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#Post#: 6285--------------------------------------------------
Magicat's Imaginarium
By: Jack Date: June 8, 2018, 5:22 pm
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This is something that's been going on behind the scenes for a
few weeks now, but we sealed the deal this morning. There
seemed to be enough interest in the Continental that I thought
I'd share this big announcement.
I'm sure that it's not going to shock anyone if I say that mall
traffic has been in decline for a while now. I've heard of many
different malls taking different approaches to reverse that
trend, hoping to draw in traffic to keep some of their old
stores and to make money of those ways of increasing traffic.
The mall where one of my comic stores is, is going with
entertainment. Downstairs, where they used to have a couple of
fairly big stores (and pretty close to the movie theater), they
are about to open a lunar golf (glow in the dark miniature golf)
and a laser tag arena. Between those two storefronts is a
third, smaller one, where they wanted to move the arcade. The
arcade does pretty good traffic, because the guy has the kind of
things you can't play on a screen - foosball, skeeball, air
hockey, pool, pinball, and some of the larger video games like
shooting and driving games.
The problem came when he decided he was happy where he was and
didn't want to pay more money to move. The mall tried to
persuade him, but when he continued to say no, they approached
someone else. That led to arbitration, since he has a no
compete clause. They argued they weren't going to be doing the
same thing, but the ruling went against them (from what I
understand, it was decided an arcade was anything that offered
coin operated entertainment, which killed their idea).
With that out of the way, and an empty space between their two
new attractions, they approached me.
I mentioned a while back that we'd done some rearrangement at
several of our stores to carry a larger selection of Funko's Pop
Vinyl figures. Someone saw those and loved it, and they
approached me to open a Pop Vinyl store.
I said no.
The simple truth of the matter is that Pop Vinyl has only been
a thing for seven years now. While I do think they have a lot
going for them, I still remember beanie babies. The idea of
opening a store dedicated to just this one collectible thing
doesn't strike me as a great idea.
They came back after my first refusal, making me a better offer,
but still making the same request, so I refused them again.
However, I have to admit the idea stayed in the back of my mind.
I thought about it, and then I had an idea. I contacted them
after finals one day last week, and I made a counter-proposal.
They agreed with me, and we signed the paper work today. It's a
great deal, because not only am I getting a good rate on the
lease, but I'm getting the first three months free, to counter
any extra costs I incur in rushing to open by 1 July.
And that brings us to Magicat's Imaginarium.
The Imaginarium (or Emporium if we can't use the first) is not
going to be a Pop Vinyl store. It's going to be a collectible's
store, and we're going to start off with a really large
selection of Funko products to anchor things. However, there
are a lot of other things to which I have access - some of it in
stock, some which can be ordered - that will go a long way
towards eliminating reliance on one company. That will allow us
to group things by fandom (Star Wars, Star Trek, movies, DC
Comics, Marvel Comics, TV shows, etc).
Fortunately I do have a good selection of store fixtures, and I
have a good selection of workers who are always looking for some
extra money, so we should be able to get this done pretty quick.
#Post#: 6287--------------------------------------------------
Re: Magicat's Imaginarium
By: Zyngaru Date: June 8, 2018, 6:42 pm
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I'm sorry. I had to use the funny emoji. With everything you
have on your plate, you still find time and ways to add even
more. ;D
I wish you the best on this new adventure.
#Post#: 6294--------------------------------------------------
Re: Magicat's Imaginarium
By: David M. Katz Date: June 9, 2018, 12:14 am
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I think it is a great idea.
I have two Funko Pop Vinyl figures that I got as gifts on
occasion. I never thought much of them except that they were
cute. I never opened them and they are still in the boxes in
the back of a closet. I have Ralphie in a bunny suit and
Sharknado. Maybe they will be worth something one day.
Good luck on your new location. Have you designated a manager
yet?
#Post#: 6297--------------------------------------------------
Re: Magicat's Imaginarium
By: kalico Date: June 9, 2018, 2:55 am
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Omg jack I really don’t know how you pull time out of no where
but congratulations and it sounds like a fun store
I’m with Katz .... any ideas on manager ?
Hugs kal
#Post#: 6302--------------------------------------------------
Re: Magicat's Imaginarium
By: Jack Date: June 9, 2018, 3:52 am
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Right now, Mike Guice is going to be doing a lot of the
mangerial duties. He's smart, he's worked with me at the store
on and off for years, and I trust him completely. Daniel will
be spending time there that he's been spending in the other
stores, which will require me to do a bit more work over the
summer, but I'm okay with that.
I was trying to find a Magicat's post on this forum, and it
looks like I haven't made one. I will try to do that this
weekend, which will actually help me organize my thoughts.
I will say that I'm not sure how much I need an actual manager.
