I completely agree.
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I think you will start to see more of a decline in gaming stores. Stores local to me also list their inventory online (eBay, TCGPlayer). I asked about a card once and they had to first check to make sure it didn’t sell online first. I was turned off by the “in person experience” when this happens.
The stores are already marketing their inventory to the world (at least the USA). Why pay the massive overhead and rental fees to have a card shop when you can do it from your garage?
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I agree with what @pfm said above.
The nostalgia for my local card shops almost never aligns with the experiences I’ve had recently. For example, I do not find singles or sealed product for any less than I could find on eBay after shipping and taxes. And that’s fine, but if the store clerk is going to pull up the eBay listings, is it rude if I pull out my phone and do the same while checking out the prices?
That’s why I will mostly only go to my local shops to buy binders, sleeves, and other supplies. They have a sticker price and I can support them without feeling squeezed.
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It is the problem and it’s not fine. I get the idea of supporting a local business but it only makes sense under the assumption that the existence of the business benefits you in some way. For players, the benefit is obvious. As a collector, there is just nothing for me.
The average interaction I have with a physical store is like “wow a fraction of my collection is better than their whole inventory” followed by mentally filtering out all the junk slabs and MP raw cards. On the off chance I find something i want, they look up the ebay price (and so do I). The experience I posted about above was exceptionally poor where the guy used the unsold floor bin price for a cash deal in person with no fees.
Why would I buy from you? Why should anyone? I’d rather just shop by scanning through Instagram stories at home in my underwear.
The last time I walked into my LGS they told me they had no singles in the store and could only order them online 
, ok bye, I’ll just order from a larger platform with more supply and cheaper prices.
I honestly can’t remember my last positive experience with a physical store.
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I don’t disagree with anything you just said. I just wasn’t willing to go that far criticizing what I feel has become a sacred cow in the hobby.
Stores really aren’t meant for Pokemon collectors, but I wish they were.
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It’s a good question, but because of the internet and the easy and sometimes necessary use of the internet to acquire and access those items, IDThink PkMn alone will save the LGS. What will make the difference is if games like Magic, Flesh and Blood, and that new Disney one (Lorecana?) bring players to the table. Magic has been sending mixed messages, so who knows what happens there, but for decades, the gathering as proven first by Magic: The Gathering, is what has made LGS and cardgames so successful. If we can get back to that, only then will LGS make a resurgence, but because of pure collectors? I can’t say I have faith there.
I spend a lot at my LGS because it’s the LGS I’ve been going to for 25 years, and I worry whether they need my money.
Romantization has sold entire generations on consumerism and retail malls - Boomers and Gen X. But I entirely agree. For most things, buying in-person does not add significant value to the experience, and incurs significant costs in time and travel that I don’t personally deem worth it.
Yeah that was mostly my point. The corollary is that there’s no reason for me to care about their success or failure then.
I’ll slaughter this sacred cow and make sacred hamburger @gus
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One of my other hobbies still have one physical store that serves as a central hub/crux/nerve center.
They:
- are not more expensive than the online option, sometimes cheaper
- have unique rarities for sale that they won’t put online
- make sure to provide a nice physical atmosphere with displays and theatrics, and if that involves displaying personal property then so be it
- have hot coffee, a water dispenser, maybe even a waffle on Saturdays
- owner is not a piece of shit
- professional employees, not teenagers who will begrudgingly serve you by opening the company webpage behind the counter and utter the magic words “no we don’t have that in at the moment but we can order it” (then you can come back in 5 weeks and pick it up for a premium over ordering the same thing online and have it within days)
- a supplementary service workshop with some technical genius behind it that can repair/modify anything under the sun. Expensive, but he’s better at it than you and he’ll do it quicker.
- As a result of the above, they have a big, loyal customer base that provides ample opportunities for socialization
To a certain extent this is apples to oranges, but in the ways that they do compare it is the 180 inverse of almost every LGS I’ve ever been to.
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I saw this on tiktok the other day:
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRtqq3MP/
Apparently this is the last physical video store. Bonus points for him also being named Scott. He sounds like a collector that just happens to rent his collection. That is a good example of the unicorn scenario you would need for a physical store.
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Just to add a bit of positivity and give props to my favorite LGS… It is totally differently than anything else in the area - could you find better prices on sealed product? Absolutely. But the owner really focuses on providing a positive interaction for customers and the ability to be part of the community is what brings me in. The owner is willing to make deals and never holds onto things too tightly, which has always kept me going back even just to check in and chat. Compare that to other stores in my area where people refuse to give any sort of discount and would rather do breaks on TikTok than interact with customers… Long story short I think if an LGS wants to be successful it needs to focus on what it can provide that online stores can’t. Even then it’s tough businesses-wise, but I think you have to love the hobby more than you love money if you want a shot.
