This past month the store celebrated its 36th year in business and I figured I would take this opportunity to look back at some of the changes I have seen over the past three and a half years:
Credit card processing—Through most of the 1990s, cash was king (still is, but that is another topic). Credit cards were used, not debit cards as those came about much later and the process for using them was a lot lengthier that today’s insert or tap. Credit cards has raised number and names for use with a manual machine, not so fondly referred to as the “knucklebuster”. Each machine contained a plate with the merchant’s processing information embossed on it. When making a credit card purchase, the sales clerk would fill out a multi-layered carbon, later carbonless, form, summarizing the items purchased and total amount charged, have the customer sign the form, then insert the card into the machine and slide the imprinter back and forth, imprinting the merchant and customer information onto the form. Since the clerk held the machine in place with one hand and slid the imprinter with the other hand, it was possible to strike the knuckles if not careful. Credit card processors would also mail out booklets every so often, containing lists of hundreds of thousands of fraudulent credit card numbers, which the clerk was expected to check before taking the card. The customer would get a copy of the form, the store kept a copy and a collection of copies from the day’s credit card sales got mailed off, usually daily, to the credit card processor. Happily those days ended in the late 1990s when even small stores got access to electronic credit card processing.
Credit Card Use—Along with the change in credit card processing, we saw an increase over the years in the use of credit cards themselves. Through the 1990s, the majority of our sales were in cash and purchases were comparatively small, in the $10 to $30 range On an average day, we would use the knucklebuster 5 to 10 times a day. On a typical day today, 75 to 90% of our sales are made with credit or debit cards with average up to about $25 but a $200 to $500 sale, unheard of until the advent of the trading card game, is not uncommon. Also common today are high school students and younger with their own credit cards or, more often, some form of phone based payment.
Trading Card Games—Prior to Magic, and later Pokémon and Yu Gi Oh, as well as the dozens of other trading card games that sought to capitalize on their popularity (anyone remember Super Deck or Towers in Time?), the game store served a very niche market, primarily young men aged 12 to 25, especially in college or military service. At the time Games Workshop’s business model targeted boys aged 10-12, who the company expected to play for about 4 years, then move onto other interests, like girls. Women did play but they accounted for about 10 to 15% of the customer base. TCG’s, especially Pokemon, vastly expanded the typical game store’s customer base, bringing in hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of new customers and exposing them to the hundreds of other games available.
