What used to be my old LGSs were polar opposites, one of them was a bunch of guys who treated you like nothing, overcharged you for everything you bought (a pack of innistrad there was $15), had a limited selection of only core set 2019 or random modern sets, and had a horrible 30% value for selling singles. The other LGS, a little bit more of a drive, was god sent. They first off had no smell, ik idk how it's possible, the guy that owns or ran the place was so chill, they had great prices, at the time only $6 for an iconic pack, had a huge selection of each set's booster box for the past 5 years, had an insane amount of singles for only a little more than the tcgplayer low market price, offered about 80% of the singles value and best of all, they respected you. I won't say the first store but I'll gladly give the second store's name: Affinity for Gaming
some of these magic stores.. horrible.. the one near me, my first time going to it, went to buy an Eldritch moon booster 2 weeks after launch, and the guy tried to sell for $160 CAD plus tax (every other store was selling for $124.99 CAD plus tax) I told the owner its cheaper, he's like "oh, where?" I said.. everywhere.. then he said "do you want the box or not?" I was selling some of my origins and bfz cards to him and he was the only one near me that was buying, so I said no thanks and then he said "oh since you aren't buying a booster box now, I can give you only half of what I said I would for your cards. Lol, I took them back, never again. deserves to go down
Toronto area, yes we have higher prices due to the exchange rate and duties, but the other game stores not close enough to me, were selling for the 124.99 CAD as online prices. He was just gouging a new customer.. goodbye repeat business. He was playing a game with people, seemed irritated that I came in, couldn't wait to go back to him game of MTG lol
Excellent video, i like watching Rudy simply for his business and investing insights. I own a discount grocery store, and my break even point is $52,500/month! A lot of customers, and employees don't realize how hard it is to get to that point, at an average price point of $1 or less. I don't care what your business is, just sticking with it and driving for your dreams deserves mad respect.
Rudy you have the absolute best channel for magic on youtube. Not only do you make entertaining content that is magic related, but also stuff like this. While this applies to magic its also life lessons. Glad to have you around man.
As a musician, I totally get this. People say the same thing about music: 'It'd be so cool to be able to make a career out of music! It'd be super rewarding all the time, and I'd get to play my guitar all day! Sweet!' - No prospect of practice, aural training, written/theory understanding, the fact that if you teach, you teach mostly people who don't practice enough/at all, you play occasional shows that suck... etc. People see the end product of all of these things that are grindy, and think 'That looks great!' without truly understanding the work that goes into having that end product that people see/consume.
Yea. I love playing bass, whether it would be electric or upright, but I don't want that enjoyment I get from playing it be affected by the stresses and demands a working musician faces. I have mad respect for y'all that go pro and turn it into a lifestyle and career, and sort of admire the boldness you all have that I don't.
i needed this kinda. me and a few friends have discussed opening a card shop when we get out of high school. ive been looking up all the tips / dos and donts i possibly could.
a local card shop where I live went through some pretty tough times pretty recently. there actually still recovering from it right now. WARNING: this is gonna be a really long comment. kind of a complicated situation. so the shop I play yugioh at was doing great. and when I say great I mean FUCKING GREAT! this shop was making an absolute fortune. they were becoming pretty renowned for there yugioh events, and there magic events, and even pokemon was starting to gain a pretty sizeable local following. we were having yugioh regionals with well over 300 people, and that's huge for middle-america regionals. they were hosting massive MTG grand prixs. they were getting fantastic attendance at local tournaments for all there different games. I mean really killing it on all fronts. and then things took a dive. here's what happened... April 2015 rolls around and the pre-release for the yugioh set "crossed souls" is set to happen this weekend. everyone goes down to the get there entry packs and to everyone's dismay there are no packs. the shop manager had neglected to tell this new cashier that each person is only allowed to buy one entry. (which means they can only get 5 packs) this one guy, let's call him moneybags, always asks if he can buy more entries. and the cashier didn't know he couldn't do that. so moneybags buys all the entries for that day. he gets all the packs and no one else gets anything. then this other guy, let's call him fuckface, shows up and goes to buy his entry only to find that there are no entries to buy. so fuckface gets pissed. he is Isa yugioh judge, and has several connections at konami. he calls one of these connections and reports the shop for breaking the "one entry per person" rule. Konami is not amused. Konami strips the shop of there sanction and the is no longer allowed to host regionals, or yugioh day, or UDS, or get astral packs, or have pre-releases or anything that sanctioned shops can do. over the next couple months the shop slowly loses its following for yugioh. which doesn't sound that bad on the surface, but... a lot of those yugioh players are also magic players, or pokemon players, or A LOT of them were force of will players (nearly the entire local player base for force of will were yugioh players) And there main game was yugioh. so these players go elsewhere for yugioh, and at the same time, they go elsewhere for there other games too. this means not only does the shop lose the money from the game related transactions, but also for stuff like drinks and snacks. and all that money they weren't getting meant they didn't have to cash flow to host huge events for other games. no more grand prix. no more pokemon AT ALL for a little wile. the yugioh player base dwindled down to nothing. and all that profit went with them. suffice to say the shop lost A FUCKING LOT OF MONEY because they lost there konami sanction. they fired the manager that caused all this, by the way. about 5 months ago the shop was doing so poorly and the owner had gotten so disgusted with the whole thing that he wound up selling the shop completely for just over 100k. if he had decided to sell the shop before he lost that sanction he could have easily gotten $500,000 maybe even $600,000. (and I know that sounds like an insane number, but that's just how good they were doing. I know the owner personally and he has told us many times about how much money he lost because of all this.) the moral of this rediculously long story? even something small and seemingly insignificant can have profound impact on a small business. so be careful with every decision and be extra careful with who you go into business with.
More than anything KONAMI sucks here. If that had been the billionth time an incident like this happened, then it would’ve made sense. I Could understand suspending sanctioning or charging a hefty fee/fine for that violation. But altogether revoking it? Fuck KONAMI.
@@ElfHostage I can mostly agree with that, but this really isn't an uncommon thing with Konami. They don't fuck around when it comes to enforcing the rules for there sanctioned stores. And the stores know this all too well. Ask any OTS sanctioned store owner about konami's rules and they'll be like "oh fuck, how much time you got?". It's a bit ridiculous, but Konami sees there OTS stores as extensions of Konami themselves. Any bad press the store gets(especially in relation to yu-gi-oh) is seen as bad press for Konami, and they don't play that shit. OTS sanctions have been revoked for far less before and since this incident. And as ridiculous as that is, thems the rules, and you gotta play by them. The real blame here is on the guy that reported this shit in the first place. Had he not went crying to Konami, then nothing would have happened. The players would be pissed for a week, and then forgot anything even happened when the set actually released. The store never actually closed entirely. The owner sold the store, and the new owner moved it to a smaller location because the rent on the old place was too high. It took nearly 2 solid years, but they eventually did get the Konami sanction back, but they still haven't convince Konami to let them host regionals again. I don't think they've gotten a UDS yet.(which is basically just a glorified locals with better prize support.) At this point, they're lucky if they even get to have pre-releases. And it's a bit irionic that Konami let's them do that, since that's what got them axed in the first place.
Thanks for the video, Rudy; it was needed. I realized a couple of years ago that if you LOVE Magic the Gathering, both as a collector and a player, you can never own your own store. You will have no time to participate in your own store run events and you will have a different perspective on the cards themselves as you will see them every day and they will become an object instead of the passion they were meant to be. I saw this to a small extent when I opened up my eBay store to sell pre-made EDH Commander decks I created, which I did very well at. It's amazing how the most mundane things take time and before you know it, you are burned out and the long game you play just to make a $5-$7 profit so you can move product to buy more, get your name out and touch new cards, was too much. I might get the energy down the road under a different business model to do it again, but I'm glad I found out from the warm confines of my Public Storage unit instead of a store.
Thanks for doing this series Rudy! I am actually starting my own game shop in the next months and just quit my job 2 weeks ago to do this dream! I'm listening to every word of advice from you about sustainability and standing the test of time. I will work very hard and tirelessly to make sure the store becomes a success and I have been documenting the journey along the way on my youtube channel. Thank you and I will stay tuned for all and any advice. Also if anyone else has any advice for me let me know.
DO NOT STOCK BOARD GAMES. If you are going to hold a lot of Standard events, open boxes so you have the cards to sell as singles. If you have Modern or Legacy events, make sure you sell modern staples. Try to keep volume high and margins only slightly higher than TCG. I love to support my LGS, and I buy singles like you wouldn't believe, but I can't pay my LGS $100 for a Force of Will when I can get them on eBay in the mid 40s. If they charged 25-35% more than eBay I would most definitely support them but at 100%+ no way. Just be mindful of your margins. Always ask your customers what they want you to sell. Gather emails and do campaigns reminding them of prereleases, events, new inventory. Create a google+ page so that you show up on Google maps. Keep your store clean, and keep your POPs engaging and enticing. Get a small fridge so customers can buy refreshments and snacks during events without leaving the store. p.s. I am a marketing director, not for mtg, but the principals apply.
