Buying Inventory...that you CANNOT afford...Opening an MTG Store ~PART 2~

PART 2: Lets Pretend we are opening "Timmy's Game Store" and walk everyone through the process...
/ alphainvestments

[@Firevine]

There was another KZbinr who shall remain nameless that commented that you "don't need" $5k worth of furniture on your last video, so I'm glad you touched on this again, because YEAH, YEAH YOU DO. There's a comic book store that opened up near me who has been gaining steam QUICKLY because holy shit, just like you said here, THE STORE LOOKS NICE. Would *I* spend the money on GeekChic furniture for my home? Shit no. Would I spend it on my store? *YES*. This new guy has been open just shy of a year, and while he mans the store most of the time, he's into the break even/slight profit range already, which I think is GREAT for a store that is mostly comics and tabletop games. His store is nice, bright, and welcoming, and it *matters*. The other comic and game store near me has a reputation of being dirty, sketchy, and staffed by unfriendly people for a reason, and they're starting to lose more and more business to the new guy. These videos are making me glad that the plans I was working on with some other people fell through. I was right, and one of them in particular was very, very wrong. The other was just kind of going with the flow. Good to know that my target of ~$65k operating capital was close to being on the mark. Edit: Oh, stupid things? Oh man, two years of working at the sketchy comic book store, I can tell you some stupid shit. Buying these expensive as fuck video game art books, EVERY TIME THEY COME OUT, no matter that none of them ever sell. Buying a zillion copies of Spawn because of the homage covers they were doing, when Spawn would sell like, two copies per month. Buying expensive as hell movie memorabilia for dumb as shit movies like Beowulf. Like who gives a fuck about Beowulf? But no, lets spend a thousand bucks on merch for it. Skateboarding TCG? FUCK IT, MAGIC IS DEAD LET'S FUCKING SKATE! Profits on comics are complete dick? FUCK IT! Let's eat those profits up by buying 800 fuckzillion copies of every piece of shit title out there.

[@SiiCKxWOLF]

This is a guy I could vibe with. Here, take this upvote and have a merry day. Thank you for presenting my eyes with this hilarious fuckery. "FUCK IT, MAGIC IS DEAD LET'S FUCKING SKATE!"

[@6ixto]

Are you still planning on opening a shop of your own one day? I'm assuming it will be called Rocket Power.

[@peanutbutterpandapuffs]

I love how videos like these are just free business lessons and yet there are so many failing brick and mortar stores that fail to realize how much aesthetics matter for a store. So many of these mom and pop shops just run it like its their home rather than treating it professionally with good customer service lol

[@MrKoalaburger]

One TCG store opened and when I walked in, there was a literal huge pile of magic cards sitting against a corner spilling under one of the (many, dirty) tables. Im talking like 3' tall 6' diameter pile it was insane. Dude had has products just sitting in stacks on tables with paper taped to the table under each stack for pricing. His store lasted 6 months, and that was six months too long. I was happy to see it go for personal reasons, the store that existed in the same spot prior to his hosted WH40k, but this owner said he hated tabletop games when I talked to him, and the next owner is a veteran tabletop gamer.

[@Anusideral]

I don't even play or care about MTG anymore. I'm just here for the quality content.

[@jordanjohnson5784]

Same. I don't own a single TCG whatsoever. I just enjoy the content of these videos. I find it oddly satisfying for some reason. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@HardBugged]

Never even played it. This is just quality content.

[@dragonkid203dracorumregni4]

My LGS saves the old booster display boxes and uses it as decoration on high shelves that aren't very useful space. Adds a huge wow factor

[@michaelchristian7192]

Before my LGS owner retired and shut down his store, he would always keep the empty boxes and even sell them for like 50 cents. And dammit did I buy a bunch of them. I kept my own personal, loose cards in them.

[@steventoney3711]

the Home Depot technique

[@Rugburn1982]

Can't wait to hear Rudy's take on the masterpieces.

[@AlphaInvestments69]

Once the entire BASIC set of Kaladesh is spoiled...and i can analyze the basic set and masterpieces together...i will release a video on the topic. probable this weekend or beginning of next week.

