Another thing we have done is this - we take every fat-pack players guide and put it in a binder. Want to leaf through all the cards in the set without having to go through heavy binder after heavy binder? Here, take a look at this one light binder.
I could go through more... but it's almost 3am, and it's way past this old man's bed time.
I think my store scores 9 out of 10, especially regarding food.
We have two Pizza restaurants, two kebab shops and a piadina shop in 2 minutes walking distance
Inventory. All but one store in my area rates a big fat zero on this scale. It's amusing to go into a store with my wallet full of cash to buy cards and stare at the empty shelf of boosters, or have a store owner tell me he can't sell me any boosters because then he can't cover the draft. And the singles that are available are next to nil.
Then the same store owners BMC about how everyone runs to ebay to buy stuff. Sigh.
Fortunately we had a new one open in the fall - and he's doing everything right so far - though he could use a bit more space.
Also - expand on your customer service category: If your clerks (or the storeowner himself) are jerks - don't be surprised when people go play Magic elsewhere. I can find rude and obnoxious at any local grocery store - I don't need it where I go to have a good time.
Food
Burger King is pretty much the food of choice of anyone who plays at my local gaming store. The store is located almost equidistant from every kind of quick and edible food, with BK being about 3ish minutes walk away. Frequently during a draft, or tournament, people will ask how long until the next round before disappearing out the door only to return with a brown bag in-hand. Otherwise, during events which happen in daylight hours, people will send off supporters to fetch anything from Chinese, Subway, McDonalds or maybe even Sushi.
There are various kinds of junkfood available in the store, and even a drinks fridge. Frequently, stashed among the regular soda will be found a variety of milk teas, ice teas and unusual concoctions which are usually only to be found at the Asian supermarket. Octopus flavoured rice crackers and Calpis anyone?
Technology
Unfortunately, there is no access to WiFi as yet. However, there are approximately 10 computers set up and able to LAN should anyone get the urge to DotA someone into submission where their deck could not. Usually the person on the counter will happily oblige a quick lookup for card rulings if there are just a few regulars hanging out and playing.
Facilities
As the store is the local venue for everything from half a dozen kinds of card-floppers to table-top miniatures players to players of a weekly Go league, lockers are pretty much necessary. They're rented out for between a few hours, to ongoing weekly rental. Everything you need for your particular brand, or brands, of game is safely and securely held within the store.
Also, as this store is a convergent point for people of multiple disciplines of gaming, there are tables on wheels which can be brought together, or separated as required to satisfy whatever event is going on. Of the total store area, about a third is given over to tables for the gaming community.
Organization
The first thing you're confronted with as you enter the store is pretty much the glass cases, filled with their treasures. An island which you can make your way around, looking at the jewels they contain. There are about a dozen varieties of game catered to, with singles available for sale for the most popular ones. Because there isn't an apparent or huge demand for singles from the local community, the singles available are generally fairly limited. The ones available at that tend to be a little steeply priced. Generally, if singles are to be bartered for, it'll be done among the community itself.
Customer Service
The person selling you the game generally has played it, is playing it, or will happily learn and play it against you. When the store is quiet, or there's just a couple of regulars in testing decks, or just hanging out, they can frequently be lured out from behind the counter to join in some proclivity. "We're 1 short on out two-headed giant. Come play" is sometimes enough. When they aren't working, they'll frequently be partaking of the games they sell.
Although the store isn't huge, catering to about 40 people at maximum capacity for a pre-release, it has a very friendly community. It's good to walk in and address everyone by name, and have them do the same to you. I'm going to pass on the Calpis water though...
STREET ARTISTS RULE!
Packs / boxes - I can't speak for every store, but I can say that our sales are varied. You can sell 3 boxes worth of packs (individual packs or box sales) one week, then the nest week you can move 7, then the next week you're down to 5. Sometimes unexpected sales happen, and if that's the case a store has to hold product back for a tournament. It'd be great if we all had the money to hold back two cases of product in reserve at all times, but the reality is that a store has other product to keep stocked, new product coming in, and bills to pay. So we have to estimate what we think we're going to need and occasionally we're still going to have someone come in and wreck that by buying two extra boxes because they're having a couple booster drafts back at the dorm.
As for singles, the store is at the mercy of the customers for trade-ins. Sure, most stores open up a lot of product when a set comes out (and if they don't, they're crazy), but after that it is not financially sound to open another couple boxes of product just because they're short one $20 rare that people want. So we do our best to get people to trade cards in. However, since we're nice enough to allow customers to trade with each other, it creates a bad environment for us - will a customer trade that $20 card to us for $10 store credit, or will he just trade it to another customer for $20 worth of cards that he needs?
Heh, my local store has had a microwave (or two!) in the gaming area for at least 6 years (the time I have been there) if not the 10 years the store has been in business. It is cleaned regularly, and the management is sure is crack down on the bastards who don't clean up after themselves (whether it is food, product packaging, you get the idea).