Great video as always. I was a little puckered up thinking you were going to throw that copy of Suikoden. Some years back, some friends owned a small card shop, and they actually got a decent rate on the space. Things were actually going pretty well, until one of the guys cut and run with the cash and most of the stock. They had only been open a few months, so there really was no way to recover from that. Last I heard, the guy who stole the goods was dodging being served with papers and all that jazz for a long time. Left the country even to do "mission work". Yeah, go do mission work when you just stole thousands of dollars and hosed someone you had been friends with for years... Some years later, I was working with some friends trying to open our own shop, and one of them wanted to open on a SUPER lean start up. Sure, I get it, but I want certain things out of a comic book store, and I wanted something like $125k to start up. Ordering comics is an expensive pain in the ass, and I wanted plenty of operating capital as well. We tabbed it up to where $125k would leave us with about $60k operating capital. The plans ended up falling through, and I'm almost thankful for it. I've worked in a couple, and been to countless comic book stores over the years, and they've all been sketch as fuck. ONE store I've been to has ended up being what I wanted (clean, brightly lit, coffee shop kind of feel), and funny enough, he opened in one of the spaces I was looking at. My current job is in that downward spiral. The owner keeps saying "Don't order this because money is tight". Well...I HAVE to order that, because I can't sell it if I don't have it. I've learned over the past few years that I should probably work for someone rather than myself. I spent some time trying to flip yard sale and thrift store finds on eBay. I actually got overwhelmed and burned out pretty quick. It's fun when it's side cash. When it was my main source of income...fuck it.
my long time local game store, the older one is ran by a businessman, he knows business, he teaches business, he knows business. He's stayed in business 25 years and probably will continue at least another decade (though I expect him to retire in the next 10 years or so). He's selfish, self centered, and intimidating and pretty much expects everyone to pay retail price for everything. As much as I don't like him, I respect his ability to keep his store open for all these years and from what I hear, get fairly rich doing it. He'll retire wealthier then 99% of all of his customers so I can't fault him for running a successful business.
Man this reminds me of this one model train shop from my childhood. Owner was an old man who was really into model trains, but he had no clue about owning a business, every paper work was done by his wife and he didn't even bother to keep up what she was doing
P.S. my overhead is just over $10,000 a month. Just think how many booster boxes at $5 profit we would have to sell online to meet that each month. Okay, fine, I'll do the math for you. It's 2,000 boxes. The numbers in an LGS get scary, FAST when you start to grow.
Boxes cost $77 each and the places they move quickly (like eBay) you have to charge $89.99 (MSRP on a box is $143). Knock out $5 for shipping plus a ton of eBay fees and 2% PP fees, you're left with just a few bucks. I'm not complaining though, because they at least sell pretty decently.
As with any business, most of your costs are employees and taxes. a $15 an hour employee will cost you $18.75 after taxes per hour (workmans comp, jobs and family, unemployment ect. All the fun programs you have to pay into, but get $0.00 back at the end of the year because it goes into the general pool of funds that other people use). It adds up quickly. Even two full time workers will add $6,000 a month to your overhead. This is why taxes are out of hand. If I pay you $15 an hour, it costs me $3,000 a month to pay you, yet you only take home around $1,800 of that. The good old government pockets the $1,200 difference.
Oh ok so you mean profit directly to the owners. The way I read the OP was that the store profit (revenue) was $5. I was shocked. So that $5 profit is to the owners? I'm guessing the owners do not have a salary on top of that?
Was anyone else terrified during the video that Rudy might throw/break/destroy that copy of Suikoden??? LOL I was so scared when he was holding it. 0___0
My LGS has been struggling for a long time now. The owner doesn't like people and gets really bad anxiety when there are too many people in the store. On pre-release weekends, he usually only runs one or two events and then lets his employees (which he only pays in store credit) do the other ones while he goes and catches Pokemon until 6 am. That being said, he has wealthy parents who pay the difference and keep the lights on. I want to support my local shop, so I used to buy singles from him, but one time I stood at the counter for over half an hour until he came up and told me that he couldn't help me because he was playing D&D. He was the only one working that night. Now I buy most cards online or with store credit. He isn't getting my money. lol
Store credit is basically imaginary money that isn't coming out of my pocket. I win an FNM and then use the winnings to pay for whatever I need. I've been able to do this for months without having to spend a dime of money that comes out of my pocket.
I dunno how I stumbled on this video but he is laying down some real shit. A long rambling unedited masterpiece---and also Valkyrie Profile is awesome.
By far one of the best MTG and Business related channels. Thanks for making these videos Rudy. And I swear you have the same EXACT video game collection from the mid/late 90s I had. Suikoden II is an amazing game. Almost as amazing as FFTactics. Man I miss 90s Squaresoft.
I like your videos, and I have to say this one had a small bonus in it for me. I have been trying to remember a game name for about 5 months now and it is sitting there in the background. Thank you for showing Valkyrie Profile.
great vid. used to do business loans at the credit union and so much of this hit home hard. also love how rudy actually gives you something for giving up patreon dollars. he is the only one i've seen do that. good job!
This is why I love your videos, always full of great and insightful info. It's nice to see someone that knows what they're talking about. I see and hear so many people on the outside looking in, thinking that business X, Y, or Z is just rolling in the money without a care in the world, when the facts are, they have tons of bills to pay for the business and trying to take money home to their family.
Such good advice about small businesses. When I was growing up, we had an LGS and the owner was fantastic. However, after some years he noticed things were declining and the recession hit. He sold the shop to get out of it, but the people who bought it were two former regulars/part-time workers. It was their hobby/love and wanted to "make a living doing it," Two years later, the store was closed and they lost everything because of a failure to properly manage finances and business decisions. In-fact, towards the end they even tried to get someone to help with that, but it was too little, too late and the store went to pages of history.
I just subscribed because you keep it honest and frank. I do plan on opening a comic book store/cafe in Colorado. I would certainly hope you continue to make videos like these.
Back in 2005 I was researching because I wanted to open a FLGS, I live in the 4th biggest city of the Netherlands with around 220.000 people in it. And I just could not find a spot where the rent was not so terrible that the shop would not be sustainable, and then the big crash happened and even with 30% of all the shops ending up empty and for rent, the rents were still as high. Never started this shop in the end, people told me to do an internet shop, but for me the gaming was always about building a community and meeting people face to face, not selling to strangers over the internet.
Hi Rudy, I have been watching your vids the last few days. I'm around your age, and I've been on you tube for a long time now. Your channel is the first one I have ever subbed, mostly because I come to YT for garbage vids or to just decompress. But you are wise and spot on with more than just MTG. Solid wisdom on the realities of business without being shy for hurting these weak willed peoples feelings. So congrats, 10 years on YT your my first channel subbed. I own 2 small businesses, it's a grind everyday but sustainability and growth buddy!
Good Video. Enjoy the perspective a great deal. I've never thought of my hobbies as 'businesses', and this way of thinking really makes me evaluate things differently.. Best of luck with the channel!!
As a person who has a small business from 1998, You sir are absolutely correct !!, thumbs up, seriously, I've seen too much of small business in my area shut down because they are doing all the things you said, it's better to have smaller income but you have the customers heart and loyalty, than take big and all the customer left just because a lousy 1000 bucks of profit
Holy shit, this is like me rocking up to work and the GM goes "guys, we are not making our target for the month. Let's come up with some short-term benefits idea's. Any Idea's?..". "How about we increase fee's?." "Perfect! Exactly what I thought". Me: "What about long term customer values"?. GM: "Cus..to..mers....AHAHAHAHA"
This is fantastic advise, I am fascinated by this video. I cannot wait to continue to watch your small business videos. I am actually going with vintage game store within 2 years, and I feel like I should be paying you for this type of advice. I could go on with this comment, but will end with thank you and looking forward to more!
Thanks rudy. You've given me some things to think about, from watching your new content. Trying to figure out what to do with life. Your thoughts have been a great stimuli.
Definitely looking forward to more videos on this subject. I've been considering making the jump from an online-only card shop to a proper LGS and I'm doing as much research as I can while I build up my cash reserves & wait for a good location to be available.
Been mulling the idea of opening a LGS for quite some time now as our current LGS is currently running itself into the ground. I've done the research, gone to school for business, have family members that own businesses/firms, and have contacts in the industry. The only thing holding me back from opening the store is funding and knowing that it's a slow grind to get to even every month in the LGS world. Your right on many points in this video.
I'm getting my ducks in a row to make a move. Currently working on my online sales and cross promoting via Twitter and Instagram to help drive sales. The thought process is that if I can deliver a solid business plan and show monthly e-commerce sales figures it will help with funding from lenders if I need it. It also allows for me to figure my current sales margins versus what they will be if I get my product in wholesale. My biggest fear is that our local players will not have a professional but fun environment to play in. They deserve so much more than what they are currently being offered.
I dont play magic or pokemon or any other card games. I only found your vids because i watched a few pokemon unboxing vids, and your content showed up on my reccomendations. You give great business advice.
