Just heard that GW HQ was moving from Baltimore to Memphis, where their production facilities are. So now it makes no sense for Gamesday to be in Baltimore after this year.....Chicago maybe?

Aren't they already selling tickets? What's the location given on the ticket? They can't change it at this late stage.

General Hobbs wrote:

Just heard that GW HQ was moving from Baltimore to Memphis, where their production facilities are. So now it makes no sense for Gamesday to be in Baltimore after this year.....Chicago maybe?

can you back up this info first? Otherwise you are starting rumors that are un substantiated.

That's why they are called rumors, not facts.

I'll back him up on it.

Been talking with several people today about it. An official email went out about it. Kirby wants things moved by July.

lol, so they close almost all of the GW stores south of the mason-dixon line and THEN move the HQ to the south? maybe i'm just a bit bitter as the only GW store within several hundred miles just closed (all of alabama, georgia, south carolina, florida, and tennessee have a grand total of ZERO stores as of wednesday).

Maybe they'll reopen the Battle Bunker. That would be nice.

mikhaila wrote:I'll back him up on it.

Been talking with several people today about it. An official email went out about it. Kirby wants things moved by July.

I guess it would make sense as it would put them next to their U.S factory huh. Also more of a centralized location so cheers for that!

fellblade wrote:That's why they are called rumors, not facts.

yeah,
GW are opening a store on the moon... I heard.


Tell your friends...

Panic

warboss wrote:lol, so they close almost all of the GW stores south of the mason-dixon line and THEN move the HQ to the south? maybe i'm just a bit bitter as the only GW store within several hundred miles just closed (all of alabama, georgia, south carolina, florida, and tennessee have a grand total of ZERO stores as of wednesday).

You forgot North Carolina. We don't have one either.

I'd heard, back when I knew quite a folks at GWUS HQ, that the original plan was to move the HQ to Memphis when they moved the production center. The US HQ staff basically rebelled and said they'd quit rather than be relocated, so the idea was canned.

But there's been a huge turn-over at GWUS since then, so perhaps it's back on. I know a lot of the "old timers" have either quit or been fired.

Vale,

JohnS

LMAO!!!! Come on... You didn't see it coming?

North carolina doesn't WANT GW stores. We're fine with our LGS's, Thank you very much!

Just heard that GW HQ was moving from Baltimore to Memphis, where their production facilities are

This was inevitable and I've been expecting it ever since Memphis facility opened. Not really a question of if all along, just when. Many parts of the offices at Glen Burnie are already dark and unoccupied since last year as more departments were eliminated and more people let go, making this move seem more imminent than ever.

There isn't a lot of office space in the Memphis building.

InquisitorFabius wrote:There isn't a lot of office space in the Memphis building.

Not a problem if you let go enough people to fit into the available space, though, right?

Will the Baltimore bunker stay? Kind of sucks you can't get bitz and specialist games there any more. Takes away a lot of the point out of going there.

About the Bunker, that's a good question. The Bunker exists there largely because the rent was already being paid on all that space for the HQ offices. Now that the offices are moving to Memphis to save money on the higher priced rent in this area, there could be a very good chance that the Bunker will close unless GW decides to spring for the rent for the Bunker only, and that I would think is in serious doubt.

MD as a state is very unfriendly towards many types of businesses. MD decided to tax warehouses by Cubic foot instead of square foot... Which means you have to stack to the ceiling or pay taxes on 'air'. This makes lots of buildings pretty much a waste of space and makes a lot of multi-state companies move warehousing services to another state.

If your primary warehouse and product fulfillment is in Memphis, why keep it in a warehouse officepark in Glen burnie when you don't actually use any of those buildings there?

Makes perfect sense to me being a Marylander.

privateer4hire wrote:

InquisitorFabius wrote:There isn't a lot of office space in the Memphis building.

Not a problem if you let go enough people to fit into the available space, though, right?

