Magical Money

Dear Lee,

            Lets face it HobbyTown USA is being hit hard by the state of the economy, every month it feels like there are less and less people coming into the store and of those people more and more “tire kickers” (as you call them) who don't end up buying anything but just look around. Even worse are all the people who I have to turn away because we don't carry something that we could easily get, the most frequent cases of this being Magic: The Gathering cards, board games, and role playing equipment. Now I know that in the past you used to carry these items a bit and eventually gave up on them but I believe that now is a great time to let these items back into your store. There are several reasons why I believe that bringing back these products is a good idea which include but aren't limited to pricing, local competition, and the community. I also address some concerns you may have about pricing or the hardships of starting up. For most of the examples I have used Magic: The Gathering for simplicity, however, the other products are very similar.

            Probably the biggest reason to stock Magic: The Gathering is that “MAGIC: THE GATHERING is the world's all-time best-selling trading card game.”(Milliot) And while you are probably thinking that you don't want to stock any trading card games, Magic the gathering is the third largest toy sales, behind crayons and toy cars (Martin). Back ten years ago when you regularly stocked Magic: The Gathering cards it wasn't nearly as popular as it is today, and with this growing popularity it would be easy to make a steady profit.

            With the lack of local competition in the area of role playing, board gaming and card selling the few places that do sell them in the local area have begun to raise prices. During a recent trip to one of these places I noticed that the single cards that they sold where going for unusually high prices and after looking up some of the cards on my phone found out that they were anywhere from 1-5 dollars more than they should have been. This presents a great opportunity for someone trying to get back into market. With fairer prices it would be easy to gain popularity in the community as well as make money.

            The best part about selling Magic: The Gathering in particular though would be how easy it is to make money off it. As you know Magic is sold in boxes of 36 booster packs. The price of a box for you is somewhere between 70 and 85 dollars, depending on who your distributor is. I have seen boxes sell for anywhere between 100 and 110 dollars. Now saying that you sell yours for $100 you make $15-$30 without even having to open it. But when you do open a box and sell each booster individually your profit skyrockets. I have never seen a booster not go for $4 so keeping it at that price would be advised, so 4 times 36 is $144 which gives you $59-$74 of profit. “Many smaller businesses strive for a 50 to 70 percent gross margin” (Monosoff). And by selling the boosters individually you will see a gross margin of 69% to 106% based on what price you can get for them. This isn't even taking into account individual card sales which can be the most profitable of all.

            Even with good reasons like these you might still have concerns about having such a large change in the store, like what if Magic: The Gathering crashes like baseball cards did in 1994, or how getting started will be very difficult. If you can get around these few things I'm sure that it would be worth it in the long run.

            “For manufacturers, the Major League Baseball Players Association, and card shop owners alike, it probably seemed as if the good times would last forever. But as was the case with tech stocks and the housing bubble, the decline was precipitous and painful” (Zasky 1). As someone who was two to three when the baseball card industry started to fail it is hard for me to understand what it was like for you as a shop owner who sold baseball cards during this time but based off this quote and other sources I've read I understand that it came out of nowhere and really hurt a lot of businesses. Having lose a lot due to a collapse of a card industry before I can understand not wanting to risk it again with Magic: The Gathering but there are a few reasons why I believe this won’t happen with Magic: The Gathering. The first reason being that “Magic” isn't just a collectors product made to sit in a binder for years and collect dust, it is a game and a fun one at that. Another reason Magic will last is that the price of a card doesn’t just come from its rarity but also it’s utility. This differs Magic from other collectables like Beanie Babies and baseball cards which served no other purpose then to be collectables. Another distinct difference is that even the “rare” cards in Magic are not hard to find, you can find pretty much any card at a local store or online and frequently used cards are often reprinted to keep costs down. My final reason that I don't believe that Magic: The Gathering will die out like Baseball cards is that it is estimated that there are around 6 million participants of Magic: The Gathering worldwide, in up to 70 different countries, about 1 in every 100 people on the earth play Magic. This is an astounding number of players and something so big would have to take a lot to fail so suddenly.

