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[Joxam]

This is the first stage (for you, I've actually been quite the busy Joxam over the last six months) in a month or so long Market Research project and Business Projection Analysis for a proposed Hobby Store and Table Top RPG retail location.


My Market Research indicates that in an approximate 100 mile radius there isn't a store to buy or location publicly to play the games we here, at Brontoforumus, have grown to love. Furthermore, the indication I got from the user base locally was that even after you travel your 90 or so miles to get to FNM, or to make a D&D night for your friends, you are treated with poor customer service, a terrible gaming environment and low quality inventory at best.

I realized of course, at this point in my research that I had no idea what or how a GOOD place like this does it. I had been treated to these same environments and conditions that the people I was questioning and quite frankly didn't know how to do it better myself. I had some ideas, of course, but nothing that I knew has been tried and true. With that in mind, I propose to you guys my business plan (or rather, multiple ideas that, when weeded through, added to and hammered out will be a business plan) for a store and gaming environment I have yet to name!


First and Foremost, Games Retail.

I found a almost local wholesaler for Hobby and Game stores which provides a great starting point for inventory, plus, of course, Games Workshop but after that, I'm kind of clueless as far as wholesalers go. Of course, before we get into that, what exactly would you, the customer WANT in a store that deals in this sort of thing? Boardgames? Books? News Stand items? Its up to you and feed back is needed.


Secondly, Play Area. How exactly does this = $$$

My initial idea was no cover charge during regular business hours or late on weekends with the option to rent the space after hours for your own groups gaming needs. Of course, that is how I'm sure most people do it, which isn't a big deal, the problem is, how do you make money if you're giving away a large portion of your product (Your gaming space) to all but the most dedicated of players (the people that would rent the building after hours for their own gaming groups)? The answer here, I think, is no carry-ins for drink or food but providing a snack bar and drink selection at all times. The initial idea was sound but upon second thoughts I realize that there might be issues with allowing food and drink in a retail location that deals mostly in books. Your thoughts and comments, of course, are needed!


Thirdly, Play Area again, but different!

Okay, now, I'm wondering how the good guys do this. What I mean is, I've largely seen a store that has a few card tables shoved in the back corner with some douche bag calling it the 'dragon's den' or something stupid like that. I looked at a few options already but am, of course, opened for ideas.

My first idea (mostly because when we bought our house the office building we signed the paper work in was for sale) was to lease a small office building and convert the offices and conference rooms into gaming space. Of course, that would leave a smaller retail space (probably just the lobby of the office building) and create issues with surveillance through out.

Secondly would be an almost bare storefront with all space except walls dedicated to gaming and an Inventory Control System which allows you to have most of your inventory in a storage area while only having 'example' items on the sales floor (gamestop ICS model). Again, these are only jumping off points, ideas and suggestions are asked for and needed!


That should do for now, when we get these things worked out and ready to go we'll tackle the next selection of questions and ideas.

[Esperath]

The play area makes money by drawing the most obsessed portion of the fanbase into your store for hours, where they are likely to buy expansions, manuals, figures, and other assorted crap for the games they are already playing.  40k night = retail gold after the competition, because all of the losers immediately buy up new stuff to complement what they perceive as deficiencies in their army (when it's usually deficiency in skill).  Magic night = retail gold especially if the people are playing tourneys with unopened packs.

Snack bar and cafe is fine, lots of bookstores already do that, they just restrict it to a certain portion of the space and discourage people bringing in outside stuff.

My local game store also specializes in weird, hard-to-find board games (they apparently sell a Starcraft board game every week or two for $100), and quirky card games.

Regarding environment, the best thing to do is hire a few local, amiable geekwads to run the store, as they will chat up the regulars and actually have sufficient geek knowledge to keep the customers interested in coming back, and will learn the regulars' purchase preferences over time.  The employees will also be one of your main sources of revenue, and you will profit from their presence, even after the employee discount.

[Joxam]

I seem to have broken the standard reply function by making my topic too long. Sorry, this one should work better.