Damn, too slow. Nice privateer! ; )

We love you Dave!

How many employees is this likely to affect?

You will have 2-3 WD workers max.
The upper and middle management which would amount to half a dozen.
A few telephone/ordering people.

Should be 20 max as there is no studio, many stores have closed, the GTs have been wound back etc, etc.

US Customer Service works at Glen Burnie, MD HQ as do the US executives, a few remaining creative folks, support staff like receptionists, US Trade Sales Dept., etc. It's a lot fewer people than a few years ago, but still significant.

warboss wrote:lol, so they close almost all of the GW stores south of the mason-dixon line and THEN move the HQ to the south? maybe i'm just a bit bitter as the only GW store within several hundred miles just closed (all of alabama, georgia, south carolina, florida, and tennessee have a grand total of ZERO stores as of wednesday).

So that's why all the locations disappeared off the store finder map.

Oh well, my FLGS is right next to the Mall of Georgia anyway

I'd imagine Memphis would be much less costly to operate than Glen Burnie. Cost of living is also much lower in the South.

Doesn't really affect me either way being in North Carolina.

That is a catch 22, over all the cost of living is lower, but Memphis is not a cheap city to live in.

When I was last in the building, the warehouse staff took up the left frontage of the building, with the break room on the far left side. Center was a small hallway, with a reception desk. Right of that was the Store entrance, then the bunker space. Far right was Southern Region trade sales.

Overall GW is not doing well in Maryland...the stores are usually half empty, compared to how they were filled a few years ago. I can't see them keeping a Bunker level store in Maryland, much less at that location.

In fact, since it seems GW is dying off in Maryland, I won't be buying anymore GW products. No where to play, no one to game with, what is the point of buying the product.

To be honest, the Bunker was a shadow of its former self the last few years, with half-assed tournaments and events. It started to get better with the Baltimore Metro Gaming Club, but then things changed again for the worse.

General Hobbs wrote:Overall GW is not doing well in Maryland...the stores are usually half empty, compared to how they were filled a few years ago. I can't see them keeping a Bunker level store in Maryland, much less at that location.

In fact, since it seems GW is dying off in Maryland, I won't be buying anymore GW products. No where to play, no one to game with, what is the point of buying the product.

This is BS! They're opening a brand new store in Owings Mills, MD RIGHT NOW! It's on their twitter feed:
http://twitter.com/gamesworkshopam

"Do you live around Vaughan, Ontario or Owings Mills, MD? Check out our newest Hobby Centers opening soon!
6:23 AM Jan 21st from web"

They've got one in White Marsh, the Bunker in Glen Burnie, one in Annapolis (Jennifer Square), one in the Arundel Mills Mall, a small one in Columbia... there's GW stores all over MD, especially around Baltimore, and they're doing fine.

I can believe the HQ will be moving, though. I was flying out of MD this past weekend, and I met a lady with a GW wind breaker on... she didn't look like a gamer, so I guessed she was an employee. I asked and she said she was an industrial engineer for them, heading back to... you guessed it... Memphis!

These stores are all empty dude. And Owings Mills is a horrible place to put a GW store. I know the area well....

Not my experience. The Maryland store where I spend most my time these days is packed. Store customer base is cyclical depending on a lot of factors, especially staff. If the staff is friendly and works to build the community you get a good one. If the staff is less talented or awkward dealing with customers, the community drops off. I know one new manager in MD right now who is just rebuilding his customer base after replacing a staff member who made community building challenging.

There are other factors too. Up until last year a certain store where I used to go 3 to 5 times per week was packed all the time for the roughly four years I was going there, but unfortunate changes in the crowd coupled with some unfortunate changes made by GW have driven many people away to other stores for most of our purchases, gaming and hobbying.

General Hobbs wrote:

These stores are all empty dude. And Owings Mills is a horrible place to put a GW store. I know the area well....

