Rolling for Initiative is a weekly column by Scott Thorne, PhD, owner of Castle Perilous Games & Books in Carbondale, Illinois and instructor in marketing at Southeast Missouri State University. This week, Thorne looks at staff benefits that can be offered by retailers to help retain staff.
After last week’s Game Store Week (see “ICV2 Game Store Week 2026“), commentary on discounting (see “Retail Discounting“), another topic of interest to game stores popped up on social media, so I figured one more Game Store Week column, and one that also has relevance for Comic Store Week, wouldn’t hurt, this time on employee benefits.
The average employee turnover rate in retail last time I checked was about 300%, meaning a store will, on average, hire three people for the same position over the course of a year. Training new people to move into a vacant position is time-consuming and costly, hence stores offer benefits over and above hourly pay in order to keep good staff. The following are benefits I have found stores generally offer:
Employee Discounts
Employee discounts on merchandise are a given and a definite perk. Most people seeking employment at game or comic stores are interested in some aspect of the hobby so offering them a discount on products related their interest is one way to keep them on staff. Discounts offered range from 5% down to the cost of the merchandise with most falling in the 10% to 40% range. Items available under the discount vary as well, with some stores offering a blanket discount while others offer different discounts on different lines of merchandise. For example, I see stores offering a 30% discount on sealed merchandise but only a 15% discount on single cards. Stores with a café model usually offer free or deeply discounted meals to employees while on duty and discounted meals at other times.
Personal Time Off
Most stores offer unlimited unpaid personal time off, as long as the staff member schedules it in advance. Some stores provide limited amounts of paid personal time off or vacation time, again as long as the employee schedules it in advance if vacation, or as sick pay if the employee calls in sick and has paid personal time off available. In Illinois, state law requires businesses to provide up to 40 hours of paid time off to staff per year, accrued at a rate of 1 hour of paid time off per 40 hours worked.
Health Insurance
Due to increasing costs, although a desirable benefit, few stores have the revenue allowing them to offer health insurance, though some offer a stipend to full time staff, allowing them to purchase some level of health insurance on the ACA portal. GAMA offered a health insurance option at one time but it appears that program is no longer active.
Retirement Plans
Though most staff members will probably not stay with the store until retirement age, some stores do offer a retirement program, usually in the form of a 401K or SIMPLE IRA deferred contribution plan, in which the employee agrees to have a percentage of their income withheld and invested. That amount can be matched by the employer at some rate, and the money goes into an account over which the employee may have some say as to how it is invested. Participation in the plan usually requires the employee to remain with the store for at least a year but the account stays with the employee should they leave the store.
Bonus
A number of stores offer bonuses to employees, based on the store hitting a targeted sales or profitability level. Bonuses may also be tied to individual performance but this appears far less common. The bonus is usually cash but can also be store credit, time off, or free product.
Does your store offer some other form of unique employee benefits? Send them to castleperilousgames@gmail.com.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
For more news and features on Comic Store Week 2026, click here. And for more news and features on Game Store Week 2026, click here.
Source: ICv2
