GW just announced their latest store closing. The Yorkridge MD store will close by the end of the month.
This must be part of their brilliant cost saving plans to make their company appear more financially sound than it really is. First it was one man stores. Now it is no store at all. If we are really lucky they will discontinue finecast.
All of this is good news for FLGS and competitors of GW.
GW's business decisions breed resentment in the community. See Finecast, Pacific prices, price hikes, etc.
In terms of their stores in particular, they put lots of FLGS out of business by opening GW stores, and now close their stores, leaving the community without a store.
As a long term business decision I think that it is unwise to close their stores. They serve as a center for the hobby community in a way that somebody's house cannot. You can play games, paint, meet fellow gamers, hang out, etc. Without such a center many people make not take up the hobby, or may drop out of it. Unlike FLGS, GW stores only allow GW products to be used, and thus are good for their business. By stifling FLGS they can in effect keep other companies from getting a foothold in the marketplace. So, although they will save some cash by closing the store, in the long run I think that they will lose money. Companies that looked invincible in their day like TSR, went the way of the dinosaur.
With all of the talk about a buyout of GW it will be interesting to see how this plays out. I do not think that any company in their right mind would purchase GW.
The reason there is a lot of negativity towards GW is that GW has done things that piss people off. It's human nature to react badly to things and to be slow to let go and move on.
You could always hit the ignore button in posts in don't like. A tool I should use more often actually...
I totally could, but I am trying (my best anyway) to integrate with the wider community as a whole. I don't want to just block out what bugs me, I want to understand it and hopefully try to find some middle ground.
I never was a fan of the "well if you don't like it, just ignore it" philosophy. If I don't like something, me ignoring it isn't going to make it vanish.
I totally could, but I am trying (my best anyway) to integrate with the wider community as a whole. I don't want to just block out what bugs me, I want to understand it and hopefully try to find some middle ground.
I never was a fan of the "well if you don't like it, just ignore it" philosophy. If I don't like something, me ignoring it isn't going to make it vanish.
curran12 wrote:I totally could, but I am trying (my best anyway) to integrate with the wider community as a whole. I don't want to just block out what bugs me, I want to understand it and hopefully try to find some middle ground.
Dakka has a roughly equal amount of GW like and dislike, and most posters are probably apathetic (a viewpoint which is often not expressed as it is easier to motivate yourself to post for or against something than it is to just say "meh", or "it's OK").
But really, I don't quite understand your vitriol in your initial and subsequent posts. And unless you are an old poster on a new account, you must really enjoy hopping on the bandwagon of "thisthreadagain". The OP was a mildly negative post about GW closing a store, not exactly the basis for GW white knighting as far as I am concerned
spaceelf wrote:In terms of their stores in particular, they put lots of FLGS out of business by opening GW stores, and now close their stores, leaving the community without a store.
Funny how whenever called to put forth actual proof, this claim usually turns out to be overblown bs, and you see things like people bitching bitterly about 'that store that GW put out of business,' that actually closed years before GW put on in the area. Who knew that GW was putting Orrikan's space time shennanigans to use in their business model?
Dakka has a roughly equal amount of GW like and dislike, and most posters are probably apathetic (a viewpoint which is often not expressed as it is easier to motivate yourself to post for or against something than it is to just say "meh", or "it's OK").
pft, its my belief that Dakka is about 75% Gdub hate. Anyone who says otherwise is an apologist!
spaceelf wrote:By stifling FLGS they can in effect keep other companies from getting a foothold in the marketplace
Ha, yeah, I'm feeling so stifled.)
As an opposing point of veiw: GW, MTG, Pokemon and a few other games are all that kept your FLGS afloat for many years, allowing them to bring in different products, and letting those companies flourish. No GW would have mean't no Warmachine, and many other games.
spaceelf wrote:In terms of their stores in particular, they put lots of FLGS out of business by opening GW stores, and now close their stores, leaving the community without a store.