And yes, you are dead on about customer expectations and how they'll never be happy. When i would list a commander deck on eBay, I would always get an email or two per listing about why I am selling the deck $10-15 more expensive even though I was adding in free shipping, sleeves and a deck box and sometimes even tokens. They had no concept of the eBay fees on top of the shipping fees on top of the material fees as all they saw is that their Decked ap or wherever they price the deck, tells them that the price should $X.xx and that is all they should pay and less. Most of the profits that are made, are buying those insane lucky buys where the listing ends at like 2am and you're awake to snipe or bid at last second, just so you can still clear a profit. Ironically, the online stores / model (ironic because that's the market I lived in) is what will kill you as somebody who is a loyal buyer, will buy a booster box for $89.95 from someone else, to your $89.99. It is a meat grinder, LoL! Best of luck, Rudy; I'm living vicariously through you, LoL!
I always enjoyed going to my small corner shop Alter Reality up in Lakewood, Ohio as a kid, meeting Jim and Brad, idk which owned and which operated, but they were both always there. Then Brad started talking about their online business growing. Then they expanded to Medina as a second larger location, and when I moved down to Akron, I went there every single week to draft. And then Brad was busy at his other locations opening their third location and expanding their online even more. To quote him, "we wouldn't be in business if it wasn't for online sales." Basically there was almost zero margin in the physical store, but they still did it because they wanted to build a brand, a face, and a community. Then he started their tournament series. Expanded their website writing staff. I'm really glad to have seen a grassroots single corner store grow into a brand.
Hi Rudy love all your content. Thinking about taking over a small shop in SF. Please let me know if you have time to talk more in depth about what it takes to start my own shop, I would really appreciate the advice. Watching Deriums series and taking notes now. Thanks for all the great content.
Very nice set of games behind you. I'm only missing one of those, Valkyrie Profile. I also notice at the FFL2 is the less common SquareSoft release? Maybe its the Sunsoft one... Little blurry.
I swear he gets dislikes from people who don't even watch the content and just already made up their mind that they don't like him. Thanks for being real and telling it like it is, I appreciate these business type videos
owner of a shop near me (Cincinnati) decided to move closer to his family (Colombus) and start a new Magic Shop there. THe building he was in was in a historic district and so he had to pass a bunch of regulations. Was paying rent and wasn't even able to sell anything for 5 months. Then after he started hosting FNM's, the store was under investigation for "gambling". And it was eventually ruled as gambling for a time. He lost so much money. And the people that took over his old shop ran everything by the "Starcity" pricing textbook and drove the shop into the ground. #Doublekill
thanks for your sage ramblings. I don't plan to get my own stores but the nuggets of wisdom you gave can be applied in life in general. keep up the good work.
I remember a local store that kind of failed. I wish we could email stories ahead of time or something, everybody has their own local magic tale to share. I really want to see some massive collaboration between the Magic content creators. You could all play baseball! Openboosters pitching his Arabian Nights box with Kevin prepared to swing at it. *Eyes narrowed*. Aaron apathetically clapping in the seats with Rudy on the field prepared to catch it in his one hand, with sparklers in the other. The Professor is coaching, more lecturing the players from off court with MTG LION building a wall of fatpacks at third. MTG Headquarters isn't there, he's probably scalping tickets outside or shamelessly self promoting in the stands.
Git here early too. Small business topic is interesting to me. Started my own drone business just over a year ago. Complete change of lifestyle for me. Keeping chugging along, going well actually.
I enjoy these video's alot because it helps potential card shop owners. I opened, about a year and a half ago and Deriums video's helped me out alot. Also, another major thing people don't do is ask questions. Whether it be from current card shop owners or after your shop is opened and listening to the players. When a majority of players want something, test it out a bit and give it to them. I would'nt call my shop a mass money machine, but I definetly live a good life with it and I love doing what I do everyday. If anyone wants to open up a card shop to play cards all day, please don't open up a card shop. Alot of shops failed before I opened mines and there are several factors that hurt stores. I just hope anyone who is interested in doing this, understand this.
All of what you say is basically why I've never seriously considering opening my own shop. I have tried to start a small business at selling things during conventions, though. Even that's hard!
I lasted two years. I opened in 2015 and things were going gangbusters for the first year. I actually made a profit the first year. Enter year two. -11,000 in the hole. Luckily I had my daytime job still, but it was pretty brutal. Decided as Magic kept reducing in popularity, Force of Will took a bath, and board games are constantly undercut online it wasn't worth it. In addition, I completely hated magic and magic players by the end of it and only after a year of being out of the business am I finally starting to get an interest in CCGs again. DON'T DO IT! IT'S A TRAP.
Wow, This is my first time watching you and you rock. I wish I could show this video to the owner to the store I run. He is old school thinking from India. I worked his gas station for a few years and now I run his tobacco store. I flipped his business by pushed is old innovatory out and brought in new product, with out turning it into a head shop. Got a local vape company in are store and some sweep stake stand ups. But after all the work I put in that he would not do himself, my boss will not budge on growth, marketing, or maintains. Plus will not pay me more, even if it is was commission based pay. Most customers think I own the store and find out that I don't say I should. Now I am just a body in his store to keep it running. I agree with all your points but you got to know your products. I sell tobacco but don't smoke. So put that thought into magic cards. I LOVE MTG but can not afford it. Could I sell it, hell yeah. Could I own a card shop..... That would challenge me. Like you said in this video, you need to balance hobbyist and business but who sells trading cards without knowing what they are, you know.
Interesting video. Oh the stories I could tell about our LGS and I will share on your future videos concerning this topic. Having done extensive research on opening a business, I can say that the main reason so many go under is lack of capitol. There are so many people that try to open a business with only 20 or 30 grand and go under within the first few months. The vest majority of folks underestimate operating expenses by 20 to 30% or more. For instance if they have employees, they figure the hourly rate but forget to add 6.2% for Social Security Tax and an additional 1.45% for Medicare Tax as an expense. A small oversight, but these things add up quickly.Unless you have a second source of income, you have to include your personal living expenses in to the equation. A really good store is lucky if they break even for the first year or two which leaves zero for personal income. Many use the credit card for their personal living expenses which is the fastest way to bankruptcy.
Awesome video Rudy, as always!!! You are my favorite mtg TH-camr. I have been wondering. What is so special about foil mtg cards? I know you don't sell them, just curious. Keep up the good work, you have earned my trust and attention. Thank you for all you are doing for the community.
Keep the awesome and insightful market analysis videos coming, Rudy. I think the hardest thing to objectively accept, is that most SUCCESSFUL businesses are the exception and not the rule. The market doesn't give a fuck, it's like musical chairs. There is absolutely NOT room for "everyone and their passion". The market is brutal and ruthless and doesn't care if you end up homeless or destitute or in debt. It wants to deliver value to people an they'll gladly exchange money for that value. The second someone can do it better or cheaper than you, you're done. This is why I'll never operate a brick-and-mortar, and only do online and tech-leverage businesses. I can't fathom the stress of insanely high overhead AND paying employees. Hell, high overhead is enough to give me anxiety sans any employees. Sole prop for life!
I agree with this video. I'm 24 and have never been interested in opening a real store. The concept seems cool, but the costs are just crazy like Rudy says. I feel like selling online is great business as it is, especially with zero employees. Of course the exposure is decent, and bulk deals are tempting, but the money you have to make to sustain those luxuries as a store owner are substantial. To each their own though. Mad props to folks that can pull it off. Great videos, Rudy. One of my favorite channels right now.
Dude I don't even watch you for the MTG I watch you for the amount of insight you provide from an investment perspective. Being an oddity that actually enjoys finance, its nice that there's a channel for MTG that exclusively talks about it. You filled a niche within a niche
Back in the early 90s, I had a hobby game store. I started out with a shoestring budget, motivation in spades, and most importantly, ignorance of not knowing what I was getting myself into - ugg! But after about a year and a half, through ten-hour days, blood, sweat, and the threat of divorce papers, I slowly worked myself out of a hole. At that time, my (Armory) distributor mentioned a new game called MTG. I said sure, I will buy the "pre-order deal" (Unlimited starter box sets and boosters). Word got out that I carried them, and literally, that is what saved my store and added a new customer base! (I did not get why people would want to buy whole booster boxes) - I didn't care! At around $100 a box, these were the largest sales I had ever had. Later on, I purchased fifteen Arabian Nights boxes but didn't have room on my limited shelf space and stashed three boxes in a utility closet and forgot about them. A year later, my first MTG event happened - the most customers I ever had in the history of my store. During that event, I had a spill, so I went to find the mop. That's when I spotted the stashed AN booster boxes. When I walked out with one, someone gasped, OMG, and the room was silent. One of my customers yelled I give you $750 for it! - Sold! - The next day, I sold AN booster packs for $40 each, and customers actually thanked me! I can only imagine if I would have saved one box today, even better, an unlimited box. But like my man says, your running a gaming business, not supplying your hobby.
That part about working in a cubicle really hit home. Perhaps I am a hobbyest and my dream IS to open a magic/gaming store. There's a long road to get there. Unless you have a lot of money or win the lottery, and you are lucky enough to get a business loan or investors, you start your business completely in a very dark and very deep hole. My dad started a business, and 15 years in he still isn't guaranteed to keep going. It's a constant struggle and you work long hours. People complain about working 9-5 or 3-11 or whatever?, 8 hour days? You own a business, you don't stop working. 14 - 16 hour days are common. You struggle with inventory, marketing, rent, building costs, expansion costs, publicity etc. I've seen good businesses fail because they build their store, then it's static. They think they can coast on the clientele they have. You constantly have to make sure you are keeping things fresh and new. If you rest on your laurels, another business is going to spring up and take all your customers. I wish everyone luck, chase your dreams but know that nothing is given, you need to work your ass off. Good video!
