- What makes you want to go to a store? Is it based on price? Or a good vibe about the place?
Price is certainly something to look at in this day and age of online discounts, but that is the problem that all brick and mortar shops must face. The fact that you already offer discounts is good in that respect.
Appearance seems like a must, to me. Cleanliness and brightness make the store appealing, especially to the random customers you'd get off of the street rather than the die-hard gamers. Since you've said that you want to make the interior look like a sci-fi bunker, I'd suggest a scheme reminiscent of the white corridors of the Tantive IV from Star Wars Episode 4.
One big thing, to me, is staff members that are friendly but not in your face (like Games Workshop ones are). It's one thing to need help, but it's completely another thing to be set upon as soon as you step in the store. At the other end of the spectrum, staff members who look (and/or smell) like they haven't showered in weeks and/or couldn't care less that you've got £200 of product in your hands whilst they talk to their friends can be very off-putting.
Not sure what your floor space is going to be like, but I'd suggest a small amount of seating for long-suffering significant others/parents.
- what would you like to see going on in the store?
I think the best things that stores can offer, other than playing space, are ways to enhance the social aspect of the hobby. Events, campaigns, painting tutorials, or any other thing like that are something that people cannot really get from the internet.
A little bit of wall space dedicated to this, such as posters for upcoming events, a space for a campaign board, and other things like that, would also help.
- do you like to be emailed weekly and told what's going on or do you get enough of these emails from retailers already and would prefer a more off-hands approach generally?
Again, if you did this sort of thing, I'd suggest emphasising the events you are running in store rather than upcoming releases. The option to opt-in would be better than being forcibly added and having to opt-out (though you'd need to press people to do this if you did).
- what products would you like to see in a store that you can't buy at a Games Workshop store?
Assuming you are not talking about non-miniature wargames, I'd suggest third party products. Things like Gale Force Nine's templates, tools, modelling materials, and things like that.
- what lines would you like us to stock?
On a personal note; on your website, there's a glaring omission in the lack of having the core Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 Rulebooks. You have Island of Blood and Assault on Black Reach, but sometimes people want the core books on their own.
As for other lines, you seem to have a handle on wargaming. But have you considered branching out into non-wargaming lines? Board games (like what you can get from Fantasy Flight Games) and non-collectible card games (such as Munchkin or Zombies!!!) are often quite popular with the sort of customers you're looking to attract.
- how far do you have to travel to the nearest high street shop to buy what you're after?
Heh. Pretty sure I'm going to skew your results for this one. I live about 100km away from my closest gaming store, which is in Tokyo. That's a good 3 hours or so by train and subway, so I rarely get to go.
Whilst I lived in England, my closest stockist was around 8 miles away and the closest store with a gaming area was around 12 miles away.
- how far are you prepared to travel and what would it take to encourage you to pop in and see us?
Generally, I'd probably frequent a store that was within a one hour travel radius of me, and that would depend on the local travelling conditions. Much further than that and a trip to a gaming store becomes a rare, treasured event rather than something I'd consider doing every week.
- In store events - do these encourage you to come in?
Oh yes. These would certainly encourage me to come in.
- Should we run a gaming club? Perhaps with extra discount for members?
Reiterating what I said earlier, a gaming club would certainly enhance the social aspect of the hobby. Not sure what you ought to do regarding the discount idea.
- Would you like late night opening during the week? Maybe so you could pop in after work for instance?
Oh yes. Definitely. Even if it were only one or two days a week, late openings are a very good idea for those people who can't always get in during office hours.
