Achievement unlocked: Games stores supported

Another interesting business interview at ICv2. This one is with a shop owner who runs Pastimes Games and Hobbies. As with their other interviews there’s plenty to learn here for any business, not just a retail hobby store. However this quote stood out for me:

“…we are about 20% ahead of last year in sales, and that’s even with having been closed for about two months.”

Now, this didn’t simply happen, the shop had to work hard and smart in order to make it happen, but still. 20% up on 2019 in a year where they were closed for 2 months? That has to be good.

Back in March I wrote an article about the importance of supporting games stores where possible, and it seems I was not the only person thinking this. Those stores that were able to stay in business and respond to the change in consumer demand are doing fine. The business interviewed responded to the surge in phone enquiries by using the phone calls to create an email list of thousands of customers, whom they can now market to directly. Smart thinking.

Next year I can see my own hobby spending declining. I’m cutting almost all my spending on Magic, my painting allowance keeps model purchases in check, and with over 80 board games in my home collection I’m not hunting around for more game items. I don’t if this trend will echo elsewhere too, I guess we’ll see.

Photo by Prateek Katyal on Pexels.com

For now though, it’s nice to see the hobby community chose to support their stores and so many are not just open but even thriving.