[Esperath]

Cait recommends: avoiding GW like the plague until you actually know you have a critical mass of buyers, as their business practices will fuck you in the ass.

[05:54]   <Esperath>   anyway
[05:54]   <Esperath>   I dunno how I'd deal with Games Workshop
[05:54]   <Cait>   Don't.
[05:54]   <Esperath>   maybe a necessary evil if you get enough 40k nerds
[05:55]   <Cait>   Selling Games Workshop stuff isn't profitable, and 40k people don't generally buy from stores anyway. You could still sell paint, and get most of the margin.
[05:55]   <Joxam>   Cait, yeah, I thought that.
[05:55]   <Esperath>   the local game store sells a bunch of 40k junk
[05:55]   <Joxam>   The games workshop vendor packet looks about as bad as wal-mart for brainwashingness :D
[05:55]   <Esperath>   especially after tourneys
[05:56]   <Esperath>   it's pretty funny
[05:56]   <Cait>   I've seen 5 different game stores go under, and 4 of them said their biggest losses were from GW.
[05:56]   <Esperath>   they also encourage people to display their painted armies in display cases in-store
[05:56]   <Joxam>   Yeah, I've heard horror stories about GW
[05:57]   <Esperath>   and then the same people buy new stuff
[05:57]   <Joxam>   I would leave them on the bench until I can prove profit, anyhow.
[05:57]   <Joxam>   If I can't make money without them, their pain in the ass business tactics aren't going to help.
[05:57]   <Cait>   Bring in GW if you actually get people asking for it more than casually.
[05:57]   <Cait>   GW demands a fuckton of shelf also.

[Royal☭]

First off, you might want to take some business courses at the local community college just to get you started.  It's fun to start a business, but you need to also know how to focus on things other than selling a product to customers.  That's the obvious one, but you need to know how to market, how to inventory, and how to balance costs and how to conform to the tax code.

Secondly, at the store I work for the way we did games and tournament was to have a completely separate area for that stuff.   Which might not always be possible.  It might be overkill to outright ban outside food and drink (your customer base will probably find this hostile), but if you keep snacks and drinks on hand, they'll still buy it.  Just don't let customers go anywhere accept the designated gaming area with them.  IE not around the comics and products.

If you want to make money, keep in mind that your customers are going to be compulsive buyers who want the best Magic/Yu-Gi-Oh/Warhammer/Heroclix you got.  Each time you host a game people will probably buy stuff.  They love to buy stuff, in fact.  The other solution is to have a pot with a buy-in and to shave a little off the top.  But don't focus on the gaming aspect as how you make money.  The gaming aspect is how you get foot traffic.  It gets people in the door.  Which of course means setting down ground rules that your customers not act like assholes and anti-social twits while playing the game.

If you want to start a hobby and comic store, just keep in mind what you're getting into.  There's already a low-profit margin and the industry is going through a rough-patch, so it's going to take dedication, loyalty and a lot of work just to keep yourself afloat.  You also have to know that while gamers can be loyal and compulsive buyers, they are also horrible for keeping a business going.  It's important to avoid the comic-book store look, that of a bare room with a few tables of statues, a rack of comics, a table of white boxes and a display case with the nice stuff in it.  This is upsetting to the people who just want to pop in and check it out, buy something for their kid, or haven't been into comics and gaming in a long time.

[Mongrel]

EDIT: Got to split this into two posts 

Lots of good points from Constantine, 

I've been an eye-rolling party to many a bad game store idea and a even a few good ones. Some points:

- Professionalism, professionalism, professionalism. This is a business - treat it like one! You seem to have that message down, but hammering it home cannot hurt in the least. You need clean, friendly employees. Once who are friendly without being pushovers, firm without being jerks, and knowledgeable without looking to rip off their employer (it happens). Difficult in the best of times and all the more so with a pool of gamers as your manpower stock. Of course to start out with you'll probably have a very small number of employees, or maybe it'll just be you alone. But hiring good quality people is vital. As SCD quoted elsewhere "First-rate men hire first-rate men. Second-rate men hire third-rate men".