            Another concern that you may have might be the cost of starting up. Getting in boxes of cards, board games, rules books and dice is easy enough but starting up a place for individual card sale can be tough and costly since you will want to have as many cards for sale as possible. I can see a couple ways so combat this problem starting with the simplest solution of waiting. By this I mean that you can slowly buy cards off of customers getting a card base for your shop very slowly but also very cheaply. Having individuals for sale at the start would increase sales and draw more customers. The easiest way I can see to do this would be to make a large order from some online stores. While buying from another store just to sell in yours doesn't sound like the best idea, it’s not as bad as it sounds. Online stores sell for much cheaper than any other retailer but charge for shipping, so buying in bulk can save you a lot of money. Also you can raise you prices up from theirs quite a bit before it seems like unfair pricing. You would also probably only have to do this once to get an initial stock and then rely on people selling you cards or opening boxes that the store has.

            Most of this letter has been talking about Magic: The Gathering and not a lot about the board games or role playing parts. This is because you are already doing this in a way and there isn't much to tell you. The only issue is that you aren't stocking the right ones for the demand. I'm not saying that people don't like Monopoly but rather that they aren't going to look for it in a hobby shop. Stocking some of the more advanced and obscure ones that the board gaming “hobbyist” would enjoy are what I would recommend. Even just having a sign that says that you can order them would at least show you how many people are interested.

            I understand that changing your business is the last thing you want to do in these hard economical times but if done correctly it could really boost your revenue. But by following one of the proposed strategies you could be making money off of this within weeks.

Sincerely,

David Nilsen

Works Cited

"COMPANY NEWS; TAKARA AND HASBRO PLAN TO COLLABORATE ON CARD GAME." New York Times 28 Dec. 2001: 4. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 22 July 2011.

Crowley, Jon "Traxxas to Sponsor Kyle Busch in Three NASCAR Truck Series Races", sxsnews.com, Side x Side Industry News, 24 Aug. 2010, Web, 18 June 2011 

D, Katlynn “The World’s Greatest Hobby”, blog.hobbytown.com, HobbyTown USA, 31 Aug. 2010. Web. 18 June 2011 

Martin, Brett A. S. "Using the Imagination: Consumer Evoking and Thematizing of the Fantastic Imaginary." Journal of Consumer Research31.1 (2004): 136-149. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 29 July 2011.

Milliot, Jim. "Hasbro to Acquire Wizards of the Coast." Publishers Weekly 246.38 (1999): 12. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 22 July 2011.

Milliot, Jim. "Wizards of the Coast Whips Up Sales." Publishers Weekly 250.8 (2003): 10. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 22 July 2011. 

Monosoff, Tamara. “Demystifying Profit Margins and Markups.” entrepreneur.com(2006) Web. 29 July 2011.

Schoenberger, Chana R. "House of Cards." Forbes 165.7 (2000): 130. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 22 July 2011. 

Zasky, Jason. “The Rise and Fall of Baseball Cards.” failuremag.com(2010)  Web. 29 July 2011.

workshop

In a time when the economy is failing and the entertainment industry is quickly following, companies in this industry must learn to adapt. People are starting to watch how they spend their money so high quailty entertainment like hobbies are not selling as well. It is important to see what is selling and what isn’t in this time so that you can continue to make a profit. Board games and roleplaying are actually becoming more popular dispite the economy.

bibliography/ thesis statement

bibliography

Milliot, Jim. "Wizards of the Coast Whips Up Sales." Publishers Weekly 250.8 (2003): 10. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 22 July 2011.

Milliot, Jim. "Hasbro to Acquire Wizards of the Coast." Publishers Weekly 246.38 (1999): 12. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 22 July 2011.

Schoenberger, Chana R. "House of Cards." Forbes 165.7 (2000): 130. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 22 July 2011.

"COMPANY NEWS; TAKARA AND HASBRO PLAN TO COLLABORATE ON CARD GAME." New York Times 28 Dec. 2001: 4. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 22 July 2011.