[@MetroidHatchling]

When I was on vacation in Sapporo, Japan a few years ago I played FNM and I think it was M14 gameday at a card store called "Amenity Dream" (which I thought was a really weird name but it's Japan so that's to be expected. One of the biggest vintage video game stores is called "Super Potato".) and they had tons of products for sale as pretty much all stores in Japan do. They use every available space for displays and shelving and advertisements and whatnot. One thing in particular they did that I thought was very cool that I never see in the US was that their store uses a point card reward system. They had a lot of singles there for very good prices (I'm not sure but it seemed like prices on single cards in japan are different than they are in the US. Japanese cards being generally cheaper than English cards is one example.) so I bought quite a few of them. I think I ended up spending around $250 usd converted or so on my first purchase with them. Lots of good single cards i needed for legacy like force of will, city of traitors, goblin lackeys, etc. When I bought them they asked me for my name and some information then printed me out a point card on this small card sized piece of paper which had a metallic part to it that had my information (name and amount of points I had accrued) set onto it with heat I think. The point I had accrued was I think about 10% or so of what I had spent which acted essentially as store credit. spend $250 at the store, get 25$ of store credit kind of thing. And this was on every purchase in the store whether it be card singles, booster packs, deck boxes or playmats. I ended up coming back and using the rest of the points to buy something else before I returned to the US. I thought it was really cool that the point card wasn't just a one time use thing but was a reusable repeatable thing with your name on it. Every time they put it in the machine to update the information with a new transaction it would heat up the metallic part of it and I guess stamp it new. I'm not exactly sure how they work but I thought it was a great idea and definitely seemed like a great incentive to get people to return to spend more money.

[@Guccibear100]

Ive seen some pitiful stores, but the worst one I went into was LITERALLY a guy who had a sigh in front of his house and arrows leading to his parent's basement and all he had for sale was old cards and he had two tables for playing. It was a very uncomfortable experience for my friends and myself, because he was "Legit" he was all over Google.

[@Rugburn1982]

Did you notice a lot of leather/handcuffs/binding materials???

[@COLR13]

ill tell you what, you really need the bindings when he starts pouring the hot wax and begins biting. Didn't buy anything from him but had a great night.

[@sonofchlar6144]

Do you know who else is all over google? Sex offenders... and porn.

[@adamgregory9198]

Thanks for stopping by my parent’s basement!

[@wesleyrhoden7297]

Worse thing I have seen personally that makes me not want to come back to a store is an employee act like its a hassle to grab a couple cards or ring you up when you are wanting to make a purchase. Sometimes not even being able to find them.

[@Yeshua996]

my local game store gave me my first plainswalker based on what the owner knew of my play style when i was new to magic and idk it was the coolest thing to have a store where the owners wanted to make a connection to their customers. they had amazing prizes and would give regulars free food once in awhile. and it was such a good vibe in that store so i definitely agree that customer service and keeping players in the store is a key. i hate going to empty shops it just feels awkward and uncomfortable like you know this place neeeeeeeddssss you to buy their products because clearly no one else is but its such a bad air in those stores that you wanna leave right away. where at an active store i wanna stay in and spend my money and indulge in that "one more pack" mentality and overall more willing to spend a lot more in those active stores

[@canislupy]

I need a shirt that says "I will only hose you once" - Timmy.

[@dandok3996]

Deriums have a popcorn machine thats fucking genius

[@luckylooch9696]

Keep helping other's dreams come true. I'm sure they appreciate any and all advice you have to give over years of experience you've had. Love the content.

[@mrandall1991]

I like these new segments, they are really knowledgeable. Rudy, keep it up man, and payday you have earned yourself a new Patreon haha

[@svtgtityper]

I ain't going to open a store, but I have learn so much from you. Rudy you're great!

[@JJAY706]

I like how you keep it simple and real at the same damn time. Good information no matter what level you are in business. (In my opinion)

[@215Daniel]

This store I visited in Japan had pens with the store logo on them for sale, impulse buy at the register for $1.

[@matthewsanchez7539]

i dont think i will ever start my own small business but these videos are the most entertaining things ive seen on youtube hands down. and hey, if i did ever decide to start a business i know exactly what videos i would watch haha. well done keep up the good work rudy.

[@tricksonafixed]

The store I go to weekly is super professional. It started out not too bright, and open. But man since they relocated, it's such a massive transformation.