Funny how whenever called to put forth actual proof, this claim usually turns out to be overblown bs, and you see things like people bitching bitterly about 'that store that GW put out of business,' that actually closed years before GW put on in the area. Who knew that GW was putting Orrikan's space time shennanigans to use in their business model?
Lots of Balmer area stores have closed, and others stopped carrying GW products and miniature games in general since GW expanded.
Game Sanctuary in Towson, and another comic shop in Towson closed. Alternate Worlds stopped carrying GW products. Legends of Towson has stopped dealing in miniature games.
spaceelf wrote:In terms of their stores in particular, they put lots of FLGS out of business by opening GW stores, and now close their stores, leaving the community without a store.
Funny how whenever called to put forth actual proof, this claim usually turns out to be overblown bs, and you see things like people bitching bitterly about 'that store that GW put out of business,' that actually closed years before GW put on in the area. Who knew that GW was putting Orrikan's space time shennanigans to use in their business model?
Lots of Balmer area stores have closed, and others stopped carrying GW products and miniature games in general since GW expanded.
Game Sanctuary in Towson, and another comic shop in Towson closed. Alternate Worlds stopped carrying GW products. Legends of Towson has stopped dealing in miniature games.
did they close due to GW, or were they financially unsound? What other products did they carry? It's a bad idea to only rely on one type of product. Have you looked indepth into their Tax Returns too see what they were spending money on?
On topic though, I hope there's a nearby LGS for people to keep gaming
I know of one new store opening up, but I believe it's a bit more south and east. Yorkridge is pretty much on the 12 Oclock positition above Baltimore?
spaceelf wrote:In terms of their stores in particular, they put lots of FLGS out of business by opening GW stores, and now close their stores, leaving the community without a store.
Funny how whenever called to put forth actual proof, this claim usually turns out to be overblown bs, and you see things like people bitching bitterly about 'that store that GW put out of business,' that actually closed years before GW put on in the area. Who knew that GW was putting Orrikan's space time shennanigans to use in their business model?
Lots of Balmer area stores have closed, and others stopped carrying GW products and miniature games in general since GW expanded.
Game Sanctuary in Towson, and another comic shop in Towson closed. Alternate Worlds stopped carrying GW products. Legends of Towson has stopped dealing in miniature games.
did they close due to GW, or were they financially unsound? What other products did they carry? It's a bad idea to only rely on one type of product. Have you looked indepth into their Tax Returns too see what they were spending money on?
Probably had far less to do with what GW did, and far more to do with how the stores business operations, cashflow, etc. Stores open and close a lot in the Comic/Game business. There's even a rumor that a bad economy can make business in general suck horribly and cause stores to do worse. But hey, easier to just blame GW for it.)
I have 3 GW stores in my area. We've been talking some about community building and are getting together to brainstorm some things next week. Having GW stores nearby isn't a death sentence to a FLGS unless you work hard to make it that way. And they can be so useful in teaching lots of new people to play, and then come to my store to buy things.)
spaceelf wrote:In terms of their stores in particular, they put lots of FLGS out of business by opening GW stores, and now close their stores, leaving the community without a store.
Funny how whenever called to put forth actual proof, this claim usually turns out to be overblown bs, and you see things like people bitching bitterly about 'that store that GW put out of business,' that actually closed years before GW put on in the area. Who knew that GW was putting Orrikan's space time shennanigans to use in their business model?
Lots of Balmer area stores have closed, and others stopped carrying GW products and miniature games in general since GW expanded.
Which illustrates my point rather nicely. What, if anything, did GW have to do with any of them going out of business? Does the timing even work? There are a lot of GW stores in the vicinity of Baltimore, so if every time a gaming store folds you blame GW, you're going to have a nice, long list, that doesn't actually have anything to do with GW but certainly sounds mean when you reel it off.
