[Musings of a Game Store Owner] Well the holidays didn't kill me...

Being a game store owner during the holidays is somewhat like playing whack-a-mole blindfolded with a chainsaw. There's tons of messes and destruction, and when it's all over you have to clean it up-

but this is all a good thing in the long run.

We've gotten through Christmas, which is always a challenge- balancing orders with distributors and their holiday schedules, as well as the general uptick in demand for special orders and "fixture games" ( Ticket to Ride, Cataan, etc). It's a lot to balance and doing it well is pretty important.

But our busy season is just beginning. At the end of January, we have our annual local game convention. We go every year, and it's always insanely busy. This year, we're adding insanity to the mix, on purpose.

This year, TheDude is going to be running events at the con instead of running the booth. The convention turns 40 this year, and TheDude LOVES to run roleplaying games. He's decided to showcase his homebrew system and is going to use it for all four events he is running at the con.

That's not all! Oh no, we don't go halfway. We're all in! In addition to TheDude going to be as far away from the booth as possible, we're also running a M:tG Pre-release event at the convention. We're doing it overnight between Friday and Saturday, and we're hoping to host 128 people all at once. We normally hold several waves of 44 or so at a time.

I have 5 total staff to run the con and this event with, and planning and logistics are my purview. So, suffice it to say, I'm looking for volunteers and planning on a whole lot of no sleep.

My focus for the next month is going to be planning and getting ready- so I'd love to take on questions you might have about the FLGS industry or what it's like to run one. Please hit me up in the comments, and we'll see what next week brings!