I've been working with game store owners all over the world for the past nine years and wanted to pass one some constructive criticism. I'm actually in Irvine and didn't know you existed until I scrolled down in this thread.
One problem I've seen over and over with game stores is people put so much work into opening the doors that they overlook the most important thing: marketing. Your store looks awesome, but you have to give people a reason to come out.
1) From both your FB page and the web page, it looks like Magic tournaments are pretty ad-hoc. Make a weekly schedule of events and stick to it. Keep it regular week to week, so people can plan on coming to draft on Thursdays at 7pm every week.
2) Don't go too crazy with formats or prizes. Your bread and butter are Standard and draft. Run them twice a week and sanction them way in advance so they show up on the WPN. Find a good judge that runs events by the book and have them teach you WER and good practices.
3) Singles are incredibly profitable. Make a buy list, and build inventory. Run all the popular constructed formats (standard, legacy EDH) to drive demand for your singles.
4) A healthy singles business makes store credit for prizes a great value for you and your players too.
5) Diversify as soon as you can. Magic is #1, but Yu-Gi-Oh! is a close #2, especially here in SoCal. It's a different customer base, but it will keep the doors open.
6) Your FB page makes you look unprofessional - very "chatty", misspellings, etc. The store web page is very confusing, with "membership pricing", VIP, etc. Is this a game store or a strip club? People are looking for tournament schedules, singles buylist, what games you have in stock, etc.
The place looks great, and I'll definitely swing by. But just remember that opening the doors was the "easy" part. :)
I've been working with game store owners all over the world for the past nine years and wanted to pass one some constructive criticism. I'm actually in Irvine and didn't know you existed until I scrolled down in this thread.
One problem I've seen over and over with game stores is people put so much work into opening the doors that they overlook the most important thing: marketing. Your store looks awesome, but you have to give people a reason to come out.
1) From both your FB page and the web page, it looks like Magic tournaments are pretty ad-hoc. Make a weekly schedule of events and stick to it. Keep it regular week to week, so people can plan on coming to draft on Thursdays at 7pm every week.
2) Don't go too crazy with formats or prizes. Your bread and butter are Standard and draft. Run them twice a week and sanction them way in advance so they show up on the WPN. Find a good judge that runs events by the book and have them teach you WER and good practices.
3) Singles are incredibly profitable. Make a buy list, and build inventory. Run all the popular constructed formats (standard, legacy EDH) to drive demand for your singles.
4) A healthy singles business makes store credit for prizes a great value for you and your players too.
5) Diversify as soon as you can. Magic is #1, but Yu-Gi-Oh! is a close #2, especially here in SoCal. It's a different customer base, but it will keep the doors open.
6) Your FB page makes you look unprofessional - very "chatty", misspellings, etc. The store web page is very confusing, with "membership pricing", VIP, etc. Is this a game store or a strip club? People are looking for tournament schedules, singles buylist, what games you have in stock, etc.
The place looks great, and I'll definitely swing by. But just remember that opening the doors was the "easy" part. :)
bdrago
I've been working with game store owners all over the world for the past nine years and wanted to pass one some constructive criticism. I'm actually in Irvine and didn't know you existed until I scrolled down in this thread.
One problem I've seen over and over with game stores is people put so much work into opening the doors that they overlook the most important thing: marketing. Your store looks awesome, but you have to give people a reason to come out.
1) From both your FB page and the web page, it looks like Magic tournaments are pretty ad-hoc. Make a weekly schedule of events and stick to it. Keep it regular week to week, so people can plan on coming to draft on Thursdays at 7pm every week.
2) Don't go too crazy with formats or prizes. Your bread and butter are Standard and draft. Run them twice a week and sanction them way in advance so they show up on the WPN. Find a good judge that runs events by the book and have them teach you WER and good practices.
3) Singles are incredibly profitable. Make a buy list, and build inventory. Run all the popular constructed formats (standard, legacy EDH) to drive demand for your singles.
4) A healthy singles business makes store credit for prizes a great value for you and your players too.
5) Diversify as soon as you can. Magic is #1, but Yu-Gi-Oh! is a close #2, especially here in SoCal. It's a different customer base, but it will keep the doors open.
6) Your FB page makes you look unprofessional - very "chatty", misspellings, etc. The store web page is very confusing, with "membership pricing", VIP, etc. Is this a game store or a strip club? People are looking for tournament schedules, singles buylist, what games you have in stock, etc.
The place looks great, and I'll definitely swing by. But just remember that opening the doors was the "easy" part. :)
bdrago
I've been working with game store owners all over the world for the past nine years and wanted to pass one some constructive criticism. I'm actually in Irvine and didn't know you existed until I scrolled down in this thread.
One problem I've seen over and over with game stores is people put so much work into opening the doors that they overlook the most important thing: marketing. Your store looks awesome, but you have to give people a reason to come out.
1) From both your FB page and the web page, it looks like Magic tournaments are pretty ad-hoc. Make a weekly schedule of events and stick to it. Keep it regular week to week, so people can plan on coming to draft on Thursdays at 7pm every week.
2) Don't go too crazy with formats or prizes. Your bread and butter are Standard and draft. Run them twice a week and sanction them way in advance so they show up on the WPN. Find a good judge that runs events by the book and have them teach you WER and good practices.
3) Singles are incredibly profitable. Make a buy list, and build inventory. Run all the popular constructed formats (standard, legacy EDH) to drive demand for your singles.
4) A healthy singles business makes store credit for prizes a great value for you and your players too.
5) Diversify as soon as you can. Magic is #1, but Yu-Gi-Oh! is a close #2, especially here in SoCal. It's a different customer base, but it will keep the doors open.
6) Your FB page makes you look unprofessional - very "chatty", misspellings, etc. The store web page is very confusing, with "membership pricing", VIP, etc. Is this a game store or a strip club? People are looking for tournament schedules, singles buylist, what games you have in stock, etc.
The place looks great, and I'll definitely swing by. But just remember that opening the doors was the "easy" part. :)