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Spud's Emporium in Ottumwa, IA.

My hometown and home away from home for most of High School and years after. Still there and still kicking, though I now live in Cedar Rapids. Now while I've moved from a college town of 30-40k to a "metropolis" five times the size, there are *no* games shops here. There were two when I moved here two years ago, though I only heard about one since I never found it in the first 6mo. I lived here (closed). There was another little shop that survived longer, but from the few times I went in there it looked they were basically just paying rent (bare), and catered mostly to wargaming and cards (I'm not judging).

My understanding of the business logistics of running an FLGS is that RPG's just aren't enough. Spud's has always been a "comics and games" shop and at times comics were the only thing that kept the place standing. While the place stocks every RPG you could name, wargames and mini's, Steve Jackson card games, boardgames, MtG, t-shirts, posters, etc., those things alone can't generate the profit necessary. Jeff's philosophy is that it all sells eventually, so it's rarely a bad idea to stock as many different things as possible, but without a steady product (like gas or tobacco) that sells at a consistent rate of profit any game shop will fail. RPGs (and most other things listed above) just aren't a steady stream of income, not enough keepin 'em on the comeback. Certainly with a large enough player base it could be, but that seems to be far more circumstantial than just a large enough population base.