My friend and I have worked for a long time on bringing our hobby store to life, but we are still looking around for a good area to settle.
We have our sights set on Woodbridge in Virgina, but don't know the area well enough to have an idea of where a hobby store would be most likely to succeed.
So I'm asking if any residents would willing to post any specific places to avoid (such as traffic dead-zones, places that have had repeated failed businesses) and places we shouldn't definitely look at. (A neighbor with a lot of gamers)
If you live in Virginia in general... are there any places you would like to see a large hobby store open?
BTW the store will specialize in all games and not just one specifically. We plan to have it be a large store around 3,000 sf that will host multiple tournaments.
The name of the store is still in question, but it most likely will be "The Critical Hit" ("hobby store" in small letters underneath)
There used to be a game shop of the exact type you describe on the south side of Potomac Mills Mall, on Smoketown Rd, but they apparently closed down a few years ago, so that might be a spot to avoid. They still have a location in Chantilly, it might be worth checking with that store to see if they can share some of the challenges of running a shop in Woodbridge.
Best of luck to you though, rent in the DC metro is awful. (and might be why it's hard for game shops, a lot of people in DC metro are house poor)
Call one of them up and hire them to find the best spot for your shop. If you don't want to pay them, go to Virgina yourself and start polling people around large population centers as to where an LGS would need to be for them to frequent it. While there visit a couple commercial real estate agents and start finding out about location availability and lease rates. And start identifying distributors in the area and start introducing yourself, distributors know everything about thier industry in thier area.
You are not going to get enough info on MTGS to make an educated decision
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
We have our sights set on Woodbridge in Virgina, but don't know the area well enough to have an idea of where a hobby store would be most likely to succeed.
So I'm asking if any residents would willing to post any specific places to avoid (such as traffic dead-zones, places that have had repeated failed businesses) and places we shouldn't definitely look at. (A neighbor with a lot of gamers)
If you live in Virginia in general... are there any places you would like to see a large hobby store open?
BTW the store will specialize in all games and not just one specifically. We plan to have it be a large store around 3,000 sf that will host multiple tournaments.
The name of the store is still in question, but it most likely will be "The Critical Hit" ("hobby store" in small letters underneath)
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
Thank you
Best of luck to you though, rent in the DC metro is awful. (and might be why it's hard for game shops, a lot of people in DC metro are house poor)
It may take some time. You may want to look at 'clans'.
I would do a google search for variations on card/comic/collectible stores in the area, and try and find an underserved area.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
http://www.greenbook.org/market-research-firms.cfm/l/Virginia
Call one of them up and hire them to find the best spot for your shop. If you don't want to pay them, go to Virgina yourself and start polling people around large population centers as to where an LGS would need to be for them to frequent it. While there visit a couple commercial real estate agents and start finding out about location availability and lease rates. And start identifying distributors in the area and start introducing yourself, distributors know everything about thier industry in thier area.
You are not going to get enough info on MTGS to make an educated decision