This lashing out at people who criticize GW is equally silly. The company does quite a few things which understandably angers its customers. Do they generally make high quality products and have (at least a history of) producing excellent settings for their games? Yes. Do they overcharge, are they overly paranoid/secretive, treat the Pacific like crap, treat WD like a catalog, unfair towards independent retailers, and are they outright bastards to their fanbase/internet community? Yes
Harriticus wrote:This lashing out at people who criticize GW is equally silly. The company does quite a few things which understandably angers its customers. Do they generally make high quality products and have (at least a history of) producing excellent settings for their games? Yes. Do they overcharge, are they overly paranoid/secretive, treat the Pacific like crap, treat WD like a catalog, unfair towards independent retailers, and are they outright bastards to their fanbase/internet community? Yes
curran12 wrote:I never was a fan of the "well if you don't like it, just ignore it" philosophy. If I don't like something, me ignoring it isn't going to make it vanish.
Why does it need to vanish? People are entitled to their opinion. They're entitled to express that opinion... that's what the forum is for.
If you're perception is that the majority of posts about GW are negative, perhaps it would be more productive to look into why people are negative about GW, rather than simply dismissing them as a 'problem' that needs to be dealt with somehow.
Dakka is not inherently anti-GW. That would be a little self-defeating since the site has always had a fairly major 40K focus. There certainly are some posters who feel strongly about GW and their recent (and in some cases not so recent) actions... but those posters are no more representative of Dakka as a whole than those posters who seem to feel that GW can do no wrong.
Most of us sit somewhere in between the two extremes, just like in pretty much any community.
On topic - I would agree that one store closing doesn't really say anything in itself, nor is it a 'beginning' of anything. GW have been re-sizing, closing and opening stores all along. One particular store closing just means that they decided to close that store.
While I have no love of 'finecast', to the OP: getting rid of fine cast won't save them money, so I'm not sure why you even mention it... finecast does nothing but save money for GW...especially with the fluctuation in tin prices over the years (read: exponential growth in price).
spaceelf wrote:In terms of their stores in particular, they put lots of FLGS out of business by opening GW stores, and now close their stores, leaving the community without a store.
Portugal Jones wrote:
Funny how whenever called to put forth actual proof, this claim usually turns out to be overblown bs, and you see things like people bitching bitterly about 'that store that GW put out of business,' that actually closed years before GW put on in the area. Who knew that GW was putting Orrikan's space time shennanigans to use in their business model?
spaceelf wrote:
Lots of Balmer area stores have closed, and others stopped carrying GW products and miniature games in general since GW expanded.
Game Sanctuary in Towson, and another comic shop in Towson closed. Alternate Worlds stopped carrying GW products. Legends of Towson has stopped dealing in miniature games.
Sergeant Horse wrote:
did they close due to GW, or were they financially unsound? What other products did they carry? It's a bad idea to only rely on one type of product. Have you looked indepth into their Tax Returns too see what they were spending money on?
Game Sanctuary carried a full range of Minis, RPGs, and MTG. The comic shop that I no longer remember the name of carried comics, MTG, and Minis. Having GW stores nearby undercut their business. Alternate Worlds and Legends are both still in business and used to carry GW products. They have since stopped because they are better off carrying other merchandise. Maybe that is why they are still in business.
Portugal Jones wrote:
What, if anything, did GW have to do with any of them going out of business? Does the timing even work? There are a lot of GW stores in the vicinity of Baltimore, so if every time a gaming store folds you blame GW, you're going to have a nice, long list, that doesn't actually have anything to do with GW but certainly sounds mean when you reel it off.
In my area GW stores took business away from the FLGS. If someone buys a box o marines at GW then they will not buy it at the FLGS. As GW expanded in the area, more and more FLGS went under and others stopped carrying GW items.
@ Mikhaila: You are correct Yorkridge is just about 12 on the Baltimore Beltway. There are FLGS stores in Baltimore, but few of them have gaming space.
Obviously your FLGS is very successful and is not stifled by GW. However, you are very much the 800 lb gorilla of FLGS. I believe that smaller stores are hurt by GW stores.