- Organization. Make sure you're organized! Clutter encourages thieves, makes it impossible for folks to find what they're looking for and eats up valuable event space. A neat and tidy store (with clean bathrooms!) presents a professional, businesslike demeanour which only helps. As long as the staff are friendly, you'll still keep a warm atmosphere.

Having a good database allows you to track what you're buying and selling. It may not work for things like MTG singles (unless you're a GIANT operation),

- Hours. You find out what hours are good for your neighbourhood, but if you really need to save on labour costs (or you have no employees), closing on Mondays and Tuesdays is usually not too harmful to a game store.

- Deal-making. Don't cut 'friendly deals'. If someone is really confident or the customer is a very good one, special deals always seem appealing. In fairness, customers LOVE it when a store treats them 'special' because they're 'good customers' - it definitely breeds more spending and is a hell of a good way to breed loyalty. But you have to be very confident and sure of yourself (and your information) before you can do that, otherwise you'll just be taken advantage of more often than not.
I do not recommend special deals to anyone just getting started as that is some very dangerous ground to tread. Instead, if you want to offer discounts for good customers, work out your profit margins on various product and then publicly post a discounted rate chart. So when someone tries to argue for a deal when they're buying more stuff, you can point to the posted rules that state, sure you can get 10% off that Warhammer order - if it's above $250 (not an actual suggested discount rate - just a random example). Staggered discounts of 5%, 10%, and maybe even 15% (depending on the product) with appropriate price thresholds are a good start.

- Pricing. This is a sore spot and require a LOT of labour to get right but can really make or break you. You will need to provide a price point that is sort-of competitive with online stores without actually trying to beat them outright. That's the reality of gaming today. Too high and everyone will gripe and you'll be stuck with a lot of sunk inventory costs, too low and well... this will be a short-lived enterprise.

You'll need to feel your local scene out to see what the market will bear (not "how much can I get away with charging", but actually what is sustainable). Pricing - especially for items with frequent price fluctuations, like Magic singles - is a full time job (literally), but having single sales with GOOD pricing can really go a long way to solidify your customer base and providing a decent additional profit trickle.

You may not want to go into single sales until you're confident about the regular business (maybe a couple of months in?), but definitely keep the option open. Buying collections can net you a good amount of profit (since people selling collections typically take a loss on their overall value, in exchange for getting a lump sum of money and avoiding the work of sorting and pricing their stuff) or it can waste a lot of your money if someone unloads their junk on you, so it's another reason to really be aware of what everything is worth at all times. With the razor-thin margins in the game industry, good price knowledge can really make or break a store that right on the edge.

For pricing resources, you'll need to look at three things: 1) The local community. Things slightly change in value regionally and you'll need to take the feeling of the local market in mind. This one is the least reliable (as you're doing it by 'feel'), so it should have the least weight. 2) Major retailers. See what the big boys are charging. Usually they occupy the high end of the 'sensible' price range. For example, for MTG singles, starcitygames.com is a good 'evil behemoth' retailer, with easy-to-consult online pricing. 3) Online aggregates. Or more simply 'ebay prices' (or other auction or community-based sites with high numbers of transactions). End prices on ebay auctions give you a good idea of what's the price floor for an item.

The best part about doing this is when some dipshit tries to call you on price and you can point out that you are in fact competitive with both auction/trade sites and the behemoths.

[Mongrel]

(cont'd)

- Inventory. Don't be a packrat. The less sure that you are that something will sell, the less you should pay for it and the less you should stock. Don't fall into the trap of "a good game store needs to have everything!" as that role is now filled by online retailers who don't have to take up valuable space in a small store with piles of ancient junk they'll never sell. Remember, everything in your store that isn't selling is not some 'potential sale', it's lost money. As you learn about pricing, you'll get a a better sense of what does and doesn't sell, so after a while you can start to expand your inventory and start carrying SOME harder-to-get items regularly. But definitely avoid the "We gotta order one of everything!" model, until you know what will sell.

