Huntsville, AL - Gaming Pub Market Research Survey

A few other engineers from work and I are thinking about opening up a gaming pub in the greater Huntsville, AL area and we are doing a little market research to see if it's a viable business venture. We are planning on offering PC, console and tabletop board games as well as beer, wine and food in a social atmosphere dedicated solely to gamers. If you would be interested in this or you think it's a horrible idea please take a few moments to fill out the survey below. Also, if you know anyone else that might have an opinion on this topic feel free to forward the link to them, the more data the better.

While being from the Huntsville area is not required to fill out the survey it is preferred. However, all input would be appreciated regardless. Thanks for your time.

Click here to take survey

I don't live there, but am happy to fill out a survey nonetheless.

Forwarded to my cousin in Huntsville.

You should also post this on our subreddit.

I've been wanting to start one of these in the area for years, but never got around to doing it.

As being an investor in multple versions of these in this area over the years i can say that teh biggest thing for the success of the shop is location. Find the right location and hope that whomever you're leasing it to isnt easily swayed by neighbors reporting the crazy antics of your customers out in the parking lot. Also make sure to be aware of all the local ordinances regarding sound, loitering and all that jazz. Then be prepared to be shocked at the sticker price of some things from the vendor. Talk to your area TCO from WotC and talk about hosting tournaments (if you have the space).

It's also better to focus on something like being a shop that deals in MTG or whatever genre you can think of. If you start off dealing in one subject dont go and think adding comics is a good idea. If you try and branch out into everything at first you'll bleed yourselves dry. Wait and see and after a couple years after learning your customer and market you can start juggling with things.

You'll find your highest money maker is food followed by computer time. (3.50/hr ended up being our sweet spot on computer time)

You'll also want to reconsider having alcohol. You want the place to be kid friendly because soccer mom's dropping their kids off while annoying are a great source of income, but that wont happen if they think the place is 'unsavory'. Grandma/pa wont come in either to buy presents. We would schedule parties and would restrict by age depending on the party and it was always after curfew.

If you're lucky you'll find trust worthy college students who will work just for free food and computer time

There's a zillion things i'm forgetting but all i can think of at the moment.

Edit:

Oh dont expect to get rich and retire off this venture either. It's nice supplemental income and keeps you involved in a hobby that you love. Other than that good luck!

ranalin wrote:

As being an investor in multple versions of these in this area over the years i can say that teh biggest thing for the success of the shop is location. Find the right location and hope that whomever you're leasing it to isnt easily swayed by neighbors reporting the crazy antics of your customers out in the parking lot. Also make sure to be aware of all the local ordinances regarding sound, loitering and all that jazz. Then be prepared to be shocked at the sticker price of some things from the vendor. Talk to your area TCO from WotC and talk about hosting tournaments (if you have the space).

If by "in this area" you mean Knoxville, then I'm immediately curious where you managed to get it set up. If that had been around and/or I had known about it while I was still in high school (Farragut) it would have likely been a favorite hangout.

Here in Huntsville we already have a couple of game shops that do a really good job of providing a space for MTG and other various table-top games. The Foundry is focused more on minis and wargames, and The Deep is heavily focused on comics. If I remember correctly The Deep used to have a few computers they rented out for WoW, but that was several years ago and there was no sign of them when I visited more recently. The ideal location for a game pub would probably be very close UAH campus, as neither of the others are. UAH also has several active e-sports clubs and hosts a biannual LAN party on the order of 1k attendees. Such an event is probably an order of magnitude beyond the venture being proposed here, but ought to be a audience for smaller events in the time between.

psoplayer wrote:
ranalin wrote:

As being an investor in multple versions of these in this area over the years i can say that teh biggest thing for the success of the shop is location. Find the right location and hope that whomever you're leasing it to isnt easily swayed by neighbors reporting the crazy antics of your customers out in the parking lot. Also make sure to be aware of all the local ordinances regarding sound, loitering and all that jazz. Then be prepared to be shocked at the sticker price of some things from the vendor. Talk to your area TCO from WotC and talk about hosting tournaments (if you have the space).

If by "in this area" you mean Knoxville, then I'm immediately curious where you managed to get it set up. If that had been around and/or I had known about it while I was still in high school (Farragut) it would have likely been a favorite hangout.

Here in Huntsville we already have a couple of game shops that do a really good job of providing a space for MTG and other various table-top games. The Foundry is focused more on minis and wargames, and The Deep is heavily focused on comics. If I remember correctly The Deep used to have a few computers they rented out for WoW, but that was several years ago and there was no sign of them when I visited more recently. The ideal location for a game pub would probably be very close UAH campus, as neither of the others are. UAH also has several active e-sports clubs and hosts a biannual LAN party on the order of 1k attendees. Such an event is probably an order of magnitude beyond the venture being proposed here, but ought to be a audience for smaller events in the time between.

KGB (we were located on Cumberland right next to the dominoes) Then 2 rounds of the Round Table which was located at first on Sutherland and then back on Pleasant Ridge. 2003-2009 or so. All that time runs together in a blur. The owner of the Round Table was East TN's WotC TCO and if you played in a MTG tourney odds are it was hosted by us and we did all the pre releases (generally hosted in Nashville).

Edit:

Not sure how old you are, but before all that there was the Yankee Peddler which was close to Farragut, but i wasnt gaming at the time.

Ah, like Huntsville, keeping it closer to campus makes sense. Mid 00s were the right time period, but it was just a little farther outside the usual stomping ground. My interests were more of the electronic variety and MTG wasn't really my thing, but I had several friends who were way into it. (One eventually got to play with the Pro Tour in Paris)

Even further back, I vaguely remember my scoutmaster (Pendelton) being involved with a game store in some capacity, but I can't remember much about it.

ranalin wrote:

You'll also want to reconsider having alcohol. You want the place to be kid friendly because soccer mom's dropping their kids off while annoying are a great source of income, but that wont happen if they think the place is 'unsavory'. Grandma/pa wont come in either to buy presents. We would schedule parties and would restrict by age depending on the party and it was always after curfew.!

Thanks for the info in general but as far as the kids go we absolutely do not want to make it kid friendly. While in most places a gaming center would probably require the little ones to stay afloat, we believe since Huntsville has such a large engineer and engineering student population it would be able to survive without the kiddies. However, if we determine otherwise then I would have to reconsider opening it at because I don't think I could run a babysitting service. Again, thanks for the incite though.

Byrus Ripley wrote:
ranalin wrote:

You'll also want to reconsider having alcohol. You want the place to be kid friendly because soccer mom's dropping their kids off while annoying are a great source of income, but that wont happen if they think the place is 'unsavory'. Grandma/pa wont come in either to buy presents. We would schedule parties and would restrict by age depending on the party and it was always after curfew.!

Thanks for the info in general but as far as the kids go we absolutely do not want to make it kid friendly. While in most places a gaming center would probably require the little ones to stay afloat, we believe since Huntsville has such a large engineer and engineering student population it would be able to survive without the kiddies. However, if we determine otherwise then I would have to reconsider opening it at because I don't think I could run a babysitting service. Again, thanks for the incite though.

Well it's the nature of parenting these days and the games themselves that lend to that type of crowd. We were on campus for a few years as well so had the same type of crowds. A kid bugs a parent enough these days and they tend to get what they want.

Anyone heard anything more on this?

Not really helpful I know but nope. 1st I've noticed this thread actually, missed it the 1st go around I suppose. Guess I won't bother with the survey.

Yeah not much help sorry. Besides Huntsville is to long a drive for me.