The Revenge of Card Shop Life Episode #20 = DO NOT OPEN AN MTG STORE EVER

The idea feels Fullfilling
The reality feels Stressful
PATREON : / alphainvestments
SHIRTS: www.ebay.com/itm/-/162268260486?
~FAN MAIL~
Rudy's Magic Store
10950-60 San Jose Blvd.
Box # 139
Jacksonville, FL 32223
Special Item this month
Gatecrash @ 69.99
Normal Boxes available for October 2017
MTG - Ixalan
MTG - Hour of Devastation
MTG - Amonkhet
MTG - Aether Revolt
MTG - Kaladesh
MTG - Shadows over Inn
Force of Will - Ancient Nights
Force of Will - Legacy Lost
Force of Will - Return of Dragon Emperor
Force of Will - Echoes of New World
Final Fantasy Opus III
Pokemon Burning Shadows
Pokemon Guardians Rising
Pokemon Sun / Moon
Pokemon Evolutions
Pokemon Fates Collide
Pokemon Steam Siege
Pokemon Breakthrough

[@Sherman_616]

“It’s a stressful low pay job it sucks balls” says Rudy as he heats up a pizza pocket in the cafeteria of his grampa’s 18th century castle

[@dirtnastyish]

The shop in my little town closed down right before the pandemic. The owner was sleeping there toward the end because he couldn't afford his apartment anymore. You can work hard, be smart, and make all the right choices but if no one comes in and spends money it won't work.

[@cyberneticthezero]

Business is clearly a drug front

[@MadolcheGabbana]

Been a business in my local area for 30+ years. No one ever eats there. Orders food from there. Nothing. And it’s a beige building that just says in red letters, “Restaurant” Shady AF. Total trafficking house or some bs

[@Hereforham]

Rudy, I have been saving for years and I have enough to open my first card store. After watching your video I am even more determined to jump into the market and succeed. I will have such a competitive edge being the first Hearthstone exclusive card store!

[@JoshEvansHeavens]

make sure you sell sleeves and boxes for hearthstone

[@halogod786]

squizzledeck hey man just wanted to point out a few things and save you time and money. In this market if you want to be able survive you have to branch out into other things or you won't make money or survive. Rudy would back me up on this too. I'm seriously hoping your joking about hearthstone. Their is no secondary market in it.

[@Hereforham]

Hate all you want. Untapped ideas are the best ones. Hearthstone is the top grossing card game in the market, it's insane there's no stores already.

[@paxman192]

...what would you sell?

[@magickjay7535]

good luck to you, but to not diversify, and only sell one type of card, youll flop in 6 months.

[@nickfraley7584]

Guys, Rudy is learning how to edit more and more everyday. In the near future we are gonging to see a card shop life de-saturated of any color like a Zach Snyder film to represent Rudy's dark feelings about the MTG secondary market.

[@HailOderus]

way to steal lines from primus

[@joshjosh291]

Nick Fraley that hit home in all the right ways

[@jaybyrdcybertruck1082]

Peak lens flares incoming

[@moofymoo]

mad photoshop skillz

[@arcaneprofet]

Things to consider about Rudys store. He does not sell singles locally. The store is not meant to be a store. The experiment on the market place begins now.

[@fogease]

Technically the Arabian Nights were singles sold locally.

[@soulsreaper7145]

yeah but I didn't see a great selection. like where are all the yu-gi-oh cards and hella pokemon cards. placed looked like he just opened the doors

[@johnedraisa]

I asked my local shop wat it's like and he said the same thing, that it's hard to run a ship due to finance. But he is able to make it due to the shop he runs in the back where they do turn overs for older cars and resell them at a higher price

[@FriendlyLuck]

Strip draft! Haven’t heard of that one before :P Thanks for the video Rudy! Everyone in my friend group loves the idea of opening a card store. Guess it’s not actually all it cracks up to be :)

[@ZENTCG]

Co owned a small hobby shop 5 years ago. It was fun and exciting in the beginning, then puts a lot of strain on relationships. Income is not good as our cafe so we now just do it for fun and our jobs support it. Relying on a hobby shop is tough.