I can see MTG and Yu Gi Oh keeping stores alive. I have not seen any stores that stay in business based on GW sales, but maybe that is just a local thing.
As insaniak would know - in Brisbane/Ipswich we have had a few openings/closures/Staff reductions over the last few years.
All in all - I think the Thread Topic is somewhat misleading personally. YMMV.
All the power to the Independent stockists - Like Mikhaila etc.
And furthermore - to support his statement about cooperation between independant stores and GW - good business is where you make it. It doesn't just mystically appear.
spaceelf wrote:I believe that smaller stores are hurt by GW stores.
spaceelf wrote:I have not seen any stores that stay in business based on GW sales, but maybe that is just a local thing.
One of these things doesn't belong...
If an FLGS is relying on GW sales to stay afloat, then yes, a GW store opening nearby might be bad news. But specialising in one particular brand, unless you have some sort of special deal with the owner of that brand, is a surefire way to commit business suicide. I can't speak for other countries, obviously, but here in OZ those stores set up to cater specifically to the GW crowd (usually set up by a gamer who thinks 'Hey, how hard can it be? And I get stuff cheap! Woot!) have never lasted. They totter along selling stuff to their mates for a while, and then eventually collapse and disappear overnight.
For my money, if you're setting up a wargaming store and not including space to actually play games, you're setting yourself up for failure. If you're relying solely on selling GW product, you're also setting yourself up for failure.
If you're providing space to game, and selling other product, then a GW opening up nearby shouldn't necessarily be an issue... because you can do everything they can do, and more.
spaceelf wrote:I believe that smaller stores are hurt by GW stores.
spaceelf wrote:I have not seen any stores that stay in business based on GW sales, but maybe that is just a local thing.
One of these things doesn't belong...
If an FLGS is relying on GW sales to stay afloat, then yes, a GW store opening nearby might be bad news. But specialising in one particular brand, unless you have some sort of special deal with the owner of that brand, is a surefire way to commit business suicide. I can't speak for other countries, obviously, but here in OZ those stores set up to cater specifically to the GW crowd (usually set up by a gamer who thinks 'Hey, how hard can it be? And I get stuff cheap! Woot!) have never lasted. They totter along selling stuff to their mates for a while, and then eventually collapse and disappear overnight.
For my money, if you're setting up a wargaming store and not including space to actually play games, you're setting yourself up for failure. If you're relying solely on selling GW product, you're also setting yourself up for failure.
If you're providing space to game, and selling other product, then a GW opening up nearby shouldn't necessarily be an issue... because you can do everything they can do, and more.
Your point is taken about the statements.
I firmly believe that FLGS are hurt by local GW stores, as the GW stores compete for their business. Although FLGS can offer things a GW store cannot, they cannot be in two places at once. If the GW shop was more convenient for certain customers at certain times, then the FLGS lost business. Every dollar spent at GW is a dollar not spent at the FLGS. (Both Game Sanctuary and the comic shop had plenty of space to game. (It is the current FLGS that no longer have space))
The comment about GW sales keeping stores in business seems to be in keeping with your experience. GW sales alone do not keep a shop in business. However, without the income from them some shops go under.
Some people have commented about the title being misleading. Although I do not know of any other GW store closures, I suspect that there will be a good number of them. The reason is that GW has been trying to bolster its financial picture by cutting staff. They are currently running a skeleton crew of one man stores. The next thing to go are the stores themselves.
insaniak wrote:One of these things doesn't belong...
Thats because no other possibility for an indy shop going out of business exists. It can only be GW. Not the economy, not poor/inexperienced management on an owners parts, not an increase in rent or utilities, not an internet site offering the same stock and a more convenient shopping experience with a few simple mouse clicks, not just plain old disinterest in running a shop or any other external factor. Doom only comes when the evil yellow and red sign is hoisted over a new gaming store across town that sells only one product, allows only one product into its store and sells those products at regular retail thats already too high for some.
insaniak wrote: If you're providing space to game, and selling other product, then a GW opening up nearby shouldn't necessarily be an issue... because you can do everything they can do, and more.
