Some Advice for a new store owner

[Muhnay]

Howdy fellow Miniature Enthusiast!

I am in the process of opening a Miniature Hobby Store. I thought I\'d come to the people who enjoy this hobby as much as I do for some quick advice.

I know each person will have a different opinion, but I think each is valuable and can help me make my shop even better.

If you had to go with a paint brand for your store, what would you carry? If you had to just start with one set up, and then get the others later on.

What Miniature Lines would you suggest would have the best turn around?

Would you rather see Gale Force 9 hobby racks, or the P3 line, or some other?

What attracts you to Hobby/game store, what would you like to see in one?

If you have any other advice, tips, tricks, or just an opinion please share them/it with me.. I want to provide the best service and products I can to my customers.

Thank You.

( The store I am opening is in El Paso TX. )

 

[Dragonsreach]

Air Fresheners...Plenty of them.
Behaviour rules.
Good Coffee.
Keep your racks dusted.
Greet every customer with a smile...........even if they are F*****ts.

As for Paints well I\'d suggest talking to the suppliers about refreshment rates and best deals before opting for a specific company.
And be prepared to do some \"specific\" ordering.
Don\'t allow GW to ride roughshod over you, It\'s your Business not theirs!

And Best of Luck Especially in these financial times.

 

[Muhnay]

HAHAHAHA! Thanks Dragon.

Hey they are miniature gamers not Magic Card players, do you really think we need that many Air Freashners.. =)

Have the rules covered..

Oh yeah I agree, but I hope stuff does not sit around long enough to need dusting. =)

Good Advice... One of my rules is, be a F-Tard and you have to pay an additional 15% for putting up with you.

I am working with e-figures.com, Chris is a great guy, he seems to know the biz... I was thinking of getting the P3 paint rack.. I hear the paints are pretty nice.

Dont work with GW.. find them to be way to puchy and over bearing, so if I need their stuff I will get it though another way.. like with ACD or Warpath or e-figures.

Thank You... yeah I must be nuts... but I have to do my part to help, Since Obama seems to be running us into the ground at break neck speeds.

 

[generulpoleaxe]

my god will you need air freshneners.
walk into any gaming store on a gaming night, it\'s worse than farting in bed after too much alchohol and a curry.

good quality products, don\'t sell cheap tat for marked up prices as it will only see short term gains.
if a competitor does something better than you, swipe their ideas and adapt them to your style of doing things.

talk to your regulars about what ranges they like (and the models they have from those ranges)
put on small campaigns, it allows people to slowly build armies (and your bank balance) ready for larger campaigns.

pull in the services of a damn good painter and get them to teach people, to coincide with this put on painting comps afterwards.
it will bring in people who are more into painting than gaming as well (also helping to generate sales when people see the \"cool\" figures painted nicely)

lastly, make sure you have insurance and a can of petrol incase it goes tits up, you need to think of your retirement fund. hahahaha

 

[alextheartist]

Yeh, see if you can get a fair few figs painted up as examples, this always brings in people who are just interested in the figs too.

Keep the store organised. Nothing is worse than a store where you can\'t find anything!

Alex

 

[airhead]

One of my favorite stores sells comics, games and ccg.

He says that the ccg\'s keep the rent paid. Sad fact of life.

Trick is to anticipate which new game is going to be the hit and stock up on and which one is going to be the loser and not get burned with lots of stock.

Store leagues or tourneys go a long way towards building a customer base. That requires that you have to pay rent on space that is not retail. (empty tables). But (especially the CCG tourneys) are almost guaranteed sales as they area always buying new stuff.

But you can set up a decent schedule. Saturday = MtG tourney
Sunday = WH / WH40k
Monday = clix (hero/battletech/etc)
Tuesday = painting clinic (find a Reaper Black Lightning member in your area - or grow one - you are close enough to Reaper.)
Wednesday = D&D
Thursday = Warmachine
Friday = board game / open gaming.

(not specific, just an idea).


****

Paints = I would not try to carry too much initially, just one line as that is a lot of inventory that does not move well.
1. Vallejo Game Color Line = GW with a better package = cheaper in EU, more expensive here. Don\'t know why.
2. Reaper Master Series = good adhesion, triad system makes it easy for new painters to do better than single color in each area. Their black handled brushes are pretty good as well.
3. GW - the old standby.

 

[green stuff]

Message original : airhead
1. Vallejo Game Color Line = GW with a better package = cheaper in EU, more expensive here. Don\'t know why.

They\'re produced in Spain. Shipping is probably added into the price.

 

[Amazon warrior]

Don\'t blow a product/line off just because it doesn\'t float your personal boat. You\'ll be shooting yourself in the foot if you do. So what if Pokemon\'s for kids? Their parents are susceptible to pressure and are going to be bullied into buying it for the little dears, just to shut them up.

 

[uberdark]

yeah..... get in on games like magic and yugioh and now bakugan.... if you hold bakugan tournaments right now then you will bring in a plethora and i mean PLETHORA of kids to play. its huge right now. these games will be huge if played on weekends and FNM is a must. then you will have enough capital to bring in more miniature painters and buyers.

 

[Muhnay]

Thanks everyone.. sounds like some sage advice.

 

[wiccanpony]

ok, my take.........remember Women game and paint too....no talking down to us and a nice comfy chair would be a bonus if you have the room.

Manys the time I would of loved a place to set, rest and look around,

 

[Matt Cexwish]

Personally, I would love to see a vast range of GW (Regular, Foundation, Washes...) Colors, besides a smaller choice of Vallejo, Model Color, Air Color (I think you will only need special colors like Dark Sea Blue, English Uniform, Steel, Gold... not all...) of those... Make sure to have the P3 Range, it will become bigger and bigger......

It would be perfect to see some Special something in your store... most Store Owners have high ambitions at the beginning but they fail in realizing them due to financial aspects / time aspects / priority... Always Finish what you start and do not start too much...

For example: An Aquila projected from within your shop straight on the Pavement in front of the store...... Easy to build and really impressive (night...)...

Or a rotating Store Sign...

Or... You could organize a Special Battle once a week... The Players (good ones, obviously...) will tell their moves to helpers (with white gloves...) who will move their Units for them... An Announcer will yell the respective move through a Megaphone on the Street...

...

Stuff like that...

...

It really makes the difference...... Or you simply go bankrupt...... I wish you the best of luck...

If you need special Miniatures for your Showcase, I can paint them... Hehe...

 

[Aliengod3]

Originally posted by Muhnay

If you had to go with a paint brand for your store, what would you carry? If you had to just start with one set up, and then get the others later on.

I would go with Vallejo Model Color

What Miniature Lines would you suggest would have the best turn around?

Warmachine, Hordes, GW, Alkemy

Would you rather see Gale Force 9 hobby racks, or the P3 line, or some other?

What attracts you to Hobby/game store, what would you like to see in one?

Gaming tables with people playing. Plus painting tables and a firendly environment.

If you have any other advice, tips, tricks, or just an opinion please share them/it with me.. I want to provide the best service and products I can to my customers.

Thank You.

( The store I am opening is in El Paso TX. )

I am not too sure when your store is opening up but it sounds as if you need to do some market research. This is a good start but are you sure that El Paso has a large enough market for a store like this?

It may be a good idea to look into purchasing small amounts of other products that are gaming and hobby related that way you can get more than just the miniature demograpic into your store. Selling Magic cards and other such products can help drive in extra people which you can then introduce miniatures too plus these people may have friends that would be interested in miniatures but ave never known where to purcahse them.

Good Luck with the store.