There was a local store near me that failed recently and I couldn't have been happier to see it go down. I say this because it essentially only existed because a group of people were upset about a separate hobby shop about half an hour away that had kicked them out for various reasons; being nuisances to other customers, cheating in sanctioned events, even stealing. It was like clockwork, they were banned, and then a month later a brand new store popped up except that it was much closer to my house so I felt obligated to check it out for a bit. It tried to play itself off as a general hobby shop but refused to sell anything that wasn't Magic cards; this bothered me because while I do very avidly play Magic, I'm also interested in dungeons and dragons, miniatures, etc., and it just seemed like a terrible business strategy. But the peculiar thing is that the shop wouldn't buy cards from you, per say. If you had good cards that you wanted to get rid of the owner would give you money for them and then just keep it for himself, which bothered me. They never had a large selection of singles as a result, and I remember a very distinct scenario where I had sold them a Volcanic Island and instead of putting it on display he immediately put it into his sleeved deck. It looked like it was doing okay for a while. After about eight months they renovated their unfinished space, painted MTG-related designs on the wall (unprofessionally, but it was a good sign that they had the money to spare to do it at all) and then one day the owner sold the entire inventory and left for Las Vegas for a weekend. He came back with a new ring and fired half of the staff. They moved into the upstairs office building in the strip mall because it was cheaper, but it was clearly not planned out to be for a business like a hobby shop. The owner admitted to not wanting to renew the store's lease, and basically just plans to turtle until the lease ends and he can run away with any cards he wants. He wanted to get Magic cards and didn't realize it was actual work. Fun stuff.
i dont play Magic anymore but really appreciated this small business lesson. many people could benefit from it as there have been many people I have known that started a business out of their hobby but lost track of how to handle their investments
yup agree mate, started a business and it took 13 months to generate profit (around $100 AUD profit in a month, started the business with a mate on 10K)...now does 30k revenue in a month but it involved a lot of work, marketing, people skills, customer wrangling and i was lucky it was online only...but im glad you are telling people this stuff costs money. Magic is great but it takes people skills, and business rules. im also not a fan of store fronts.online or nothing and low stating... but great vids man keep it up.
I have been running grocery stores for years. the cold grind is exactly what it is you said it perfect. I haven't ever missed a day or called in sick in 17 years. my intention is to open my own card shop in two years. I've saved the money and I have the card collection. but as always I want more of both so wish me luck.
This is probably the best video I've seen in the community in a long time. I fall into the category of unprepared former LGS owner and Rudy is speaking pure truth here. Going a bit further I would also comment that your store will ride hot and cold streaks based on the quality of the product at any given time. MTG puts out Theros block for example, and customers disappear. Your tournaments get smaller and smaller, you can barely sell off the product for cost. Now one of your main revenue streams has evaporated and you did nothing to cause it (except not seeing the possibility of this type of thing happening). And I actually considered myself lucky that when I closed the doors of the shop I was able to sell off my merchandise, at great discounts, to pay off my distributors, bills,etc... I never saw a dime back of my original investment and to be honest I felt lucky to simply not owe money to anyone and to have just lost my own money. i am lucky enough to have had a good education to fall back on which made it a bit easier to admit defeat before I put myself in what could have been real financial trouble by hanging on too long after it was obvious I was done. Not everyone will have a solid back up plan. This post is just meant to add, I don't know, one more persons experience to the equation. Be careful. I see now many of the mistakes I made along the way and how I could have done better with a different location, focus on different products, etc... but truth be told my LGS was doomed no matter what I had done because margins are low, customers disappear for long strectches, its very seasonal, a bad set means 3 months of lower sales/ a bad block 6 months, and specialty product like modern masters is not money in your pocket, but really does simply help you stabilize in down periods of the year.
Man good luck on doing that. There's so many fees and fines on renting a slot in a mall. I.e. If you close early you have to pay roughly a $500 fee for doing so. And again if you stay late for a pre release you have to pay a fee.
It is a small market. In the mid 1990's there were about two stores that sold comic books, role playing games, card games in my hometown. Where I am at now, there are, again, two stores. For those stores, most people that go there do mostly just hang around, socialize. It is a great hang out, but when one looks at the prices and the demographic, it is tough to make it. They need to sell those items and make a profit.
"Ask a store owner" the series was called, as I recall. I loved that! #MakeKevinDoStuff Rudy, these videos are funny and all, don't get me wrong but do you think you could condense some of it into 140 characters please? Twitter is crying in your absence, as am I being a follower. You could even tweet these videos so I get notified when your content comes out. I want a chance to shout "FIRST" damn it! XD Not all stores intend to flourish into stable business. I learned that from MTG LION's recent content. ;) I totally agree with what you're saying here, owners of LGS need to be cutthroat to survive in this industry. *Kevin sets a Modern Masters 15 booster box in concrete*. I love Deriums CCG's, never change! (Bring back Megan)
I own a small business and you can't be more correct. It's a daily grind and you have to be willing to start EVERY MONTH at ZERO. Then you work the entire month to pay rent, salaries, insurance, utilities, etc.. The bills never stop and you can't sit back and play games all day and assume the business just arrives. Great video with great advice. I'm not an MTG person and I subbed for the advice.
God dam your so right. My mom owns 2 restaurants in Atlanta and literally when they break even it's a pretty good month. Now she has my dad whose in investments and whose salary is high 6 figures to help her pump money in them but most people don't have that. I see first hand how hard it is to own your own business. Lots of people think it's easy. They don't think about rent or product cost or employee salaries or insurance. They think cuz they know how to cook (or in this cAse know how to play tcgs) that they'll be fine. 75% of people who want to open there own business will fail and come out short. Google it I didn't make that up.
BTW Vape stores are about to tank, the FDA counts vaping products (e-cigs) as tobacco now, meaning distributors can not alter products provided by manufacturers nor (legally) tell users how to alter the product.
I had a lady I did business with years ago explain the difference between a collector and a merchant. Collector generally buys to keep, merchant buys to sell.
there was this shop near me about 3-4 years ago that dealt in Magic and they actually used to charge us £10 a week to use the tables in a small cramped room to play Magic in. Needless to say they didn't exactly last very long.
love your shit Rudy, you're the shit. Here's a story.. I knew a vapor shop in my town that existed for literally 2 months. They now have a stand in the local antique mall where they pull in no sales. Everything you said was true!
They also just passed regulations in May that will doom every vape shop in the country in the next two years, so that might have something to do with it.
I got out of the military then started college and roofing. After my first year roofing I started subcontracting, I learned that I went from a am to 5 pm job to 6 am to 11 pm just to make sure I was treading water.
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I won't open a Magic Store because the customers smell so bad.
I can literally smell my LGS from the other side of the road, not figuratively.. Literally!!
There is someone at my store who lives out of his car and he smells like a gym locker. I wouldn't open one either.
Maybe open a perfumery?
What you are smelling is the "virginity protection spell" that cast amongst many of us MTG players.
I thought that was yugioh players
What used to be my old LGSs were polar opposites, one of them was a bunch of guys who treated you like nothing, overcharged you for everything you bought (a pack of innistrad there was $15), had a limited selection of only core set 2019 or random modern sets, and had a horrible 30% value for selling singles. The other LGS, a little bit more of a drive, was god sent. They first off had no smell, ik idk how it's possible, the guy that owns or ran the place was so chill, they had great prices, at the time only $6 for an iconic pack, had a huge selection of each set's booster box for the past 5 years, had an insane amount of singles for only a little more than the tcgplayer low market price, offered about 80% of the singles value and best of all, they respected you. I won't say the first store but I'll gladly give the second store's name: Affinity for Gaming
Looks like they're still around! Curious to know if the other place went under
some of these magic stores.. horrible.. the one near me, my first time going to it, went to buy an Eldritch moon booster 2 weeks after launch, and the guy tried to sell for $160 CAD plus tax (every other store was selling for $124.99 CAD plus tax) I told the owner its cheaper, he's like "oh, where?" I said.. everywhere.. then he said "do you want the box or not?" I was selling some of my origins and bfz cards to him and he was the only one near me that was buying, so I said no thanks and then he said "oh since you aren't buying a booster box now, I can give you only half of what I said I would for your cards. Lol, I took them back, never again. deserves to go down
jeez 160$ for a box. only 100$ a box at my local game store
I wish, stores near me sell boxes around 140$ first week then goes up to 160$ i think all the stores made a deal like this.
In Canada prices are about 25% higher than the US.
Which city. just out of curiosity?
Toronto area, yes we have higher prices due to the exchange rate and duties, but the other game stores not close enough to me, were selling for the 124.99 CAD as online prices. He was just gouging a new customer.. goodbye repeat business. He was playing a game with people, seemed irritated that I came in, couldn't wait to go back to him game of MTG lol
Excellent video, i like watching Rudy simply for his business and investing insights. I own a discount grocery store, and my break even point is $52,500/month! A lot of customers, and employees don't realize how hard it is to get to that point, at an average price point of $1 or less. I don't care what your business is, just sticking with it and driving for your dreams deserves mad respect.
