If you have ever thought that you'd like to make your living selling the games you love, this book gives the low-down on how to set up a bricks-and-mortar game store and run it effectively. It's no guarantee of success, of course, but it is full of considered and thoughtful advice from initial thoughts to opening your doors and conducting business.
It is quite biased towards someone opening a game store in the United States, if you live elsewhere ensure that you understand - in particular - the relevant laws in your country and especially the laws of contract for things like leasing or purchasing your premises. Even if you are in the USA, get professional advice. There's no substitute... but this book will equip you with the basic knowledge and enable you to ask the right questions of any advisors you retain.
Just about everything is covered. Store location. Layout. To have a gaming area or not. Internal and external signage. And the things you might not know you need to consider, like competitive analysis, and strategies for making your store stand out from the competition. Precisely what to stock and how to promote it. The 'other stuff' that you might also sell - fiction, replica weapons, food and drink, artwork.
And then there's the website, and do you want to offer an online option? Now here I speak with some knowledge, I teach an undergraduate course on business skills for e-commerce. It's only a short section - this book is about running a games store, not a website - but the material here is sound.
Next comes marketing and advertising. No use having a wonderful store if nobody knows about it. Then the all-important pricing strategy. Do you discount, and if so by how much and on what product? Worked examples give you the information you need to decide... and there are no right or wrong answers, here or anywhere else. The whole book is about the options available and empowering you to make choices that will work for the sort of business you have in mind.
With any business venture, success cannot be guaranteed, and however much good advice you receive, it's ultimately up to you to make a go of it. However, being primed with solid no-nonsense information about the specific enterprise you want to embark in will stand you in good stead: and that's what prospective game store owners will find in these pages.
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