[uvaspina]

If I'm not mistaken, Jacobystealshome would probably be a good guy to ask, as I believe he makes his living in the card business (albeit, perhaps not as a shop owner). There are some other guys on here who own or work at shops.

I bet it's harder than we give them credit for. We complain about paying $75 for a hobby box from the LCS when we can get one on the bay for $63, but it can't be easy making rent, paying yourself (and maybe an employee) when you have to tie up so much money in product and only clear maybe $15/box.

On a semi-related note, most of us wouldn't think twice about spending $3 on a miller lite at a bar, plus a $1 tip (when we could have the same bottle of beer at home for .90 cents) yet we'll complain about the high mark-up (20%?) on a guy trying to make an honest go of it. -I don't pretend to be blameless in this regard either. We all only have so much money to spend on cards and want to make it stretch the furthest. Still, a lot of time I think we shortchange ourselves in the end.

I tell you what though, there's something to be said for making a living doing what you like to do.