The flip side to this is to make sure you partner with at least one a distributor with a robust ordering system. If someone comes in and asks you for product X and you don't have it, the best possible comeback is that you can order that very item for delivery next week. It increases the order costs for the customer a little bit, but will save you a LOT of money that would otherwise be stuck in inventory sunk costs.

- Public friendly. Kids are a gold mine. It's good policy to not let the creepier gamers scare off average folks and small kids, but it's better policy to have clear rules of conduct that everyone is expected to obey.

- Don't try to enforce the unenforceable. Lay down ground rules that are both sensible and ones you have a hope in hell of actually making stick.

Sometimes folks will buy or sell or trade product in your store. Some stores fight this with a passion as the customer is 'stealing business from you' but realistically, this happens because the other fellow either has something you don't (no big deal there) or because his price is lower than yours (this doesn't always mean your prices are too high). Ultimately, they can just go down the street and do the deal out of your sight, with the only end result being that people think you're being a dick. This does NOT mean you should allow yourself to become a doormat and turn a blind eye to some kid running a sub-store of his own in your play area. But politely (and firmly) asking folks to take that outside, reminds them that you know they're doing it and that it's kind of rude to do that RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU. If you see it happening a LOT, you may need to question your own operations.

Chronic offenders however should be flogged.

- Comic pulls. If you're going to carry comics, either have a good system for organizing the pulls or don't bother at all. Comic nerds get hella riled up when they miss an issue because the store didn't pull the same book they've always ordered. Comics are a weak point with me, because my experience is with gaming stores, so I don't have much more on that. I do know that setting up will require you to be careful, as there is a large initial investment in comics and fewer distributors.

- Store events. These bring the folks in. Try to keep them fun and open and provide as much room to play as possible. You can build a sense of what events the community wants, and mostly offer these with a few diverse events to shake things up and introduce people to new products. Don't be afraid of demoing product either. A new hobby for a nerd equals a whole new revenue stream for you!

- Multiple distributors. This is the mantra for new nerd stores. Build up a relationship with not just one distributor, but three four or five distributors for as many items as you can. Not only can you shop around for the best prices, but when one distributor is out of stock on something the others may still have it. A lot of nerd products are in flux right now, so this last point is key - everyone's been cutting excess production to save money and supply shortages on new products are worse than they've been for years.

- Be prepared to lose money. You will sink a lot into the store to get started and purchase starting inventory. It will take a while before you build the business. You will need to have the cash to stay afloat during this time. Be negative with your fiscal projections and plan for bad (or even non-existent) revenues to see if you can still survive. Your partners, if any, must be patient and reliable, you loans, if any, should be stable and should NOT take up too much of the initial income. DO THE MATH and if it doesn't work out DO NOT continue with this idea for a store. A good business opportunity is great and all, but you need the proper wherewithal to take advantage of it in a professional manner.

- Don't be afraid of diversification. Comics, wargames, boardgames, CCGs, whatever. Nerds tend to go for one-stop shopping if they think the store is doing it right. You want to limit your exposure to one product or community as much as possible. When some products are doing bad, the rest can keep you afloat. Better yet, if you start with a little of everything, you'll be well positioned to expand on what's well-liked and reduce your stake in stuff that isn't doing so well.

- Value added stuff. Doesn't mean buying a bunch of fancy gewgaws and hoping folks will buy them, but things that you can obtain cheaply and re-sell at a premium. The best example here is non-perishable snacks (FYI, make sure you don't need a food license to sell candy bars and pop - I've seen that happen!), as you can buy cases cheap and then resell them at prices similar to the local convenience stores. And as long as you have events, people WILL buy snacks. Looking out for little things like this (sleeves, basic dice, whatever) will give you that little extra bit of profit.

[Mongrel]

By the way, a good name used by an old friend from a store that has LONG since gone out of business (so, no IP infringement there) is The Stronghold or perhaps Stronghold Games (depending on if you want comics or not). It's simple, lends itself well to logos, and is 'nerd-genre-neutral'.