While the store itself only offers the typical chocolate, chips and pop, there are a bevy of restaurants in town, and sometimes there is "Pizza Day" (or Burrito Day, or whatever) randomly once a month. The store owner goes out and buys a bunch of X food item and brings it in for everyone. I think Burrito Day from Chipotle was my favorite, although "hot dog day" when the shop owner grilled outside the shop for everyone was really cool.
(Plus the shop is near a bunch of awesome restaurants, like the aforementioned Chipotle, but also Georgio's Pizza, where you can get gourmet pizza by the slice... like Baked Potato Pizza, Taco Pizza, and my favorite... Black Bean!)
Anyway, other than that, the shop is pretty standard (or even lower... the singles selection for rares SUCKS). The rares are in the "glass case o doom" and most are in individual plastic boxes inside the glass... you need to ask the clerk for a specific set to look through (it's like a more-annoying binder).
The commons and uncommons are in a huge "dresser" away from the counter. Going through it is easy and "out of the way." The "drawers" of the dresser are just 5000 count cardboard boxes, and the price is set: 10 cents per common, 50 cents per uncommon. Yes, I have gotten 50 cent Swords to Plowshares (although most of the good commons/uncommons are under glass, someone did manage to grab a bunch of sea drakes from the "dresser" after an ownership change).
Anyway, enough blabbing about my local store. Great article, and hopefully people will print it out and take it to their local store owner to give them some ideas for their shop.
Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc
And just to nitpick, I don't think 40 new sets is ~20,000 cards.
Wouldn't it be:
20*249 (first set of a block and a core set) + 20*145 (2 small sets) = 7880? Unless I've done something horribly wrong.
No arguments there. Thing is if its a one off occurance (even the store I've come to like now occasionally doesn't have packs to sell me til 'the order comes in') no one would bat an eye and it's understandable.
It's when you're running your business that way that sinks the ship. Don't ask why you're unsuccessful and customers are going elsewhere if you can't provide the grassroots of what you're open for - selling product!
Singles... your discussion is valid. I think the problem a lot of store face is just what you said - they want to offer customers $3 for a mutavault they can trade to someone else for $20 or $25. But its a vicious cycle of not trading for anything of value - then no one bothers trying to trade - then no one bothers coming to see if you even have worthwhile singles. Not every trade the store makes has to be a windfall (buying duals for $2 a pop) to be successful. A dollar earned trading a single card is more than you get trading nothing.
//realizes our area just sucks lately - I get to travel for work and see NICE stores where I wish I could move next door to.
First off, the shop that is no longer open: Decent shop space, clean walls, floors (for the most part carpeted with that thick office-space carpeting that vacuums easily), tables that were cleaned daily. Separate gaming room for tourneys. The LAN area was separated from everything else (sometimes not far enough away! The combination of summer heat, 10 computers blowing out 76 degrees each, and the particular collection of unshowered kids on those computers often wafted out to the game area). A drink cooler was often filled with whatever soda was on sale, and that was often good enough. There was a couple of TVs that often had some sort of nerdy video game or movie playing, with comfortable chairs to lounge on. The Magic stock was an issue, but singles were usually taken care of by a third party, who would hold email auctions, and get us singles for decent prices.
Currently, the shop I frequent needs a lot of work. There's ample space, but the facilities are falling apart. A single bathroom is often disgusting (and currently inoperable, spewing forth the foul stench of sewage). I'm surprised there's ever even any girls willing to hang out in that place, even if they have to go elsewhere to use a bathroom.
Stock is very limited. They don't open product, at all. They trade for new stuff as it comes in, but their first priority is to build a set for themselves, therefore no product is available for customers on release. I try to help how I can: I tend to order a playset of commons/uncommons for each new set online, then trade/buy the rares I need as the new set affects my decks/meta. That allows me to give to the store for measly amounts of store credits all my commons/uncommons that no one else needs. However, if the store expects to be able to sell $30 Elspeths, they need to have some in stock, either via trading from customers, or ripping product.
The customers are another big issue. Currently, in our small town, the customer base consists of young teenagers and adults who are too poor to buy many things. The few of us with jobs will occasionally buy boxes (I won't at the $120 price when I can get them online for much cheaper, but some people still do) and I buy some singles (even at the inflated Scrye-based prices). However, the only time people will draft is Pre/release parties, when the regular FNM with the uber-cheap entrance fee of $2 is replaced with the $15 drafts. People like to play, they just can't afford to. Mr. Smith with his 5 children really has to budget for these drafts (except now a few of his children have jobs of their own, finally, and so can support themselves). However, when we've loosely organized weekly 2HG tourneys (often for free) people still turn out to play.
I know it's difficult when even though you're the only shop in town (well, in the entire area, and I'm talking 70 mile radius), your small customer base just won't spend the money... but there are the few of us who are more than willing to spend a slight markup in lieau of waiting for shipping, if the singles/boxes were available. I know I've spent $160 on singles preparing for the summer's standard season just this week, and would've loved to have supported the shop over some random ebay seller, but the shop has none of the product I need, or it's over priced.
I mean, c'mon! There's even a website that aggregates the current online vendor prices of Magic singles! It shouldn't be any harder to do a search than it is to look up a price in Scrye!
