New Board Game & CCG/TCG Shop

platinumflux

Hi all,

I'm currently in the process of opening a Local Game shop in Navan and as part of the research, I'd love to know how many Boardgamers, Card players and Gamers would be interested in seeing a new one open.
I know Gamersworld is a very popular shop (with good reason) but I also know a fair number of players don't live in Dublin and Navan has several satellite towns nearby that would make things a bit more convenient for some.
The problem is, I just don't know how many potential customers there could be. Please chime in and let me know. If you have any ideas of what you'd like to see included in a Game shop, I'd love to hear about it.

MarkHall

Good luck with the endeavour.

Have you any locAl schools or collages that might have.gaming societies you can take advantage of?

platinumflux

Hi Mark, thanks for the support.
I don't know about the local schools but there are a few colleges that have very successful gaming societies we're aware of and we're already have good contacts with one of them. (Sadly Meath is yet to open a dedicated Third Level institution). We are planning to get to know more though. The shops still in the early stages yet but the premises are already available so we're hoping for an end of the year opening.

Joe Conlon

Okay, this is a bit of a surprise. I'm also in the middle of opening a store in Navan. I've already got allot of feedback from a year of research and just recently made a new Facebook group for it. My idea was to have a place by gamers for gamers. I've allot of feedback as to what it should be like. For example everyone is asking that I provide plenty of space so they can sit down and play games in the store. One option I decided on was to host warhammer on specific nights so the two groups wouldn't class. Both take up considerable space. Another thing people wanted was food. Now, starting up I couldn't provide that till I got the license and it would have to be simple. Like a sandwich bar or something. Not 100% sure if I could provide that. Another massive demand that seems to have a huge following is to provide manga and comics. Now there's actually a bigger demand for that in navan then games but opening a games store is my dream and I lack the knowledge of comics. Plus I can't do both.

My research shows there's also a massive market for it in Dundalk. I attended College there and already know how big it is for table top games. Most college towns have a store and do very well but dundalk is yet to get one. Hope this gave you some insight. Good luck in your endeavours.

Take into account though you must know every product you stock. As new players will rely on knowledge of staff to teach them more about it.

Best regards

platinumflux

Hi Joe, cheers for the advice.
I had considered Dundalk, but its just too far from where I live to be viable as an option.

I luckily live above an empty premises in Navan which has a ton of space for casual gaming and even a separate room which can be used for the 40K and Warmachine players so there won't be issues with space thankfully.

As to food, I'm not considering anything audacious, drinks and snacks to begin with. Dungeons and Donuts in Galway seem to do quite well with that stuff but its a bit too far in the future for us to consider yet. As to comics, its something we're providing but we're intending to widen our range as just selling manga, while popular, is too narrow a market. customers may order whatever they wish however as long as we can get it. That being said, it is only considered as a sideline at present though.

The main area for sales is going to be board games, cards and hobby supplies with some a small amount of steady cash-flow coming from a dedicated gaming area. We have a regular group that meets twice a week and we've been going for over 3 years now. While I wouldn't confess to know every game in existence, I have gained a considerable amount of product knowledge and what I don't know, someone in our group probably does!

Again, thanks for the advice, its appreciated and good luck with your own endevour.

Sean931

I really hope you open up the store, I remember a few years back in Navan there was a store that catered to board and card games and it done pretty well and I enjoyed playing there. Any info on the gaming group you have would be great I'm currently looking for a group.

platinumflux

Hi Sean, thanks for the support! (My broadbands been playing up and I didn't see this till just now)

We have a ton of space in the shop for play-space so we'll definitely be opening that up for players as soon as we start trading.

As to the group, we've wound down for the summer as everyone's returned to college BUT the shop is in the process of being painted and cleared and we'll be opening around November by which point we'll have the group up and playing again and hopefully more people like yourself involved.

Hope that helps!

Sean931

Sounds great looking forward to it. where will the shop be located if you don't mind me asking?

platinumflux

Hi Sean,

it'll be on Flower Hill in Navan

GWALL27

Hi So is the date and time set for this

how does the tag online league/ tournament work?

platinumflux

Hi GWall, you may have posted in the wrong thread!

GWALL27

Stupid MAC thanks platinum

platinumflux

Its been a busy few weeks since I first posted but the shop renovations are ticking along nicely. I've made a blog on wordpress documenting the process and it can be found if you type 'thatgameshoponthehill' into Google. (Still a new user on boards so I can't add the URL yet unfortunately!)

We're still hoping for a November opening and again, if there's anything you'd like to see added to the shop, just let me know.

Twigster

Just noticed this thread, best of luck, would be great not to have to go into Dublin if looking for anything. Between driving to Dublin and parking it really makes it more appealing to buy online when you take the cost of that into consideration. Somewhere closer to home would be a welcome addition.

platinumflux

Thanks for the comment Twigster, that was the idea behind it. There are a fair few satellite towns to Dublin and Navan seemed the ideal choice.
We're not too far away from opening either, another week or so and we'll be ready to go!

platinumflux

All being well, the store's ready, the stocks ordered and ReRoll Games should be opening its doors for the first time on Saturday, November 21st.

Its on Flower Hill in Navan (opposite the Maxol Garage on the top of the hill)

Find us on Facebook for more information (I still can't post pictures or links yet sadly)
or search for 'thatgameshoponthehill' on Wordpress

Thanks for all the support!

MarkHall

Happy Gaming

platinumflux

Thanks Mark!

ShooterSF

Just walked past. Wow my little town getting a game store. Will definitely pop in! Best of luck!

platinumflux

Thanks Shooter!