Motorcycle Touring

I created a shared Google Doc document and shared it with the team. I am popping over and updating this list but the Google Doc is the final doc.

Work Estimates

• Asbestos Testing. I called Rex Environmental. 5 Samples need to be taken. Same day testing, 24-48 hour results.
• Architectural Drawings. The city requires drawings of the before and after. I called F9 Productions Inc he did suggest calling the City Inspector to see if it was needed. The City FAQ says yes. I did get a fast reply, no drawings are needed.
• Demolition Permit. Longmont charges $50 for the permit.
• Demolition. I called Gorilla Demolition.
• Carpeting. I called Family Carpet One Floor & Home. These folks did the current shop’s carpet. After a review of the space, we’ll put carpeting in the retail space and Luxury Plank in the gaming space.
• Shop Signage. I called Rabbit Hill Graphics and got a very nice sign.
• Moving Company. I called Johnson Moving and Storage as we used them to move to the house.
• Electrical Update. The shop needs 12 new outlets. The north wall has none at all. I called Leading Edge Electric.
• Window Tinting. The current tinting is old, degraded, and peeling off in places. I called Spotshots Windows. It might be delayed depending on other costs.

Bathroom Work

At the moment, space wise the bathroom is ADA compliant. Currently there are no grab bars so we’ll be adding them in some time during the construction work.

Construction

• Asbestos Testing. Landlord has someone coming out.
• Permit for Demolition work.
• Verify walls are removed and ready for paint.
• Longmont needs to inspect the changes.

Preparation

• Need paint and paint gear for the walls.
• Bring over the two spare sheets of slatwall and mount. See how many more are needed and procure them.
• For the storage behind the north extension, get some general utility shelves. Customers and gamers won’t see these shelves (generally).
• Get Ikea Kallex shelf units for the used board games and for terrain in the miniatures gaming space.

Installation

• Empty the storage shed and get set up in the shop.
• Empty the storage space in the game shop and get it moved over.
• Bring over non-retail and easy to carry assets. Posters, pictures, board games, anything else that isn’t needed at the shop.

Utilities and Services

• Transfer phone number and internet to my LLC.
• Start Electricity
• Start Longmont Services (water, trash, sewer).
• Investigate Security Services including cameras
• Investigate a Cleaning Service. Carpets, planks, windows, bathroom?
• Investigate card singles insurance requirements.

Moving Company

Basically moving the shop to the new space. Wrapping up the shelf displays and loading them into the truck. Boxing up wall games and fixtures.

Final Move

• Notify current lessor that we will not be extending the lease.
• Box up games and accessories on the slatwall.
• Remove slatwall and mount in the new shop.
• Remove security system, camers, cables, and mirror.
• Remove wall hangings.
• Remove posters and stickers and clean front windows.
• Stop electricity
• Stop phone/internet (change to new space)
• Stop Longmont services (water, trash, sewer)

Finals to not forget

• Purchase safe and have installed
• Review lease for what needs to be done at the old shop
• Update distributor and publisher addresses (see wiki)
• Update USPS (mailbox) and turn in key.
• Update Google address so folks can find us
• Update business license and deliver to vendors.
• Notify the IRS
• Update business cards
• Get a drink cooler as we can sell refreshments at the new place.
• Replace the phone
• Replace the POS as it’s end of life.
• Build Miniatures tables.
• Shut down storage unit if empty
• Need a desk and chair for the office.
• Find a better chair for the POS area.
• Notify bookkeeper
• Replace the 12′ ladder. The current one is owned by James
• Look into demo tables for games.

Now the fun begins. I passed the lease on to my lawyer and spent the evening reviewing it myself to be familiar with what’s being said. In general most seemed okay however I pushed back on the requirement to provide financial details of my business every year.

I got the updated lease back from my lawyer. He said the phrasing was a bit outdated and several bits needed clarification. I was able to update the definitions for Lease Commencement and Rent Commencement. Here are the pieces my lawyer either excluded or recommended review.

• There was a statement about future assigned parking spaces, making sure I had at least 2.
• For the pylon sign (next to the street that has several retail space signs), they had a one time $500 charge. I’d asked if they were creating a sign for that fee since maintenance was included in the triple net fee (external maintenance fee; calculate the costs over the past year, divide by 12, and again by the space I occupy).
• Some assignment questions (that’s when you sell your business to someone else for example). They wanted me to continue to be liable and to pay them 50% of what I would receive if I sold the business. Both statements were removed.
• Then if I overstay the term of my lease, a 150% monthly rent which my lawyer wanted reduced to 120% if possible.
• Then that I was not getting interest on the security deposit. My lawyer said it’s somewhat common but we can ask.

