In this episode, we're talking with Josh Wilhelmi, owner of Game Goblins. With two locations in both Little Rock, Arkansas, and Conway, Arkansas, Josh hopes to open five stores in total with plans to franchise the brand afterward.
Josh started buying and selling singles from dealers at events to pay for his travel. He built up enough income from this venture which led to a game store. Game Goblins started in 2012 with 2,000 sq. ft. of space. This would become a limitation, and the store would relocate to a location with 6,000 sq. ft. of space. As of this writing, the store has been at this location for the past nine years. Furthermore, the store is WPN Premium - the only game store in Little Rock.
The store in Conway - also a WPN Premium store - is the Game Goblin's second location. While the store is smaller in square footage and staff, Josh employs a full-time team leader who manages the day-to-day operations. Overall, he has 15 employees between his two stores.
As the owner, Josh focuses on the direction of the company. Such decisions include product lines to carry, new events, and ordering. Moreover, Game Goblins is not the only company that Josh runs. As such, he passes along his philosophy for the company to his employees to implement.
The company generates about 3 million in revenue per year. The revenue encompasses the two stores and TCG Player. 50-60% of that revenue is in products sold. Josh notes that the company is very data-driven when ordering products. With a background in computer engineering, they have created internal utilities that they iterate over consistently to help improve buying decisions.
As he pursues a third store, Josh focuses on a few requirements before doing so:
- The store must be in a city with at least 50,000 people.
- The space he purchases must be at least 4,000 sq. ft.
- The store must generate 1 million in revenue after the first two years.
- The store cannot be hard for people to find.
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