[@TroutCreative]

"Smell nice and look professional." THANK YOU!! I moved cross country for my job, and the new LGS brings their three cats to work and it smells like a litter box full of dirty socks. As someone who is allergic to cats it makes drafting a one way trip to hosetown. The lame chaos drafts to move old product doesn't help either. I already have a business license at my home for my FFL. What's the MPQ for MTG distributors? I've thought of starting a "weekly draft" club at my house just to avoid the LGS. I wonder if I could buy enough to make it happen.

[@TimeBombGameZ]

hay man, Jacob here from the UK. stumbled across your vids a week ago, loving them, and the insight is awsome. where I live there is one store that sells magic/FNM... but it's so expensive. Im able to get booster boxes for £62.50 even for the new set coming out, RRP is £75... and even more MTG products alot cheaper, hoping to start buying and selling magic products. and your vids are really helping me in the right direction. keep it up, love the vids. I'll keep you updated on how Im doing over the coming months :) Jacob.

[@robdemare8250]

Thanks for the awesome advice, Rudy...

[@BalloonsFTW4]

Best MTG store i ever went to was Hareruya on waseda-dori in Takadanobaba. They had vending machines where you could select the amount you wanted based on what you wanted to i.e. If you wanted to draft EMN you could order "2 EMN 1 SOI" from the vending machine and get it. You could also order any amount from the recent sets. They also had bargain bins, food stands IN the store, a PC wall with ~8 PCs for public use by players. They also had a neat feature match area (they actually record and stream these on twitch) where you were elevated above the ground on a sort of platform, surrounded by MTG trophies their sponsored players had won and a big iPad to keep your life totals on mounted next to you. Only problem was that since it was in Japan you had to pay for everything in cash, multiple trips to 711 needed once you saw the deals. The store also had at least 4 drafts of the standard set going at any given time, a standard tournament, a modern tournament, and a legacy tournament. As well as huge monitors displaying the pairings visible from virtually anywhere in the store. Oh yeah, unlike most MTG stores the bathroom was big and clean. If you're thinking about moving to Japan for the MTG, do it.

[@ddpinkerton77]

Your videos are awesome. I enjoy the insight.

[@rafaelmarin2480]

great info on opening up a card shop. my nephews are thinking about opening up a card shop but I told them to do there research on opening up a card shop I forwarded this video to them they live in another state. so I hope they get there information together and decide what to do.

[@brettygud2475]

Great videos as always Rudy. I really liked what you said about the Magic stores you've been to. I have now been to about 7 myself, and of those 7 I only saw 1 as a business I thought would be successful and as a store I enjoy going to and patronizing. Sorry for the wall of text below, but I'm really interested to hear what you think about this: The biggest issue I see in most of these retail stores, and something you've only sort of touched on, is the quality of employees and how they treat the customers. I will never forget the day I walked into a store after moving cities - I went in with the express purpose of buying a KTK booster box, maybe two. I am acutely aware that a lot of these stores are staffed by long-time customers and friends of the owners, and so the customer service tends to be not excellent. I walked into the store, saw a group of people huddled around a tabletop game who turned around for about a split second to see that it wasn't someone they recognized and went back to their game. I walked up to the store counter, which had nobody behind it, and waited for 5 minutes without any employee of the store coming to help me. I walked out the door that day and not only will I never set foot back into that store, but I actively tell friends not to go to that store. I think this customer service issue is probably one of the biggest problems facing LGSes across the board, and it's certainly been the primary factor in what I would consider a good LGS and a bad LGS. LGSes are more or less fungible - most all are either running the same events (or are at least capable of running the same events) and most all are selling the same products at the same price. I hate to use business school terms, but none of these store owners seem to have any idea of how to capitalize on white space in the market/how to create a competitive advantage. Customer service is probably the best way to create a competitive advantage for these stores (with organized play space being a very close second, but much more expensive and difficult to create), because there is absolutely no way for a mom and pop retail outlet to beat out online retailers in terms of price and product variety/availability. So for new store owners, or even existing ones, having good customer service and having an excellent relationship with your customers essentially IS the business, or at least a large facet of it. I start to question my reasoning, however, when I look at the relationships between customers and store - even at the good stores - where it seems like the customers could really care less about how the store treats them as long as they have a place to play MTG with their playgroup. Similarly, even though some customers will spend loads of free time in a store, they'll buy most of their product somewhere else and then bring it to the store to play with, sometimes even bragging openly about the fact that they found it cheaper somewhere else. I'm curious about your thoughts on (and would enjoy seeing them in another MTG Store video) customer relations as they pertain to LGS stores. How important you think it is, especially in a market where most customers seem to place little to no value on how they are treated by LGS staff and management. Also how you balance customer relations with the bottom line of your business, which is to turn a profit. The example that always comes to mind is spurning long-term "whale" customers (to use a gambling term now) by doing something like banning naked anime card sleeves or something. It seems like these customer relations policies usually have to choose between going "deep" with long-term, high volume customers, or going "wide" with a widely-appealing store but maybe not catching the long-term business. Again sorry for the essay, but I enjoy these topics and I'm really interested in what you have to say about it!