Holy moly, 52k/month is shitload.
Forgive my prying, but how has your business been affected over the last 2 years? :/
Rudy you have the absolute best channel for magic on youtube. Not only do you make entertaining content that is magic related, but also stuff like this. While this applies to magic its also life lessons. Glad to have you around man.
RUDY I NEED YOUR VIDS DAILY! You've been on a role man, keep up the great work you never get old, your last three vids have been phenomenal.
If you like whining people barrow my mother for a week.
As a musician, I totally get this. People say the same thing about music: 'It'd be so cool to be able to make a career out of music! It'd be super rewarding all the time, and I'd get to play my guitar all day! Sweet!' - No prospect of practice, aural training, written/theory understanding, the fact that if you teach, you teach mostly people who don't practice enough/at all, you play occasional shows that suck... etc.
People see the end product of all of these things that are grindy, and think 'That looks great!' without truly understanding the work that goes into having that end product that people see/consume.
Yea. I love playing bass, whether it would be electric or upright, but I don't want that enjoyment I get from playing it be affected by the stresses and demands a working musician faces.
I have mad respect for y'all that go pro and turn it into a lifestyle and career, and sort of admire the boldness you all have that I don't.
i needed this kinda. me and a few friends have discussed opening a card shop when we get out of high school. ive been looking up all the tips / dos and donts i possibly could.
How’s it going?
a local card shop where I live went through some pretty tough times pretty recently. there actually still recovering from it right now.
WARNING: this is gonna be a really long comment. kind of a complicated situation.
so the shop I play yugioh at was doing great. and when I say great I mean FUCKING GREAT! this shop was making an absolute fortune. they were becoming pretty renowned for there yugioh events, and there magic events, and even pokemon was starting to gain a pretty sizeable local following.
we were having yugioh regionals with well over 300 people, and that's huge for middle-america regionals. they were hosting massive MTG grand prixs. they were getting fantastic attendance at local tournaments for all there different games. I mean really killing it on all fronts.
and then things took a dive. here's what happened...
April 2015 rolls around and the pre-release for the yugioh set "crossed souls" is set to happen this weekend. everyone goes down to the get there entry packs and to everyone's dismay there are no packs.
the shop manager had neglected to tell this new cashier that each person is only allowed to buy one entry. (which means they can only get 5 packs)
this one guy, let's call him moneybags, always asks if he can buy more entries. and the cashier didn't know he couldn't do that.
so moneybags buys all the entries for that day. he gets all the packs and no one else gets anything.
then this other guy, let's call him fuckface, shows up and goes to buy his entry only to find that there are no entries to buy.
so fuckface gets pissed. he is Isa yugioh judge, and has several connections at konami. he calls one of these connections and reports the shop for breaking the "one entry per person" rule.
Konami is not amused.
Konami strips the shop of there sanction and the is no longer allowed to host regionals, or yugioh day, or UDS, or get astral packs, or have pre-releases or anything that sanctioned shops can do.
over the next couple months the shop slowly loses its following for yugioh. which doesn't sound that bad on the surface, but...
a lot of those yugioh players are also magic players, or pokemon players, or A LOT of them were force of will players (nearly the entire local player base for force of will were yugioh players) And there main game was yugioh.
so these players go elsewhere for yugioh, and at the same time, they go elsewhere for there other games too.
this means not only does the shop lose the money from the game related transactions, but also for stuff like drinks and snacks.
and all that money they weren't getting meant they didn't have to cash flow to host huge events for other games. no more grand prix. no more pokemon AT ALL for a little wile.
the yugioh player base dwindled down to nothing. and all that profit went with them.
suffice to say the shop lost A FUCKING LOT OF MONEY because they lost there konami sanction.
they fired the manager that caused all this, by the way.
about 5 months ago the shop was doing so poorly and the owner had gotten so disgusted with the whole thing that he wound up selling the shop completely for just over 100k.
if he had decided to sell the shop before he lost that sanction he could have easily gotten $500,000 maybe even $600,000. (and I know that sounds like an insane number, but that's just how good they were doing. I know the owner personally and he has told us many times about how much money he lost because of all this.)
the moral of this rediculously long story?
even something small and seemingly insignificant can have profound impact on a small business. so be careful with every decision and be extra careful with who you go into business with.
Hey, that's something I learned playing MTG!
This is a really sad story :C
haha nerd
More than anything KONAMI sucks here.
If that had been the billionth time an incident like this happened, then it would’ve made sense.
I Could understand suspending sanctioning or charging a hefty fee/fine for that violation.
But altogether revoking it? Fuck KONAMI.
@@ElfHostage I can mostly agree with that, but this really isn't an uncommon thing with Konami.
They don't fuck around when it comes to enforcing the rules for there sanctioned stores. And the stores know this all too well. Ask any OTS sanctioned store owner about konami's rules and they'll be like "oh fuck, how much time you got?". It's a bit ridiculous, but Konami sees there OTS stores as extensions of Konami themselves. Any bad press the store gets(especially in relation to yu-gi-oh) is seen as bad press for Konami, and they don't play that shit.
OTS sanctions have been revoked for far less before and since this incident. And as ridiculous as that is, thems the rules, and you gotta play by them.
The real blame here is on the guy that reported this shit in the first place. Had he not went crying to Konami, then nothing would have happened. The players would be pissed for a week, and then forgot anything even happened when the set actually released.
The store never actually closed entirely. The owner sold the store, and the new owner moved it to a smaller location because the rent on the old place was too high. It took nearly 2 solid years, but they eventually did get the Konami sanction back, but they still haven't convince Konami to let them host regionals again. I don't think they've gotten a UDS yet.(which is basically just a glorified locals with better prize support.)
At this point, they're lucky if they even get to have pre-releases. And it's a bit irionic that Konami let's them do that, since that's what got them axed in the first place.
Thanks for the video, Rudy; it was needed. I realized a couple of years ago that if you LOVE Magic the Gathering, both as a collector and a player, you can never own your own store. You will have no time to participate in your own store run events and you will have a different perspective on the cards themselves as you will see them every day and they will become an object instead of the passion they were meant to be. I saw this to a small extent when I opened up my eBay store to sell pre-made EDH Commander decks I created, which I did very well at. It's amazing how the most mundane things take time and before you know it, you are burned out and the long game you play just to make a $5-$7 profit so you can move product to buy more, get your name out and touch new cards, was too much. I might get the energy down the road under a different business model to do it again, but I'm glad I found out from the warm confines of my Public Storage unit instead of a store.
Thanks for doing this series Rudy! I am actually starting my own game shop in the next months and just quit my job 2 weeks ago to do this dream! I'm listening to every word of advice from you about sustainability and standing the test of time. I will work very hard and tirelessly to make sure the store becomes a success and I have been documenting the journey along the way on my youtube channel. Thank you and I will stay tuned for all and any advice. Also if anyone else has any advice for me let me know.
don't waste your time with stocking board games. they just don't sell. My lgs took a big loss on that strategy.
Good luck!!!
DO NOT STOCK BOARD GAMES. If you are going to hold a lot of Standard events, open boxes so you have the cards to sell as singles. If you have Modern or Legacy events, make sure you sell modern staples. Try to keep volume high and margins only slightly higher than TCG. I love to support my LGS, and I buy singles like you wouldn't believe, but I can't pay my LGS $100 for a Force of Will when I can get them on eBay in the mid 40s. If they charged 25-35% more than eBay I would most definitely support them but at 100%+ no way. Just be mindful of your margins. Always ask your customers what they want you to sell. Gather emails and do campaigns reminding them of prereleases, events, new inventory. Create a google+ page so that you show up on Google maps. Keep your store clean, and keep your POPs engaging and enticing. Get a small fridge so customers can buy refreshments and snacks during events without leaving the store. p.s. I am a marketing director, not for mtg, but the principals apply.
Thank you everyone! I will be applying all this knowledge into action!
No advice for you but I wish you the best of luck! Don't be afraid to be hard!
Great video as always. I was a little puckered up thinking you were going to throw that copy of Suikoden.
Some years back, some friends owned a small card shop, and they actually got a decent rate on the space. Things were actually going pretty well, until one of the guys cut and run with the cash and most of the stock. They had only been open a few months, so there really was no way to recover from that. Last I heard, the guy who stole the goods was dodging being served with papers and all that jazz for a long time. Left the country even to do "mission work". Yeah, go do mission work when you just stole thousands of dollars and hosed someone you had been friends with for years...
Some years later, I was working with some friends trying to open our own shop, and one of them wanted to open on a SUPER lean start up. Sure, I get it, but I want certain things out of a comic book store, and I wanted something like $125k to start up. Ordering comics is an expensive pain in the ass, and I wanted plenty of operating capital as well. We tabbed it up to where $125k would leave us with about $60k operating capital. The plans ended up falling through, and I'm almost thankful for it. I've worked in a couple, and been to countless comic book stores over the years, and they've all been sketch as fuck. ONE store I've been to has ended up being what I wanted (clean, brightly lit, coffee shop kind of feel), and funny enough, he opened in one of the spaces I was looking at.
