2018 ENnie Nominee for Best RPG Related Product Build the Store Your Community Deserves. Tabletop gaming is on the rise. If you love games like Catan, Magic: The Gathering, or Dungeons & Dragons; like the sound of being your own boss; and are willing to dive deep into what it takes to build a successful business, then this is a book for you. In Friendly Local Game Store: A Five-Year Path to a Middle-Class Income, you’ll learn what you need to know to build a store that doesn’t just sell games, but creates a community where games are beloved: A detailed look at your store’s startup costs, and why starting off undercapitalized is worse than not starting at all. An exploration of your store’s unique value proposition, and why Amazon will eat your lunch if you don’t have one. A sober examination of why you should think twice about hybrid stores with cafés, coffee shops, or bars. Inventory management 101: your open-to-buy budget, turn rate fundamentals, sales per square foot, and more. Running in-store events, hiring and managing employees, and navigating social media. But most importantly, how your game store can provide you with a reliable, middle-class income. Among this down-to-earth advice, Gary Ray shares the stories of his years running Black Diamond Games. From the moment he realized he was going to leave his IT job, to the third-year move necessary for the store to keep growing, to the time he forced his lender to renegotiate his mortgage. Even if you don’t want to open a game store, you’ll appreciate these stories about what it takes. Do you believe in the power of the friendly local game store? This is the book for you! Foreword by Travis Severance (Millennium Games, Rochester, NY). ContentsForewordIntroduction1: Bistro Math2: Running the Numbers3: Motivation4: Unique Value Proposition5: Financing Your Dream6: Marketing Your Game Store7: Events8: Selling Online9: Purchasing and Inventory Management10: Management Narrative ChaptersIn the BeginningThe First Year, When Everything ChangedCamaraderie, Freedom, Mastery, and Your SoulLoneliness and AlienationThe Turning PointThe Bending OverCourtesy as FlirtationThe Expansion Kickstarter Part I: The PlanThe Expansion Kickstarter Part II: BackstopThe Expansion Kickstarter Part III: If You (Can) Build It…The Doctor Who Effect Gary L. Ray writes Quest for Fun, an influential tabletop gaming retail business blog. He is president of the hobby game store Black Diamond Games in Concord, California, which began as a tiny starter store 13 years ago and has since then grown to become a million-dollar-a-year business with nine employees. Gary also writes for the Wizards Play Network, and can be found giving retail presentations at trade shows across the country. His goal is to run a world-class game store from a beach, whether an actual beach or a metaphorical one