I know the area well, too... I've been living in Baltimore for the last 10 years. I think Owings Mills is a fine place for a store.

I agree with BrassScorpion... there's normal fluctuations in customer base, but I haven't noticed anything different at the stores I frequent (mostly the Bunker and the small shop in Columbia, and occasionally the one in White Marsh since it's closer to my work place)

Well this sucks if it true. We are moving back to the Baltimore area in April. Was finally gonna get to be near a bunker and see what my chances were to landing a job with them. Now they are moving? I know there has been alot of changes with them in the past 4 years or so but closing up all the stuff in Memphis and centralizing them in MD a and now flip flopping the process and going back to TN? Yikes, crazyness there!

Grot 6 wrote:LMAO!!!! Come on... You didn't see it coming?

North carolina doesn't WANT GW stores. We're fine with our LGS's, Thank you very much!

I'll attest to that! No need to be bothered by red shirts!

Empchild wrote:

General Hobbs wrote:

Just heard that GW HQ was moving from Baltimore to Memphis, where their production facilities are. So now it makes no sense for Gamesday to be in Baltimore after this year.....Chicago maybe?

can you back up this info first? Otherwise you are starting rumors that are un substantiated.

As a mod could you at least try to understand what a rumor is before you act like a jerk. If you have information that shows the rumor is incorrect then you post it. Otherwise please keep your mouth shut. This is a message board for the DISCUSSION of rumors.

brettz123 wrote:

Empchild wrote:

General Hobbs wrote:

Just heard that GW HQ was moving from Baltimore to Memphis, where their production facilities are. So now it makes no sense for Gamesday to be in Baltimore after this year.....Chicago maybe?

can you back up this info first? Otherwise you are starting rumors that are un substantiated.

As a mod could you at least try to understand what a rumor is before you act like a jerk. If you have information that shows the rumor is incorrect then you post it. Otherwise please keep your mouth shut. This is a message board for the DISCUSSION of rumors.

You may want to take some of your own advice, about trying to not act like a jerk. Sort of weakens your arguement when you act worse than the person your telling to shut up.

Back on Topic, my areas of concern are:
-Does this change plans for GD Baltimore 2010 at all?
-How does this affect future GDs in Baltimore?
-Will the Bunker in Glen Burnie remain open?
-How much of the staff moves or doesn't move. I'm friends with a lot of the guys, so on a personal level I hope they stay in Baltimore. As a business person, I'd hate the thought of a huge turnover in the Trade Sales or Promotions teams.

Empchild is not a moderator brettz123


He is a DCM, so he pays a yearly subscription to access the DCM forum and get some other bonus features.

I hate the retention rate of GW trade sales. My local store just got a new rep who has no idea about anything and took over a week and a half to return a call.

Owings Mills has plenty of disposable income in New Town... There is a private elementary school right in the area with 15K tuition per year (per a teacher I ran into, and this was several years ago). The store should do fine if the staff are decent. And, there is no FLGS local to the area. The only LGS I know of are in Baltimore, Towson, or Eldersburg. There isn't even a craft store worth the name in Owings Mills region. The closest craft-type store is a JoAnnes that caters to old ladies. Lots of silk plants and kitsch (ugh). There is a definite void here that can be ummm... what is word.... capitalized on? Exploited? Filled?

There are a ton of GW stores in MD, now with pretty even coverage. If you look at the map of locations on the GW website, there are 6 stores in a ring around Baltimore (counting the new store). Another 4 stores are in more outlying areas (Bmore centric view, of course). The new Owings Mills store nicely fills a gap in the coverage. NoVa has a bunch, too. Seems to me that GW is booming around here. They just need to keep Marylander-itis out of the stores.*

*Marylander-itis: A tendency to sneer at and degrade unfamiliar people or concepts. Also characterized by an utter lack of humor unless it insults someone else. Diagnostic criterion is an overinflated sense of self importance. Not a terminal condition, usually, but can lead to passive aggressive lashing out at anyone in the way.