My current job is in that downward spiral. The owner keeps saying "Don't order this because money is tight". Well...I HAVE to order that, because I can't sell it if I don't have it.
I've learned over the past few years that I should probably work for someone rather than myself. I spent some time trying to flip yard sale and thrift store finds on eBay. I actually got overwhelmed and burned out pretty quick. It's fun when it's side cash. When it was my main source of income...fuck it.
my long time local game store, the older one is ran by a businessman, he knows business, he teaches business, he knows business. He's stayed in business 25 years and probably will continue at least another decade (though I expect him to retire in the next 10 years or so). He's selfish, self centered, and intimidating and pretty much expects everyone to pay retail price for everything. As much as I don't like him, I respect his ability to keep his store open for all these years and from what I hear, get fairly rich doing it. He'll retire wealthier then 99% of all of his customers so I can't fault him for running a successful business.
my town has about 6000 people, every couple years a new game store opens up, and few years later disappears
Man this reminds me of this one model train shop from my childhood. Owner was an old man who was really into model trains, but he had no clue about owning a business, every paper work was done by his wife and he didn't even bother to keep up what she was doing
P.S. my overhead is just over $10,000 a month. Just think how many booster boxes at $5 profit we would have to sell online to meet that each month.
Okay, fine, I'll do the math for you. It's 2,000 boxes. The numbers in an LGS get scary, FAST when you start to grow.
I think he made an indirect jab at your coffee habit.
Your margin is only $5?? What the nuts.
Boxes cost $77 each and the places they move quickly (like eBay) you have to charge $89.99 (MSRP on a box is $143). Knock out $5 for shipping plus a ton of eBay fees and 2% PP fees, you're left with just a few bucks. I'm not complaining though, because they at least sell pretty decently.
As with any business, most of your costs are employees and taxes. a $15 an hour employee will cost you $18.75 after taxes per hour (workmans comp, jobs and family, unemployment ect. All the fun programs you have to pay into, but get $0.00 back at the end of the year because it goes into the general pool of funds that other people use). It adds up quickly.
Even two full time workers will add $6,000 a month to your overhead. This is why taxes are out of hand. If I pay you $15 an hour, it costs me $3,000 a month to pay you, yet you only take home around $1,800 of that. The good old government pockets the $1,200 difference.
Oh ok so you mean profit directly to the owners. The way I read the OP was that the store profit (revenue) was $5. I was shocked.
So that $5 profit is to the owners? I'm guessing the owners do not have a salary on top of that?
Was anyone else terrified during the video that Rudy might throw/break/destroy that copy of Suikoden??? LOL I was so scared when he was holding it. 0___0
I liked your jab at "the invisible hand".
My LGS has been struggling for a long time now. The owner doesn't like people and gets really bad anxiety when there are too many people in the store. On pre-release weekends, he usually only runs one or two events and then lets his employees (which he only pays in store credit) do the other ones while he goes and catches Pokemon until 6 am.
That being said, he has wealthy parents who pay the difference and keep the lights on. I want to support my local shop, so I used to buy singles from him, but one time I stood at the counter for over half an hour until he came up and told me that he couldn't help me because he was playing D&D. He was the only one working that night.
Now I buy most cards online or with store credit. He isn't getting my money. lol
The Pokemon until 6AM thing made me think of Kevin lol.
You do understand that using store credit is as good as giving them your money? Credits don't just magically appear.
So I can buy a dinner for the store credit, or pay my rent?
Markus Nordin
Buying dinner or paying rent doesn't give your lgs money.... shopping at your lgs does, whether credit, plastic or cash.
Store credit is basically imaginary money that isn't coming out of my pocket. I win an FNM and then use the winnings to pay for whatever I need. I've been able to do this for months without having to spend a dime of money that comes out of my pocket.
That Fleer Ultra X-men 95 brings back so many memories. I still have my complete set. Good times. Great vid.
I dunno how I stumbled on this video but he is laying down some real shit. A long rambling unedited masterpiece---and also Valkyrie Profile is awesome.
By far one of the best MTG and Business related channels. Thanks for making these videos Rudy. And I swear you have the same EXACT video game collection from the mid/late 90s I had. Suikoden II is an amazing game. Almost as amazing as FFTactics. Man I miss 90s Squaresoft.
I like your videos, and I have to say this one had a small bonus in it for me. I have been trying to remember a game name for about 5 months now and it is sitting there in the background. Thank you for showing Valkyrie Profile.
great vid. used to do business loans at the credit union and so much of this hit home hard. also love how rudy actually gives you something for giving up patreon dollars. he is the only one i've seen do that. good job!
This is why I love your videos, always full of great and insightful info. It's nice to see someone that knows what they're talking about. I see and hear so many people on the outside looking in, thinking that business X, Y, or Z is just rolling in the money without a care in the world, when the facts are, they have tons of bills to pay for the business and trying to take money home to their family.
What I find fascinating besides the video games and guides on the bookshelf is the 1994 Flair and 1995 Fleer Ultra Marvel cards, boxed, sealed. Damn.
Such good advice about small businesses. When I was growing up, we had an LGS and the owner was fantastic. However, after some years he noticed things were declining and the recession hit. He sold the shop to get out of it, but the people who bought it were two former regulars/part-time workers. It was their hobby/love and wanted to "make a living doing it," Two years later, the store was closed and they lost everything because of a failure to properly manage finances and business decisions. In-fact, towards the end they even tried to get someone to help with that, but it was too little, too late and the store went to pages of history.
I just subscribed because you keep it honest and frank. I do plan on opening a comic book store/cafe in Colorado. I would certainly hope you continue to make videos like these.
Back in 2005 I was researching because I wanted to open a FLGS, I live in the 4th biggest city of the Netherlands with around 220.000 people in it. And I just could not find a spot where the rent was not so terrible that the shop would not be sustainable, and then the big crash happened and even with 30% of all the shops ending up empty and for rent, the rents were still as high.
Never started this shop in the end, people told me to do an internet shop, but for me the gaming was always about building a community and meeting people face to face, not selling to strangers over the internet.
Hi Rudy, I have been watching your vids the last few days. I'm around your age, and I've been on you tube for a long time now. Your channel is the first one I have ever subbed, mostly because I come to YT for garbage vids or to just decompress. But you are wise and spot on with more than just MTG. Solid wisdom on the realities of business without being shy for hurting these weak willed peoples feelings. So congrats, 10 years on YT your my first channel subbed. I own 2 small businesses, it's a grind everyday but sustainability and growth buddy!
Good Video. Enjoy the perspective a great deal. I've never thought of my hobbies as 'businesses', and this way of thinking really makes me evaluate things differently.. Best of luck with the channel!!
As a person who has a small business from 1998, You sir are absolutely correct !!, thumbs up, seriously, I've seen too much of small business in my area shut down because they are doing all the things you said, it's better to have smaller income but you have the customers heart and loyalty, than take big and all the customer left just because a lousy 1000 bucks of profit
Holy shit, this is like me rocking up to work and the GM goes "guys, we are not making our target for the month. Let's come up with some short-term benefits idea's. Any Idea's?..". "How about we increase fee's?." "Perfect! Exactly what I thought". Me: "What about long term customer values"?. GM: "Cus..to..mers....AHAHAHAHA"
This is fantastic advise, I am fascinated by this video. I cannot wait to continue to watch your small business videos. I am actually going with vintage game store within 2 years, and I feel like I should be paying you for this type of advice. I could go on with this comment, but will end with thank you and looking forward to more!
Thanks rudy. You've given me some things to think about, from watching your new content. Trying to figure out what to do with life. Your thoughts have been a great stimuli.
Hey. Thank you Rudy. I really appreciate the advice and wisdom. At this particular time, I need it.
Definitely looking forward to more videos on this subject. I've been considering making the jump from an online-only card shop to a proper LGS and I'm doing as much research as I can while I build up my cash reserves & wait for a good location to be available.
Been mulling the idea of opening a LGS for quite some time now as our current LGS is currently running itself into the ground. I've done the research, gone to school for business, have family members that own businesses/firms, and have contacts in the industry. The only thing holding me back from opening the store is funding and knowing that it's a slow grind to get to even every month in the LGS world. Your right on many points in this video.
I'm getting my ducks in a row to make a move. Currently working on my online sales and cross promoting via Twitter and Instagram to help drive sales. The thought process is that if I can deliver a solid business plan and show monthly e-commerce sales figures it will help with funding from lenders if I need it. It also allows for me to figure my current sales margins versus what they will be if I get my product in wholesale.
My biggest fear is that our local players will not have a professional but fun environment to play in. They deserve so much more than what they are currently being offered.
I dont play magic or pokemon or any other card games. I only found your vids because i watched a few pokemon unboxing vids, and your content showed up on my reccomendations. You give great business advice.
