A Game Cafe In A Historic Town of Missouri

Play Game Cafe is on the cusp of 20 years in business. General Manager Jonathan has been working for the store’s owners, Tom and Julie, who are the landlords, too, for 13 years and counting. The store features both brick-and-mortar retail in Independence, Missouri, and an online store, which is a separate entity with dedicated inventory. It’s one of only two stores in Independence, according to Wizards of the Coast Store & Events Location. Jonathan says it’s helpful having owners who are also landlords. Having the store’s building paid off is also a perk. Going back in time, he was originally a customer of the store before joining the team as a cashier in 2011/2012. From that point forward, he worked quickly up to management. At this point, Tom has allowed Jonathan full autonomy to run the store how he wishes. Tom’s primary business is in industrial valves for water-treating plants.

Before he started working in gaming, Jonathan originally played at stores such as A to Z Comics and Battlezone. He says Magic: The Gathering was his entry point into games, coupled with a very light dose of role-playing games. While he did play Dungeons & Dragons later in life, Miniatures are his go-to now. From 2010 to 2015, gaming was at its peak for Jonathan. He’s since taken a step back and stopped competitive gaming. It became too much to run the store in addition to family obligations. When reflecting on Magic: The Gathering, he says he liked it for the socialization and making friends. Financially, he never thought working in gaming would have been feasible pre-COVID, but now Jonathan says it’s in a boom.

How To Be Successful When Running A Game Store

To be successful in the gaming business, Jonathan says having a background in business will save you. For example, knowing term rates and market share. He says you should “look at the numbers as they will rarely steer you wrong.” Moreover, a bias towards a company or product remains at the door. He says that when starting in the business, talking to other owners and learning from them was very helpful. He tries to do the same for new people in the industry in return.

When it comes to the numbers, he notes that Magic: The Gathering was 60% of the market when he first took over as General Manager. Now, it’s 25%. To make up for that differential, Jonathan points to diversifying the products you carry. Furthermore, he says dropping widgets, such as comics, when you don’t know the product is important.

Overall, Jonathan shares four concepts he employs while operating Play Game Cafe:

• Never speak ill of a fellow game store.
• Do not play games on the clock.
• Don’t carry games you like, carry what sells.
• Don’t sample games.

Initial Aspirations & Adjusting To The Market At Play Game Cafe

The initial concept for the store was an Internet cafe. However, Jonathan has always wanted to have a restaurant in the store. Moreover, Jonathan and Tom have food manager permits, which further enhances the dining component. Yet, while they’ve tried to incorporate this into Play Game Cafe, the financials and variance present an issue. Not to mention, the square footage of the store wouldn’t allow its existence. However, Jonathan would like to partner with a food truck to sell food from the back of the store.

Although food is an aspiration for the future, looking at the more recent present, Jonathan feels COVID was a catalyst for casual play, where Play Game Cafe sold a lot of Dungeons & Dragons books, coupled with people playing online. He says that role-playing games have seen the biggest gain. Regarding the tradeable card games, Jonathan says that if you don’t carry a specific card game, it can result in lower cash flow. He notes that while Pokémon tends to do well over time, acquiring the current product can be difficult before preparing for the next product. To counteract this, distributors put together packages for products requiring a certain spend on restocks to receive Pokémon allocations. For Magic: The Gathering, he feels that banned cards decrease buyer confidence. That said, Jonathan says that “allocations are easy. You don’t have to worry about over-ordering or under-ordering.”

Play Game Cafe General Managers’ And Owners’ Day-To-Day Operations

On a day-to-day basis, Jonathan handles employee schedules, business-related paperwork, store responsibilities, and organizes play events. Conversely, the owners are responsible for hiring/firing, performance reviews, and payroll. Jonathan also notes Tom’s skill in renovating the interior of the space. Moreover, a major portion of the play space came from a bookstore next door to Play Game Cafe, which they bought. Likewise, Tom runs board game nights every Thursday, and Julie helps organize puzzle-building events. Play Game Cafe has an assistant manager and Eric, who Jonathan calls the “Pokémon Professor.” In total, there are nine employees; however, it can fluctuate between seven and nine. His managerial style involves working with each employee before handing off the task.

As he reflects on the business post-COVID, Jonathan says there’s a lot of inventory management. They have $250,000 in inventory, which he concludes is a “nightmare.” However, labor cost is still the highest overhead overall. That said, he says customers have acknowledged that Play Game Cafe employs one of the best staff.

“Always has the best selection and the friendliest people!”

-Lynda Depe-Taylor, Play Game Cafe customer review on Facebook

That feedback could be the “best-worst problem” as Jonathan puts it, which is that Dungeons & Dragons night is exceeding expectations, where too many registered to play. A final problem would be to improve the e-commerce store. Jonathan feels it’s a “trainwreck” and needs improvement. Inventory management is not as efficient as it could be. He shares that audits can lead to said improvements.

Reflecting On Over A Decade In The Industry

After over a decade in the industry, Jonathan says it’s important to “appreciate what kind of game store you’re going to be opening.” He recommends having an emergency fund and not carrying a balance on your credit card. As Jonathan points out, game stores operate on a low margin and high volume. That said, if you’re operating on 5% profit, he says that’s a good place to be.

Looking towards the future of Play Game Cafe, Jonathan plans to increase sales from $1.5 million to $3 million. Additionally, a second location is on the radar, which could serve as an opportunity for a restaurant. He sees the e-commerce site as secondary to a second location, but feels a focus on social media and branded materials is necessary.

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