Basically I"m wondering what the $ investment is for a store to run one of the launch events. I really would like to have one in my area but getting my local stores to do anything costly for any game not named Magic is like pulling teeth. I'm curious as to what the up front cost is for the store so that I can determine if I can find the spare cash to front the outlay for the launch event myself and let the store pay me back...

The launch event has 24 starters and 4 booster boxes. Assuming FFG isn't charging for the swag, at Coolstuff prices that would be close to $600. Which is unfortunately more than I can front by myself so I'm hoping someone can share the exact amount so I can see if this will be possible.

I don't have the numbers for you, but the wholesale price for retailers will likely be much lower than the CSI retail prices. I think $400 would be much closer to the mark there, give or take in either direction.

Based on my individual searching, I found a wholesaler that was selling the release pack for pretty cheap, but it didn't contain the starters. Those look like they would need to be purchased at standard pricing.

Please note, this is not guaranteed to be accurate, just some fun internet sleuthing.

$450 was the number a retailer relayed to me as I tried to convince him to buy one.