[@TCGView]

It's 100% true. We have 2 game stores in my city and both can barely keep the lights on. In fact, I'm pretty sure one is hanging on by a thread while the other is month to month with zero employees. It's an amazing dream, but it's just so damn hard to keep it going.

[@Soulryu11]

100% agree with you Rudy. I had some friends start a store and I tried to tell them not to, because I myself worked at a comic store, and it's hard business. You're lucky to break even at the end of the month, but that financial strain eats away at you.

[@lotoex]

Going to be opening a video game pay by the hour place with my friend. We will also be selling TCGs out of it. However we own the building so if it goes sour we can always rent it out to someone with a better idea/plan. If things go too bad we could always sell out completely. Also we have $9 hour jobs (20 hours a week) right now. So we will see how it goes.

[@user-uy3eq5hg1s]

At the very least, all of these people opening shops and investing in MTG/other card games will boost the industry with more units being sold and traded. Appreciate your insights on the retail store world, Rudy... the retail world in general is kind of scary these days.

[@BIGFRANKOL75]

You are totally right. I work at a LGS and we do make about $10 - $25 in snack foods and drinks a day. We are also open 7 days a week with only 2 employees. I being one of them. Its really tough and I personally have been asked to do some shady thing to help keep the lights on. But I would do it again because of the community of players that we have. Also the fact that we are the only LGS in the area.

[@NathanWilkie]

Based on numbers in the previous video for rent (1400) + utilities (80). Based on the prices in this video he made 1060 in profit. So negative $420/month. Depending upon the number of hours worked this ranges from terrible to awful. Online sales through Ebay and collection sales would have to offset this loss. In terms of write offs it allows Rudy to do a couple of things. Write off milage on his vehicle, write off building expenses, business expenses, etc. If it is setup as an LLC there are definitely some legal advantages and protections. Not a horrible tradeoff, and most businesses don't have a positive cashflow in the first couple years as they build reputation. It could be much much worse, but the overall lesson: keep overhead low to have positive cashflow.

[@harthfire2]

been up and running for about 9 years now we have a lot of non-card game products in store board games general merch action figures and of course video game and consoles Rudy is right if you open strictly as a card shop you will not do well at all but at the same time that would also be a higher startup cost we been ok because of lack of [well very poor] competition so yes do research and never open a strictly TCG store

[@1u5e-Y]

I got a store that only sells cards and card products near me.. It on the second floor, which is the arcade arcade floor. They sell things such as magic, yugioh, Weiß Schwarz, vanguard, and others. They also sell playmats, sleeves, and ect. There is a tournament every month or something. I dont go there very much. Especially since I graduated high school. My friend goes there every week and buys the 300 cards for 5 dollars, or new decks and stuff, so they give him some stuff like sleeves and what not. Then again, I dont know what the TCG Community is like in America, soooo yea.

[@Shannon_Vlogs]

I like that YT recommended this video to me from years ago. Good to see Rudy is still the same :-)

[@MestHoop]

The store owner of my preferred LGS has LITERALLY the Dutch equivalent first name of Scrooge McDuck. It is also the longest running LGS in my town and the guy is basically called SCROOGE... I guess that says it all.

[@maxduncan7090]

Dagobert, is hij die gast die bij de gamekeeper altijd grumpy kijkt in amsterdam? of zijn er meerdere grumpy LGS owners.

[@shadowsqueegaming7039]

Once again Rudy dropping facts not feels you got to love it!

[@parkerlee4212]

Those vanguard boxes are so old it's hilarious.

[@jaybyrdcybertruck1082]

This is like a sip of water to a man dying of thirst.... I NEED MOAR videos!!! Do you ever buy collections from craigslist or garage sales?