Point by point:
1) The US HQ is moving. This was confirmed for me today. No date to share though. Again, this was an eventuality that was virtually inevitable after Memphis opened, just a question of when and now the answer is soon.

2) Baltimore Games Day is set in stone as much as any event can be. Reservations on places like the Convention Center are done months and even years in advance, the event is already advertised and tickets being sold. That deal is done and extremely unlikely to change, it would cost GW a ton of money to change it. Of course, that's for 2010. Who knows what 2011 will bring?

3) No word on the Bunker yet, but there may be talk of relocating it somewhere between D.C. and Baltimore. Again, it is part of the rent they are paying on the offices and is sort of free to GW right now, which is to say it doesn't cost them the kind of money it would to rent that space if the store area was the only thing being rented because right now the store area is just a by-product of renting that huge chunk of office park. GW obviously has three options: keep just the store, move the store, close the store. Given the fact they are giving up the office space to which the store is attached, it is extremely unlikely they'd keep that location. If and when they close the current store, let's hope they relocate it somewhere not too far away and maybe in a location that is more visible than the current office park so as to attract more walk-in customers.

GW released the following statement on 15 Jan 2010:

"Games Workshop's business in North America, which includes 86 Hobby centres in the USA and Canada, a large trade business
and the Memphis manufacturing and distribution facility, is the Group's largest operation after the UK and Continental Europe

The Board of Games Workshop believes that the future potential of the Games Workshop Hobby in North America is considerable.
To help exploit this, once the formalities are complete, Tom Kirby, the Group's Executive Chairman, will relocate to the Group's North
American headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland for a period of 18-24 months. This will bring a renewed and increased focus on this business.

Tom will be back in the UK for approximately one week each month to deal with Group matters and to stay close to the Chief Executive
and CFO. He will remain Executive Chairman of Games Workshop Group PLC."

Since then it appears that Mr. Kirby has announced to the US HQ staff that the offices will be moved to Memphis. As usual, some people will relocate and some will not, some will leave voluntarily because they don't wish to relocate and some will likely not be offered the chance. That's SOP for these kinds of corporate moves.

Moving to Memphis looks like a good strategic decision IMO.

mikhaila wrote:

brettz123 wrote:

Empchild wrote:

General Hobbs wrote:

Just heard that GW HQ was moving from Baltimore to Memphis, where their production facilities are. So now it makes no sense for Gamesday to be in Baltimore after this year.....Chicago maybe?

can you back up this info first? Otherwise you are starting rumors that are un substantiated.

As a mod could you at least try to understand what a rumor is before you act like a jerk. If you have information that shows the rumor is incorrect then you post it. Otherwise please keep your mouth shut. This is a message board for the DISCUSSION of rumors.

You may want to take some of your own advice, about trying to not act like a jerk. Sort of weakens your arguement when you act worse than the person your telling to shut up.

Not only that, but EC isn't a Mod, so he's free to act like every other non-special person.

There are no LGS in Towson or Baltimore that have GW. There is Ren Games in Harford County, and there is Games N Stuff in Glen Burnie.

I am basing my opinion on previous game stores located in OM. The clientele who went there ignored GW and went for card games.

Ugh to the Bunker moving south....It is a bad enough commute from north of the city to Glen Burnie.

Again, from my knowledge, it took several of the GW stores in the Baltimore area staff cutbacks to make them profitable. The MD region is not doing well, but of course, the economy is bad.

General Hobbs wrote:

There are no LGS in Towson or Baltimore that have GW. There is Ren Games in Harford County, and there is Games N Stuff in Glen Burnie.

I am basing my opinion on previous game stores located in OM. The clientele who went there ignored GW and went for card games.

Ugh to the Bunker moving south....It is a bad enough commute from north of the city to Glen Burnie.

Again, from my knowledge, it took several of the GW stores in the Baltimore area staff cutbacks to make them profitable. The MD region is not doing well, but of course, the economy is bad.