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I always think part of the success is the physical layout of the shop. Big spacious shops that are half empty and 40% Funko always seem to fail quickly. The good ones are efficiently sized and filled to the max with more than just cards.
There are some very popular and busy game stores in my city. I think appealing to all nerdy niches really helps; TCGs, figurines, board games etc. I, as well as many others I would imagine, enjoy being able to look physically look through a large selection of things im interested in. Theres a small card shop I frequently visit that I stopped by Friday night and there was a like 40 minute wait line to get in.
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My LGS experience aligns more closely with the post above in that they’re not for pokemon collectors. My local store is enormously successful but for various reasons. Their whole premise is that they are a tabletop game store. Massive selection of board games, tabletop miniature games like Warhammer and other niche ones, and then a huge glass island in the center for TCGs. It’s about 75% MTG focused, tons of sealed and singles. MUCH smaller sections for pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, and microscopic selection of DBZ ,flesh and blood, etc. They are honest about their single condition and price accordingly. The employees are friendly, they have a separate online store for buying and selling. Like all LGS, their buylist prices are pretty low, but that comes with the territory, cards are not a particularly liquid asset, price and condition are subjective. Do you want less cash now or more cash later? LGS caters to the former.
The shop also has a huge open area filled with tables and miniature landscapes and they host all manner of tournaments every day of the week that you can enter for a small fee. Pretty sure its in the $5-10 range to enter.
All this to say - i think OP’s premise is a little off base. A LGS geared exclusively or primarily towards collectors, selling sealed vintage product, is a poor business model. You’re bottlenecked by both supply and demand depending on the goods in question.
There are still a decent amount of successful game stores out there, they just need the right approach!
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This resonated with me and reinforces that sealed ‘collecting’ isn’t much of collecting at all as it is investing/speculating.
A store filled with sealed cartons looks like shit. It’s cardboard boxes with tape on them FFS!
I would wander around a store filled with singles - each card in a different condition, each with its own story and each showcasing the spectacular art. Imagine a store owner passionate about the cards, the artists, the history and then the community drawn in to play, trade and swap stories.
Could you do all that if everyone was holding the same sealed booster box? Oh the shrink wrap is tight on this one! Come on!
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This has been my experience as well. The LGS I buy from semi-regularly has a loyalty program, which allows me to get in earlier on pre-orders, and I get a discount on sealed product/shipping. I don’t get this through eBay or other big stores. I also get good deals on singles when they get them in, including online. Not to mention, the customer service is very good.
So some LGS’s can be a great option at times. You just have to find the right one. Like any business, they will do things to be more competitive and build a customer base long-term it seems, and I have no problem supporting them because of this.
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If I had the capital to burn upfront and had it all worked out financially. I’d operate an LGS at a loss, with the sole intent to source bulk and other inventory/collections/collectibles to sell online. That method would open you up to a slew of tax write offs as well.
Essentially using a brick and mortor to grow your online storefront.
Maybe.
If so, it’ll be because an online store came first and was successful. For example, this group (https://tracollective.com.au/) in Melbourne, Australia just opened a physical store last weekend after being an online only group for a while.
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I work at a local game store. We sell pokemon, retro video games, magic the gathering and a slew of other products. We’ve worked really hard to cultivate a community in our area and it does have its rough patches but i wouldnt change it for the world. (This is in Washington outside of Seattle)
We’ve been open a little over a year now and Pokemon sells incredibly well, myself (hired specifically for Pokemon) and another coworker compete to see who can sell more 
he main lines video games. Pokemon won last year by $900 haha.
We have events every night of the week and they are currently free.
I teach kids and adults how to play the pokemon tcg in person during our Poke-Wednesdays.
We run intro to D&D on Thursdays, MTG Fridays and Saturdays and have recently started running GLC on Sundays.
We also have board game night Mondays and Yu-Gi-Oh (which has recently started picking up in our area) on Tuesdays.
So far it’s been an absolute dream and I’ve gotten to see so many cool cards and games I never thought I’d get to see in person.
I cant tell what the future holds for LGS’s but so far our community in our area has been incredibly supportive and kind.
We also have a group from our store attending pokemon regionals together and we are currently working on taking a trip to Worlds (spectator passes most likely)
Idk i am hoping LGS’s grow again 
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