The big thing I learned from visiting rebel and Mr. aessedai, and meeting and hanging out with their friend who owns the game shop where they all hung out, is that selling RPG and tabletop games in the Internet Age is an AWFUL business model whose sole hope of solvency is in-house food and beverages so when the geeks get hungry they do not need to leave or order a pizza—many are even willing to pay a sizable MARKUP for the convenience so they do not have to interrupt the game du jour. Also, while it is GREAT to have a go-to place you can always (at least during business hours) play games, ESPECIALLY pick up games, most gamers buy their games, dice, miniatures, supplements etc. BETWEEN sessions rather than DURING them. In other words, if you have a store full of people playing, what you will NOT have is a store full of people (currently) PAYING—unless you are also providing things gamers DO pay for while playing (i.e. food and drinks.)

Meanwhile, shortly after I moved over to Norway to get married, this place opened up downtown; I never had a chance to stop in, but the obvious burger joint with board games prominently visible through the windows (usually with several being played at any given time) were seriously appealing. There were only two RPG/boardgame (as opposed to purely PC and console game) stores in town when I arrived, also offering the typical sidelines of pulp fiction and comics, and one of those two stores (i.e. the one that was not a chain) closed down soon after I got to town, but last I saw Super Hero Burger is still doing a thriving trade. Several Trip Advisor reviews mention they also serve beer, noting that is an added draw for the gamer and downtown night life crowds, since most fast food places do not serve booze, but I do not know how "family-friendly" you want it (or if you want to spring for a liquor license.)

As far as a theme: What are ya'll "most geeky" about? The better you know your inventory, the better off you will be (and the easier the learning curve in the critical opening days; if you have never managed a store before, that is enough to bite off without having to google "wtf is a pikachu" because it is not listed in the Monstrous Compendium.) If the answer is "EVERYTHING!" then why paint yourself into a corner when you can knowledgeably offer something for everyone? No matter how narrow or broad your focus, you are likely to have a lot of slow days (in retail, we call them "weekdays" ) so nothing that can could reasonably be expected to be a draw (especially at the grand opening) should be excluded as long as it is at least somewhat within your wheelhouse. One possible way to mitigate those slow week days would be to set up somewhere close to a decent-sized college, if that is an option; college kids may be notoriously poor, but a decent number of them usually have some disposable income, and unlike HS kids they tend to have gaps of several hours between classes. Of course, rent tends to be higher around colleges precisely because of the students.

I dunno what to suggest for themes; fantasy is going mainstream, but that means there is also far more competition for its customer base. It is no longer as simple as opening a hobby shop specializing in RPGs and knowing you are literally the only game in town, and more and more RPGs of all varieties are moving away from peoples basements and into their monitors, putting the pinch on those brick and mortar stores along with all the rest. A wi-fi internet cafe might make sense in light of that, but the big problem I see there is that people who cannot afford computers at their homes probably will not be able to rent much time on someone elses.

Anyway, that is all I have off the top of my head; good luck, and keep us posted. Who knows, maybe someday I will be out ya'lls way so I can stop in and see for myself how it goes.