Last time I was up at Games N Stuff, they had completely stopped selling any GW product, it's all Warmachine/Hordes now.

Platuan4th wrote:

mikhaila wrote:

brettz123 wrote:

Empchild wrote:

General Hobbs wrote:

Just heard that GW HQ was moving from Baltimore to Memphis, where their production facilities are. So now it makes no sense for Gamesday to be in Baltimore after this year.....Chicago maybe?

can you back up this info first? Otherwise you are starting rumors that are un substantiated.

As a mod could you at least try to understand what a rumor is before you act like a jerk. If you have information that shows the rumor is incorrect then you post it. Otherwise please keep your mouth shut. This is a message board for the DISCUSSION of rumors.

You may want to take some of your own advice, about trying to not act like a jerk. Sort of weakens your arguement when you act worse than the person your telling to shut up.

Not only that, but EC isn't a Mod, so he's free to act like every other non-special person.

Modquisition on.
The cranky old man of Dakka is a Mod and now suggests everyone return to the topic at hand. in the future if someone has an issue with posters then report them to the moderator team for their review. Thank you.

Shellfishguy wrote:

Last time I was up at Games N Stuff, they had completely stopped selling any GW product, it's all Warmachine/Hordes now.

Games N Stuff sells GW product. You just have to order it from them. They give you a 10% discount on all GW product. I don't buy from them as I live in Montgomery County and there is a GW store and Dream Wizards nearby, but I do play games/tourneys there.

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:Empchild is not a moderator brettz123


He is a DCM, so he pays a yearly subscription to access the DCM forum and get some other bonus features.

Ironhide wrote:Moving to Memphis looks like a good strategic decision IMO.

Never been a mod nor want to be nooo thank you. BTW If you read through this you would have seen I recanted! I just spend enough time on here and figured hey $25.00 is cheap to help a site I love!

@Ironhide: I can see where you think that. It is a rather smart move as they will be closer to the factory, as well as in a centralized location. I wonder though how this will effect jobs... sure GW can lay off(still love ya dave and jeff), but even with that this would mean a lot of brass having to move. Some people just don't want to up and move their families so I really wonder how much this will effect their upper eschelon.

I know that one staff member, the guy who is running Gamesday this year, waiting for an offer letter from the company. I would guess that alot of the staff are not even going to be given the option of moving. You can always retrain customer service or human resources and IT people.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Blunt Force Trauma wrote:

Shellfishguy wrote:

Last time I was up at Games N Stuff, they had completely stopped selling any GW product, it's all Warmachine/Hordes now.

Games N Stuff sells GW product. You just have to order it from them. They give you a 10% discount on all GW product. I don't buy from them as I live in Montgomery County and there is a GW store and Dream Wizards nearby, but I do play games/tourneys there.

The big problem with GnS is they seem to be dominated by a really bad gaming club, the Inner Circle.

Sadly yes as IT's are the easiest to replace now adays for cheap. I think it will be very interesting to see the changes that will insue from all this.

I'm not a part of it, but I know a lot of guys from the Inner Circle, and they're always nice to others who aren't a part of their club from what I've seen.

RiTides wrote:I'm not a part of it, but I know a lot of guys from the Inner Circle, and they're always nice to others who aren't a part of their club from what I've seen.

Most clubs are really as their memberships would somewhat dwindle and die out over time if they weren't. Are their any prolific players that we would know in this club?

Not confirming this rumor, but GW's entire accounting department has been in Memphis for years. The reason I know this is because I thought about appling a few years back.

actually, the entire accounting dept (2 people) are in Baltimore, sorry jbunny

Well there HR needs to learn that fact. When I talked to them at the last Games Day about accounting jobs she told me they were located in Memphis. She might have been wrong, but that is what I was told by HR.

GW US has an HR department that is short on a lot of things.

