Broken Business Model?

One common recommendation proposed by online purchasers to alleviate the travails of the brick and mortar store is to give customers the deep discounts they want while moving to more of an event center or club model, wherein the store provides table space and terrain and other accoutrements and in return the players pay a fee for use of the space. I noticed one poster who said he (or she) would “be happy to give the store a buck or two” as a thank you for using the space. Stores relying on this model in the US have had a notoriously short lifespan and, while some posters indicated this method was wildly successful throughout Europe and they may be  correct. However, when I visited France a few years ago, courtesy of WOTC, and got the opportunity to look at several game stores, I noticed they used the same antiquated model that prevails here in the States, offering both merchandise and event space. In fact, with even higher per square foot rents than found in the US, the more desirable front of the store was given over to merchandise space while event tables got shunted to the rear of the building or even an upstairs location.