The question is will it be enough to reach that $1,000 a month threshold in order to break even.
Where did you come up with that number? Do you mean just for events?
LGS need to take in a lot more money than 1000 dollars a month, its way more than rent.
Rent (unless they outright own)
Mortgage (if they are purchasing)
Property Tax
Insurance
Business License fees
Electric bill
Water bill
Wages (Paying any employees)
Maintenance
Other overhead
Merchandise
Interest on Merchandise (when they borrow to buy stuff)
Advertising (local and/or online)
And I'm sure I am missing other costs as well. If I were to own a gaming store I wouldn't want less than 10,000 a month gross income (between brick and mortar AND online sales) and even then you probably would never even cut yourself a check for your own salary. So yeah, LGS are going to have to up their entry fees in response, they aren't a charity. Problem is then they up it and drive away the small amount of players they may have. It just flat out sucks. I'm not going to go into the politics of reopening. I have to leave it at that.
I would say no store is worth operating for less than $10k/week.
As much as you might love the work itself or lifestyle, a business has to be profitable to remain successful or it will fold fast.
There are also security costs (alarm company, cameras, and the cost of the time it takes to review security footage)
Merchant costs (the 3% you lose to Visa and Mastercard, Amex is even more, plus Paypal, Moneris, Crystal Commerce, or whoever your credit card processor is)
Phone and internet bill (best combined/reduced by using a Voip line), hosting fees (for your website, ssl certificate renewal fee, etc)
Various license fees (not just with the government for registering your business, but for the software you're using, and also if you're selling food and/or alcohol)
Lawyer and accountant fees (every smart business owner has both)
Health and dental insurance plan (most companies which have them split this cost 50/50 with employees)
Parking and gas costs for your vehicle (like many things these are tax deductible and not coming from your salary, but only if your business is earning enough gross from which to deduct said costs)
Employee uniforms (t-shirts, hats, many businesses want a level of conformity among staff)
Personal Protective equipment (Plexiglas. masks, gloves, face shields, hand sanitizer and more cleaning supplies than previously bought and used)
Sponsorship and promotional giveaways (this can also include prize packs for events, third party companies which promote your business through online press releases as new services and products are made available)
BBB membership fees (it's always better to be accredited)
Decorative costs (ie: full uncut sheets to frame on the wall, etc)
Motivational funds for increased employee morale and productivity (this is often money reserved to be spent on company lunches, a summer party, an employee's birthday celebration, a quarterly competition reward, holiday bonuses, etc)
Additional storage/warehouse space (most LGSs don't have basements and aren't big enough to have a play area and hold their entire inventory, or they'd rather not for safety purposes
The cost of potential bylaw infractions (some stores take the calculated risk to stay open for business later than they should and get caught/fined, and now you also have to worry about random health inspectors monitoring social distancing protocols)
Then you have to factor in untraceable losses from shoplifters and employees stealing toilet paper, other supplies, cash and/or merchandise (presumably singles more than sealed products which can more easily be chalked up to inventory errors if discovered missing at a later time) all of which probably happens often
A poorly trained employee inadvertently accepting damaged or fake cards from a seller and paying top dollar for them after which they can't be resold for a profit or at all
Diminishing returns from players who eventually stop buying as much sealed product, attending drafts, and quit coming back over time for various reasons, often family related (this number is usually higher than the number of young new regular or returning players joining the local competitive meta, especially now with the ongoing pandemic and many being apprehensive to return at the first available opportunity)
Emergency funds always set aside (I would say at least 50k but probably closer to 100k since you need money for purchasing singles from sellers and not just product from wholesalers, something every business needs in case there's a random unexpected maintenance repair required beyond regular expected toiletries costs... perhaps the a/c or toilet breaks, or a city pipe randomly bursts nearby shutting down your business or traffic to it temporarily preventing you from doing as much business as usual, or simply an occasional slow week where sales don't surpass payroll and other base operational expenses.
You also need money to pay out statutory holidays at times employees aren't actually working for you (a net loss), and also in case unexpected circumstances force you to lay off an employee abruptly after which they won't be helping your business for the next few weeks but still need to be paid severance and any earned/accumulated vacation pay. Training new employees can also be very costly because they inherently work less efficiently, at least at first than those who are already familiar with established protocols.
The risk/cost of overbuying (purchasing too many copies of particular singles for resale or opening too much sealed product and then not being able to sell those cards quickly enough, eventually watching as they slowly lose popularity you're forced to reduce the process, often selling at a loss which is barely made up for by recently hyped cards which you can mark up and still fly out of the showcase quickly).
It goes on and on...
Commercial rents per square foot are much higher than residential rents, and unless your employees are all family members or volunteers working for free, 10k per month gross means that you as the owner definitely aren't taking any salary, that is if you can even break even on basic operational expenses.
Anyone who thinks any business can operate on $1000 per month is disconnected from reality and probably still lives in their parents' basement. That's literally less than my rent at home which doesn't even include heating or electricity.