I went in for an interview, was told I would hear from HR in 2-3 days, I had to hound them for 4 weeks to find out they went another direction in management, after being told by HR I was exactly what they were looking for.

lol, so they close almost all of the GW stores south of the mason-dixon line and THEN move the HQ to the south?

I just want to point out that the GW HQ in Maryland was already below the Mason-Dixon line. Just saying.

Really it seems that only the west coasts stores have grown where as the east coast and the rest of the nation has dwindled. Hrmmmmm

Daggermaw wrote:

lol, so they close almost all of the GW stores south of the mason-dixon line and THEN move the HQ to the south?

I just want to point out that the GW HQ in Maryland was already below the Mason-Dixon line. Just saying.

Beat me to it.

Empchild wrote:Really it seems that only the west coasts stores have grown where as the east coast and the rest of the nation has dwindled. Hrmmmmm

Argh... I don't know what to do... they're opening a NEW store in the Baltimore area! The game is not dwindling in Maryland! It's a bad economy for everybody... GW's doing just fine here (if anybody's doing fine in this climate). The Bunker will probably move to a new location, since the HQ appears to be going at some point, but GW in Maryland is doing fine.

/rant off...

Well, FWIW, there's a big honkin' "for lease" sign in front of GWHQ right now...

I also talked with one of the managers I know at The Bunker and he said they were currently looking for a new location more "south". I don't know if he's talking I-97, BW Pkwy, or Rt 1 "south" (or some other road for that matter), but from a purely selfish POV, they all work for me unless they go all the way to College Park. I'm thinking Laurel would be nigh perfect... Nicely between Baltimore and College Park, but avoiding the high rent of Columbia.

He also said, again FWIW, that there was definitely a plan to keep a Bunker in the area.

Vale,

JohnS

Empchild wrote:@Ironhide: I can see where you think that. It is a rather smart move as they will be closer to the factory, as well as in a centralized location. I wonder though how this will effect jobs... sure GW can lay off(still love ya dave and jeff), but even with that this would mean a lot of brass having to move. Some people just don't want to up and move their families so I really wonder how much this will effect their upper eschelon.

Not only is it in a centralized location, but it is also located in a good transportation hub. Most likely the upper echelon will get an ultimatum, "Move or quit." It's all about the bottomline.

cygnnus wrote:He also said, again FWIW, that there was definitely a plan to keep a Bunker in the area.

Interesting. Not to ask a stupid question, but any idea if the "Bunker" also include a retail front/outlet? Can't see how it would survive if it didn't, but curious.

Regards,

AJC

Empchild wrote:Really it seems that only the west coasts stores have grown where as the east coast and the rest of the nation has dwindled. Hrmmmmm

I would totally agree with that. Currently in New York state there is one GW HQ store and its in New York City of all places. Gw messed up so bad with the store we had in Western New York. I see more and more FLGS opening and I think I'd rather have that then red shirts.


The only question I ask, as many others have is: "How will this affect the GamesDay held there"? I've always wanted to go to the Baltimore GD and I havent been to one in the 12 years I've been playing and by Khorne I want to go to one Now its a matter of if its moved to Memphis then I have to choose between Chicago or go over the border to Ontario, Canada (or I could always see Memphis if its held there from now on).

I made my statement btw due to the fact that here in mass " ALL" of our stores closed. Ok I will give them the fact that the bunker should have because 15k a month for rent is ridiculous but the others, and in washington state when I was stationed we had 3 at the time( I worked at the bunker). Now I read they have 8 I believe!!!!Boston Pop>Washington State hrmmmmmm consipracy I tell ya!!!

AJCarrington wrote:

cygnnus wrote:He also said, again FWIW, that there was definitely a plan to keep a Bunker in the area.

Interesting. Not to ask a stupid question, but any idea if the "Bunker" also include a retail front/outlet? Can't see how it would survive if it didn't, but curious.