[@snakemont]

Rudy.... lovin' this kind of vids! Timmy's Taco's is takin' notes!

[@joeliodos3007]

Probably my favorite video yet. I had a rough estimate of about 10-15k in start up costs but wasn't sure what an ideal estimate would be on inventory. I don't plan on starting a card store. My hobby is board games but I'd like the customer draw of cards so I'd probably carry it.

[@valakutis]

Loving the videos man. Keep it going.

[@MrKoalaburger]

I think what this video taught me is that I should invest all my capital spending into hoarding and displaying every Black Lotus I can find.

[@GrinningSinsterly]

Your the best Rudy! Keep doing what your doing!

[@ronaldrage2118]

I'm sry man I'm new to the channel but this is very refreshing to hear. You don't need school to teach you the "system". I went to school for 4 years to get a good computer programming degree, which means zero now. If your a natural leader and you know how to take calculated risks, chances are you will be successful.

[@skitso-p9058]

Great video Rudy!

[@AttackPhase]

I love supporting my local, it's a tiny store but they have a great selection and the best prices I've seen out of a brick and mortar. And if I go on Sunday's the guy there lets me save on taxes on everything in the store if I pay in cash - so score!

[@blinddog4288]

I’ve never played a card game, always RPG’s, but I do like watching your videos!

[@TraphouseTCG]

Wild what 5 years of this can do to the mans body. Godspeed

[@nuubin3232]

great video Rudy

[@RyudenTamarashi]

Oh man that new phyrexia binder looks sooo god damn good.

[@Eckendenker]

ah yisss this went down like butter

[@willzucha7856]

My guilty pleasure is binders with art on them

[@De4dPoo1]

Hi Rudy, im from Guatemala and i have a funny story. When i was a kid, i got my very first deck with a lot of bulk and 1 underworld dreams. The owner sold me 2 underworld dreams for us $12 each. So yeah big scam isnt? And that store was like that, since not a single person knew about scg or tcg, no one had any idea about card prices. So that guy got A LOT of money this way, one day a new person got him doing this and he stole this binder with almost $100k in value. And he closed his store. So yeah, be a shity person a shitty things will hapen to you. Ah btw, my best friend got me a font of mythos foil, he got it in a booster. So i got my money back technically ^^

[@Datfatassgamer]

Hey Rudy, I think some other people have mentioned this before but I was wondering if you could touch on identifying location and how to get people in the door and letting people know you exist and also keep them coming back. loving the series and your other videos, thanks for making them, keep up the great work!

[@Gamer-J22]

“Separate account with $50,000.” That’s from 5 years ago. Probably double with today’s inflation. Woo!

[@dudewhoisnotfunny]

One of the LGS in my area sells drinks and chocolate best idea ever, After playing 2 rounds waiting for the 3rd to start its great to be able to get something to drink without having to leave the store.

