Behind the Counter
Also in October we got our gaming table set up and running – and have improved our Games Workshop sales, and nearly doubled our Comics Pull List (the number of comics we pull and hold for customers who come in and pick them up weekly, or so).
We also got the chance to sell a few thousand blisters of backstock miniatures, and over 2000 old Video Games that were “triples”. (Triples being our third or more copies). This has freed up capital for an improved camera and security system for the store.
Halloween. We had a great time handing out candy – and free comic books – to all the trick-or-treaters who stopped in. This ended up being a great promotional opportunity for us. Next year, I am going to try to organize the local businesses to have a trick-or-treat festival, and for everyone to get dressed up, have a couple dozen bags of candy on hand to pass out to kids – and hire a few people to go around the surrounding neighborhoods and put flyers on cars and doors promoting the district-trick or treat festival. (too bad really good ideas like that usually die in committee)
The Election is over. I could not be happier about that – cause I was really tired of all the spin. Know who I voted for? Nunya business. But, I am happy not to hear this guy on TV bad mouthing that guy, and vice versa. As a business owner, I am hopeful that the economy can be fixed. As a game-store owner in Michigan, I have my doubts. Now, if we can just please, pretty-please, have a year, maybe two, of no-campaign ads on my TV, that’d make me a happy fat guy. Then, maybe I can watch TV without wanting to vomit.
Looking ahead to Christmas. Our online shopping on eBay has already picked up, and people are already asking about Christmas gift-receipts, I am hopeful for a good Christmas shopping season. The “economic indicators” (whatever those are) that the talking heads on the evening news talk about sound very problematic. Yet, for all the horrid news every night about the economy – we in Michigan have been living with that for so long, we seem to have gotten past the initial shock. While other states seem to be struggling with unemployment and an economic downturn for the first time – here in Battle Creek we have been living in that reality for so long, it seems “normal” for us.
My Christmas Strategy is to sell a lot of stuff. Sounds simple. To facilitate that, we will be doing bounce back coupons which will give customers returning after January 1st a 20% discount on any purchase they make. We will be gathering customer information (mailing and email addresses) to start our newsletter campaign for the new year. And, we will have weekly specials – such as backstock DVDs sold at $1.50 each for one week, and Music CDs back-stock sold the same way a different week. Our goals are to bring our customers back into the store each week from now through Christmas!
Now, some notes on my last-month's lengthy column. Though I usually don’t read replies to my column, I did this past month, and wanted to make a few follow ups.
Sergio and Ranger7: A kid who steals stuff, and whose parents do nothing but make excuses for him is not being exposed or humiliated – or punished. He is being enabled by his parents. Sadly, I lose about $20,000.00 in merchandise a YEAR to shoplifting. That is why I am seriously not happy with shoplifters.
Shoplifting is the difference between me having health insurance, and NOT having health insurance. If I catch someone stealing from me, I make it my mission to get the County prosecutor to put them in jail, with no exceptions. Too bad that so many people think stealing is just okay. The kid did, his parents did, the cop did and the prosecutor did, too. All I was able to do was ban this kid from the store. Let me ask you, if someone stole $20K a year from your bank account, would you turn the other cheek if his parents seemed upset, or the kid seemed humiliated? Cause, that is literally what I suffer. It is like someone stealing my car, every year.
Sometimes the thieves make off with some good stuff – like the kids who stole my BETA Magic Binder – thus getting away with nearly $5,000 worth of great cards. Sometimes they just cost me money – like the idiots who took 4 EMPTY Wii Game Cases that were on display (the cases are always empty, the discs are behind the counter). Though each case is marked “CASE IS EMPTY – DISC AT COUNTER” the brain surgeons took the cases anyway – and now I have discs without cases, which are worth about 90% less that way. Either way, I take theft seriously. While I would give you the shirt off my back – and sometimes in the winter I have literally given my coat away to someone who didn’t have one – I will push getting shoplifters prosecuted as hard as I can.
Unterhund: There are more positive customer interactions than this column would allow to be posted. We ring between 50 and 250 customer purchases a day. I would call nearly all of those “positive”. I also get to send a LOT of customers to other shops that can help them, such as my comic-shop competitor in town, or to Best Buy – most of those are also positive experiences. I could fill a 20 page column each week with all the positive interactions I have with customers at my store. That’d make for REAL DULL reading though, now wouldn’t it? Part of my goal is to entertain with the odd and outrageous happenings at my store. If you would rather read dry text about how a customer left happy with their comic or DVD purchase – look elsewhere. The fact that 99% of the people who come into my store are great people, well, I would consider that to go without saying.
Patrick: I can have a competition between staff to sell a game and not push anything at anyone. Know why? Cause I offer a 100% money back guarantee on Rorschach by Bucephalus Games. You can buy it, take it home, open it up and play it – and if you decide you don’t like it, bring it back for a FULL CASH REFUND within 30 DAYS. Uhm, that’s why. We got our first 48 copies in this week, and have sold more than half in 2 days. Sometimes, customers think of this as “service”.
Overall, my store runs pretty well for one in an economically depressed area, where “unemployment” (people receiving benefits because they lost their jobs) and “non-employment” (that being people without a job and without benefits of any kind) is one of the worst in the nation.
We offer a great variety of entertainment merchandise at fabulous prices. Every item comes with a money back guarantee (though most have a 3-day return policy – the previously mentioned 30-day guarantee is extended to about 20 board games only).
But, regardless of how many hurdles I face, how much hardship we endure, or how many odd challenges come our way – I love owning Titan Games. My worst day at work is likely better than most people’s best day at work. Though sometimes I work an 80-hour week, I usually can work a leisurely 55 hour week.
Okay, gotta run, our online sales have reached a critical stage already, and I have over 200 orders to get packed and shipped today – those just being the ones that came in, in the past 48 hours.
Have a happy-turkey day, and see you in December!! Marcus King
Owner of Titan Games Retail store
Battle Creek, Michigan
Read our MySpace blog