[@xChickenMedia]

No but a youtuber by the name Booster Tutor does

[@pineappleexchange9471]

There are many things a card store can do to increase daily revenue from walk ins and it takes revenue from 100 different things daily to make it ultimately work. Rudy hits on this briefly. LGS's are supposed to be entertainment centers. Drinks/Food in many forms should always be available, tournament based store front with card sales almost secondary to entertainment (must make yourself the place to play at). Get people in and keep them consuming for hours, lots of advertising and promotional material. Store repacks for $2-$10 as well as sales of lots of non card game products. And you have to do all this while creating a massive online presence that works like the main mechanism in the background making the real $. This will bring validity to your storefront ultimately much like rudy has accomplished and in turn the community presence will bring validation to your online sales. Either way Rudy is a accomplished businessman regardless of his model and wish him the best. On the Flip Side, you could ask yourself, How can I really disrupt the LGS model and sell tons of MTG with little to no cost or Overhead? This leads me to things like MTG vending machines, MTG for bitcoin models, MTG Booster Sales at Events, MTG Regaming Theory, etc...

[@jessicaparlee1369]

happy to see that the fake charizards my sister and I sent you are still on the fan wall

[@11talic47]

Legend tells of a legendary man named Rudy, who's pricing skills were the stuff of legend.

[@dwDragon88]

You didn't say how much you made off of Rudy-fina sales and re-packed dank memes.

[@thedankgutter2293]

Roody only takes souls for Dank memes

[@TheRedskins6969]

Strip draft was the funniest thing you've ever said

[@darrenhill3514]

I'm a Patreon member but the more I catch up on video's I haven't seen, the more I want to go buy a booster box or 2 from my LGS...and I sympathize in the same way I discuss the downward spiral of gun and ammo prices. Everyone wants something for nothing without understanding what goes into providing those products...

[@danarmchuk6902]

Having seem many stores come and go this is a good reality check. Best Rudy video

[@SuperRutherr]

I was the 1k like! Schweeet. I'll be in Florida in January. Hoping to see the shop while im down there!

[@Twineandribbon]

Weird video, but still a good video. I'm glad that you care. It's very visible. Thanks for doing your videos Rudy. They're top notch. High five!

[@fsmoura]

OMG Rudy's store is doing so well!!

[@edwardfarkhiev1817]

I had a gaming shop (mostly minis) and it wasn't even the finances, the stress of running a retail shop in NYC was just more than I wanted.

[@eartianwerewolf]

NYC? Oh shit no wonder. .

[@deathfire3333]

The store I used to go to would make a good bit off of food and drink sales on pre release and release days now that i think about it

[@doombrowski]

Rudy! Would it be possible to see a future video about large singles inventory organization methods? Love the videos good sir.

[@tylerstl456]

I was digging that intro. music was lit

[@MSUHitman]

I would love for you someday to do an analysis of how oversaturated the STL gaming store situation is. We have more stores than Chicago, which is 7-8 times our size when you factor in city, county, & Metro East.

[@Ehrengarde]

less stores=less competition, more ways for rudy to hose his customers!

[@CptManboobs]

I have never heard of strip drafting before. Please go into more detail about this Rudy

[@fsmoura]

if my group did that it'd be just nightmares and sobbing

[@johannpohland2826]

Yes please with an 80% fat loser community lol

[@MeldrickCz]

Well that is, when you have crappy openings, held zero to non tournaments your income lowers exponencially, there is no rule, that in one day of week you earn 50 bucks and in 7 you yourn 350. When you have your patrons settle up, they start to buy singles and throwing away money on boosters regulary. My gamestore has more sturdy food and beverages sortiment and Im goind there as sort of hanging out with guys and drinking some cold ones, but then again it is realatively normal to drink alkohol here and most of us have not to drive in to our store and use other way of transportation.

[@Evereghalo]

Any chance you will give us your thoughts on Dragoborne?

[@philxdev]

I think the "battle-decks" cardkingdom offers are a good way to get rid of bulk cards and also make the game accessable for newer player.. maybe also creating a "battle-deck" league as the first enty step... OF COURSE "RUDY-DECKS" would be the best^^

[@j0ker100]

Thanks for the insight.

[@HazmanFTW]

I was hoping you'd point to the Kaladesh Inventions Box and have Priceless, for everything else there's MasterCard.

[@magicflavortv]

Music and editing in the intro !!!..omg Rudy you changed ...

[@rokmare]

Rudy have the most diverse card shop I ever seen, most card shops only carry Magic/Pokemon with a few yugioh and that's it.

