Our final tally is in and we were down about 10%. Although we don't have hard numbers on con attendance it appeared to be down. The blame went to Valentine's Day falling on a Saturday and stormy weather, but of course the bad economy is always in the background. Sales patterns were much changed, with our used and ding and dent stuff making up the majority of sales and profits. Although sales were down, profits were up, due to the higher margins on that stuff.
This is changed from years past. People were looking for bargains and we had them. We also did unusually well with "books in play" that we brought. We took a couple of every book in print of RPG's played at the con. We did this through a consignment arrangement, so there wasn't a risk to us. Most books sold, which is not usually the case. That I attribute to the "flight to quality," the desire for a known entity, something actually tried at the con. Some of those games will be given a shot at the store this week as we re-order books that we don't normally carry. One of the nice things about cons is it clears out dead inventory, which allows us to take chances on new stuff.
I think the blame for attendance was probably correctly placed on Valentine's Day. Not all gamers are basement dwellers, and not all wives are as understanding as Dave's when it comes to going to a gaming convention on February 14th!
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