Starting A Game Store

[Shadeling]

I am looking to start a Game Store in California. I was wondering if anyone out there is established and may know what the startup costs would be. I would obviously have to get a business loan and such...I really don't have any business XP....but I am dedicated to what I love. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Misguided]

See this thread for starters:
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?threadid=3832&highlight=retail+store

[guildrpg]

I have some experience in the retail world and I've been a business consultant for over 5 years. If you would like a little advice free of charge, drop me an email (bvinson@hotmail.com) and I'll see what, if anything I can help you with.

Secondly, I am a freelance writer. I do promotional materials and business plans as well as a wealth of other materials. You can see a partial "clip book" at http://webpages.charter.net/bsvinson/resume.html . So if you need this type of material I may be able to provide it for you.

Good luck!
Brian S Vinson

[Shadeling]

Originally posted by guildrpg
I have some experience in the retail world and I've been a business consultant for over 5 years. If you would like a little advice free of charge, drop me an email (bvinson@hotmail.com) and I'll see what, if anything I can help you with.

Secondly, I am a freelance writer. I do promotional materials and business plans as well as a wealth of other materials. You can see a partial "clip book" at http://webpages.charter.net/bsvinson/resume.html . So if you need this type of material I may be able to provide it for you.

Good luck!
Brian S Vinson

Thanks, I will drop you a line soon.

[wizardattic]

Originally posted by Shadeling
I am looking to start a Game Store in California. I was wondering if anyone out there is established and may know what the startup costs would be. I would obviously have to get a business loan and such...I really don't have any business XP....but I am dedicated to what I love. Any help is greatly appreciated.

A really good way would be to contact other retailers in the area (but not the one that's going to be next door to you). For example, Aaron at Endgame in Oakland just started his nice game store less than a year ago, and I know he got a business loan to do it.

Most of them are friendly.

[Shadeling]

Originally posted by wizardattic


A really good way would be to contact other retailers in the area (but not the one that's going to be next door to you). For example, Aaron at Endgame in Oakland just started his nice game store less than a year ago, and I know he got a business loan to do it.

Most of them are friendly.

Thank you.

[Gamersrealm]

Such an open-ended question...

As my good friend Dave Wallace (owner of The Fantasy Shop chain in St. Louis) would say, "Are you crazy?!?!"

If you're answer is "Yes", and you still want to do this, then I can and will happily help you with any questions you might have.

First.. getting a bank loan. You can almost forget it. A bank will look at the history they have for comic/game shops (if any) and turn you down. Most of the game stores that open fail within the first three years (actually, most small businesses of any kind fail within the first three years). So they have no reason to think you will be solvent long enough to pay them back.

If you cannot raise the finances yourself, and still wish to go through a bank, try telling them you are a book store (not a far stretch from the truth). The banks tend to be more comfortable with this, since book stores are looked upon by the general public as a more "professional" endeavor, and they probably have a loan history showing them average numbers for "bookstores".

What you need to do, in any case, is have an understanding of the mathematics, i.e. the "business", behind the business. You need to know REALISTICALLY what you can expect to do in years one, two, and three. You need to know what questions to ask before you can even begin to get the answers.

You may wish to get in touch with me directly. My friend Dave Wallace has put together a book, "The Specialty Retailer's Handbook", that goes over MOST EVERYTHING you will need to know to get you off to a healthy start. Even after 21 years in business myself, I learned quite a bit from him (he has SIX stores in St. Louis). We stock and sell this book ($21.95 retail), and it is required reading for all of my managers.

I hate to sound like an advertisement, but I really can't recommmend this book highly enough. Once you've read it, if you have further questions, either myself or Dave will be MORE THAN HAPPY to answer any and all of your questions.

In the meantime, please feel free to share any thoughts, or ask any questions you'd like.

Rob Placer - Owner
The Gamer's Realm, Inc.
West Windssor & Cinnaminson, NJ
http://www.gamersrealm.com

Sponsor of <I>Ken Hite's <B>Out of the Box</B></I>
Sponsor of <I>www.GamePlayNews.com</I>

[Misguided]

Hey, Rob. Welcome!

Shadeling, do yourself a favor and take him up on the offer. I've learned a lot from him in the last couple fo years.

[Fobok]

Originally posted by Gamersrealm
My friend Dave Wallace has put together a book, "The Specialty Retailer's Handbook", that goes over MOST EVERYTHING you will need to know to get you off to a healthy start. Even after 21 years in business myself, I learned quite a bit from him (he has SIX stores in St. Louis). We stock and sell this book ($21.95 retail), and it is required reading for all of my managers.

Hi, is this book compatible with starting a store in Canada? My brother and I are working on starting up a local store, and right now we have no idea how to find or contact distributors, or how to approach them...and a few other things that it sounds like this book could be a help with. :)

[Gamersrealm]

Originally posted by Fobok
Hi, is this book compatible with starting a store in Canada? My brother and I are working on starting up a local store, and right now we have no idea how to find or contact distributors, or how to approach them...and a few other things that it sounds like this book could be a help with. :)

Certainly. Where the book does go into the math end of the business, it predominantly deals with the percentages, not the hard dollars.

Meaning that it talks about how much percentage of your Gross Sales your rent should be, your payroll, your costs of goods, etc.

The rest of the book goes into various things such as negotiating leases, insurance, employees, and more.

However, in seminars that both Dave and I have conducted in the past at various trade shows, we have often been asked questions of our northern neighbors. We do try as best we can to answer them, but with the caveat that we are NOT Canadian Retailers, and therefore do not know or fully understand ALL of the issues faced by Canadian Retailers.

However, I still think the book to be worth every penny, and then some!

[Marc A. Vezina]

Originally posted by Gamersrealm
Certainly. Where the book does go into the math end of the business, it predominantly deals with the percentages, not the hard dollars.

While not a retailer (we're publisher), I highly recommand Dave's book as well. It showed us many aspects of game retail we hadn't considered in the past.

However, in seminars that both Dave and I have conducted in the past at various trade shows, we have often been asked questions of our northern neighbors. We do try as best we can to answer them, but with the caveat that we are NOT Canadian Retailers, and therefore do not know or fully understand ALL of the issues faced by Canadian Retailers.


I think the major difference is two-fold: a) cost of goods is higher for stores here (wretched Canadian dollar!) and b) taxes are higher and much more complex.

While seeing a local accountant should solve b) nicely, there's not much that can be done with a), beyond multiplying all of Dave's CoG numbers by the current value of the US dollar. :)

[Beri]

I'm looking around online, and I can't seem to track down Dave Wallace's book. Can I get the ISBN, or some other way I can get ahold of it?

[psychophipps]

My best advice is Cash On Delivery. Sure you have to pay $7-10 a shipment but there is zero hassle and no interest or late fees. If you can't afford it, don't buy it.

My second piece of advice is "need-now inventory". If you're not guaranteed to rotate it within a month, only have a single copy or box to limit your costs. If it's the new D&D sourcebook or some other hot seller, only get enough to where you have a single copy before your regular reorder.

Third, keep your easily-stolen items like CCG packs inside of a case or out of reach of customers. Try really hard to make your entire display area easily seen from what you figure your standard seating or loitering place will be. The single-copy thing also makes it much easier to spot shrink as well.

The last bit is do not do special orders without at least a 25% partial payment. If they pay up-front, give them a 10% discount as the profits will help cover your shipping and/or COD fees for your regular order. You would be AMAZED how many people will make you order random crap for them only to have them decide that they don't want it after all.

Mark(psycho)Phipps( HAHAHA! )