[Musings of a Game Store Owner] What Makes a FLGS?

What is a FLGS? What should it have or offer to be the place you want to shop? What elements makes a store truly excellent?

I’d like to explore that with you for a week or two, and let you express your expectations and the successes of the stores you frequent.

What are the key elements to making your local store great, or groan-worthy? I’m very interested in hearing specifics. How important is knowledge of the product (and which specific products), stock levels, special order policy, play space, cleanliness, and more.

If a discount is important to you- please tell me what level of discount you expect and on what products. Across the board, just specific lines, with a “membership club” or “punch card” – how would a discount work?

Are terrain, tables, ability to reserve space, regularly scheduled events, good judges, and good tournaments important to you? Can or should your store owner or staffer play while they are on duty, or in tournaments? If so, can or should they be eligible for prizes? What about TO’s or judges?

What level of competitiveness do you hope for at your store? How can your store promote that level? What kind of prizes and bonuses do you expect for leagues and tournaments?

There are a lot of gamers out there with a lot of opinions. I’m interested in hearing those opinions not just for my sake, but also to help grow communication between all. With some wanting extremely casual “beer & pretzels”, and some being WAAC, it can only help to gain an understanding of what is important to all players so understanding viewpoints can happen.

Please feel free to share, and next week, I’ll be asking about the things that make a game store not so good.