# The Decline of Traditional Male Oriented Hobby Shops **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2024, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-of-traditional-male-oriented-hobby-shops/1002846 "2024-06-13T20:32:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 64
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-of-traditional-male-oriented-hobby-shops/1002846/64 "2024-06-15T18:27:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The key for a successful business, though, is not just to have a bunch of fans hanging out at the store. You also have to have some way of making income from them. Do they buy something from you every time they stop in? Do you have rooms or tables that you rent out, for them to use to do their hobbies? Maybe it’s just a coffee shop in the corner, where they get something to drink while chatting? > > If they’re just coming in to chat, well, that’s cool and all, but it won’t keep you in business. Quite. The recent thread cited below is more or less all over that topic: the difference between a successful retail store and what late wife and I used to call a “retail museum”. I.e. a place where people go to look, maybe touch, but not to buy. Most retail museums are inadvertent and then short-lived. > [@I'm starting a record store. Help me avoid critical mistakes!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-a-record-store-help-me-avoid-critical-mistakes/1000197): > > I’ve always loved in-person used record shopping – wandering a store, flipping through the bins, finding a few records or CDs that I’d barely heard of or never knew I wanted, and deciding I must own them. But recently I wondered why I had to drive 45 minutes to the nearest good stores, when I live in a town (Waukegan, Illinois) with 90,000 people. And that’s when I decided to explore the idea of opening a used record store in Waukegan. It was mostly a marketing exercise (marketing is my day job… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-of-traditional-male-oriented-hobby-shops/1002846)._