And yes, you are dead on about customer expectations and how they'll never be happy. When i would list a commander deck on eBay, I would always get an email or two per listing about why I am selling the deck $10-15 more expensive even though I was adding in free shipping, sleeves and a deck box and sometimes even tokens. They had no concept of the eBay fees on top of the shipping fees on top of the material fees as all they saw is that their Decked ap or wherever they price the deck, tells them that the price should $X.xx and that is all they should pay and less. Most of the profits that are made, are buying those insane lucky buys where the listing ends at like 2am and you're awake to snipe or bid at last second, just so you can still clear a profit. Ironically, the online stores / model (ironic because that's the market I lived in) is what will kill you as somebody who is a loyal buyer, will buy a booster box for $89.95 from someone else, to your $89.99. It is a meat grinder, LoL! Best of luck, Rudy; I'm living vicariously through you, LoL!
I always enjoyed going to my small corner shop Alter Reality up in Lakewood, Ohio as a kid, meeting Jim and Brad, idk which owned and which operated, but they were both always there. Then Brad started talking about their online business growing. Then they expanded to Medina as a second larger location, and when I moved down to Akron, I went there every single week to draft. And then Brad was busy at his other locations opening their third location and expanding their online even more. To quote him, "we wouldn't be in business if it wasn't for online sales." Basically there was almost zero margin in the physical store, but they still did it because they wanted to build a brand, a face, and a community. Then he started their tournament series. Expanded their website writing staff. I'm really glad to have seen a grassroots single corner store grow into a brand.
Hi Rudy love all your content. Thinking about taking over a small shop in SF. Please let me know if you have time to talk more in depth about what it takes to start my own shop, I would really appreciate the advice. Watching Deriums series and taking notes now. Thanks for all the great content.
The background of Rudy's videos are brilliant, visualizations are as important as words are.
Very nice set of games behind you.
I'm only missing one of those, Valkyrie Profile.
I also notice at the FFL2 is the less common SquareSoft release?
Maybe its the Sunsoft one...
Little blurry.
I swear he gets dislikes from people who don't even watch the content and just already made up their mind that they don't like him.
Thanks for being real and telling it like it is, I appreciate these business type videos
owner of a shop near me (Cincinnati) decided to move closer to his family (Colombus) and start a new Magic Shop there. THe building he was in was in a historic district and so he had to pass a bunch of regulations. Was paying rent and wasn't even able to sell anything for 5 months. Then after he started hosting FNM's, the store was under investigation for "gambling". And it was eventually ruled as gambling for a time. He lost so much money. And the people that took over his old shop ran everything by the "Starcity" pricing textbook and drove the shop into the ground. #Doublekill
Man... I think this might be one of the best Business video I've ever watched. Thanks for sharing your ideas Rudy!! :)
thanks for your sage ramblings. I don't plan to get my own stores but the nuggets of wisdom you gave can be applied in life in general.
keep up the good work.
These are my favourite type of videos by far. I find them incredibly fascinating
I like this guy. Real talk and no filter. I like it. Subbed.
I remember a local store that kind of failed.
I wish we could email stories ahead of time or something, everybody has their own local magic tale to share.
I really want to see some massive collaboration between the Magic content creators.
You could all play baseball!
Openboosters pitching his Arabian Nights box with Kevin prepared to swing at it. *Eyes narrowed*.
Aaron apathetically clapping in the seats with Rudy on the field prepared to catch it in his one hand, with sparklers in the other.
The Professor is coaching, more lecturing the players from off court with MTG LION building a wall of fatpacks at third.
MTG Headquarters isn't there, he's probably scalping tickets outside or shamelessly self promoting in the stands.
He'd be attacking people on Twitter.
So meta...
Git here early too. Small business topic is interesting to me. Started my own drone business just over a year ago. Complete change of lifestyle for me. Keeping chugging along, going well actually.
I enjoy these video's alot because it helps potential card shop owners. I opened, about a year and a half ago and Deriums video's helped me out alot. Also, another major thing people don't do is ask questions. Whether it be from current card shop owners or after your shop is opened and listening to the players. When a majority of players want something, test it out a bit and give it to them. I would'nt call my shop a mass money machine, but I definetly live a good life with it and I love doing what I do everyday. If anyone wants to open up a card shop to play cards all day, please don't open up a card shop. Alot of shops failed before I opened mines and there are several factors that hurt stores. I just hope anyone who is interested in doing this, understand this.
All of what you say is basically why I've never seriously considering opening my own shop. I have tried to start a small business at selling things during conventions, though. Even that's hard!
Repping that Suikoden II PSX version... amazing game.
omg yes amazing game, wish I knew where mine went =\
THAT OUTLIERS BOOK IN THE BACKGROUND IS AMAZING. Great book 10/10
love this video, all your vids feel so personal and sincere, best youtube channel going!
I lasted two years. I opened in 2015 and things were going gangbusters for the first year. I actually made a profit the first year. Enter year two. -11,000 in the hole. Luckily I had my daytime job still, but it was pretty brutal. Decided as Magic kept reducing in popularity, Force of Will took a bath, and board games are constantly undercut online it wasn't worth it.
In addition, I completely hated magic and magic players by the end of it and only after a year of being out of the business am I finally starting to get an interest in CCGs again.
DON'T DO IT! IT'S A TRAP.
Wow, This is my first time watching you and you rock. I wish I could show this video to the owner to the store I run. He is old school thinking from India. I worked his gas station for a few years and now I run his tobacco store. I flipped his business by pushed is old innovatory out and brought in new product, with out turning it into a head shop. Got a local vape company in are store and some sweep stake stand ups. But after all the work I put in that he would not do himself, my boss will not budge on growth, marketing, or maintains. Plus will not pay me more, even if it is was commission based pay. Most customers think I own the store and find out that I don't say I should. Now I am just a body in his store to keep it running.
I agree with all your points but you got to know your products. I sell tobacco but don't smoke. So put that thought into magic cards. I LOVE MTG but can not afford it. Could I sell it, hell yeah. Could I own a card shop..... That would challenge me. Like you said in this video, you need to balance hobbyist and business but who sells trading cards without knowing what they are, you know.
casually has 2 mox rubys lying in the background
This is probably one of your better videos... very wise and thought through... good advice
Interesting video. Oh the stories I could tell about our LGS and I will share on your future videos concerning this topic. Having done extensive research on opening a business, I can say that the main reason so many go under is lack of capitol. There are so many people that try to open a business with only 20 or 30 grand and go under within the first few months. The vest majority of folks underestimate operating expenses by 20 to 30% or more. For instance if they have employees, they figure the hourly rate but forget to add 6.2% for Social Security Tax and an additional 1.45% for Medicare Tax as an expense. A small oversight, but these things add up quickly.Unless you have a second source of income, you have to include your personal living expenses in to the equation. A really good store is lucky if they break even for the first year or two which leaves zero for personal income. Many use the credit card for their personal living expenses which is the fastest way to bankruptcy.
Awesome video Rudy, as always!!! You are my favorite mtg TH-camr. I have been wondering. What is so special about foil mtg cards? I know you don't sell them, just curious. Keep up the good work, you have earned my trust and attention. Thank you for all you are doing for the community.
Keep the awesome and insightful market analysis videos coming, Rudy. I think the hardest thing to objectively accept, is that most SUCCESSFUL businesses are the exception and not the rule. The market doesn't give a fuck, it's like musical chairs. There is absolutely NOT room for "everyone and their passion". The market is brutal and ruthless and doesn't care if you end up homeless or destitute or in debt. It wants to deliver value to people an they'll gladly exchange money for that value. The second someone can do it better or cheaper than you, you're done. This is why I'll never operate a brick-and-mortar, and only do online and tech-leverage businesses. I can't fathom the stress of insanely high overhead AND paying employees. Hell, high overhead is enough to give me anxiety sans any employees. Sole prop for life!
I agree with this video. I'm 24 and have never been interested in opening a real store. The concept seems cool, but the costs are just crazy like Rudy says. I feel like selling online is great business as it is, especially with zero employees. Of course the exposure is decent, and bulk deals are tempting, but the money you have to make to sustain those luxuries as a store owner are substantial. To each their own though. Mad props to folks that can pull it off. Great videos, Rudy. One of my favorite channels right now.
Been thinking about opening a business this was a great video with some real insight into the proper mindset thanks!
Dude I don't even watch you for the MTG I watch you for the amount of insight you provide from an investment perspective. Being an oddity that actually enjoys finance, its nice that there's a channel for MTG that exclusively talks about it. You filled a niche within a niche
Back in the early 90s, I had a hobby game store. I started out with a shoestring budget, motivation in spades, and most importantly, ignorance of not knowing what I was getting myself into - ugg! But after about a year and a half, through ten-hour days, blood, sweat, and the threat of divorce papers, I slowly worked myself out of a hole. At that time, my (Armory) distributor mentioned a new game called MTG. I said sure, I will buy the "pre-order deal" (Unlimited starter box sets and boosters). Word got out that I carried them, and literally, that is what saved my store and added a new customer base! (I did not get why people would want to buy whole booster boxes) - I didn't care! At around $100 a box, these were the largest sales I had ever had. Later on, I purchased fifteen Arabian Nights boxes but didn't have room on my limited shelf space and stashed three boxes in a utility closet and forgot about them. A year later, my first MTG event happened - the most customers I ever had in the history of my store. During that event, I had a spill, so I went to find the mop. That's when I spotted the stashed AN booster boxes. When I walked out with one, someone gasped, OMG, and the room was silent. One of my customers yelled I give you $750 for it! - Sold! - The next day, I sold AN booster packs for $40 each, and customers actually thanked me! I can only imagine if I would have saved one box today, even better, an unlimited box. But like my man says, your running a gaming business, not supplying your hobby.