A good case in point for that is Games and Stuff in Glen Burnie. It stayed in business before, during and after GW had its HQ and battle bunker in the same town, 5-10 minutes down the street, with about a half dozen smaller hobby centers in the baltimore metro area as well. They actually advertised for that store and a few others in the general area when the bunker was closing down.
As pointed out, thread title is misleading, as GW has been closing and opening stores for years and isn't indicative of any sort of trend. For better or worse, its business as usual.
Not only that, but if I may be permitted to make a bit of a sweeping generalisation, the US seems to have a much more fluid retail scene as far as GW are concerned - there seems to be a constant churn of stores opening and closing.
Contrast that with the UK where the vast majority of GW stores are well established - my local GW has been running in the same location for 20 years or so now (I should also mention that's not say that the UK hasn't had it's share of closures/new openings too!)
spaceelf wrote:Obviously your FLGS is very successful and is not stifled by GW. However, you are very much the 800 lb gorilla of FLGS. I believe that smaller stores are hurt by GW stores.
How do you think I got to be an 800lb gorilla?) Part of my stores success is absolutely because I pushed GW (and many other games) quite hard, carried a full line, and ran a lot of events. And I did a lot of that to make absolutely sure I wouldn't be losing business to a GW store. If I'm doing everything they do, why should someone go elsewhere to buy things? If it's due to geographic convenience, that's something that can happen due to any other store, not just a GW.
End of the day, GW stores run a ton of demo games and get people into GW games. A local FLGS can certainly take advantage of that. It's not automatic, and not easy. Don't do the work and the GW will be a drain on your store. Then again, so will other FLGS, walmart, 7-11's, etc.
spaceelf wrote:
I have not seen any stores that stay in business based on GW sales, but maybe that is just a local thing.
Definitely a local thing. I know of many stores that can do over 10k a month in GW. Even 6k a month can pay the rent for a medium sized store. Stores not working too hard at GW will have a few hundred in sales per month.
My lord! Whenever I log it seems like another 50 of these treadds have poped up. I do not agree with everything GW dose, but they provide me with plastic crack. And if a shop closes so be it, I can always shop online
I've never seen this thread. Golly gee winnickers Batman. Oh! That reminds me I have to get back to posting my Konrad Kruze vs Batman Thread. Then after that i'm going to go update my blog full of DIY chapter that fought with the Tau in the Ghoul Stars.
To whichever sod reads this. I want you not to assume my voice as smug but as the most high pitched jittery cackle you've ever heard. Like the Joker if he lost his testicles in a knife fight with Scarecrow and inhaled a -lot- of helium.
I've never seen this thread. Golly gee winnickers Batman. Oh! That reminds me I have to get back to posting my Konrad Kruze vs Batman Thread. Then after that i'm going to go update my blog full of DIY chapter that fought with the Tau in the Ghoul Stars.
To whichever sod reads this. I want you not to assume my voice as smug but as the most high pitched jittery cackle you've ever heard. Like the Joker if he lost his testicles in a knife fight with Scarecrow and inhaled a -lot- of helium.
THIS wins the tread by a longshot! Seriosly, why do we keep making these damned tarpits of treads! Its not like abybody is holding a knife to your neck and forcing you play GW games is it!
Well to be fair. It's about a store closure. That's alittle more rare. It's just the way he worded it he obviously sounds like he's having a good time. I'd fething croak if my store closed. Sure theres two. But the other one is ripe full of WAAC gamers. And i'm willing to bet some hardcore Privateer Press elitists. They probably would take me if I brought my Beastmen or Space Wolves. And shackle me. And make me destroy all my models.