Katlynn D, “The World’s Greatest Hobby”, blog.hobbytown.com, HobbyTown USA, 31 Aug. 2010. Web. 18 June 2011

Jon Crowley, "Traxxas to Sponsor Kyle Busch in Three NASCAR Truck Series Races", sxsnews.com, Side x Side Industry News, 24 Aug. 2010, Web, 18 June 2011

Crouch, Lee. Personal Interview. July 2011

thesis statement

To boost slowing sales at Hobbytown USA, Lee Crouch should consider stocking Roleplaying/ Boardgames again. The were stocked in the past and weren't selling well, however, over the past few years their popularity has greatly grown.

July 10. HW

To start off his article Graff talks about the potential of kids who are "street smart" but do poorly in school. This kid has a good intelligence but might it might not be tuned for academic readings, if more academic readings explained concepts in ways that this kid could relate he could learn a lot from this become a better person.

META

Legalization of marijuana is a good idea DESPITE THE FACT Thousands of illegal immigrants farm marijuana on the West Coast. Billions of dollars are made every year in the United States in marijuana sales, but it is not taxed. This financial problem is a recurring issue. In other words the government is losing a lot of money that could be spent on helping the country.

Legalization of marijuana is a good idea DESPITE THE FACT Thousands of illegal immigrants farm marijuana on the West Coast. Billions of dollars are made every year in the United States in marijuana sales, but it is not taxed. This financial problem is a recurring issue. This is not to say that we should legalize all drugs to get more money, but rather just the harmless ones.

1.      What is the main focus of this assignment?

      The main focus of the assignment is to take a side in an argument about how something can be beneficial to your place.

2.      How much of this revision should be new information?

      65-75% should be all new information.

3.      According to the assignment, who is your audience for Unit IV?

     Your audience should be someone who can make what your argument is happen.

4.      According to the assignment, should you have already created a possible thesis statement? If so, in what part of what unit?

     Yes I should have made a possible thesis statement in unit 3 called "Proposal" 

5.      According to the assignment, you will be looking exclusively for academic research articles to help your argument. These articles should be about your place. True of False. If false, why.

6.      How many scholarly, academic articles are required for Unit IV? How many sources in total (not counting the ones from Units 1-3).

      At least one of each type is required and a total of 5.

7.      How many of these sources must discuss the opposition to your claim?

     3

8.      You do not need any visuals for this project. True of False. If false, why.

     False you need 3 new ones

9.      What example is given in the assignment that illustrates how to choose an audience for Unit IV? Explain.

10.  What does the assignment say in regard to using a hook in your Unit IV project? According to the assignment, where can you take information for a hook?

ORAL HISTORY

HobbyTown USA, Louisville Ky

When someone tells you that they are going into work you first thought isn’t usually that they are about to go have fun for the next 6-8 hours. Imagining them behind a desk or cash register taking calls and wishing that they weren’t there is probably a much more reasonable image to have of them. And like most people this was how I have viewed my work for the past couple of years. I work at HobbyTown USA, an R/C (Remote Control) hobby store; the reason I say R/C is because it is commonly confused with places like Hobby Lobby and Michaels which are traditional craft stores. I cannot think of one day when I didn’t want to go into work, I can also not think of a day at work which I didn’t enjoy.

                Waking up for a Saturday shift is about the earliest I will ever wake up for anything non-school related and even then it’s still only 9 that I wake up at in order to be there at 10. Upon entering the store I usually feel very odd because of the coldness of a concrete store in the morning with a lack of manmade light. The first few hours are slow and that is good because I am never awake until lunch. When there is no one else in the store I usually find myself sitting on some shelving behind the register, it is sturdy metal shelving that is usually used as a stepstool for the others but for me I want it to be nothing more than a place for me to rest. I know that I can’t stand for a whole shift so I sit when I can on my trusty shelf since there are no chairs or other places to sit in the store. The smells one smells while smelling in the store can very quiet heavily based on where you are, it can smell like grease and fuel, or even new shoes (we don’t sell shoes it just smells like it sometimes.)  The rest of the day can be described as customer service, phone calls and questions form the few customers we get and people complaining because they didn’t read the instructions on their $500 R/C car and broke it within the first 5 minutes of owning it. Stupid people aside most days go by without a hitch, and are over before I know it. Closing is almost as fast as opening but we have to vacuum and count the earnings, both take about 15 minutes to do since we split the work. Then I’m on my way home to rest my always tired feet.