[@xXLucky7CardzXx]

So when is the store actually going to open?

[@justinb2824]

2019

[@Sakrilegi0us]

New format, Strip Draft with Rudy!

[@CPGRAPPLE]

No website in the description. How do we buy online if we are in another state? Is the Gatecrash for Patreons only? Is there a limit? I loved sealed product for drafts. I have a bunch of sealed boxes and looking to add to my collection.

[@pauldebellis2085]

How do you get wholesale prices with only having an online store?

[@DoingNothingKing]

Does Rudy have a website for his store? Other than eBay....

[@condemnedd684]

Hey Rudy, since original ZEN fatpacks are garunteed first print run, does that give an exception?

[@robotZER0]

Maximum floppy taco!

[@heatflash360]

When a man sees a bad ending he warns others, but he still feels bad when they ignore his warning and do the things that will harm them anyway

[@HunterofJustice]

Best video yet Rudy..Their is no real money in this biz...

[@AiyaniaSavannah]

Rudy I wish you did Star Wars Destiny Boxes!

[@FenderTelecast]

Stopped swiping on Tinder to watch this

[@WizardsFNM]

9

[@WizardsFNM]

Oo

[@cristalbarron5984]

What about tool kits or holiday gift box

[@jace1873]

Rudy where is your store in Florida? I live in central fl.wanted to know where your storefront is located. Thanks

[@terandochilton3914]

Do a box opening of the catfight vanguard set

[@digiprez77]

I like to get one fat pack or "bundle" from pretty much every set just for the card box. Seems like they took even the deck boxes out now, all you get is a guide and a life counter... Old fat packs were so much better.

[@tonobaker601]

8:12 Rudy admits to being a swinger 🥴

[@KMHH1976]

Rudy looks like the life has been sucked out of him by the end of this video

[@TangFiend1]

Comic store in a suburban town next to mine just went under after two years. Good people but it just doesn't make money.

[@jordanaraujo2579]

"I have a very different situation." In other words: I'm rich biatch!

[@UniversalMindzz]

Rudy you look absolutely blazed

[@Y2KNW]

I'd buy Origin Fat Packs; I didn't buy anywhere near enough of that set.

[@theoliver1945]

In this economy, it must be difficult to keep a business running. Where does the money come from for people to buy these products? I don’t see to many good paying jobs for the majority of Americans. Your an excellent manager from what I’ve seen. You remind me of my boss at radio shack back in the day. He was very successful. I’m sure you will be also despite the harsh economy at the moment.

[@pyredynasty]

A DLC camera? Sweet.

[@moodlampActual]

Does any games get played here or is this card shop just a big studio?

[@Ululat]

You selling exodus singles or mats?

[@denverboyd9953]

Strip draft at rudys place let's go!

[@YGOPaisano]

Do a video on your camera setup brother. I would love to see that.

[@KAZ3EM]

What I learned in this video is, that you have to side hustle online, if you wanna hold your local store alive!

[@curtislatham1426]

Rudy, do you think if Arena is successful it will hurt store owners?

[@happydays2470]

Opening music?

[@FirstLast-ip9xy]

It came out to $1060. 400, 460, 710, 760, 910, 960, 1060.

[@philxdev]

When I look at some of the margins I really think that a conventional cardshop is not that sustainable.. at least for smaller areas a smaller shop like a pickup station to improve the online experience for locals maybe with a partnership with a bistro or restaurant near by to host some events or FNM would be a lot better .. little overhead with this seems to be key. BUT if you have a vivid tabletop/cardgame scene in your area or you can get a location in a conurbation where people have small appartements and cannot host events for their private playgroups a shop like the one cardkingdom has with a bistro and a lot of rooms to play could potentially be the way to go... not limiting oneself to just magic or yogioh would not be that bad either . so a games- store/-bistro where people meet up and play "parlor games" would not be bad. charging for food and extra services a long the way.