The name's free for the taking if you want it.

[Büge]

My advice? Don't be an insane beardo.

[Mongrel]

My advice? Don't be an insane beardo.

This is better than all of my advice.

[MadMAxJr]

In my opinion, this is not a great economy to open a hobby store in.  Hobby stores require people to have surplus income or be very dedicated to their gaming.  Not saying it's impossible, just that it's going to be a much longer window to operating in the black than a 3 or 5 year plan after startup costs.

First off, if there are other stores in the area, it is going to become you vs. them, no matter what.  You may not end up with any grudges against other shop owners, but you will eventually have a group in your customer base who will make it us vs. them.

Magic the Gathering is a cash cow.  Get to know it, get a certified judge, partake in Friday Night Magic.  MTG has been around since 1993 and probably has the longest running TCG history (not verified, purely assumption).  If you opt to deal in used cards, ONLY deal in popular type 2 tournament cards until you have stable footing in your cash flow.  Don't get into buying collections or power nine until you have a solid good idea of what you're doing.  Wizards of the Coast tends to treat stores in their premier program alright.

I had horrible experiences in my five years at the shop with Games Workshop.  They're expensive and their rep did annoying things like "Well you ordered a box of ork boyz, so I added 4 mekboy blisters to the order for you and billed you for them."  We would reject the order, ask for the return slip and they would just sliently refund us and never ask for a ship-back.  I have no proof but I assume this is so he could ramp up his sales numbers and not get yelled at for returned product, somehow.

My boss did everything in his power to keep customers happy.  Sadly as his employees we did not always uphold this.  I did my best, but there are some jerks whom it is easier to insult and dismiss than to correct.  Also, it is unlikely your store will be operating well enough for you to hire more than a couple employees in the first two years.

If you are shopping for product distributors, we did particularly well with Alliance Games.  They are almost purely hobby games with some manga and DVD sales.  ACD is another games distributor.  I think Diamond Comic Distributor is still the lead for comics.

More about hobby stores when I get home from work. 

[Mongrel]

Agreed on Diamond. They're the big cheese for comics (not sure if they're flat-out exclusive - anybody with better comic industry knowledge care to comment). Also agreed to watch your fingers around the GW guys and about the MTG cash bus - FNMs, small tournaments, pack and box sales and accessories,and what Max said on single cards are all good stuff.

And yes, it is the oldest CCG.

As for employees, you can get by with maybe two while sales are slow or even go it alone if you don't mind lonnnnnnng exhausting days. If you're going in with a partner, then maybe you can split the work.

Baseline is that this will be a lot of work. Whatever it is that takes up your time now, well, most of that will have to be written off for the next couple of years. Because if you want to succeed in these times, in an industry with such thin margins, you are going to have to put in the work that will make the difference between success and failure.

[MadMAxJr]

Lady Duke did some research on this at one point when she was considering a shop (her perk, zero building fees).  She might have some thoughts too, I don't know.

[Pacobird]

Don't forget that the reason there's no gaming shop around may well be there's no demand for it in your area.  I would scope out space within a block of a residential university campus.

[Joxam]

I hate to sound like a jerk, but I am asking you guys specific questions in my post. I'm not asking you all to tell me reason why I shouldn't do it, or to assume that I haven't considered things or reason why it might fail. I'm also not asking you guys to assume that I am not currently and haven't been for the last six or so months, as my post said, researching into the actual viability of this idea. I am working with approx. 100,000.00 dollars of my and my brothers money, I'm not going to go off half cocked, if I even go off at all.

I am only coming off like this because yes, I know. Yes, I understand I might fail. I understand that I have to be professional, that running a business isn't a walk in the park, that I (shockingly enough) have to be NICE to my user base. That there are TAXES. That I have to pick a good LOCATION (of all things!!?!?!!) ....