Then make me ride the Spanish Donkey if I didn't comply. So yeah. I'd defiantly make a thread if my store closed. I'd also go into vivid detail about my fond memories of getting into this great hobby which I all owe to it. And the lovely group of people I play games with every thursday.
...White Knight eh? That's a fething first. If I didn't wear my current tag with pride. I'd quote that guy. I think i've been called everything -but- that.
Trondheim wrote:Seriosly, why do we keep making these damned tarpits of treads! Its not like abybody is holding a knife to your neck and forcing you play GW games is it!
People are invested in their hobbies. Is it really surprising that they want to discuss it when things happen that affect that hobby?
If I may speak on behalf of my good pal Trondheim. I think Insaniak he's commenting on the fact it's turning into a GW bashing thread. Not what I think the original point of the thread was. The closure of GW stores.
People are invested in their hobbies. Is it really surprising that they want to discuss it when things happen that affect that hobby?
Umm yes, when that discusin time and time again boils down to a complet circle jerk of aimed at GW, or those who are of an different opinon. But then again this site dose seem to have more than its fair share of people who complain just for the sake of doing said thing. And I assume most people here can acctuly accses more than one GW shop or independet retailer in their home towns. or failing that shop online!
Shadowbrand wrote:...White Knight eh? That's a fething first. If I didn't wear my current tag with pride. I'd quote that guy. I think i've been called everything -but- that.
Thanks man.
Actually I was referring to Trondheim, I couldn't understand a word of your post to begin with. But you can keep the title if you wan't it...
spaceelf wrote:I believe that smaller stores are hurt by GW stores.
spaceelf wrote:I have not seen any stores that stay in business based on GW sales, but maybe that is just a local thing.
One of these things doesn't belong...
If an FLGS is relying on GW sales to stay afloat, then yes, a GW store opening nearby might be bad news. But specialising in one particular brand, unless you have some sort of special deal with the owner of that brand, is a surefire way to commit business suicide. I can't speak for other countries, obviously, but here in OZ those stores set up to cater specifically to the GW crowd (usually set up by a gamer who thinks 'Hey, how hard can it be? And I get stuff cheap! Woot!) have never lasted. They totter along selling stuff to their mates for a while, and then eventually collapse and disappear overnight.
For my money, if you're setting up a wargaming store and not including space to actually play games, you're setting yourself up for failure. If you're relying solely on selling GW product, you're also setting yourself up for failure.
If you're providing space to game, and selling other product, then a GW opening up nearby shouldn't necessarily be an issue... because you can do everything they can do, and more.
Your point is taken about the statements.
I firmly believe that FLGS are hurt by local GW stores, as the GW stores compete for their business. Although FLGS can offer things a GW store cannot, they cannot be in two places at once. If the GW shop was more convenient for certain customers at certain times, then the FLGS lost business. Every dollar spent at GW is a dollar not spent at the FLGS. (Both Game Sanctuary and the comic shop had plenty of space to game. (It is the current FLGS that no longer have space))
So your stance is that GW is somehow at fault because they were smarter about running their business than the stores that closed? Golly, mean ol' GW, putting their stores somewhere easy to get to instead of in the middle of the Patascopo River.
The fact of the matter is (and I'd imagine this is true with most people), I'd rather go to one store that carries rpgs, wargames, and ccgs, and supports the attendant community, rather than three separate stores that each specialize in one. How did GW lure away such a signifigant portion of their customer base that it killed them? It certainly wasn't through discounts and loyalty programs, or a willingness to show off and share other games.
You also seem to be ignoring the fact that they'd be competing against each other as well, and not just GW.
You could always hit the ignore button in posts in don't like. A tool I should use more often actually...
I totally could, but I am trying (my best anyway) to integrate with the wider community as a whole. I don't want to just block out what bugs me, I want to understand it and hopefully try to find some middle ground.
I never was a fan of the "well if you don't like it, just ignore it" philosophy. If I don't like something, me ignoring it isn't going to make it vanish.