In-person FNM tomorrow whoooo!
We currently have exactly 2 people with Covid-19 in my state (both in quarantine)
Are all players required to wear masks?
Do you know if they'll be using some sort of Plexiglas H-shaped dividers to keep players from potentially breathing towards one another?
I saw something like that at one of my local stores with a small window at the bottom in case a player needs to slide a card across the play area for the opponent to read. It seems practical but may be challenging for players who are low-talkers or have difficulty hearing.
Just curious to know if that's the "new normal" (for the record, I really don't like that term which is essentially being used to normalize abnormal social, or more accurately anti-social if not outright paranoid behaviors)
Personally, I think moving forward every LGS should have a bowl of fresh broccoli, spinach salad, or kale chips for each player so we're all better protected as a recent Dutch study suggests those most and worst affected by covid had vitamin K deficiencies (obviously not including those with preexisting conditions and the elderly who actually died from inadequate care, starvation, dehydration, short-staffing, and poor management at long term care facilities who were ill-prepared to deal with an emergency of this magnitude if and when it was bound to happen, something most people knew was a problem for decades).
Seriously, the body is fragile which we often forget, and we require regular proper maintenance (sometimes this means regularly forcing ourselves to responsibly eat foods we don't necessarily like). Suffice it to say a good diet is always the best defense so we can fight, endure, regenerate, and thrive, so each of us has to be conscious of our inherent human frailty and do our part to ensure we're not malnourished so that we can better fight off this and any upcoming diseases, whenever they emerge, both individually and collectively. We are all in this together and we will beat it!
Remember...Just because Vitamin K is lower down the list or further in the alphabet than vitamins ABCDE, that doesn't make it less important, so we shouldn't deprioritize or forget about it! Also, remember to eat sources of vitamin D regularly as well, because vitamin D helps with the production of certain proteins which interact with Vitamin K for proper carboxylation.
So unless quarantine laws are different in each state / province, ALL Local Game Store (LGS) owners are already breaking the law just for operating non-essential businesses. In other words they're not legally allowed to sell their products to customers with an online presence via e-commerce, mail deliveries, and curb-side pickup be damned. If they can't stay in business because the "stay at home" order tells them not to then they literally have no choice but to liquidate everything they have because they're no longer able to sell.
Then the question becomes how are they going to liquidate their inventory If they're not even allowed to physically enter their store? The product HAS to go somewhere. It can't just be sitting around collecting dust while they wait until they can open shop again just to pay off small business loans / rent they can't even owe to their landlord only for them to go bankrupt permanently. Since the U.S. Government can't even help fund these businesses with the loans necessary to pay off their landlord they're already screwed either way.
I would argue that gaming is critically essential (for mental health), as much as, if not more so than access to liquor stores which literally sell a harmful carcinogenic substance that only increases the odds of illness and premature death, and have remained open (at least in Canada) throughout this entire ordeal. Even SQDC (weed) stores in Quebec are classified as an "essential" service. How ironic for something which was illegal less than two years ago!
Case in point: Humanity is best defined by the games we play, and more accurately by how we play them.
Life is full of: players, competition, adversaries, teams, zones (each with their own sets of rules), cheaters, resources, trade, timing restrictions, winners, and losers.
In essence, gaming is in our nature, everywhere in society, and an integral part of our very existence.
I would say no store is worth operating for less than $10k/week.
As much as you might love the work itself or lifestyle, a business has to be profitable to remain successful or it will fold fast.
There are also security costs (alarm company, cameras, and the cost of the time it takes to review security footage)
Merchant costs (the 3% you lose to Visa and Mastercard, Amex is even more, plus Paypal, Moneris, Crystal Commerce, or whoever your credit card processor is)
Phone and internet bill (best combined/reduced by using a Voip line), hosting fees (for your website, ssl certificate renewal fee, etc)
Various license fees (not just with the government for registering your business, but for the software you're using, and also if you're selling food and/or alcohol)
Lawyer and accountant fees (every smart business owner has both)
Health and dental insurance plan (most companies which have them split this cost 50/50 with employees)
Parking and gas costs for your vehicle (like many things these are tax deductible and not coming from your salary, but only if your business is earning enough gross from which to deduct said costs)
Employee uniforms (t-shirts, hats, many businesses want a level of conformity among staff)
Personal Protective equipment (Plexiglas. masks, gloves, face shields, hand sanitizer and more cleaning supplies than previously bought and used)
Sponsorship and promotional giveaways (this can also include prize packs for events, third party companies which promote your business through online press releases as new services and products are made available)
BBB membership fees (it's always better to be accredited)
Decorative costs (ie: full uncut sheets to frame on the wall, etc)
Motivational funds for increased employee morale and productivity (this is often money reserved to be spent on company lunches, a summer party, an employee's birthday celebration, a quarterly competition reward, holiday bonuses, etc)
Additional storage/warehouse space (most LGSs don't have basements and aren't big enough to have a play area and hold their entire inventory, or they'd rather not for safety purposes
The cost of potential bylaw infractions (some stores take the calculated risk to stay open for business later than they should and get caught/fined, and now you also have to worry about random health inspectors monitoring social distancing protocols)
Then you have to factor in untraceable losses from shoplifters and employees stealing toilet paper, other supplies, cash and/or merchandise (presumably singles more than sealed products which can more easily be chalked up to inventory errors if discovered missing at a later time) all of which probably happens often
A poorly trained employee inadvertently accepting damaged or fake cards from a seller and paying top dollar for them after which they can't be resold for a profit or at all
Diminishing returns from players who eventually stop buying as much sealed product, attending drafts, and quit coming back over time for various reasons, often family related (this number is usually higher than the number of young new regular or returning players joining the local competitive meta, especially now with the ongoing pandemic and many being apprehensive to return at the first available opportunity)
Emergency funds always set aside (I would say at least 50k but probably closer to 100k since you need money for purchasing singles from sellers and not just product from wholesalers, something every business needs in case there's a random unexpected maintenance repair required beyond regular expected toiletries costs... perhaps the a/c or toilet breaks, or a city pipe randomly bursts nearby shutting down your business or traffic to it temporarily preventing you from doing as much business as usual, or simply an occasional slow week where sales don't surpass payroll and other base operational expenses.
