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[Death Jester]

**NOTE ON THE POLL**
Please vote on everything you would considder purchasing or considder a part of a business that you would make use of.  (some options are in a second post)

(Also a quick note on the events and tournaments for games like Magic the Gathering, this would include Friday Night Magic, drafts and pre-release events!)


Greetings, it's been a while since the last update but I have some interesting news.

I have found no less than 4 potential condenders all in the past week.

1 of them will be the new gaming store! (Feels all reality TV)

I want discussion about what you want. What you'd prefer and what you want to be on offer goods and services wise.

There is a time frame here so if it's a 'I will post later.' thought, please ignor it and post now

All this information will go towards me making my desisions in regard to, location, stock, size and practically everything else.

I have had to remove some options from the poll because it was too big, so some of the obvious ones have been removed. Anyone who would purchase Wargames can you post below and let me know what games you play/would be interested in playing.

Many thanks, with this information I can really move things quickly.

GAME ON!
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All those who are about to die. I salute you!

[Gileh]

I voted (does it tell you how many separate people voted and for what?) Do you have a survey monkey for this as well?

Anyway I clicked action figures but I am only likely to buy Dr Who/DC figures for my niece and maybe lego and transformers- contemporary.

I'd want some where with a gaming table so I can play things like kings of war or D&D.

I was listening to a Linkara podcast the other day and they made a big deal over how successful comic book shops don't just survive on comics but as a sort of nexus for all the sci-fi geek stuff.

When something like this gets suggested part of my brain attends and asks: "What's the USP?" what will get people through the door and keep them coming back. What's the wider demographic research- and how does that affect the UBS of the potential consumers? Will this be a geek positive social venue, or a hard selling, fast-delivery goods outlet and what will make it outstanding? What will make it unique? What specific need is the business going to service and feed?

I would love to see a 'Forbidden Planet Chester'. I would love even more to see something original and surprising and unprecedented that makes all the customers go 'I didn't realise this is what I really wanted all along.' and all the other businesses go 'why didn't I think of that?'
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[Kamikazegerbil]

Am I correct in assuming that Mail Order service is for things like RPG books and the like?
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I'm here to kick ass and take names! If that's okay with everyone...

[Death Jester]

KG - Yes, I took RPG books off the poll because I know that people will want them already. The mail order would basically be I can post things to you that I have in store.



Gileh- Thats a great response there!

I don't do hard sell. I belive that if you love the hobby/s yourself and have a good knowledge base to advise thats all that it needs. I'm never going to be pushy about things but I will get excited about great items.

It wouldn't be a comic shop, chester already has that, I may have the odd graphic novel here n there, statues and figures but thats all. The USP is simply that it's a personal, local business run with experience and knowledge of the products on offer. Geek positive social venue is what I would like most, some properties would force me to be more capitalist than others but even they would have some tables in the back and such.

Does that help?
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All those who are about to die. I salute you!

[steffworthington]

[Death Jester]

You can vote for multiple things just so people know.

In response to competing with the internet shops simply can't do that, you may just have to pay an extra £1 or 2 for being able to pick up the item and look at it first, being able to get some feedback and info on it and take it away that day.

The internet is destroying the gaming communities. If you want to support a shop that is trying to do more than just make money from you great, but if you just care about getting the cheapest you can, you will never find that in shops. There is an awefull lot to bear in mind, internet buying sindicates buy in massive volumes and then split it up amounst themselves selling at a cheaper price than some shops can even buy at.

As I said if you want to just save money a gaming store isn't going to be for you, if you want to support a local business who supports the gaming community then a store is worth paying a little extra for over the purely profiteering communityless e-bandits.
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All those who are about to die. I salute you!

[Shiny]

I'm not sure what to vote on.. all of the above?

Ideally what i would like to see is a smart friendly community shop.

people with geeky interests would go there to hang out in a comfy area, buy, make, and discuss stuff,
events would take place there,
people would recognise it as the go to place to advertise and buy gifts and things necessary for these events.
having a community there doing games and things gets folk excited about geek stuff, and excited geeks buy more
esspecially if they know that they can get exactly what they want straight from the shop with the advice of fellow geeks and hobbyists.

i love the idea of ordering stuff in,
if that was advertised quite blatently it would create a lot of loyalty,
a cobbled together mail order book of whats new/favorites for people to flick through would rock and keep people comming back for more.

a notice board stating events to be held after hours, generating income after most of chester is closed is a definate bonus

with regards to location the one we discussed earlier would be a dream,
however due to the increased cost would need to cater for the casual geek dropping by on their usual saunter through the streets
as well as having the community feel.

too far out of chester and a small shop would die, it would not be enough of an attraction to pull people away from the center..
a larger more diverse shop on the outskirts would work but would need a lot of advertising or nobody would know/care where it was
and it would require a lot of stock

[paz]

I can make a more detailed post later, but being part of this initiative would be a key selling point for me:

http://www.bits-and-mortar.com/
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Matt / paz

[Death Jester]

[HDimagination]

I wholeheartedly wish you the best of luck.

I think that Shell and I would be inclined to support a local gaming shop with our cash, but we don't actually buy RPG products all that often at the moment. More frequently at the moment we buy the occational batch of magic cards at the stall in the market.

We would probably be interested in participating in events like magic tournaments/drafts etc...

Would you also be thinking of running the organised play for 4e (encounters/lair assult)? If so, I might be able to volenteer to GM for those, although as I've stated, this is conditional upon childcare and negotiation with my lovely wife....

Hopefully WotC will release more hobyshop exclusive books like 'Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium.' Ironically one of the only D&D books i've been interested in this year, and I can't actually buy it without traveling to liverpool/manchester....

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