Regards,

AJC

I can't imagine that they'd have a Bunker without a store front. What would the point be? No sales means you're basically carrying the Bunker as an advertising expense. Put a store with it and you get a retail point.

Vale,

JohnS

but any idea if the "Bunker" also include a retail front/outlet?

The Bunker is a retail outlet. When it moves it will still be a retail outlet.

Anyone know if this movement of the management to the factory facility will mean that the bits order service will come back to it's former glory? i really miss that aspect of GW. When ever I have an idea for a conversion, I have to remember that I can't get certain pieces without buying the whole thing new. I was promised by several red shirts when the site was being overhauled that it would still retain the great bits service, but apparently, that's not going to happen.

skullking wrote:Anyone know if this movement of the management to the factory facility will mean that the bits order service will come back to it's former glory?

I don't know, but as the bitz ordering wasn't cost-efficient enough for GW, I'm guessing that'll be a big fat NO

I panicked then! i thought you meant GW HQ in the UK!!!

chaplaingrabthar wrote:

skullking wrote:Anyone know if this movement of the management to the factory facility will mean that the bits order service will come back to it's former glory?

I don't know, but as the bitz ordering wasn't cost-efficient enough for GW, I'm guessing that'll be a big fat NO

Have to agree with the "NO" on this one.

(And, I'm not really sure how you came up with that one either!)

cygnnus wrote:

BrassScorpion wrote:

Thanks for the feedback guys - pretty much what I expected.

Regards,

AJC

I spoke to a gw rep from the main office-and he didnt say a thing.

lord senobio wrote:I spoke to a gw rep from the main office-and he didnt say a thing.

Did you actually ask him though?

Alpharius wrote:

lord senobio wrote:I spoke to a gw rep from the main office-and he didnt say a thing.

Did you actually ask him though?

That question poped into my head also. Most of GW doesn't know what the rest of GW is even up to.

Alpharius wrote:

chaplaingrabthar wrote:

skullking wrote:Anyone know if this movement of the management to the factory facility will mean that the bits order service will come back to it's former glory?

I don't know, but as the bitz ordering wasn't cost-efficient enough for GW, I'm guessing that'll be a big fat NO

Have to agree with the "NO" on this one.

(And, I'm not really sure how you came up with that one either!)

Long story short, I just really miss the bitz order system which GW used to have in place, and considering NO ONE really understands GW's way of thinking fully, I just didn't know if this would have come up as one of those things that they were thinking of bringing back after the move. Obviously, there's no need for the factory and the sales people to be in the same building for this to work, but then again, GW makes some weird decisions, and you never really know what they're going to do.

Bitz went away due to the cost of the program. They had to pay several people an hourly wage to just pull parts of models. Financially it is more productive to just make the consumer buy a whole model, than to pay an employee to pull a part of one.

One of these years Id like to make it out to a GD now that they took away my "LA GD".

But if its in Memphis, WTF is there to do in Memphis?

Buy crack.

Beale Street.

These all sound like things anyone could do in So Cal...

combatmedic wrote:WTF is there to do in Memphis?

Walk?

But if its in Memphis, WTF is there to do in Memphis?

I had this same conversation with a friend of mine just yesterday. We've been friends ever since he worked in one of the local GW shops back in 1993. He was at GW for about 10 years. We had lunch yesterday and I asked this exact question because I've been to the US Games Day in Maryland every single year since the first US Games Day ever in 1993. I've never missed one, but if it was in Memphis, with so little else to do down that way, I'm not sure I'd make that trip. In Maryland there are a million great things to do for sightseeing besides Games Day like all the museums and historical attractions in D.C., the aquarium and maritime museum, B&O museum, etc in Baltimore. The only suggestion he had for Memphis was Graceland! I would think that has limited appeal except for diehard Elvis fans. It's definitely not a vacation draw for me and my family.

I think the question that really needs to be asked now is whether they'll be selling the space marine statue outside of the Battle Bunker in MD?

