Oh, I understand the desire (no the need...) to be profitable. I know that most of the profit a game store makes comes from just two or three companies.
And I realize just how much of a niche market "we" are in what's already a niche market.
The last three game stores to open in our area have storefronts that are smaller than my 21 year old one-bedroom apartment.
One of them has two 4x4 tables and 16 shelving units (8 on each wall), plus a cash register. If it's not SJG or M;tG... he probably doesn't carry it.
One if about twice that big, but the owner is huge comic book collector (no... he doesn't collect huge comics, he has a huge collection!) and plays Flames of War and Confrontation. almost half the store is devoted to back issues of comics, half the shelves are Flames of War minis , terrain, and Battlefront Games paints. The rest if pretty evenly divided among WH40K, M:tG, and DND. He has six tables, but he has new rules for suing them: you can only play games that were bought in his store (I once saw him refuse to let an MTSU student particpate in a 40K tourney because all of his minis were purchased at a store in his home town in GA) adn table preference goes to those who pay the monthly "club fee" to be a part of his preferred customer base. If two guys are playing a game that aren't preferred customers and a couple of preferred customers come in to pay, the first two are told to put their game away and free up the table for the preferred guys.
The really big store is now on it's second owner. The original owners were gamers and would let anyone play any game anytime of the week. We used to play games there all the time. When they sold out (one joined the military and the other got married), the new owner changed things around a bit. Saturday and Sunday are CCG / 'cliky base games only. Monday is board games only. Tuesday is WH/WH40K only. Wednesday is DND only. Thursday is open gaming from 5:00 p.m. til 8:00 p.m. Friday is PRG only.
He will let us demo ACTA, but only on a Thursday might. We can't reserve a tabel. We have to show-up and hope ones avaialble... and since we can't gaurantee the table, he won;t let us advertise it in advance.
Why bother, then?
Now. The critical issue. There are 2 dozen SFB / Federation commander players within driving distance. We used to go the that store all the time, then the new owner took over. We all still play (in fact, not long ago there were 19 guys i my game room at the same time playing Federation Commander) the game and still buy everything, but now we order directly from ADB since he refuses to special order it for us.
I understand being profitable and stocking the big sellers, but with that kind of player base - I know we could increase the numbers if we only had a public venue in which to push the system. And I think ACTA: SF would be even better for that then SFB / FC is.
You get more models on the table... the games go faster... the game ends quicker... adn things blow up! A lot!!!
I'd love to have people talking about ACTA:SF on The Miniatures Page, on Board Game Geek, and anywhere else there is interest. But I think this will have to spread from a core of interested and great people -- from the core folks here and ADB's boards. I have faith that players are going to be so excited by this new game that they can't help talking about it.