While this isn't exactly next door, it is in the same mall as
our mall store. I'm wondering if I can basically add an
assistant manager to the mall store, hire an extra assistant
manager for the Imaginarium, and have the same manager run both
stores. A pay raise would be demanded, and I might need to
rearrange who's where (it would require more paperwork and
attention to detail), but it's one possibility, and I have
several young men (and at least one young woman for that
matter), who I think would be great as AMs.
#Post#: 6381--------------------------------------------------
Re: Magicat's Imaginarium
By: Jack Date: June 13, 2018, 4:34 am
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I still don't have a manager, and I'm at a loss as to whom else
to consider for the position.
There are other problems that I have started to solve, however.
The Mall is open 10 a day during the week (an hour more on
Friday and Saturday, but only six hours on Sunday). That means
I need either two people a day (except Sunday) to lock and
unlock the doors (or one person who will work 10 1/2 hour days),
which means I need at least 3 people - usually that's a manager,
2 assistants, and then Tim Drysdale is back to doing the
floating AM position after he didn't work out as a manager.
While summer is more flexible to an extent (it's not uncommon
for my AM's to be college kids, and while they work over the
summer, most of them want to take their vacations then), I still
have to plan around school. With that in mind, I've started
training three new assistant managers (well - I've started
having them trained, I don't do much of it myself): Jacob
Rodriguez, his cousin Josh, and Garrett Riley.
I thought Jacob and Josh were mentioned on this forum, but I
couldn't find them anyplace. I just looked up the story where
Jake first appeared, and it's two and a half years old now - not
sure why I thought it would be here instead of the old forum.
In the meantime, here's the story where I introduced Jake -
HTML http://www.malespank.net/viewStory.php?id=35513
As I said in that story, Jake had a lot of troubles with both
work and college. Jake will be 23 next month, Despite his age,
he still has a year of college left, partially because he's
never been a full-time student, but largely because he's skipped
a semester twice, and because he used to have attendance
problems where he had to drop classes. Josh is at the same
point Jake is, despite being over a year younger (I think).
As for Garrett, he never has really had a goal for the future -
he's just happy being out for now. I thought a few times about
whether asking him to do this was a good idea, but it's not high
pressure, like actually managing the stores, where you have to
deal with money and all the paperwork - and he's proven to be
really reliable and trustworthy, so I think it's only fair to
give him the chance.
#Post#: 6543--------------------------------------------------
Re: Magicat's Imaginarium
By: Jack Date: June 21, 2018, 4:33 am
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Just want to update a few minor things going on (well, they're
major for me, but don't have a lot of impact on this forum).
While I still don't have a manager for this store, everything
else is going well.
I actually hired a boy Ethan and Parker know from school - let's
just call him Pat Mc. He won an easter 'Peeps Diorama' contest,
and he was one of the major planners involved in a history
diorama contest. The boys told me that he also loves Legos and
does a lot of work with Lego dioramas, and he has them
documented on a web site, so I was able to take a look. Pat
won't be working for me long-term, but he's working with my
staff to handle decorations, especially the window boxes.
Oh, and while I haven't been able to discuss it with Pat, when I
was looking at all the pictures he's taken to document his Lego
building, I noticed there's some type of paddle (a novelty
paddle, but one of the larger, school type ones) in the
background of at least a couple of them.
At this point, we have just over a week to go, but we're almost
ready to open. All the new furniture has been installed, the
computer system and register are up and running. Because of the
short notice, we're still awaiting delivery on some of our
stock, but we already have a majority of it in, and they'll be
working on getting everything displayed well next week.
#Post#: 6548--------------------------------------------------
Re: Magicat's Imaginarium
By: kalico Date: June 21, 2018, 11:42 am
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That’s great about pat ......
Sounds like most everything is coming together for you and I
hope it all works out and the opening goes great...
Thanks for the update jack
Hugs kal
#Post#: 6588--------------------------------------------------
Re: Magicat's Imaginarium
By: David M. Katz Date: June 23, 2018, 2:41 pm
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Any more info on Pat's paddle?
#Post#: 6599--------------------------------------------------
Re: Magicat's Imaginarium
By: Jack Date: June 23, 2018, 3:31 pm
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[quote author=David M. Katz link=topic=621.msg6588#msg6588
date=1529782894]
Any more info on Pat's paddle?
[/quote]
I'm not sure what you mean, David.
If you mean details about the actual paddle, it's one of these -
HTML https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/novelty-souvenier-spanking-paddle-collection<br
/>- the Board of Education
If you mean how it's used - no. You have to understand that out
of several dozen pictures, this paddle is sitting on a shelf of
a bookcase, next to some other junk, and you can only see it in
one or two pics. While I wouldn't mind (and will try, if I ever
get the chance), I haven't spent enough time with him to raise
the topic yet.
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