[@dav3yb]

We had a local game store which was sadly not run very well. Well, it was a comic book store, but it seems like games and comics often follow in suit. They consulted a guy who ran a comic book store in town previously, but had to close due to a new owner of the store jacking his rent up far past any reasonable margin. The 2 guys who went in on this new store treated it a lot like their own personal candy shop. One guy even thought the store could order him some statues/figures and he could just take them without paying for them. The other wasn't quite as bad, and would gladly pay the store for boxes of cards, but he was the kind of person who had a lot of cash to throw around (they both did actually, as they were doctors). The Magic was OK. They would usually order a case or 2 at a time of newer stuff, and maybe a handful of boxes for older stuff if people wanted to do some drafting with it, but ultimately they just didn't fund the store properly in the beginning, and after the 3 year lease was up, that was all she wrote. Oddly enough, they had a few REALLY big spenders on sports cards who would frequent. Which probably made up the majority of their income each month (we're talking a guy would come in and drop 500 easy). But I remember being there and the guy showing up, and they had to tell him they just didn't have any product to sell him. He would sometimes say "Tell the owners I want to give them money, but they have to get product in." On the plus side, I had a lot more spare money when I couldn't buy MTG cards anymore.

[@lancemagmer9701]

Me and a friend of mine opened a crappy store that was almost exactly like you described. It lasted like 2 months and only happened because we got the store front for free. Her grandparents ran an antiques store during the summer and during the winter it was closed. So we shuffled all the antiques into the back and ran a tiny store.

[@christophermoreno7992]

love the video Rudy .. once again like the content. so glad u stress the importance of the displaying product and the look of the store. I work in retail I always stress to my workers that the way things look on the sleeves and displays matters. u need them to feel comfortable that we have the stuff there looking for. color scheme the Shit. make designs. display it nice to sale. Shit people buy Shit all the time they don't need but if u display it good impulse buying happens.50g is a good,. stress no good trust me

[@courtneyyaple7675]

First in first out, rotation is religion... those are words to live by in the restaurant industry! (Yeah, I know it's a little different when your inventory has an expiration date)

[@hayharut]

my store does too much decoration, let alone the store itself is already small as it is, they have every inch of it covered in posters ranging from sports to magic to anime. makes the store feel busy and claustrophobic.

[@pimpinmagicianofprophecy]

i just wanted to say that ur awsome and that ur videos are entertaining and informativ

[@VLikaru]

man i stumbled upon this video by luck but man do I love this

[@LightYwins]

me too

[@TheManditoglz]

I'm real lucky that my local store has been open for 10+ years and has always ran things well, and fairly no overcharge. Even the occasional discount if you show up alot nothing big but at most they might cut a dollar off the price. That stuff will keep customers coming back!

[@meikvincenco1584]

I do own a store over in Germany. It is not exclusivly focused on MTG or Pokemon. The city in which it is located is rather small. In the past couple of weeks my sales of Pokemon spiked. Some people told me they were hard to find recently. I started asking around in toy stores and alike. It turns out that the one huge distributor that handles pretty much everything for every store around here could not deliver any. Nobody but myself has them now. This has been going on for about ten days and these people are not willing or capable to find another source. Even before that I managed to sell them for 0,5 € below everyone else. I do not get these people but I do thank them.

[@Lionhart1991]

I never put like or dislike, NEVER in 10 years but....this video...my feels...here the like bro.

[@agh3569]

Rudy you are the best!

[@b.v.9864]

Ah, Ice Age and 4th edition...brings back memories

[@madroon7]

I have nothing to do with MTG...but I do run a similar business in a completely different industry. But everything you touch on is useful for all business/retail models in this form. I am really enjoying these videos..I just have no idea what you're talking about 99% of the time in regards to the MTG terms. hahahaha

[@scottwilson1075]

The store in my area used to do great things and was pulling in 20+ kids on a Wednesday nights to play magic. Then, other stores opened up that looked better, had more diverse items, and raised the bar on what a store can provide and now they struggle to get an fnm in.

[@blessedunrest1]

My lgs (for a while) was selling those electronic cigarettes. Quickest way to have the parents of a group of kids never allow them to come back to the store.

[@adamnickel8223]

All about the fetch. I played a few events at this one store: The Khans packs were priced a dollar more than other standard packs (at the time these were standard, Fate Reforged to be specific). So if you won a few packs in prizing, but wanted Khans, you had to pay out a dollar extra for each pack. I would have felt a little better about the situation if the prizing was specifically "store credit" as opposed to "x packs for finishing y".