Okay. Enough sarcasm. Its not your fault and I'm sure none of you mean harm. I'm just trying to illustrate the fact that the whole, "Man, these are all the reasons you are going to fail" line is getting old. And the a lot less harsh, "I hope you do good but..." is starting to wear thin too.

As a bit of a disclaimer I feel I should remind the oldbies and get some of the newer(bies) people up to speed on the fact that, until my mom's kidneys failed, my family ran a very successful business. Mom can do my books, and William and I have both spent the last six years working for two companies that, at least, taught us how to talk to people and how to properly Shrink and Inventory Control.

[Joxam]

Also, as far as employees go, William and I both get free 'Indian' money AND have both spent a hell of a long time on the business end of retail. We'll be, at least until we start to make headway, running the store ourselves.

[Mongrel]

I hate to sound like a jerk, but I am asking you guys specific questions in my post. I'm not asking you all to tell me reason why I shouldn't do it, or to assume that I haven't considered things or reason why it might fail. I'm also not asking you guys to assume that I am not currently and haven't been for the last six or so months, as my post said, researching into the actual viability of this idea. I am working with approx. 100,000.00 dollars of my and my brothers money, I'm not going to go off half cocked, if I even go off at all.

I am only coming off like this because yes, I know. Yes, I understand I might fail. I understand that I have to be professional, that running a business isn't a walk in the park, that I (shockingly enough) have to be NICE to my user base. That there are TAXES. That I have to pick a good LOCATION (of all things!!?!?!!) ....

Okay. Enough sarcasm. Its not your fault and I'm sure none of you mean harm. I'm just trying to illustrate the fact that the whole, "Man, these are all the reasons you are going to fail" line is getting old. And the a lot less harsh, "I hope you do good but..." is starting to wear thin too.

As a bit of a disclaimer I feel I should remind the oldbies and get some of the newer(bies) people up to speed on the fact that, until my mom's kidneys failed, my family ran a very successful business. Mom can do my books, and William and I have both spent the last six years working for two companies that, at least, taught us how to talk to people and how to properly Shrink and Inventory Control.

That's all very encouraging. Two things:

1) You didn't tell us any of this. How were we supposed to know? Do you have any idea how many hopeless gamers have described plans like yours? 

2) I was just barfing up every piece of reasonable advice I could think of. I know it wasn't very organized, but I was typing in between houses on fire at work. Sorry if you took that as my predicting your failure.

[Pacobird]

then why are you asking pyoko for business advice

clutch stopped posting here years ago

[MadMAxJr]

As for making money on the game space, you're going to be limited to vending machines, unless you jump through hoops.  If you want a drink fountain and maybe a freezer for microwave sandwiches, this requires a food handling license, your employees have to show that they're knowledgeable in food practices, and submit to regular health inspections.  This appears to be true for Oklahoma and Missouri at least, your state regulation may vary.

Tablespace in the stores I have associated with is free on a first-come, first-serve basis.  Tables are flagged as reserved on days for special events.  Special events are usually covered by whatever entry fee you charge.  The rest of the time when it is simply 'free space', you have to use your own judgment about who is and is not a customer.  Do NOT allow people to trade product for cash within your store.  This is mostly to avoid headaches of people who bitch and whine when they get suckered and want to hold you liable.  Do not give cash prizes for in-store events, some states can construe that as gambling.  (Hint: Offer prizes in store-dollars.)

Tablespace is generally consumed by all kinds of gamers, in these cases we are talking about people who are not attending an organized event at your store.  These views are mostly from my experience and in no way considered fact nor a complete definition of all groups.

Card gamers:
Casual players AKA 'Buddy group' - Typically you will have a group between two and six people.  The can use a single 8x4 foot (standard in our store) table effectively to play between 2 and three games at a time.  Average card gamer is looking to spend between zero and ten dollars on a few packs of cards per visit or a few cool single cards.  Watch for anti-social behavior towards people not within their immediate group, these gamers (in my experience) are the most likely to upset another group.  They tend to cause a moderate amount of noise from enjoyment, rules arguments, etc.