Mate, you've been a member here for less than 2 months, and at this point, fractionally over 5% of your posts are in this thread essentially trolling others. There's a lot to talk about on Dakka, and trolling others with talk about PP (Privateer Press? Who was talking about them?) The "I don't ignore things I don't like" stance doesn't make much sense on the internet. You're not exactly going to affect change by trolling in this thread.
Games Workshop Vorhees in NJ is probably going to close soon. After firing their previous manager, alot of the regulars and those loyal to him just stopped purchasing from the stores or simply stop coming.
In this economy, you really have to be on your game to stay afloat as a store. Money is very tight nowadays. Gaming is a hobby built for those with disposable income. As a store, you have to get people in the store and spending money to even have a hope to stay afloat, plus you need them to keep coming back and spending lots of money in the store.
GW sells one brand of products, their own. They offer gaming space, and teach newbies how to play the game, they also do this at full retail price. As a retailer, you have the ability to undercut their prices by a small amount and still make a healthy profit, they don't have that luxury.
A gaming store needs to have ample gaming space. A single table in a corner will help a bit, but it won't win the war. My local FLGS for example has around 20 tables, and in the evening, on most nights many of them are in use through wise use of planning events. There are different leagues for different games. Magic the Gathering being a big part of their business, having good prize support and a good community gets a lot of asses in chairs, and to participate in stuff like Friday Night Magic, everyone has to buy in to the round which provides packs of cards. My FLGS also has reps from different companies doing demo games. They also provide a large bookshelf full of board games that you can just pick up and play if you are waiting for people to show up.
They also chose a very good location for the store. It's not on a highway, but a 4 lane street with ample fast food/restaurant options nearby. It is also on a city bus route that lets younger gamers get to the store without bugging their parents for a ride.
They also keep their finger on the pulse of the local gaming community to make sure they can supply the products for what people want to play, but also being diverse enough that any single product line falling out of favor won't sink them. Recently the community got into Heroclix and Infinity. By wise use of leagues for games, you get more people seeing the game being played, which then they might pick up to be able to participate. Would I have picked up a decent sized Hordes army if I hadn't seen it played at the store quite often? Not a chance.
At my local store, for now at least, Fantasy is on the wane, which means my FLGS doesn't stock as much there, a GW store on the other hand, has to fully stock the game and then sit on that stock hoping to shift it. At my store, GW terrain has edged into the fantasy rack, from its previous spot on the 40k wall, while the 40k wall has taken advantage of the extra space and stocked up even more since that is 'hot' right now. Infinity took a bit of the Privateer Press section, leaving it just slightly under double the size of the Fantasy section, and the D&D and other RPG wall has been pretty steady.
GW store employees are (mostly) just enthusiastic gamers who got hired by GW. Of course there's fanbois amongst them, but in the end the overarching majority of them that I've met are just nice guys who work in a GW store. Sure, they've outwardly over-enthusiastic about the stuff, and hype up the latest releases, but that's part of their job as well, and if they didn't do that, they'd end up made redundant.
I stop in my local GW (at the Mall 15 minutes from home) and pick up WD every month. Sometimes I'll pick up something small and hobby-related like a wash or something like Liquid GS, etc, but I don't buy figures there - I used to occasionally, but not after the last price hikes. My former FLGS is about an hour away, and has never been run by people all that Friendly anyway...
Honestly... one shop? This is based on the closure of one shop? Shops close and open all the time. In case you haven't noticed, it's a recession, and GW isn't immune to that.
filbert wrote:Not only that, but if I may be permitted to make a bit of a sweeping generalisation, the US seems to have a much more fluid retail scene as far as GW are concerned - there seems to be a constant churn of stores opening and closing.
Contrast that with the UK where the vast majority of GW stores are well established - my local GW has been running in the same location for 20 years or so now (I should also mention that's not say that the UK hasn't had it's share of closures/new openings too!)
Indeed.