[@thegreatcerebral]

One think that you needed to say that you didn't that I personally feel that SHOULD be told to every store owner.... KEEP YOUR STORE CLEAN AND BRIGHT. You mention Florida a lot and if you live here or visited here you know about Publix and one of the main draws that anyone will mention when you ask why they like it is that it is clean and well lit. Unless you are opening a THEME store, keep it clean and bright.

[@misterburkes8364]

I used to be in corporate FP&A and I lol'd so hard when you were making fun of JIT, FIFO, and LIFO.

[@requenagames612]

Rudy, great video. I own a game store (since a year and a half now), i sell drinks, food, comics, some collective toys but most of all: Magic, other ccgs and Boardgames. What everyone should now about this business, is that the profit margin is way too small in all those products. Everyone should ask this question: How much a month do a have to sell to break even? I think that was left out of your video, and it`s very important: time and profit margins. Thanks.

[@matthewdoepel7470]

"slave labor" shit has me rolling

[@tragicslip]

i know i am probably in the minority, but i like talking investing in mtg not retailing. any retailers need to make their store stand out in good ways: make it pretty. pay attention to turnover. you want to keep product churning. any business should have operating expenses for at least a year in the bank imo, and an mtg store also needs cash on hand to take advantage of sellers walking in the door. if you do those things you are better than 90% of retailers. there is a reason all targets have similar layouts and why big retailers pay timmys to keep the shelves looking full and in good order.

[@Eriodin1]

Great vid

[@AxelKaenryuu]

I live in Brazil, and in my city there's actually 4 "GameStores": 1 is quite legit but the owner doesn't treat costumers and employees well so it got a bad fame. The other 3 only opens when they want and usually at night or weekend while being also in garages. In one of the garage ones i went to a Khans of Tarkir Pré-release and ranked first. The prize was booster packs in Born of The Gods...

[@carlosviniciusoliveros2092]

caralho hahahhaa que loja e essa?

[@petrofski88]

Hey Rudy, I timmied and open two Conspiracy boxes (hey I held them for 4 days before my will broke :P). But the gods of mtg were kind and rewarded me with 1 berserk, 2 show and tells, 2 Leovolds, 1 selvala, 2 recruiters, 1 inquisition, 1 foil birds, 2 birds, etc worth already over 150€ on MCM (europe) when I paid 100€... this is very impressive after the massive price crash o.O so... good for me! :P

[@thegoodbuddiesanimepod462]

Would be curious to see an updated version of this.

[@Lepi22]

i like those bookshelves.

[@TheDennybill]

I'm 1/4th done with the video and posting this question before I forget. "How do you handle shady employees?" ie stealing inventory

[@NeoDragonKnight]

I dont plan on opening a store or even play magic, but this stuff is fascinating and not bullshit like alot of other people talking finance. A lot of these principles hes talking can be applied to a lot of other things then just a magic store.

[@residentzombie]

Another important thing that store owners MUST understand is the supply versus demand curve and how Magic cards are valuated with reprints and rotations. Every store owner who buys and sells Standard legal cards better understand that all these singles must be sold and don't buy any Standard legal card 3 to 4 months prior to rotation unless those cards see heavy play in eternal formats. Many store owners get burned because their $8,000 of store singles inventory just went down to $3,000 after rotation. Many stores who sell Magic product don't even sell singles and this is why. The store owners don't fully understand card valuations and demand periods and don't want to risk the value of their inventory crashing downward.

[@WeAreGamersYTube]

I agree with 50K. I looked into opening a game store awhile back and I felt anything less than 50 wasn't acceptable. Eventually I went a different direction. But I echo the sentiment that you should have a hefty buffer for those weeks and months that don't go as plan. A lot of people forget that despite gaming gaining a lot of ground in today's world, it isn't a necessity, and the regular costumers spend when it's going well.

[@Darkrukiaz]

Hey Alpha can't wait for your Masterpiece video, I think it will be really great for the magic market.

[@xcver]

Do you think so? It will be bad for single prices and great for box prices the same as with BFZ rares.

[@Darkrukiaz]

Well it would bring more people into different formats, thanks to increased availability of rarer cards. Alpha always put emphasis on moving stock and having volume to build capital. A larger market participation and ease of getting cards will be a healthy thing for the scene.

