Hi everyone, Bryan the owner here to announce a change to our Magic the Gathering offerings. As you can no doubt ascertain from the title, we will no longer sell Magic the Gathering single cards at our Middleton location after February 1, 2019 (singles sales were never set up at the new Sun Prairie location). Read on to learn a bit of the backstory and reasoning behind this decision.
I’m Board started selling selling single Magic cards in mid 2016, after hearing requests from a number of customers. However, I am not a MtG expert, and I did not want to delve into the typical inventory infrastructure found in many game stores (opening many boxes, curating a collection, and maintaining and upkeeping market values). So, I looked elsewhere for that expertise, and partnered with PowerNine.com (a local MtG specialty store) to supply us with cards and the capability to sell them. Dan at PowerNine has an excellent program especially designed for stores like mine, and I was happy to participate. Essentially, we sold Dan’s cards, and received a commission on those sales.
The capability was never intended to be a profit center for us. Rather, we did it purely for the customer service value. It was a nice added offering for those who were interested in the service. Unfortunately, even with the understanding that the service was not intended to be very profitable, it has never generated enough sales to warrant the time, effort, and space the service requires. When you factor in staff time and general overhead, we never sold enough singles to even break even on the service.
But, we gave it a good shot. I knew early on that the program was costing us, and I wanted to give it enough time to find its legs. I brought in those cool black cabinets to bring the cards closer to the front, and make the service more dynamic and easier on the staff. We stopped buying cards to give more attention to selling them. But, unfortunately, those efforts had little impact on sales.
So, after a lot of number crunching and deliberation, I made the call to discontinue sales. It’s not a decision that was made lightly, and I hope you understand our reasoning. This move will give us the opportunity to take the time and space dedicated to singles sales and focus it on other aspects of the store. By all means let me know if you have any comments or feedback.
Does this mean I’m Board is getting out of Magic the Gathering entirely?
Not at all! MtG is still one of the most popular games in the world, and a strong seller at the store. We will continue to sell sealed product just like we always have, and will continue to maintain our fair MtG pricing standards.
Is I’m Board going to stop running MtG events?
Never! In fact, we just added new events at our Sun Prairie store and updated our Wednesday Standard prize structure to be more casual-friendly. What’s more, our Ravnica Allegiance prerelease events were some of the most popular we’ve ever had. We think we’ve created a great reputation as a place where players of all skill levels are welcome to play and have a great time, and we absolutely intend to maintain that reputation.
Will Sun Prairie carry MtG Singles?
Maybe at some point, but not at the moment. We just started MtG organized play in Sun Prairie, and we want to give it a little time to grow our player base and determine relative interest. So while I won’t say never, I will say not yet. Your input is always welcome!
Is there a chance that singles sales will return to Middleton?
Yes, but we’ll need to see a significant and demonstrable demand.
Were can I buy MtG singles now?
There are many stores in town that we encourage you to visit for cards. We recommend…
- West side: Mox Mania
- Downtown: Netherworld and PowerNine
- East side: Misty Mountain Games