I've subbed today after finishing watching your video.You've earned my respect as a fellow entrepreneur.
That part about working in a cubicle really hit home. Perhaps I am a hobbyest and my dream IS to open a magic/gaming store. There's a long road to get there. Unless you have a lot of money or win the lottery, and you are lucky enough to get a business loan or investors, you start your business completely in a very dark and very deep hole. My dad started a business, and 15 years in he still isn't guaranteed to keep going. It's a constant struggle and you work long hours. People complain about working 9-5 or 3-11 or whatever?, 8 hour days? You own a business, you don't stop working. 14 - 16 hour days are common. You struggle with inventory, marketing, rent, building costs, expansion costs, publicity etc. I've seen good businesses fail because they build their store, then it's static. They think they can coast on the clientele they have. You constantly have to make sure you are keeping things fresh and new. If you rest on your laurels, another business is going to spring up and take all your customers. I wish everyone luck, chase your dreams but know that nothing is given, you need to work your ass off. Good video!
There was a local store near me that failed recently and I couldn't have been happier to see it go down. I say this because it essentially only existed because a group of people were upset about a separate hobby shop about half an hour away that had kicked them out for various reasons; being nuisances to other customers, cheating in sanctioned events, even stealing. It was like clockwork, they were banned, and then a month later a brand new store popped up except that it was much closer to my house so I felt obligated to check it out for a bit.
It tried to play itself off as a general hobby shop but refused to sell anything that wasn't Magic cards; this bothered me because while I do very avidly play Magic, I'm also interested in dungeons and dragons, miniatures, etc., and it just seemed like a terrible business strategy. But the peculiar thing is that the shop wouldn't buy cards from you, per say. If you had good cards that you wanted to get rid of the owner would give you money for them and then just keep it for himself, which bothered me. They never had a large selection of singles as a result, and I remember a very distinct scenario where I had sold them a Volcanic Island and instead of putting it on display he immediately put it into his sleeved deck.
It looked like it was doing okay for a while. After about eight months they renovated their unfinished space, painted MTG-related designs on the wall (unprofessionally, but it was a good sign that they had the money to spare to do it at all) and then one day the owner sold the entire inventory and left for Las Vegas for a weekend.
He came back with a new ring and fired half of the staff. They moved into the upstairs office building in the strip mall because it was cheaper, but it was clearly not planned out to be for a business like a hobby shop. The owner admitted to not wanting to renew the store's lease, and basically just plans to turtle until the lease ends and he can run away with any cards he wants.
He wanted to get Magic cards and didn't realize it was actual work. Fun stuff.
10/10 intro. Had me laughing. Great vid.
i dont play Magic anymore but really appreciated this small business lesson. many people could benefit from it as there have been many people I have known that started a business out of their hobby but lost track of how to handle their investments
yup agree mate, started a business and it took 13 months to generate profit (around $100 AUD profit in a month, started the business with a mate on 10K)...now does 30k revenue in a month but it involved a lot of work, marketing, people skills, customer wrangling and i was lucky it was online only...but im glad you are telling people this stuff costs money. Magic is great but it takes people skills, and business rules. im also not a fan of store fronts.online or nothing and low stating... but great vids man keep it up.
I have been running grocery stores for years. the cold grind is exactly what it is you said it perfect. I haven't ever missed a day or called in sick in 17 years. my intention is to open my own card shop in two years. I've saved the money and I have the card collection. but as always I want more of both so wish me luck.
I miss Grandpa’s Sports Cards in Akron, OH. It was the best!
Damn good video Rudy. I grew up in a small family owned store and worked there half of my life. You are telling it straight like you always do.
This is probably the best video I've seen in the community in a long time. I fall into the category of unprepared former LGS owner and Rudy is speaking pure truth here. Going a bit further I would also comment that your store will ride hot and cold streaks based on the quality of the product at any given time. MTG puts out Theros block for example, and customers disappear. Your tournaments get smaller and smaller, you can barely sell off the product for cost. Now one of your main revenue streams has evaporated and you did nothing to cause it (except not seeing the possibility of this type of thing happening). And I actually considered myself lucky that when I closed the doors of the shop I was able to sell off my merchandise, at great discounts, to pay off my distributors, bills,etc... I never saw a dime back of my original investment and to be honest I felt lucky to simply not owe money to anyone and to have just lost my own money. i am lucky enough to have had a good education to fall back on which made it a bit easier to admit defeat before I put myself in what could have been real financial trouble by hanging on too long after it was obvious I was done. Not everyone will have a solid back up plan.
This post is just meant to add, I don't know, one more persons experience to the equation. Be careful. I see now many of the mistakes I made along the way and how I could have done better with a different location, focus on different products, etc... but truth be told my LGS was doomed no matter what I had done because margins are low, customers disappear for long strectches, its very seasonal, a bad set means 3 months of lower sales/ a bad block 6 months, and specialty product like modern masters is not money in your pocket, but really does simply help you stabilize in down periods of the year.
Never played Magic, don't think I've ever even held a Magic card. Really enjoying these videos for your business insight, reminds me of Markeedragon
Good stuff man. I can't wait to see what you do with this new series. I like hearing the truth. keep it up.
After this video I think the real money must be in renting out shopping malls.
Man good luck on doing that. There's so many fees and fines on renting a slot in a mall. I.e. If you close early you have to pay roughly a $500 fee for doing so. And again if you stay late for a pre release you have to pay a fee.
It is a small market. In the mid 1990's there were about two stores that sold comic books, role playing games, card games in my hometown. Where I am at now, there are, again, two stores. For those stores, most people that go there do mostly just hang around, socialize. It is a great hang out, but when one looks at the prices and the demographic, it is tough to make it. They need to sell those items and make a profit.
"This is 2016" lol wait till Covid 19 lol
oof
I thought this comment was 10 years old somehow and freaked out.
"Ask a store owner" the series was called, as I recall. I loved that! #MakeKevinDoStuff
Rudy, these videos are funny and all, don't get me wrong but do you think you could condense some of it into 140 characters please? Twitter is crying in your absence, as am I being a follower.
You could even tweet these videos so I get notified when your content comes out. I want a chance to shout "FIRST" damn it! XD
Not all stores intend to flourish into stable business. I learned that from MTG LION's recent content. ;)
I totally agree with what you're saying here, owners of LGS need to be cutthroat to survive in this industry. *Kevin sets a Modern Masters 15 booster box in concrete*. I love Deriums CCG's, never change! (Bring back Megan)
Keeping it real Rudy.
looking forward to hearing about your banking story. hearing more about your career and what made you succesful
I own a small business and you can't be more correct. It's a daily grind and you have to be willing to start EVERY MONTH at ZERO. Then you work the entire month to pay rent, salaries, insurance, utilities, etc.. The bills never stop and you can't sit back and play games all day and assume the business just arrives. Great video with great advice. I'm not an MTG person and I subbed for the advice.
fucking loved dino crisis.
God dam your so right. My mom owns 2 restaurants in Atlanta and literally when they break even it's a pretty good month. Now she has my dad whose in investments and whose salary is high 6 figures to help her pump money in them but most people don't have that. I see first hand how hard it is to own your own business. Lots of people think it's easy. They don't think about rent or product cost or employee salaries or insurance. They think cuz they know how to cook (or in this cAse know how to play tcgs) that they'll be fine. 75% of people who want to open there own business will fail and come out short. Google it I didn't make that up.
thanks rudy, trying to take your advice and we'll see how far we go
Thanks for this video was amazing! I own a small business and you couldn't have said it any better.
Rudy your bookshelf BROKE my MIND this episode.
BTW Vape stores are about to tank, the FDA counts vaping products (e-cigs) as tobacco now, meaning distributors can not alter products provided by manufacturers nor (legally) tell users how to alter the product.
I had a lady I did business with years ago explain the difference between a collector and a merchant. Collector generally buys to keep, merchant buys to sell.
Someday I might be successful and I'll always remember this video. Thanks, Rudy.
there was this shop near me about 3-4 years ago that dealt in Magic and they actually used to charge us £10 a week to use the tables in a small cramped room to play Magic in. Needless to say they didn't exactly last very long.
Though this video only relates to me in the fact that I'm interested in Magic, I found your points both eloquent and insightful.
love your shit Rudy, you're the shit. Here's a story.. I knew a vapor shop in my town that existed for literally 2 months. They now have a stand in the local antique mall where they pull in no sales. Everything you said was true!
They also just passed regulations in May that will doom every vape shop in the country in the next two years, so that might have something to do with it.
+Tatradomis They were gone before May even rolled around. What happened is they were the 5th or 6th vapor shop in town.
I got out of the military then started college and roofing. After my first year roofing I started subcontracting, I learned that I went from a am to 5 pm job to 6 am to 11 pm just to make sure I was treading water.
I just finished reading Outliers! One of my new favorite books :)
Those 2 Mox Rubys on top...
EDIT Good thing my local MTG shop will never die, great prices, great people, and FNMs are only 2€ ^_^