[@blinddog4288]

I’m in Flint, Mich and our largest game store in nice, well stocked, and clean but the employees are all very rude! The owner will occasionally show up and if he does, he acts like some Linda God 😂😂

[@Guccibear100]

Also patiently waiting for the Masterpiece rant. Are masterpieces going to shit all over the value of all non Masterpiece cards for every set in the future? Are store going to over buy the set like BFZ? We'll see.

[@AlphaInvestments69]

Once the entire BASIC set of Kaladesh is spoiled...and i can analyze the basic set and masterpieces together...i will release a video on the topic. probable this weekend or beginning of next week.

[@gregthebunny553]

Yo Rudy! Hey!.... It's Timmy..... let me get one of them Binders! I'm new to magic and just started collecting and playing again. I love and enjoy your vids by the way no homo.

[@thegreatcerebral]

There are a few other things that I would add here as well that I would like you to mention that wasn't discussed which is: employees, merchant accounts (how to actually forecast what your costs would be), PoS/Inventory system (must be hell for singles and what do you do with all the bulk fodder other than "grab bag repacks", security... I'm sure I could come up with more. I wish also you would have gave some negotiation tactics for retail space. For example if you are looking at a space and there isn't a large draw store there already (think grocery store, department store like Wal-Mart/Target etc.) then you can drive down the rates as you are going to be a destination location meaning that people will purposefully come there as there is lower foot traffic which should lead to lower rates. Also it would be great if you had any info to share on things like utilities, regulatory compliance, getting a lawyer and when to use them in the initial setup of the store front.. man I am rambling here but I have also dealt with this stuff. I put regulatory compliance and lawyer as one time the shopping center my mother was in with her florist was family owned. She had a decent rate to start and when the economy kicked in they tried to gouge her multiple times DURING THE LEASE PERIOD because other shopping strips were getting better rates. Also, I said lawyer because there are lots of dishonest people and knowing the law is REQUIRED. Same shopping center, a handicapped person (wheelchair) came in with the sole purpose of looking for a lawsuit. They came in, said there was no restroom available, said there was no ramp available to get into the raised portion outside of her shop (not the actual door inside but from the parking lot to the door), and that the counters were too high. Well the laws vary from place to place however in this instance it was that HER INDIVIDUAL STORE did not have to have a public restroom. There is required to be ONE in the shopping center and it was in a restaurant in the strip. The wheelchair ramp law was also that there was access to the raised portion and again was only required in one location in the strip; it did not have to be particularly in front of her shop. As for the counters... well that one luckily she got a pass on as well. She had one counter and I believe it was 42" which I believe the law says you must have one that is 36" for wheelchair access. Well because she was a florist and had sort of a "home" decoration, there were plenty of tables all over (end tables, coffee tables, nightstands, etc.) and because they were permanent store fixtures it was allowed to be a substitute. Anyway my point is that this person went from door to door in every strip shopping center that day down one of the main streets here and did this to each and every story and basically found some lawyer that would fling mud all over the wall and see how much stuck. Most places that didn't have a lawyer ended up paying a lump sum settlement (again it would be part of what that $50K is for) to not go to court on whatever issues they had. I love these videos... Keep them coming!

[@xaxabel]

yo that binder is srsly dope af i want it

[@TheHonestCritic777]

The game store closest to me tries to sell so many different things. They try to make books their main thing, and then Magic and Warhammer 40k their secondary thing. Going out of business soon because they try to only sell books and jack the prices of cards through the roof. Also wasting somewhere around the area of $500-$1500 on Warhammer 40k almost every month, and it just sits there. Big thing I would touch on is the identity of the store. Not trying to spread out so thin doing 8 different things

[@itachi9kitty]

The thing that gets me is people on ebay who don't own a retail store trying to sell things at retail prices cause they checked a price guide like Tcgplayer or Mtggoldfish and they say it shows a certain price and then proceed to argue with you when you show them currently sold prices on ebay which are 20% + lower than the price guide and you check back 3 weeks later to see them still trying to sell the product. lol. I agree 100% with Rudy, impulse buys are why a lot of stores stock things that they normally wouldn't.

