Counting Chickens, or Branding Them

So I'm knee-deep in forms to secure my beer & wine license and carry bottled/canned beer at my shoppe. It's got me thinking about the future of my store and what it will mean to come to AQ. I made a post on Reddit asking how sustainable my business plan for this license would be, with some success. One of the big questions that popped up at me was: "Will this change the market of gamers who visit your store?"

I think the obvious answer is: Yes.

The big point in bringing people into a game store, especially one they might not have visited before, is what my brand exemplifies. I've spent the past year preaching "Casual gaming, small town feel, play what the community desires." Going forward, I don't think much of that will change, but with beer comes different questions. Will my shoppe be less kid-friendly? Perhaps.

I think if I've learned one thing from living in Colorado this past year and a half it's that families go to bars and breweries all the time. The creation of a bar/game store is the first step in bridging the gap between families only thinking about games as "for kids" and gamers thinking bars are an "after gaming" place. To put the two in the same place is to encourage people to consider that table-top gaming is an adult activity, to be enjoyed with all the benefits of a bar atmosphere and a game store vibe.

As I close in on finishing this process of licensing, I've told folks off the street about my ideas,  (in the past, we had the idea, but never planned on when to follow through, so I never bring it up anymore) and the response has been "Huh, that sounds awesome. Never would've thought of that." Which ultimately makes me wonder if I am at the cusp of discovering the one thing Coloradans haven't followed through on yet and what that might mean going forward. I'm hopeful I can get beer off the ground, make it a profitable venture for the success of the store in the next 12 months, and if it is look at remodeling and expanding the idea into a fully fleshed out bar concept.

Obviously I'm counting my chickens before the forms are turned in, but I'm hopeful so far. I think this could be the key to jump starting the store into a venture worth talking about. I won't just be a "game store" in the Denver area anymore. I'll be a new thing; worth seeking out, worth taking the adventure to visit.  In the end, that's the brand I'd really want for my livelihood. An adventure.