New Outpost for the Fang

[Grey Mage]

Well I missed the part where you wanted advice/ideas before- so heres one for you:

 

Terrain+Tables. This is the main reason why people go to alot of gaming stores- they need a place to play. If the workers/owner is a decent person and helpful theyll come around more often, and if the prices are decent and the other players are good theyll become regulars.

 

So if you want a decent set of terrain quick heres a few ideas-

1) Styrofoam from a warehouse store like Sears Warehouse. They throw this stuff out, and most of them will let you rummage through it.

2) Pressboard/Artboard. This stuff is thin, about the same as a GW base and really really easy to work with. Its also rediculously cheap if you look around for it.

3) Get some of your gamers to help on this- IE have a night, say like Wednesday Night where people can come in and make terrain for the first couple of months, and then maybe do a once a month thing after that- you provide the basics above and they make the terrain they want to be able to play on at your store. You could even have a list of Ideas youd like to see made, and perhaps give a prize for the best made peice *just take a picture then theyre done and put a name on the file/back*.

 

Tournaments:

1) If you have prizes, have entry fees that cover it. This goes for WH, MtG, Pokeman, Flames of War... whatever. If theres a bonus prize your footing the bill for it should be for something special, a holiday event or something like the stores anniversery. Youd be suprised how quick 5 bucks a person adds up, and 10x12 is usually enough to give first, second and sportsmanship or painting.

2) Have a store FAQ for any game that needs it- wich will include almost any GW product. Make sure its accessable, and that its printed not handwritten. That way anyone can see what the "house rules" of the store are- wich matters little for friendly games, but in tournaments it can be important. Wether its just the most recent adpeticon FAQ, or something youve talked over with people on a forum... it doesnt matter. What does matter is that its consistent, and doesnt change unless the edition of the codex does.

3) Make sure theres a lunch break. Nothing sucks more than rushing to a tournament, realising you forgot breakfast because you were in a rush, and then finding out theyve decided theres no time for lunch. Its easier if you allow/sell food in the store.

4) Make sure the tournaments vary- at the local level for instance we do one tournament 500-1kpts for beginers, next month we do a 1k-1500pt for general use, and the third month we do 1500-2k. If your doing tournaments more often, you might select a week of the month like say "Week 1: Begginers tournament- 500pts. Week 2: Veterans Tournament- 1750pts. Week 3: Fantasy Tournament- 2kpts. Week 4: Something Special *apocalypse scenario, bloodbowl, BFG... whatever*. Just as an example.

 

Customer Needs:

1) It should go without saying- a bathroom, and if possible a watersource to filling waterbottles.

2) Prepay/pay as you go Sodas: One store I went to for years did this, and it was hugely popular- you simply have an index with 3x5 cards upon wich peoples names are written. You pick a price for a can of soda, 50 cents or whatever, and people can either pay at the time of sale, or they can pay ahead of time- if they pay ahead of time you put down a blue line, or a very small stamp, and when they "redeem" the purchase you just put a line through it. Half a dozen kinds of soda will keep just about anybody happy, and many people like having an account so they dont have to worry about there last two bucks- they took care of it last month when they gave you $10.

3) Special Orders- I doubt your store has the room to carry everything youd like in stock, let alone everything that all the people in your area would want... so never turn down an order. If you want to have people pre-pay thats fine... just be consistent, and give them a receipt and yourself a ledger for it. If your stockists supply other things *like for instance the one in hamiltons could also provide DVDs and Music* let that be known- you may not want RoboCop vs the Hopping Vampires as a regular item in your store, but if theyre willing to pay your going to make a profit of it right? And trust me... theyll remember that you were willing to help them out.

4) Alot of RPG groups like to play after dinner hours.... decide if you can work with this all/some/none of the time. You want to say thursday is RPG night and people can stay as late as 10? Cool... youll have groups that will fill those hours.

5) You might also put up a board "looking for Group/Game/Event" where people can arrange a time to be at the store to talk about the campaign theyd like to run, or that they all happen to play Pirates.

6) Have a board with a list of the time/day of your regular events, and update it monthly. Its a huge help to be able to see at a glance when that thing you want to do is going on right? Right.

 

Misc:

1) Never let a customer run a regular tournament- if you do, peoples opinions about that person will relfect on the store. If someone wants to run a demo, or would like permission to have a special game at your store... well thats up to you and the time I suppose. But Ive seen gaming stores lose much of their buisness for a month and tournament attendence for particular games drop for almost a year because of a falling out with a powermad TO.

2) Security- Your probly not thinking about it now... but not everyone is honest. Instead of having to keep an eagle eye out and possibly insulting someone by asking to look in their bag or some such, its usually best to just lay the store out in a manner that your employees on duty can see just about anything small enough to slip into a pocket. It wont stop everyone, but itll stop most people- and if you see it happen you can either diffuse the situation or prosecute, depending on what you feel is needed.

 

Hope that helps Grim.

[KeithGatchalian]

Excellent advice from Grey Mage!

 

Let me add something about terrain building.

 

It's Messy. Messy. Messy.

 

Most gamers are enthusiastic about building terrain. And it usually looks like crap. GW is making a ton of nice terrain pieces now.....if I opened a store right now, I'd buy plenty of the GW stuff ( or search online for cheaper premade stuff) and go with that.

 

If your store is large and you can make dedicated gaming tables, Go for it. If not, a couple of plastic tables and some chipboard cut into 3 pieces for a 6x4 table is best. Texture with wood glue and sand, and paint. Or you can use grass or felt mats.

 

Don't make neat Gamesday tables with foam. They will get ruined. If you want to make anything out of foam, you can get cheap pink and blue foam at Home Depot or Lowes. 8-15 bucks will get you a ton of it.

 

Make sure for 40K you have plenty of TLOS blocking terrain. This is where the new rules screwed some stores...in the past, a forest blocked LOS. Now it doesn't. And most gaming tables that I have seen, even at GW stores, are wide open...perfect for a shooting army, not so much for assault.

 

Make sure you have plenty of generic hills, forests, cornfields etc for Fantasy, WOTR and Historicals, including 15mm.

 

Lots of trash cans. Especially if you do an RPG night, or for any event. One of the local game stores didn't have alot of cans, and gamers would literally throws cans and bottles on the floor.

 

And again...be friendly, but not friends. At some point, a gamer might trash your store, or steal, and you've got to be harsh with them. A kid I liked and thought well of once got caught stealing 2 dreadnoughts. It's hard when someone you consider a friend betrays you.

 

Oh....and get a store monkey, to watch the counter while your in the bathroom. And get a sign that says I'm not your babysitter.

[Grey Mage]

I dunno, my favorite shirt/sign for such occaisions was "Any child left unattended will be given expresso and a free puppy".