Yeah. I know none of this is news to Vesper, but courting your local Pathfinder Society and D&D Adventurer’s League outfits is a solid way to guarantee butts in seats and regular splatbook sales. The various miniatures games are good, too, like Craig’s beloved Star Wars ships!
Hell yeah, I was at a tournament today even.
And I won!
It was only 6 people though. Smaller store.
Mile High Games and Comics!
(I hope you have some old Runequest stuff …… or Traveller)
I had to look this up. I’ve never seen that term before. That just tells you that my only source for RPG experiences around here were the ones I made for myself and my friends.
Liked! Best of luck to you! If I was closer, I would stop by.
Too bad you can’t name it Black Lung Games
Just wanted to say that I suspect this resonates with several of us in the peanut gallery. Best wishes to you in this endeavor.
Best of luck to you. Failure is not among the possible outcomes here, because – by following your dream – you’ve already won.
How come you went with a Franchise rather than your own store?
I had no idea retail stores even franchised. That is pretty interesting.
I was just reading an article in the local community newspaper. There’s a game shop that was celebrating its first anniversary and they’re working on expanding their offerings.
I can’t see this as anything but good news. The are already three other shops in the area that appear to be surviving and now this one is doing well (north west Houston area). It’s great because it means gaming stores are viable, but also because it means lots of youths and adults still partake of face to face social games. Being an introvert I spend probably too much time playing computer games but I also think fondly of the times I played pencil and paper RPGs.
And my son, who just started at the community college, joined a club where they play D&D. It’s something I didn’t do much with him (did lots of other things like camping and homework and video games). It’s really kind of neat to see.
Like any good hobby, there’s all sorts of dumb and ludicrously specific lingo…none of which, it turns out, actually makes things any more fun!
And love to read more about the stuff you made up when you were younger; that sounds awesome 😀
Gaming stores mostly consist of hobbyists trying to make a living - and ultimately many of them have no business acumen and fail quickly. I went with a franchise that is doing well with a proven business model, and was started by someone with extensive non-gaming retail experience. This helps me a lot as far as what to keep in stock, what sells the best, etc. I’m also able to utilize the company’s existing relationships with distributors and publishers to start out of the gate running.
You need to ask them to put a “coming soon” for you…and where is your caricature?
D&D has gone completely mainstream and is selling extremely well. A couple weeks back I was picking up my daughter from a birthday party. A mom there was telling me about how she had recently bought a D&D Starter Set to play with her kids. She might as well have told me she was an extra-terrestrial. D&D has always been the shameful hobby I didn’t tell people about, and now it’s everywhere. So weird and cool. I wonder if Stranger Things has helped kick it into high gear.
That’s awesome. I had thought with all the other entertainment sources out there, and the fact that my kids did most of their congregating with friends online, that rpgs might never tak root that way again.
Not familiar with the chain, but sounds super exciting,
I think a weird mixture of general Nerd Chic in the wake of the internet age making geekhood “cool,” popular culture acceptance via things like Big Bang Theory and Stranger Things reintroducing the hobby to the broader world, and properties like Borderlands (with that one weird D&D DLC) and Community helping expand the hobby laterally into other geeky communities. Used to be, there were few enough geeky things that the resident weird dweeb in high school could maybe be reasonably into most of them, but nowadays, each and every geeky subculture is a bottomless pit a Wee Nerd can fall into. Shouting at the videogamers and Dan Harmon fanboys from our pit that it’s warm and we’ve got chips (but not Cheetos–good call!) is enough, sometimes, though, to get 'em to cross the streams :)
The RPG renaissance of the last decade or so has been amazing to get to live through. Can’t wait to see what the future holds!
And look at you, staking your claim in the upcoming Dice Rush :)
Best of luck, Vesper.
I wanted to point something out:
We have 2 independently run Board/Tabletop gaming stores in the area and I try to shop local rather than Amazon if I can. The biggest issue I have is not price but unfriendly attitude in these shop. They appear to cater to the stereotypical gamer and treat anyone who doesn’t fit that mold with indifference to the point of just ignoring you exist. It’s that kind of vibe that keeps me away.
Customer service is wildly overlooked in these kinds of stores, in my experience. Wish I lived closer to your store.
Good luck and Godspeed!
Good luck! You’re pursuing a dream most of us have had at some point.
It’s been mentioned a few times already; the CCG money is huge from what I’ve seen… but does attract a different kind of (usually younger) clientele.
I also looked up your location. Having a pizza place, Chinese place, and a Subway in the same plaza is a great perk to keep your nerds fed and in-store for events. In my experience, the shops around here close to fast food options have done much better than the ones without.