[@philxdev]

well from what I have seen so far margin wise.. running an lgs store is only valid if you want to put in a lot of time and effort for literally bread crums... even with all these requirements for food it still is a valid option because it gives you a good revenue stream.. if done correctly food has very high margins depending on what you cook... pizza for example ... pretty damn high. and opening a store with a bistro would also allow you to not compete against other restaurants because you are a gaming bistro with a very limited menue. but than again I am not talking about a half baked lgs store running a kitchen in the back but a bigger venue where people can meet up and play games. saying that.. if running a store is to much of a hassle why not run a virtual store and partner up with an already existing restaurant... host FNMs there and give people the option to pick up there online purchases at these events. if you only open a location to be open 3 days a week wouldn´t there be other options ...

[@philxdev]

yeah online is the way to go... the rest is a highly potential money sink..

[@reidr7288]

If your taco is floppy clap your hands!

[@LamGorYun]

u sell pokemon boxes in bulk online?

[@L0j1k]

lolwut ..................... "You can do strip drafts. At night. It's a lot of fun." - Creepy Rudy 2017

[@126643]

hey rudy we need a follow up video on Planechase Anthology !!! you were one of the few that went big on them everyone stayed away

[@neildenton5524]

So much truth for one video. How do you make a small fortune opening a game store? Step 1: Start with a Large Fortune.....

[@TCGPH]

is your shop still operating? any update? a subsciber wanna know thanks

[@mesmashyou30]

rudy you got any updates on this megacorp garbage? i ordered a booster boster and other items and they never fulfulled my order. now they arent responding to emails? WTF

[@lynseldest3597]

Why do I feel like I've heard that intro music before?

[@joe47771]

Rudy, serious question, you ever think about hiring a blind person to check your cards for counterfeits? I think they would probably be pretty accurate with card stock.

[@bambi34]

Yeesh, this is gonna need to be reposted/remade once Covid ends and everyone sees empty business spaces as an """"opportunity""""

[@fedupwthursht420]

Have you ever been to frank and sons? You can grab a table for 60-120

[@scratchman]

Strip Draft you say....

[@gbuz5789]

What are the rules to strip-draft?

[@alvarandhurriks2364]

Now you tell me?

[@clerickolter]

There are NO dedicated magic card shops most are hobby gaming shops with all kinds of games represented such as rpg's and miniature games and also deal in collectibles and comics (largely orders).

[@openboosters]

Wow dude the stress!!! Wow!! ok ... no store for me.

[@TaylorCrosbyofficial]

Rudy! jump on one of those firesale's and offer it as a patreon perk!

[@derpgerp]

Fatpack draft for 20 -25 a piece even for origins? Make it happen rudy, my local group would certainly enjoy that for the fun value versus 40-50 a person to go out in the town ...if not more!

[@cardsgamesandplay6778]

id open a store but i have a location issue where its not possible to get a business license or resale permit. I dont pay taxes on this land either. It would be zero overhead and id love to open a store its just the issue with distributors requiring these things.

[@api-tv]

There would be enough space between MSRP and distribution prices but as long there are people selling product online with nearly no margin this will take enough money from the market to suck LGS dry. If you look on cardmarket and see sellers offering 200 displays in presale you learn that this is where the money is these days. If stores just get 20-30% of the possible sales in the market they end up going out of business since their costs are much bigger compare to one of the many "drop ship" online suppliers. I belive classic LGSs will die out, that is evolution. Large Stores and Online Suppliers will fully dominate the market soon. Organised play has to grow in new directions again, mabye by support throgh non-commercial groups, who knows? Sad they cancled the independent TO status in 2013 for the sake of the WPN ecosystem, but I am sure it will return.

[@tomjames1285]

Strip draft lifeee

[@FreeMindedFella]

How do I buy a final fantasy opus iii box from you rudy.

[@killafrog124]

Light Z Dey he has twitter (rarely uses) or patreon for buying stuff from him or you can snail mail him a purchase.

[@mememagicisreal884]

you need jamaican beef patties and arizona green tea... without those things, not even any of your floppy tacos would be able to bring in new customers to your store and keep them there or making them coming back for more!

[@malcolmmoss3004]

I already have a store but it is online only is that good?

[@MrJcTTK]

he is talking about owning a physical store

[@rokmare]

I suspect the competition is worst than owning a physical one with everybody cut thoating everybody else.