Latest in my saga of opening my own comic/game/art store. We’re two weeks out and arranging first inventory purchase.
I figure I’d ask.
I’m getting the top 50 comics and top 100 trade paperbacks. What else shall I stock?
And what games? Magic the Hatheting, sure. D&D and Pathfinder, sure. But what else? CCG? Casual games? Big complicated games?
And collectibles?
Look at what is gathering dust on the shelves of that other store you tried to buy, and avoid stocking that.
Forget those cheap off-brand clones–go for the real thing.
Order of the Stick books might be a good idea. A lot of folks have commented that the shipping on the latest volumes costs more than the book itself-- If we’d known a way to buy them without the shipping cost, we probably would have. On the other hand, this might be exactly the wrong time for that, after all of your customers have just ordered the latest book for Christmas.
The same principle might also apply to collections of other webcomics. Maybe just get a stack of the latest volume, whenever it comes out, for each one, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.
You might just play it by ear: Start with just the big names that you know there’s a market for, and wait for people to come in to the shop and ask “Do you have _____?”. Keep track of what they ask for.
Maybe gaming figures and modeling supplies? Generic gaming stuff–dice, hex grid paper? Maybe a used book section?
I think it was in your previous thread, but I’ll echo Oakminster a bit. Some small inexpensive games “up front” by the register (like Love Letter/Coup/Rhino Hero, these are all a bit more expensive that I was thinking but the form factor is right.) And also, maybe a small collection of puzzle books- sudoku, other logic puzzles. I’ll give a plug for a local store that I love that has some gaming (no comics), but they actually go the other way- from math and math worksheets through puzzles to 10% of their inventory being games. But I can go in there and say 10 year old girl or 55 year old guy and they will have 5-10 things for every person. Math-N-Stuff But they have all kinds of dice and fun little things (Rubiks) in addition to their game selection.
Strongly agreed.
With that being said, avoid Games Workshop stuff like the plague. It’s fun and I like their games but it’s stupidly expensive and stunningly niche. I see all kinds of their stuff gathering dust at the shops I visit.
Remember that it’s easier to get re-stock than it is to get rid of overstock. Keep the quantities tight.
board-games … dice-games (ccg, rpg, etc) … statues 'n figurines … collectibles (including limited edition) … posters 'n art … t-shirts/caps with your own logo … seasonal items (star-wars latest film) … promotional items (comi-con is in town) … etc. additionally, if you haven’t considered this … provided you have room/budget, chairs 'n tables where customers can read/interact/refreshments.
Something that I just thought of that is kind of off the wall–the possibility of adding a few Japanese-style gashapon capsule vending machines with gaming and comics/anime related toys. I know that if I had some of these around, I’d be more addicted than a stereotyped old lady at a Vegas slot machine. Cant find any that use US coins? Stock yen coins, sell them like tokens (at a mark-up.)
Wow, I had no idea! How exciting!
Have you considered making space for table top gaming? My son used to go to a comic store, that on Thursdays would host table top gaming (he went to play MtG). They on,y had a couple tables, but it seemed really popular.
Waaayyy ahead of you.
If you can see that, you can see the tile has two colors. The white is where the couches and gaming tables will be placed. The black tile is the sales floor. Customers must transit the sales floor to get to the gaming tables.
The second picture, again if you can see it, is part of the display space. We’ll have racks and shelving as well. But I kind of like that. And they were cheap!
We’ll be selling
Games, board and card
Collectibles
Art of the nerd variety
Comics and graphic novels
All suggestions are well. I’m swapping emails with the people from Diamond right now.
Just a thought from a comic book reader who reads nothing produced after 1985 - Would you ever consider arranging graphic novels, collections and back issues by era? My dream LCBS would have separate Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age sections. I don’t think that would do anything to promote the broad appeal a new business requires, but I can’t help trying to make the world conform to my personal preferences.
Very, very cool!
I work at a comics and vintage toy store that skews toward the indie comics scene.
We sell more Raina Telgemier books than I ever expected. The past ten years have had a real turn around in kids comics, so don’t ignore those if you think parents will be in. We used to have kiddie corner that sat neglected for years, now it’s in the front of the store and goes like crazy. Raina, Amulet, Dogman, Star Wars Academy, Moomin, Lunch Lady, Hilda, etc.
We keep vintage card packs by the register that sell well (like Garbage pail kids, etc.) but the manager here hunts flea markets for fun for that kind of thing. We also buy illustrator stickers (like stinckers brand) and have machines for them that are popular.
If you get into manga (Japanese comics) be very careful with what you stock. They go for very long runs that can end up sitting forever and then you’re stuck with vols 3. 6. and 12 for the end of time. I consider myself very manga knowledgeable but it’s a hard market to keep going if you’re not a big store.
We don’t sell games but I get someone asking me about Magic the Gathering at least once every time I work, so that’s a safe bet.
Just accept that Diamond is totally incompetent and will destroy your books and there’s nothing you can do about and move on when it happens (but definitely make them replace them). Trust me on that. They are the worst.
I play a weekly game at a comic shop and always look to see if there’s a “good” comic to pick up for my kid. I have a hard time finding self-contained comics (i.e. stuff my kid won’t have to wait a month+ to continue) that aren’t Archie/Riverdale, Cartoon Network licensed stuff or Sonic. No offense out there to any kids who do like those, mine just hasn’t shown any interest (though he has liked Genie the Genius, Cosmo and stuff like Hilo, though that’s not a $3 weekly buy).
Maybe off the wall, but what about high quality jigsaw puzzles? Not like 550 piece pictures of kitties, but 2000+ piece really cool ones.
I usually buy mine at Half Price Books when I see one I like, but my local gaming store has quite a few as well. A lot of them are the usual 550 piece pictures of cats, though.
Or maybe fantasy, comic, or game themed. Like my Fallout jigsaws.
Boardgame event space is pretty big.
I’d invest in a small kitchen and start figuring out how to optimize table space and minimize shelving below shoulder height.
People buy stuff online. The store is a place to meet fellow nerds. The comics and games are props to give them an excuse to come check out the digs.
Financially speaking, I’d target the female market as hard as you can, so I’d be looking to see what games and comics are rated higher by them. You’ll fail to get over 30% among your customer base but any non-zero quantity is going to be your largest draw into the shop since, like I said, it’s all really about creating a social space and all-male social spaces aren’t generally going to be super popular these days. And that’s the direction that gravity flows in this space, without an active effort to resist it.
Paint and painting supplies.
While providing the boardgame event space you may want to have pop, chips, beef jerky, or whatever other snacks you can think of to sell for gamer consumption.
No craft supplies, sadly. Hobby Lobby is the anchor in our strip mall and they hold veto power. We got approved provided we didn’t sell and craft supplies.
We’ll have vending machines but no kitchen. That’s a whole other set of compliance issues I don’t want to deal with. We will have food trucks in, though.