(Side note: we were able to get Engineered Explosives for really really cheap, because even though they were exploding (pun intended, heh) in use and price, the Scrye was released when they were still $8! The store could've gotten twice the cash if they had a more up-to-date pricing system!)
Ok, enough of a rant. I guess I'm just jealous of all these other, cool shops that people get to experience!
I used to have a store in my area, and the owner only cared about warhammer and D&D, which is fine. But if you're going to have magic cards then be a complete douche to anyone looking to play or buy magic cards, you're probably going to go out of business. And he did.
Another store I go to, is mainly comics but they have magic as well. Even though the owner is more into comics and figures, he still has enough knowledge of magic to be useful and courteous, because he knows "we" will buy stuff or trade with him. Unfortunately, he has a group of D&D players come in every wed or thrs and I talk to him every FNM.
He says they never buy anything. EVER. NEVER EVER. If you're looking for a place to play or hang out, the least you could do is buy a rules book from a local store, buy some dice or soda, or a comic from the guy.
Support your local game store if possible, unless the owner is a douche.
What my store does in addition is uses a 2-line price label--the top line is the date the card was priced (and quite obviously the next line is the price itself). However, the cool part about this is that if you think the price of a card is incorrect and it was priced more than a couple of weeks back they'll look up the price for you on the spot and adjust it. In addition, they will also troll through the cases and binders every month or so and look for cards that haven't been re-priced in some time and look those up as well.
You've hit the nail on the head for why prices at physical stores can be "absurd" or "too high": different pricing systems meet different expectations and there is a lot of work to maintain accurate pricing on singles. Not everyone can price better than online retailers (like SCG) and some wholesalers run deals to turn stock shortly before rotation (watch some of the prices on Standard staples that aren't currently hot in Extended to see this trend over the next few weeks). What you expect to pay may not fit with a business model that using prices constantly in flux and requires large amounts of labor to properly handle.
I think a successful shop needs to cater to a wide variety of customers, and have on-hand or available knowledge about their different products. Hypothetically, it shouldn't be too hard to call up Jim when a customer asks about D&D, as I know Jim plays each week, and I don't. Then, if Jim is a help, when he comes in to GM this week, I'll give him and the table a free soda or something.
Part of catering to a wide customer base is getting what's popular. Sharing the game room between Warhammer players and Magic players means you have to support both games, but beyond those player groups, a successful store may need to run a current inventory of video games (and do what Walmart and Target don't: throw release parties for the new GTA or WoW expac). They may need to keep a few copies of each week's new comic, or at the very least offer a service to a few subscribing comic customers to get the comics they want each week... that way you won't be spending money on stock that won't move.
I as a customer wish my local store was a one-stop shop for all my nerd needs: games, cards (packs, boxes, singles) maybe even the latest nerd book to be published (I don't read those Dragonlance books, but many people do!). If I could go there with a list of singles I need to finish off this new decklist, buy them, then sit down and play them, all while sipping back on a vitamin water and enjoying food from either on-site or a neighbor, then I'd be more willing to spend my money locally than some faceless ebay vendor.
WUBRG: Karona - Chaos towards Divine Intervention ** WUBRG: Karona - God Tribal ** WB: Teysa - Angels, Wrath, and Return from GY ** UB: Szadek - Control and Mill ** RWU: Zedruu - Everyone Draws Cards ** BUG: Damia - Gorgon Voltron Ramp ** URG: Animar - ETB effects and Beatdown ** WUB: Sharuum - Lots of Artifacts UG: Edric - Tribal Rogues ** W: Odric - Tribal Soldiers ** B: Shirei - Shadowborn Apostle Deck ** RB: Tymaret - Kill all the things!
Good points on the need for food, but I would say that microwaves are not preferable because they have the potential for misuse, they make noise, and they give off the "basement" stereotype that we as gamers really need to eliminate in order to grow the hobby.
Also, the wifi is a really great idea, especially if it's so cheap. It would be pretty simple to manage.
You should definitely start a store; you know exactly what makes one good.
It's funny, our store has benefited from that in the reverse... the store that was the only store in the area for the last 10 or so years is all about Magic. They carry token products for other games, but those gamers - especially miniatures gamers - were always treated like crap when they came in the store. When GS opened up, each of the two guys had a particular specialty. The owner knows miniatures, the manager knows CCG's. They added another miniatures guy, and then they also have another CCG guy in me.
As a side note on pricing, we just look up prices when the customer buys the cards. That way we have up-to-the-minute prices all the time.
If your store doesn't have a specific liquor license (Class B liquor license in Wisconsin), they could easily lose their business license if people are drinking on the premises.
To be honest, I don't think the question of alcohol has ever really come up at my store. Really, it's about as relevant as drinking in public anywhere.
This is probably because in order for BYO to be allowable, you need to have the appropriate liquor license.
STREET ARTISTS RULE!
Does that work the same for restaurants? Because I know of several restaurants locally that don't have liquor licenses (or at least do not serve liquor/beer/wine and I can't imagine them having a license and not serving) but allow BYOB. I was under the impression that a private establishment was able to determine it's own policies as long as it does not actually sell the alcohol.