You also need money to pay out statutory holidays at times employees aren't actually working for you (a net loss), and also in case unexpected circumstances force you to lay off an employee abruptly after which they won't be helping your business for the next few weeks but still need to be paid severance and any earned/accumulated vacation pay. Training new employees can also be very costly because they inherently work less efficiently, at least at first than those who are already familiar with established protocols.
The risk/cost of overbuying (purchasing too many copies of particular singles for resale or opening too much sealed product and then not being able to sell those cards quickly enough, eventually watching as they slowly lose popularity you're forced to reduce the process, often selling at a loss which is barely made up for by recently hyped cards which you can mark up and still fly out of the showcase quickly).
It goes on and on...
Commercial rents per square foot are much higher than residential rents, and unless your employees are all family members or volunteers working for free, 10k per month gross means that you as the owner definitely aren't taking any salary, that is if you can even break even on basic operational expenses.
Anyone who thinks any business can operate on $1000 per month is disconnected from reality and probably still lives in their parents' basement. That's literally less than my rent at home which doesn't even include heating or electricity.
I used to be a demigod, but now I'm an omnimage
Are all players required to wear masks?
Do you know if they'll be using some sort of Plexiglas H-shaped dividers to keep players from potentially breathing towards one another?
I saw something like that at one of my local stores with a small window at the bottom in case a player needs to slide a card across the play area for the opponent to read. It seems practical but may be challenging for players who are low-talkers or have difficulty hearing.
Just curious to know if that's the "new normal" (for the record, I really don't like that term which is essentially being used to normalize abnormal social, or more accurately anti-social if not outright paranoid behaviors)
Personally, I think moving forward every LGS should have a bowl of fresh broccoli, spinach salad, or kale chips for each player so we're all better protected as a recent Dutch study suggests those most and worst affected by covid had vitamin K deficiencies (obviously not including those with preexisting conditions and the elderly who actually died from inadequate care, starvation, dehydration, short-staffing, and poor management at long term care facilities who were ill-prepared to deal with an emergency of this magnitude if and when it was bound to happen, something most people knew was a problem for decades).
Seriously, the body is fragile which we often forget, and we require regular proper maintenance (sometimes this means regularly forcing ourselves to responsibly eat foods we don't necessarily like). Suffice it to say a good diet is always the best defense so we can fight, endure, regenerate, and thrive, so each of us has to be conscious of our inherent human frailty and do our part to ensure we're not malnourished so that we can better fight off this and any upcoming diseases, whenever they emerge, both individually and collectively. We are all in this together and we will beat it!
Remember...Just because Vitamin K is lower down the list or further in the alphabet than vitamins ABCDE, that doesn't make it less important, so we shouldn't deprioritize or forget about it! Also, remember to eat sources of vitamin D regularly as well, because vitamin D helps with the production of certain proteins which interact with Vitamin K for proper carboxylation.
I used to be a demigod, but now I'm an omnimage
I would argue that gaming is critically essential (for mental health), as much as, if not more so than access to liquor stores which literally sell a harmful carcinogenic substance that only increases the odds of illness and premature death, and have remained open (at least in Canada) throughout this entire ordeal. Even SQDC (weed) stores in Quebec are classified as an "essential" service. How ironic for something which was illegal less than two years ago!
Case in point: Humanity is best defined by the games we play, and more accurately by how we play them.
Life is full of: players, competition, adversaries, teams, zones (each with their own sets of rules), cheaters, resources, trade, timing restrictions, winners, and losers.
In essence, gaming is in our nature, everywhere in society, and an integral part of our very existence.
I used to be a demigod, but now I'm an omnimage