04/29/2025
Tariffs, Prices, and What’s Changing at Our Store
Today we move a massive amount of overstock into a new storage unit, the result of major inventory buys to shield customers from sudden price increases caused by new tariffs. Our plan to dramatically increase inventory over the next three years happened in the last 30 days.
The Trump administration’s tariffs have raised costs on many products manufactured in China by 40 to 60 percent, and by a smaller amount on products from every other country. This affects about 95 percent of game publishers in some fashion, with Chinese-manufactured products hit the hardest. About a quarter of these publishers say they expect to go out of business, and half report they will shift to selling direct to customers.
The most affected categories are board games and card supplies. We invested tens of thousands of dollars in "safety" inventory to delay the impact for as long as possible. This was only possible due to the surge of customer "doom spending" earlier this year.
You will start to notice some pricing inconsistencies on our shelves. For example, you might see a pack of red card sleeves for $4 next to a pack of blue sleeves for $7, even though they are the same brand. This is because older stock (at the old price) is mixed with new stock (at the new, tariff-inflated price).
Economic models suggest that a 60 percent price increase, which you are already seeing on many items, will result in a 50 percent reduction in sales. That means many products we carry now will not be sustainable in the future. Based on current trends, about 75 percent of Chinese-manufactured products will likely be dropped from our store.
As we move deeper into this, you will notice fewer choices on our shelves, and you may need to rethink how you evaluate value. For example, you will need to decide whether your favorite Ultra Pro sleeve, manufactured in China, is twice as good as a Dragon Shield sleeve, manufactured in Europe. Where you once saw three or more options on the shelf, you may soon see only one. We will do our best to find affordable alternatives whenever possible.
We will continue to do everything we can to keep prices stable and fair for as long as possible. However, as we restock at these higher costs, you should expect to see more price adjustments. In some cases, entire product lines will increase in price overnight, because we cannot afford to sell older stock at yesterday's prices while paying 60 percent more to restock.
Thank you for your understanding and support as we navigate these changes together!