One of the problems right now is the current tenant is waiting on his space to be cleared of kitchen gear so he can move in. Since I’m supposed to take possession Oct 1st, and the current tenant hasn’t moved a thing yet, this weekend should prove interesting. The lease does have a statement that due to unforeseen circumstances, possession might be delayed. I’d sent an email over to ask if there’s a timeline as I need to schedule several work crews to get the space ready.

The following announcement has been posted to social media!

Important announcement. The Atomic Goblin, after being in one place for over 10 years, has exploded in popularity to the point that we absolutely must move into larger digs. Over the next 5 months we’ll be doing construction and preparing the new spot for all of our gaming friends. We’ll have twice as much space for gaming and the ability to bring in more of your favorite games and accessories. We look forward to continuing to see all of our friendly faces at the new location. Expect to see flyers with every purchase at The Goblin providing more details on the move. Stay tuned!

Should be fun!

On the assumption we’d get the new space, I created a 5 page Todo list of things we’d need to do. I had a business dinner with the team last Saturday, bringing folders for all with the todo list, the possible business lines list, the above floor plans plus some alternatives, and a roughed out business plan (I’m going through a class to make it more professional and focused.

The todo list also contained several estimates on getting work done such as an electrician to add more outlets, demolition company to remove the walls, carpet company, and a few more things to think about, cost wise such as painting the walls. I also reached out to the graphics firm I’ve used for flyers and business cards in the past.

I sent the Letter of Intent off to my lawyer for review after I made a few changes to the original one, got updates from him and sent it off to the landlords.

And we got the place! We take possession October 1st and begin work on getting it ready for moving in in January and being 100% the gaming destination February 1st.

Yesterday I received a proposed sign for the new shop. I did add some text in the top windows and the store logo to the front doors. I’m not sure yet if those will be approved so we’ll see.

Here’s the current store front.

And here’s a mock up of the proposed new sign. I passed it along to the landlords and they approve!

Well, I did chat with the landlords for the Hobbydown space, gave them a quick elevator speech. Of course they’re still looking at the nationwide spa taking it however they do feel we are the best choice but first come, first served. If it falls through, we still have a chance.

Unfortunately, no further emails from the first place but the second place called us. The 1517 space we liked is being taken by a nationwide Vet clinic. However they have another place in the same mall that’s becoming available at 1515 Main. We did a walk through last week and I sent an email over to the owners/realtors (same folks) with my requirements. The space is currently a cleaning supply service. Their lease ends end of August and he goes month to month. My lease ends January 31st.

Current floorplan. The front is to the right (or east side) with lines where the double doors and windows are. The back has a pair of lines where the back door is:

The request is to leave the north extension/wall and the vertical wall and remove the perpendicular wall to it. Plus remove the storage walls towards the north wall and against the west wall. As the floor from the vertical wall to the front of the store is concrete, replace the carpet in the back and put down new carpet across the entire floor.

I’d put glass cabinets from the east side of the north extension to the east wall, leave the space behind the wall for storage and the office for, well an office. Miniatures tables on the other side of the vertical wall and card and board gaming tables between the vertical wall and retail space.

We’ll see how this works out. But the new place does have appeal. It doubles both our retail space and the gaming space. Let’s see if they are willing to move forward with the changes.

New floor plan after walls are removed and tables in place.

Okay if you recall I bought my Friendly Local Game Store (FLGS) last year. In fact, in a couple of weeks, it’ll be exactly a year. As a reminder, I stumbled onto an ad for a Board Game Cafe up in Saskatoon Canada. Looked interesting and I spoke to my good friend, who was the owner of my FLGS along with his wife. Just to be clear, I do go to many of the surrounding game shops but Atomic Goblin Games is my F LGS. After discussion and months of review, getting financials together, getting a loan, approvals from my wife, I purchased my FLGS, which is now actually my FLGS.

I did hire the former owner as my store manager/purchasing manager. I also kept on the other employees and gave them all raises, now being paid above minimum wage (just a little though, they do get a 30% discount on games). I also brought in the former game store owner where my guy used to work, as a contractor for an occasional couple of hours of work when needed and as a mentor to help me on my way as a retail game store owner. These guys have been great, let me just say. Plus the number 1 ‘senior associate’ is in line to be assistant manager.

Anyway, we’re now bursting at the seams. Lots of gamers, lots of customers, and lots of product. Humorously last year I told the “management team” that I’d want to open a second Atomic Goblin Games Too or move to a bigger location and they were all, “well, get some experience and let’s see in a year or two where we are”.

