Game stores are a whole different kind of ball game when it comes to retail stores. Local game stores often double as a place for their customers and other players of the community to hang out. As a game store owner, this creates the problem of needing more strict rules for customers while in their store. What kind of rules do you have for customers in your store? Every store and culture is different but we will review some customer behaviors that may require discipline in order to keep a positive culture in one's store.

To start, there are some behaviors that are not necessarily bad but can make other customers in the store uncomfortable. Some of these behaviors include poor hygiene and customers being overly negative while in your store. In both cases, this kind of behavior should result in the store owner having a conversation with the customer. Let the customer know what the culture that is trying to be maintained at the store looks like. Firmly but kindly make them aware that if they plan on continuing to hang out at the store, they will need to correct this behavior in order to remain aligned with the culture that the store owner wishes to have for their store.

The behaviors mentioned previously only warrant conversations to be had with customers. A step up from that is, the customer behaviors that should result in a warning of some kind. Discipline for these behaviors will vary based on store and store owner but some behaviors that we believe should warrant a warning are using foul language in the store, yelling at employees, and cheating of any kind. These behaviors all have a much greater effect on other people that may be in the store. Depending on the severity of the situation, we would recommend that store owners decide to give the customer a first or final warning of getting banned from the store.

Moving on from warnings, we have zero tolerance for customer behavior. Zero tolerance behavior typically results in a lifetime ban from the store. Zero tolerance behavior is usually classified as any kind of racial slur, any violence against employees or other customers or, stealing of any kind either from the store or other customers. Again, the consequences for these behaviors will vary depending on the store and store owner. However, in any of these situations, we would recommend that store owners ban the customer from returning to the store.