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Not related per se but it seems the GW store in the Bluewater shopping centre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluewater_%28shopping_centre%29

Opened on 16 March 1999 in a former chalk quarry after three years of building, the site including car parks occupies 240 acres (97 ha) and has a sales floor area of 154,000 m2 (1,600,000 ft2) over two levels, making it the fourth-largest shopping centre in the UK (after the MetroCentre, Trafford Centre and Westfield Stratford City). Elsewhere in Europe only Istanbul's Cevahir Mall and Vienna's (Vösendorf) Shopping City Süd are bigger. The floor plan is a triangular shape with 330 stores, including 3 anchors, 40 cafés and restaurants, and a 13-screen cinema. The centre employs 7,000 people and serves over 27 million visitors a year. A main rival is the Lakeside Shopping Centre and retail park by road 8 miles (13 km) away in West Thurrock, Essex, just across the River Thames or 3.2 miles (5.1 km) point-to-point.

is closing on the 15th of March, for good.

.. Guessing that might well be rent related most probably.

 Azreal13 wrote:



If the warehouse just fluff getting your order out on time? Happens every day.

Except it doesn't happen every day. THe allegation surfaced on this thread in relation to Dark Sphere, and that manifestly doesn't happen.

Yeazh, a guy knew someone in the US who had orders delayed in the early 90s. There's a hot story for ya

Interesting re Bluewater. The (helpful) manager left around 10 months ago, either he saw the writing on the wall or didn't make targets. It's very quiet in there. Last time Hivefleet Jr was in picking up White Dwarf, a mum came in to ask about Dark Vengeance and they cornered her with a heavy sales pitch for £50 of paints and glues, on top. Fortunately, he managed to tell her about Dark Sphere as she fled the store.

You misread my intent, what I meant was that parcels get delayed in warehouses or misrouted every day all over the world, not specifically anything to do with GW.

 Azreal13 wrote:
You misread my intent, what I meant was that parcels get delayed in warehouses or misrouted every day all over the world, not specifically anything to do with GW.

Yes it happens. But when it didn't happen before and shipments became on time and now all of a sudden a GW store pops up and now it happens that shipments are delayed or misrouted, seems a bit fishy. Ok, once, twice maybe. After the third time there is a pattern set. You do need lots of money though to take GW to court over something like this. I see it as GW doesn't worry about it because who is going to take them to court?

If anything call the UK version of the Business Bureau and let them do the investigation. I am sure they will be checking out all the local gaming stores and see how they got their shipments on time then a GW store shows up close by and then by coincidence shipments become "late".

Again, coincidence and incompetence are neither illegal nor proof.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I'm saying it would be near impossible to prove any intent, and even then, what 'law' have they broken?

 reds8n wrote:
Not related per se but it seems the GW store in the Bluewater shopping centre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluewater_%28shopping_centre%29

is closing on the 15th of March, for good.

.. Guessing that might well be rent related most probably.

Has anyone called dibs on those feet yet?
http://www.bluewater.co.uk/stores/games-workshop
(top of the picture)

As for the London store, being outside the mall means they get to call their own opening hours.
Coventry's GW is in a mall, which closed around 6. No late-night gaming there, and was likely to the same for the (now) Tottenham Court Road store.

Davor wrote:
If anything call the UK version of the Business Bureau and let them do the investigation. I am sure they will be checking out all the local gaming stores and see how they got their shipments on time then a GW store shows up close by and then by coincidence shipments become "late".

Here we have Trading Standards, but that's more counterfeit goods and safety marks. The Chamber of Commerce will probably get involved if 2 UK-based companies have a spat.

 Azreal13 wrote:
Again, coincidence and incompetence are neither illegal nor proof.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I'm saying it would be near impossible to prove any intent, and even then, what 'law' have they broken?

Quite, and at least twice in 2015 customer orders haven't come in on time to my local GW store, but then that's just a poor courier service, hardly the stuff of conspiracy theories.

By accident, found that the store is actually at a fab location. Why?

It's right next to Tiger, a terrific shop, full of craft stuff, and bizarre items like bargain-priced anatomical models and puppet theatres! We headed there yesterday not realising it was next to the new unit.

The Tiger store is very deep; if GW fit theirs out the same way, it should be a decent size, significantly bigger than Bluewater or any of the London stores. Not enormous, by any means (Tiger is two units wide, the GW Is a single unit wide).

You can always stock up on superglue or PVA at Tiger, if you don't mind paying £1 a bottle. THey also sell cork notebooks, which are probably 1/10 of the price of a GW basing kit.

there's an OK sushi shop nearby, the Odeon opposite, and it would be handy for Tottenham Court Road tube if it were not closed for a year or two.

Tiger is brilliant. I'm not sure there will be a great crossover of people wanting to look for random craft stuff in Tiger and GW stuff though.

I never thought about the cork boards, might give that a shot.

 Asmodai Asmodean wrote:
Piccadilly circus rents can't be that extortionate. All the major retail spaces once occupied by big brands like the Virgin megastore and HMV have been filled with Crest of London souvenir shops selling literal tat.