Obsessive Compulsive - Comes in every new release, buys one or two boxes ($100 to $200+), will sit at a table and open and organize the whole damn thing.  Is sometimes a casual player, or is mysteriously never seen again till next release.

TCG trolls - Owns no cards, keeps asking to borrow a deck to play, has no intention of ever buying anything.

There are others, not everyone fits in nice neat categories.

Tournament players:
These people regularly defy my logic.  Each one is their own psychological mess.

Alpha Dog - Will try to act as a leader of organized play.  May be respected or feared by his peers.  Tends to spend an above average amount of money (entry fee of 10 to 15, some packs, occasional box) on every organized play event.  Has the ability to rally your players against your store should you ever wrong him.

King Jerk - Lives only to win, buys every card for every deck shown to be a winning deck on the web.  Will spend lots of money, you will hate him all the way to the bank.

Average tourney joe - Will pay your tournament fee, occasionally grumble, tends to buy between three and six packs, about one in five will buy the occasional box.

Role Playing Game groups

Varies by system, but if they play in the store it is usually between four and eight people.  You can expect half of them to actually buy a book a month. ($20 to $50, depending on system.  Secondary sales of RPG equipment are much more common such as dice, miniatures, battle mats, markers and items $15 or less made for RPG gamers.  Paizo is great at making products for these secondary sales)

Miniature gamer groups

These guys need lots of 8x4 foot tables.  Generally one table can accommodate one or two games.  GW games generally take the whole table for two players unless team game.  They would also want a shelf in the store for terrain.  You can make them bring their own or supply some but they will want a place in store to put it.  These gamers bring a LOT of equipment to play and tend to stack cases on a second table near the play area.  These gamers make few, expensive purchases.  Wargaming manuals start in the $40 to $60 range.  Startup costs vary by game but $300 seems to be a good measure for most games if you want a playable army of reasonable size.

Older minis gamers - WW2 game dudes.  Make sure they are never disturbed while playing and they will treat you right.  These will become some of your best regulars.  They are not easy to attract to your store, most of them are retired.  Their money reserves varies.  Some will bring in their children to start a new generation of gamers.  Bending the rules now and then for them can pay off.  Never ever argue with them about 'historically accurate' armies in historical games.  Usually they will socially police their own.

Younger minis gamers - Clicky games.  These guys play Heroclix type games.  Which I don't know if they're a valid market anymore since Wizkids died.  They'll buy about $20 of product a week if you have an event and fall into behaviors akin to magic players.

Cult of Games Workshop - These can be your most volatile gamers.  Not just GW but any game where.  These can vary from extremism (If you don't play our game, you're wrong.  I'm going to stand here and tell you why you're wrong.) to anti-social (You're not a part of my social group, go away) to uber-hardcore-pro-tourney winner (My army has nothing but heavy bolters).  They have fantastic painted armies, are a showcase to your store that is photoworthy, and will spend fistfuls of dollars on every new release.  So long as they do not disrupt or upset your other social groups in the store, let them be.  Personally I would like to put a velvet rope around them saying "Quiet, serious gamers at play".  I am biased because I recently quit playing minis.  Not every group is this bad.

Joe minis player - Wants to come in, paint, play, generally gets along with others.  Spends upwards of $80 monthly.  When someone says "What are those guys playing?" this is the guy(s) you feel comfortable asking to show the questioner the game.  Tends to bring 2-3 buddies along to play.

More later.

[Doom]

I will read your post later and reply, I am strapped for time but I want to impart to you my greatest economic wisdom.

Set aside enough money so that you can live comfortably out of debt for at least a year.

Do not touch this money. For any reason. Ever. You know, short of homelessness and starvation and I don't mean paying rent on your too big house, I mean ramen in a nicely painted box masquerading as an apartment.

This is the most important discipline of money.

If you have a thousand dollars, you can set your line at $500. You safely stow the $500 away. You do not consider it in any way, shape or form when making investments. It's as if you only had $500 to start with.

This is the most important discipline of money.