Since I took over and since I implemented changes, over the course of the year since I purchased it, we’ve had the best 12 months in the almost 11 year history of the store, most of the last 12 months have been the best month in the 11 year history, and right now we’re better than 50% higher in sales than last year at this time.

The problem with where we are is the management companies (yes two) have not been helpful in us expanding into the mainly empty space next door. This would let us expand another 600 or so square feet, from 1,400 to 2,000 square feet mainly (I don’t have an exact number so close enough). It’s being used a storage for the end unit, a gas station/convenience store. Not only that, I’ve been trying to get the lease in my name for over a year, and a couple of places won’t let me take over the old account until the lease is in my name. I can’t even replace the carpet (3 year old carpet and it’s been 10 years) without permission from the owner due to the cost (over $10,000 amount requires approval).

Anyway, enough of that. What’s new?

Well, since I can’t get the lease and can’t expand, and must expand we’ve been checking out possibilities in the city. There are three other game stores. One is in downtown (5th Street) and two are close to each other on the corner of Main Street and 119, another major road that passes through Longmont. The downtown shop is mainly comics with games and puzzles. The two on the corner are either mainly Magic specific or Warhammer specific. We are the board game shop in town.

We had one really good choice. A bit larger than we needed but with some leeway from the owners, and they were very positive, we could grow into the space. It’s a bit over 5,000 square feet which doesn’t count the upstairs that they were throwing in for free. Unfortunately they were working with a nationwide Salon first. But we were lower initial maintenance costs, no need to drill holes in the foundation for water drainage and just needed the bathrooms upgrade and replace the carpet (which the salon would need anyway). It’s also a pretty good price in general, $12 sq/ft NNN ($7.50 sq/ft) (NNN is basically the exterior maintenance costs; parking lot, grass, trees, roof, etc).

It was the spot Hobbytown occupied so was already a gaming/hobby destination in town. Win-Win, but unfortunately again, not really available. I did send a couple of emails asking if there was any way we could slide in but in the event we couldn’t, we would still look around.

Link to the listing if you’re interested: https://www.coloradogroup.com/property/1935-main-street-suite-b-longmont-co/ (it may be gone in the future of course 🙂 ).

Here’s the floor plan. The lower piece they were throwing in for free as it’s inaccessible otherwise.

And here’s one of the pictures.

The nice thing is it is on Main Street, there’s a BBQ Place in the end unit, Dairy Queen and Wendy’s next door. Pretty good for the gamers and such coming into the shop.

Anyway, my wife and I went driving around town today to check out places based on several commercial listings we found on line. One is a former Big 5 Sports big box store. 10,000 square feet. We checked it out and it’s really 5,000 of retail and a second floor with an additional 5,000 of office space. Could be interesting however it’s really quite large but I will call to check.

There were several other possible places. A couple in a kind of skeevy strip mall. Not horrible in general, there are several restaurants and fast food places (like Five Guys and Chipotle’s) but I dunno, kind of an off-putting feel. Plus there were 4 open spaces, not lending itself to confidence in the customers.

A second block was better, a former K-Mart converted into several shops like a Big Lots, a Cricket, and an Arc shop. It looked good looking into the window, but when I checked on line, it’s almost 8,000 square feet.

We went into one strip mall and from the listing, it looked like the open space was taken. We continued on but my wife said there was another open space that wasn’t in the listing. We were able to locate the commercial listing on another site.

Listing here: https://www.loopnet.com/viewer/pdf?…Bridge%20Park%20Plaza15151517%20Main%20St.pdf

In the picture, it’s 1517 units A and B.

It’s a touch over 3,000 square feet which fits nicely into our expansion needs. Unit A is separated from Unit B by a wall with a double wide door like opening (it was a single use). The front part is 1,500 square feet, the back the same. With us using the front part as retail, we could use Unit B as the gaming area. More room for tables and such. Plus if we are able, we might pick up Unit C and add it as an RPG gaming area with two walls as a corridor so RPGers could have quiet to play.

The cool thing? There’s a sliding garage type door. The gap in the wall between Unit B and Unit C. Now that would be great during nicer days. Open the door for the gamers and expose them to fresh air.

The bottom of the pic faces Main Street. If you clicked the link, there’s a Taco place, Pizza Hut, and an ice cream place. It feels so much nicer, neighborhood wise with outside seating at the Taco place. It just feels like a good place to move to. At 3,000 square feet (or more if we take Unit C or even Units D and E (the office space)), it would let us grow just a little better and saner than the 5,600 or 10,000 square feet places and in 5 years, maybe then move into a much larger space.

Cool beans.

Looking forward to seeing how this shakes out.