A very common question that I get would be what is the most popular hobby? In the Article, “The World’s Greatest Hobby”, Katlynn D. (An employee of Hobbytown USA) talks about what her views are on the world’s greatest Hobby. This question doesn’t have a definite answer but Katlynn gives her opinion is such a way that it even convinces me of it. The point of the article isn’t to convince people that trains are the world’s greatest Hobby but rather to tell people about a large model train event.

Going back to that person who asks, what is the most popular hobby? In the past I would have answered them with observations that I had seen around the store, what was selling well and what people seemed to really enjoy.  However, the truth of the matter is that the rest of the world is a bit different then the small crowd of hobby enthusiasts in Louisville Kentucky. The statement that convinced me of this was, “Trains were the biggest mystery to me. I had never really learned much about them. My dad is a big R/C racer, my friends are gamers, I’ve built a few models, but trains were a complete blank.” This quote shows that the author until recently had little knowledge of how great the train hobby was just like me.

The reason this quote stands so much out to me is that it almost perfectly describes my own experiences, I have a friend who is a big R/C racer (who actually introduced me to my current boss), I have a group of friends who board game, I have built a few models, and trains are the one thing I know almost nothing about. This makes me want to look more into trains to find out what she learned that gave her such a great respect for trains when she is already into so many other hobbies.

Lee standing at front counter in HobbyTown

If trains are such a great hobby why don’t I sell very much? I posed this exact question to my boss (Lee Crouch, owner of the Louisville HobbyTown USA) in an interview I had with him about the store. Lee has owned and operated HobbyTown for 17 years now and I choose to interview him because if anyone knew the answers to my questions it would be someone who has been in the business since I was 2. We talked a while on the subject and gave me more than one probable answer. The explanation given can be summed up in three different parts, “New Generation”, “Location” and “Technology”.  “Trains are very much an old generation toy”, Lee told me and continued to describe how people my parents age and older grew up with trains. “America was run on trains and every family had or wanted a train set of their own”, this also made a lot of sense to me since I personally don’t remember trains ever being important to me other then maybe Thomas the Tank Engine. Lee also talked about how our location could be bad for train sales. “Trains are a lot more popular in other counties especially Asia and over the years I have sold many trains sets to people visiting our country.” Again I can relate to Lee’s words here as I as well have sold a few train sets to foreigners and also remember reading about India in particular being very into train sets. The last thing Lee talked about with this subject was technology; this was more of an extension on what he was saying about the “New Generation”.  With technology Lee describes how while everything is advancing in the world of hobbies trains seem to be making less exciting advances then other hobbies, causing kids and even adults to overlook them. A good example of this is would be how electric cars, planes and boats are continuing to get faster as well as have longer run times on their batteries, while trains have been making advances such as digital transmitters rather than analog causing you to be able to run more than one train independently on the same rails. I know for me at lease seeing not 65+MPH is a bit more exciting than multiple trains.

Having all of my train questions and more fully satisfied I ask Lee what the largest change in the store has been since he opened. “Phasing out all of the cards, roleplaying and board gaming” was the response that he gave. While still have a little of these things in the store I asked how much did you get rid of and he told me that the entire corner of the store was devoted to cards while an aisle was for roleplaying/ board games. It was a good thing that he got out of sports cards when he did because I highly doubt that will ever recover to its former glory but other card games like Magic: The Gathering and board games (non-casual board games) are more popular than ever.