It's entirely possible those big brands that used to have the shops still pay the rent. Store rental contracts don't typically have notice clauses, they have break clauses, so at defined points in time you can choose to leave the contract, but in between you're stuck paying the rent whether you have a store on the site or not. Usually you can sublet or get relief on your obligation if someone else uses the site. Having a tat shop on site giving you even small rent relief may be the most cost effective choice (versus operating your own store or simply not using the site but paying for it).

Equally, never underestimate the amount of money that can be made from tat. I expect the mark up on souvenirs is extortionate.

 Azreal13 wrote:
Equally, never underestimate the amount of money that can be made from tat. I expect the mark up on souvenirs is extortionate.

Case in point, I've yet to come back from a Gulf trip without a plastic tat wailing mosque alarm clock.

 Azreal13 wrote:
Equally, never underestimate the amount of money that can be made from tat. I expect the mark up on souvenirs is extortionate.

I'm sure the margins on plastic Towers of London can't be much larger than the margins on Plastic space marine sprues

If tourists want to buy cheap plastic tat, why not make sure its GW plastic tat as well?

Thanks to Hivefleet Oblivion for the pic - didn't realise the new store was that far south on TCR. Just round the corner from work - nice!

Apologies for the semi-necro ...

Well, the new store's open. It doesn't appear to be any larger than the old Plaza one it's replaced (smaller, if anything?). The display table looks pretty good, I have to say. Extensive use has been made of the new promethium pipes and they look quite snazzy.

As far as opening offers go, there's the opportunity (today only) to buy some (apparently) exclusive posters ... Damnos, the Emporer's Palace and some fantasy ones.

The place was jam-packed, which was nice.

 Necroagogo wrote:
As far as opening offers go, there's the opportunity (today only) to buy some (apparently) exclusive posters ... Damnos, the Emporer's Palace and some fantasy ones.

So they went all out, then?

 insaniak wrote:

 Necroagogo wrote:
As far as opening offers go, there's the opportunity (today only) to buy some (apparently) exclusive posters ... Damnos, the Emporer's Palace and some fantasy ones.

So they went all out, then?

Lavish doesn't even begin to describe it.

Bit of an update :

I believe this rebranding/renaming is going to be rolled out across all the GW stores.

Think it'll be rolled out as opposed to happening everywhere overnight -- can't see them doing it any other way.

Any possibility of pics? I'm stuck over here in the states and I love seeing different stores... especially if you describe it as 'lavish'.

 reds8n wrote:
Bit of an update :

I believe this rebranding/renaming is going to be rolled out across all the GW stores.

Think it'll be rolled out as opposed to happening everywhere overnight -- can't see them doing it any other way.

I've been told that there's a shop opening in New York that will be branded as "Warhammer" rather than GW.

The new store in Penrith, NSW, Aus, is also being branded as Warhammer too. The store owner said:

Warhammer Penrith Facebook wrote:Warhammer is a very well known brand, and a well known brand name. A pilot run of 3 stores in the UK was successful and the decision to roll this out on a phased basis has been made by the Company. Therefore Warhammer will be Games Workshop’s retail brand. Not dissimilar to brands like Forgeworld or Black Library, they are brands operating under the GW umbrella.

He then went on to say:

With 'Warhammer' becoming the retail brand, you will see the change as new stores open and relocate.

Well...that's one way of stopping all those people from coming in to your store by mistake looking for Call of Duty and accidentally discovering table top gaming.

Now they will just draw in confused customers looking for medieval weaponry...

Renaissance Fair hipsters looking for bespoke morning stars are going to be very put out.

Yeah, we don't have those.

TCR is a really good location - yes most of it's currently a building site due to Crossrail, however, long-term it is going to get a lot of footfall. As already mentioned, rents in London are astronomical - I'm paying more than double what I was paying for my Birmingham city centre flat for a slightly larger flat in Zone 4. I'd be looking nearly triple what I was paying if I was in Zone 1 (and in an area I'm not going to get shot in)

I always cringe when someone comes into GW looking for a console game.

ToxicBox wrote:
I always cringe when someone comes into GW looking for a console game.

A good salesman should be able to turn those walk ins into sales though. Introduce people to the hobby, invite them back for a demo game, try to sell them on a starter set or something.

 jonolikespie wrote:

ToxicBox wrote:
I always cringe when someone comes into GW looking for a console game.

A good salesman should be able to turn those walk ins into sales though. Introduce people to the hobby, invite them back for a demo game, try to sell them on a starter set or something.

Yeah, I can't see how potential new customers can ever be a bad thing. Unless the prices have gotten so bad that people literally gasp and then run away, in which case I can see why GW would want them to not come by! (in all honesty, that has been my experience in GW stores)

I suppose I should thank them for changing their name to one that is more reflective of what their company is. They went from 3 core games with a plethora of smaller ones to just the core games, which will soon drop to two, and then the survival of the other one is not even assured. I wonder if we see these stores tack a "40k" to the end of the signs in the future...

 plastictrees wrote:
Well...that's one way of stopping all those people from coming in to your store by mistake looking for Call of Duty and accidentally discovering table top gaming.

...or Lord of the Rings. ZING!