Games And Stuff With Store Owner, Paul Butler

In episode 18 of The Match Slip podcast, store owner, Paul Butler, of Games And Stuff joins us fresh off his move to his new location in Glen Burnie, Maryland.

Glen Burnie is the store's third location in its lifetime with the latest sporting a 14,000 sq. ft. sales floor. Now having the space available for more products, Paul, with a background in retail and a passion for merchandising, can experiment with additional product lines.

While the store is three and a half sizes larger than the previous location, it's worth noting that Paul was not the original owner of the store. In the early, he was brought on by the previous owner as a part-time board game specialist. While Paul has always thoroughly enjoyed board games since he was a kid, working part-time in the store he saw major growth opportunities. The owner negotiated a salary that allowed Paul to quit his other job and work for Games And Stuff full-time.

In 2010, he became the store manager, made several changes, and tripled sales. Additionally, Paul took a "big swing" as he put it with the game Ascension in its infancy. With 18 copies in tow, he was already restocking in week two after selling out the first batch. As the store was growing, the original store owner did not intend to run an operation of this magnitude which would lead to Paul buying the store and becoming the new owner.

These days, Paul focuses on product buying and vision for the business. His girlfriend assists in the marketing endeavors for the e-commerce site and branding. Overall, he has 26-27 employees which include a Store Manager, Assistant Managers, and Director of Operations. One of the goals Paul has for the store is growing the customer base nationwide. He wants to build on his reputation of being the store that has hard-to-find products.

With foot traffic for the first time in the game store's history, Paul is looking to bring in more kids' games and books. He now has two private game rooms that customers can reserve for a full or half-day, and a warehouse and loading dock for handling new product arrivals.

While dealing with the supply and flow of products is one of the challenges of the new store, Paul does not lack innovative ideas. He has purchased a full-size bust of Sauron from Lord of the Rings that stands at 9.5 ft. tall to add to the center of the store as well as door knockers from Jim Henson's Labyrinth. His vision is to create a place that exudes the "wow" factor.

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