I have to agree with the person who said Laurel would be a good place for a new battle bunker.

Well, you got the Mississippi River, and Memphis does have a nice Jazz scene, not to mention the historical attractions. I'm sure there are lots of things to do there.

Memphis is nice, but just like the greater Baltimore area, you have to watch were you go. The GW building is in a secluded office park on the opposite end of town from downtown. I remember going to the Christmas party and it took us almost 30 min to get from the hotel near the facility to the Hard Rock via limo.

The Battle Bunker / GW HQ is located south / east of Baltimore, and downtown is at the southern tip of Baltimore- so if you travel from GW to downtown, you're not passing through much of Baltimore at all. There are definitely sections of Baltimore to avoid, but none that you should run into if you're just making that trip.

Is it confirmed that GamesDay will move "with" the GW HQ? If the Bunker is still in Maryland, isn't it possible it could still be held in Baltimore? It is at least this year...

The Memphis building is the same way. The building is closer to being in Olive Branch MS than it is to Memphis.

Memphis is a shithole. They deserve each other!

Although a short roadtrip will get me Forgeworld goodies now! WOOT!

From what I've been told, (and while it's from people at GW HQ, I haven't confirmed it yet with promotions),

-Games Day will not change this year.
-In the future, there will still be a Baltimore Games Day
-No one has mentioned anything about moving GD to Memphis.
-Bunker in Glen Burnie stays for now, but will probably relocate to a non busines park area at some point in the future.

Nurgleboy77 wrote:Memphis is a shithole. They deserve each other!

I wasn't going to use those words, but I have to agree. I believe someone told me as we were driving in, "Welcome to Memfrica".

That's what my wife calls it.

mikhaila wrote:From what I've been told, (and while it's from people at GW HQ, I haven't confirmed it yet with promotions),

-Games Day will not change this year.
-In the future, there will still be a Baltimore Games Day
-No one has mentioned anything about moving GD to Memphis.
-Bunker in Glen Burnie stays for now, but will probably relocate to a non busines park area at some point in the future.

This is what I was expecting! Look at the reaction on here... I doubt they'll move Games Day to Memphis.

I'm happy if they move the bunker to Laurel, much closer to Fort Meade next time I'm up that way!

As for getting Forgeworld goodies from the Memphis bunker, if it's at all like Glen Burnie then it's hit and miss on what they have. The manager at one point told me it was better to just order it from the FW site.

Napalm wrote:I'm happy if they move the bunker to Laurel, much closer to Fort Meade next time I'm up that way!

As for getting Forgeworld goodies from the Memphis bunker, if it's at all like Glen Burnie then it's hit and miss on what they have. The manager at one point told me it was better to just order it from the FW site.

according to local staff, they are working on making FW more accessible by allowing all (GW) stores to order from FW.

also, if I remember correctly, the group that hangs at the Glen Burnie bunker do a monthly FW order. the bunker staff can probably help you get in touch with the correct people.

Back in my day, after walking up hill both ways, I could go to the Glen Burnie store and walk out with all the Forgeworld, Direct Only, and bits I could carry.

I hope that the bunker doesn't end up in Laurel. If they want it between the beltways, I'd hope for something in the BWI blob.

BrassScorpion wrote:US Customer Service works at Glen Burnie, MD HQ as do the US executives, a few remaining creative folks, support staff like receptionists, US Trade Sales Dept., etc. It's a lot fewer people than a few years ago, but still significant.

Surely they have a US legal department, that's gotta take up a fair bit of room.

-Kyley

Kyley wrote:Surely they have a US legal department, that's gotta take up a fair bit of room.

No love there, why have legal teams in every business when they can have local businesses keep attorneys on retainer? You would have to be a significantly larger company to justify having a legal team on staff 100% of the time. Bonus perk is that most sorts of legal papers get filed in UK courts, so it is easier to just choose to settle rather than going to court overseas.