While something titled “Traxxas to Sponsor Kyle Busch in Three NASCAR Truck Series Races”, might not sound like an article relating to my place I found an interesting connection within it. Kyle Busch, current NASCAR drive, is a former HobbyTown USA employee. And while he wasn’t an employee at my store I could easily relate with things said by him in an interview in this article.

In a lot of ways Kyle Busch makes me think of myself, not that I want to be a NASXAR driver.  “I worked at a hobby store in Las Vegas when I was a teenager and remember selling a lot of Traxxas vehicles and equipment. I’ve used the vehicles throughout my life because R/C cars have always been a huge passion of mine.” Like Kyle I find myself working for HobbyTown USA and also find R/C cars to be somewhat influential in my life, but in a moderately different way.

Instead of becoming sponsored by the R/C company that I have sold cars for, I have sometimes seen myself applying for a job there working on their electronics. While it might seem like a childish dream to want to join some big company fresh out of college I see no harm in trying for it. I have always had this feeling since Junior year of high school. That year I was struggling in physics and I also started working at HobbyTown, working there taught me all about electronics and how currents, amps, volts, and overall electronics worked. This surprising helped me in physics and when applying physics to my work actually made it somewhat fun. Having fun in a career is something that I have always been taught to seek so I have naturally grasped firm to the idea of working in the R/C world.

The first and my favorite thing that stands out about my workplace would be the environment. Being a small business and not having to abide by rules and protocols from some guy in an office miles away really give off a unique atmosphere in the building. It really doesn’t feel like I am an employee most of the time, it feels part of a club or even a family.

Something that also stands out about this workplace would be the downtime that one gets almost every workday. Being a specialty store there isn’t always customers in the store and some days there are more times without customers then with. This again makes the atmosphere very friendly with lots of time for the employees to get to know each other and relax. While working with some of the older employees a lot of stories get told during this time. These stories make it feel like I’m working with my grandfather who used to always tell stories but passed away a couple years back, so hearing stories given in the same manner always makes me think of him.

The Employees aren’t the only interesting people you will run into while at HobbyTown. The customers range from moms looking for last minute birthday gifts to the 65 year old professional R/C plane pilot. One of my favorite types of people who come in are the customers who return to tell you about the product they purchased. While this might sound annoying to most it is slightly different for me at least. In my line of work I cannot have personal experience with all of my products since most cost upwards of $100 so getting personal feedback from customers is interesting to me as well as beneficial to my work. When people come in and talk to me it always helps the day go by quicker as well because while it is fun to work in a toy store for adults being at home is something that just can’t be replaced.

However, because of the great comfort I feel when I am at home I have a hard time getting anything accomplished while there. It is a different story at work. At work I have plenty of downtime where I can be doing homework or working on one of my own personal projects. I would like to think that getting this job helped me get through high school because it taught me a lot about responsibility and gave me a place where I could concentrate. I really love my work and I can’t imagine working anywhere else, getting a real job is going to suck!

Proposal

Like Trains, all things change in people’s eyes. It is my belief that role-playing and board gaming is becoming very popular again. I propose that Lee brings back these things into the store. Just something as simple as bringing these items back into the store can really bring a lot of new customers and atmosphere to the store. I personally know a lot of people who are looking for places that sell such items and would be much happier if they could go somewhere close rather than all the way to the mall.

Almost every time I work I get at least one question about dice, Magic cards, or board games that I know we can get but we will never have them in the store. This is an ever expanding part of our population and serving their needs should greatly help out the stores success. I personally have noticed a decline in sales while working at HobbyTown, less and less people come in and during our off season the store is empty more times than not. The good thing about board games is that during the colder months they sell quite well. This is exactly when we need to be selling things that provide indoor entertainment.

WORK CITED

Crouch, Lee. Personal Interview. July 2011

Katlynn D, “The World’s Greatest Hobby”, blog.hobbytown.com, HobbyTown

USA, 31 Aug. 2010. Web. 18 June 2011

Jon Crowley, "Traxxas to Sponsor Kyle Busch in Three NASCAR Truck Series Races", sxsnews.com, Side x Side Industry News, 24 Aug. 2010, Web, 18 June 2011