I own a hair salon. Typically, November is my busiest season. It has been SO quiet. A lot of my colleagues are also saying the same thing and have had to close up shop because of it - or get a second job.
People keep saying it will get better and the economy will bounce back but I don’t know. I am so close from just throwing in the towel, closing up shop and getting a corporate gig.
Inflation seems to be affecting everyone, out of curiously, indie video game store? What is this? Sell games or people play in store?(just curious )
Video game and Pokémon/Magic card buy/sell/trade.
I’ve seen a bunch of stores similar to yours dropping YGO cards; is that market more volatile or more of a pain compared to pokemon or mtg?
That would be more a question for my guy who handles cards, I primarily focus on the video game and collectibles aspects, as that’s what the store started as before we added TCG product a few years ago, and I’m just not that well versed in that market. I do know that while people try to sell us their YGO cards all the time, no one ever seems to ask if we have any for sale. Pokémon and Magic are king, follow by Flesh and Blood, then there’s a huge drop off from there.
We do very well with new release product, the problem is that people only seem to be interested in that, so they other 26+ days of the month bring in very little from singles, with constant phone calls asking for Lorcana that has been near impossible to get ahold of.
Year on year inflation though the start of November was under 4%. Inflation is back into the long term normal range.
But savings from the COVID era are all spent. Interest rates are still high, so folk who’ve had to move are spending more on home loans. Rental rates have skyrocketed, so renters have less cash. And, as others mentioned, student loans restarted so a third of the population just lost a significant amount of disposable income. That alone might be the biggest change.