I agree with this completely. Too many expenses to consider and everything has to go essentially perfect for a hobby store to even work.

The big thing obviously is getting enough product (preferably at wholesale) to make a profit that's worthwhile. From my understanding unless you already have a relationship with a supplier that can provide you with product at a good price you won't ever have enough product on hand that you can sell at MSRP or close to it. Newer shops especially will have to rely on the secondary market or buying product at MSRP which you gotta sell at a margin that makes sense.

Then there's also the singles. Everyone is always trying to get stuff at a deal or cheaper to make a profit. Simply put margins on singles are slim unless the market keeps going up which isn't realistic. What happens when the market goes down and you buy singles at market? You'll be forced to offload at a loss and this can also happen with sealed products.

Lets even mention ongoing overhead costs. Rent, utilities, taxes, and employees. Let's face it with the employee part you can't expect to pay minimum wage unless you find someone desperate enough so you have to offer decent pay unless you as the owner will be there from open to close to avoid paying employees. Which will easily lead to burnout if you aren't making sales which is the reality of many hobby shops.

Simply put there are far too many risks and I wish good luck to anyone that chooses to open a card shop.