SMALL BUSINESS ADVICE THREAD

I’m fucking mad right now and I need some advice.

I’ll greentext for an attempt at brevity:

>I’m a manager of a games/comic store in a decent-sized town
>We’ve been open for over a decade, but I’ve been manager for about six months
>Hear rumors that a comic/card shop is opening across town
>Decide to check it out
>It’s a literal goddamned house in one of the shittiest neighborhoods in town
>I go in and it’s one tiny room with four tables and a counter
>They have approximately 20 cards under the counter that constitute their “high-end” stuff
>I talk to the owner a little bit
>He said he started the business with $5,000 and “a prayer to God”
>I talk to him a little longer and he’s just really awkward
>Leave and vow to never return

Fast-forward to two months later:
>Decide to check the business’ Facebook page
>Dozens of five-star reviews
>99 percent of them are high school kids
>Remaining one percent is high school kids’ parents
>”It’s like a big family here”
>”Best store in this part of the state”
>We sell MTG packs: Three for $10
>Post it on Facebook that we’ve lowered our prices
>Literally ONE FUCKING HOUR LATER, the owner of the other shop says he’s lowering his prices to Three for $9.99
>Goddamned high schoolers start hooting about “best prices in the city”
>mfw

What the fuck do we do?

Do we get into a price-slashing war?

I’m new to this management thing and the owner only put me in this position because I’m good at sales and customer service.

I wasn’t worried at first, to be honest, but somehow he’s surviving and I can’t figure out how.

Our regulars say his store sucks monkey nuts, but high schoolers flock to this place.

>tl;dr New FLGS in town; Wat do?

Specialize, don't compete. Work on your brand and cultivate a better customer base. Have give-a-ways on facebook. Pretty simple, tbqh.

Entice the high school kids to your store using events so they can see how better it is. Use your marketing budget for it. Make sure your spergy regulars (you know the kind) stay the fuck away from these events lest their autism scare the kids away.

His upkeep costs are certainly lower than yours considering it's in a house in a shit neighbourhood, so you cannot beat him on price. He's most definitely hurting for money also.

I'm assuming you can't start taking a loss to price him out altogether, because game stores are a stupid idea with very little profit so I doubt there's enough savings to offset the losses you'll be taking in the meantime. He's already told you that he only had 5k and a "prayer to God" so he can't suffer losses for too long.

If you are somewhere with a culture of gaming at stores rather than clubs beat them on aesthetics and gloss and gaming space and tables. Chances are going on anecdotal evidence (mind you, the only difference between anecdotes and statistics is sample size and I have a large one) your store is nicer than his but it's still smelly, worn, and isn't that appealing. Clean it up and make the wargaming tables look nice.

But I really wouldn't have a game store unless I had a lot of cash to dump into a lifestyle business that I was happy to make a loss on.

You might be retarded man.
Dont compete with a hobby station because their customers tend to be loyal fans.
They could have kept their prices higher than yours and their customers still wouldnt have migrated to your store.
All you can do is wait them out and offer a better alternative than their place.

Sounds like you need to revamp your own place to look and probably snek better. Also consider marketing strategies like promotions, give aways, loyalty benefits and advertisements.

Bloody SMELL* better, not snek better. Wtf is wrong with autocorrect.

The way i see it you have 3 options. Yall could partner and grow together. His customer base is large for his tiny upkeep expenses. He could survive on peanuts.

You can keep your prices firm and focus on tournaments and other incomes.

If the state allows you could sell mtg packs at fucking cost. Find out what tjey sell and cut their throats till they go under.

If its in a house they may not wven hVe an llc or proper tax credentials. You could play the chicken shit game and call the irs.

I have found that working together helps everyone. Even if your store takes a small hit it could potentially hire those guus when they fail or bring some of their customers to u also.

start twitch streaming your weekly game events. might have to invest in equipment but that itself can return if you get partnered.

this will mainly give you a good way advertise that you do specialized events.

lol, OP your business is losing to a high schooler hustling out of his parents house?