[@bradenwoodward7881]

Hey Rudy! Great channel and videos. Maybe you'll cover this in your "Open Your Business" Series, but I was wondering if you will cover a video discussing how to get into investing into Magic as a beginner. Should a beginning investor just purchase new, high-end products and sit on them? Should you mix between long-term investment and short-term investments by setting aside some boxes to open and sell singles? I don't plan to open a brick and mortar. Was hoping to keep it online only. Thanks again for the great videos. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[@godslilhelper]

Awesome vid! is this the last part or is there going to a part 3, part 4, and so on? hope to see more

[@Echo-oy6hj]

Rudy, Ive been going to the local game store for over 10 years buying product, as a loyal consumer I expected to be treated with dignity and respect. My suspicions developed a few years ago when I realized that I was dumping all my money into individual packs but never pulled anything big. Then, I went to my first local pre release/ tournament and I paid 25$ to register for the tournament and got 5 packs of Crossroads of Chaos in return and a promo card. I immediately pulled an ultimate rare and some other $5 cards... Ive been told the local game store cannot be trusted but why would a man of a small family hose people? I am starting to think that he was hosing everyone all of this time and at that age, I was too naive to understand his outrageous markups on products. I learned a lot from your videos, sincerely Echo.

[@nevoarad8276]

gg rudyyy we love u

[@overstain8185]

There's not a lot of card shops in my country. The nearest one to me is probs 1 hour away. They are always stocked unless a new set of X or Y series drops and that usually doesn't last the day.

[@mindgravybear2971]

I love that you come from corporate and weed out all that stupid cliche stuff. Keep making videos man

[@kudosbear02]

your awesome and I just did the patreon thing.

[@natebullington6217]

I have 3 LGS but I only play at one since the other two are Timmy's so I don't feel as my money is always appreciated to be spent there. Granted the LGS I play at is an actual MTG store. The owners of my store took the time to actually get to know me. I feel welcome there every week that I go. So I will continue at the Cheers of gaming stores.

[@skiie]

Failing store: guy still ran his shop like it was 1995. focus was "custom board game orders?" but there was 2 big chains of hobbie shops that already carried every board game imaginable. His way of tackling magic was "buy a giant box of commons sort them by color and hope it sells" he had one box of The last core set out. Every night his robot miniature buddies would come over and take up a good 1/2 of the shop with their miniatures. he would allow them to swear and use highly profane words. (kids were regularly there as well) This entire shop ended up being him catering to his friends (which were all too broke to spend money) at the cost of his shop. He failed to open up with a sign in time and he lost many people that were willing to sponsor him because of that. He did not have a realistic way for people to process credit cards. It was a mess. It was sad. He just couldn't get with the times. You can't run a store like that anymore.

[@RB-hs9kj]

Hey Rudy, Will you cover your spreadsheet inventory system in a future video? Very curious as to how you track the values and chance the prices of so many cards.

[@EddieBrock]

southern hobby has been great for the shop I work at

[@KleineKassiopeia]

The main reason I chose one of the two big stores here in Berlin are really basic and I know that a lot of other people feel the same. One is really crowded with benches and shit, has one window I think and a narrow corridor between tables and a wall. Also only one Bathroom that is allways dirty. Especially as a girl that alone would be a no-go for me. The other store has seperate bathrooms with a key for the women's bathroom so that it doesn't get used by everyone who doesn't wanna wait ... Also they have nice chairs and stable tables, windows that open etc. The Inventory is much more appealing for me at the other store (since they have old stuff, singles etc and my favourite store only has cheap singles and a bunch of packs from various sets), but I still go to my favourite one because it just is way more appealing just because of the location alone.

[@sladeowen8398]

I love this video

[@kangatalus9646]

I can't believe I wasn't using eBay bucks. Thanks for the head up! Free money!

[@LightYwins]

What are ebay bucks

[@Nah_Bohdi]

Thanks Rudy! Now I know For Sure that my plan to build a non-online, pre-modern only, magic card store will be a big hit. I'm thinking of being mostly legends, Alpha and power 9s, or maybe just power 9s. With how expensive they are surely I will be rich in no time.

[@mahdiamiar157]

dude nice video

[@SN00PICUS]

I love going into a store to buy some cards, but WAIT i've gotta wait until the EDH game is over....and still waiting.....

[@revdefld50]

Dave and Adam's runs a FNM that gets about 120 people easy a week, they are the best of the best and offer great prizes and free food

[@djisar-official]

I think 50k would be on the low end.