Although conversely the sheer almost monopoly GW stores have in the UK means it's hard for a FLGS to get established as a lot of gamers I've met locally seem to have a "GW or nothing" attitude due to the fact their only gaming outlet was a GW store (this is obviously different in places like Mansfield for example where Maelstrom is a strong presence on the gaming community).
It always strikes me as something our American cousins don't "get" (just as some of us UKers cannot fathom why they've never seen a GW store in their life. America is big.) Whereas they have a churn and burn of GW stores and many an FLGS out there (compared to the UK, I can count the major ones on 1 hand more or less) to play all of the games under the sun that they feel like, many people in the UK are simply restricted to playing GW's games unless they can start a gaming club, play at home or go to their FLGS if they have one.
To me, this is felt most harshly at my local gaming club, that we've been trying for many years to get Warmahordes going there, people just aren't having it, they have their GW security blanket and don't want to branch out. As of last week I've been fanning the flames somewhat and running demos and showing off the models so hopefully it will pick up, but whatever my point was again before I went on this ramble, GW's foothold in the UK stymies the growth of the hobby in public view IMO and I'm failing to see how a store closing is an entirely bad thing for the community as they will have to adapt, maybe form a gaming club; something which I've heard is not a very widespread thing in the US, with gaming clubs being a very UK... thing.
GW stores closing might be good news for nearby FLGSs, but it would NOT be good news for GW's "competitors".
Make no mistake, GW's largest "rival" is nowhere near the size of GW. The mini wargaming hobby is a niche of a niche, and is only as big as it is because of GW. If GW never existed, mini wargaming would be a bunch of old men playing napoleonics, and a few crusty grognards holding on to scraps of battletech. So no, GW being in trouble is NOT good news for their "competitors"... GW is the battleship that all the other little frigates sail safely in the shadow of.
However, stores closing cast NO reflection on the overall state of GW. Its simply the sign of bean-counters being on point. Keep in mind, GW is the ONLY miniatures company with ANY stores. If a store isnt showing growth, why not close it down? Saves GW costs, while local hobbyists will still buy online or at other FLGSs.
It seems all the GW hate stems from gamers who aren't comfortable with GW actually being ran like every other retail corporation, rather than a couple fellas pouring molds in their basement. Its just the nature of the beast when something grows to that size. Let's not hate on success. If you really want to see something fail that would please miniatures games companies... quit playing video games.
I guess I love the hobby enough, I don't want to see ANY miniatures company fail.
Battle Ready Studios wrote:GW stores closing might be good news for nearby FLGSs, but it would NOT be good news for GW's "competitors".
Make no mistake, GW's largest "rival" is nowhere near the size of GW. The mini wargaming hobby is a niche of a niche, and is only as big as it is because of GW. If GW never existed, mini wargaming would be a bunch of old men playing napoleonics, and a few crusty grognards holding on to scraps of battletech. So no, GW being in trouble is NOT good news for their "competitors"... GW is the battleship that all the other little frigates sail safely in the shadow of.
However, stores closing cast NO reflection on the overall state of GW. Its simply the sign of bean-counters being on point. Keep in mind, GW is the ONLY miniatures company with ANY stores. If a store isnt showing growth, why not close it down? Saves GW costs, while local hobbyists will still buy online or at other FLGSs.
It seems all the GW hate stems from gamers who aren't comfortable with GW actually being ran like every other retail corporation, rather than a couple fellas pouring molds in their basement. Its just the nature of the beast when something grows to that size. Let's not hate on success. If you really want to see something fail that would please miniatures games companies... quit playing video games.
I guess I love the hobby enough, I don't want to see ANY miniatures company fail.
Wow, you really drank from the cool aid didn't you?
I could get on a lengthy tirade on sales figures and the like, but after having visited your site, I'll give you the same discount that I give other people that wouldn't make a living without GW. Its your way of making a buck, so I'll rate your post in accordance.
PhantomViper wrote: Wow, you really drank from the cool aid didn't you?
I could get on a lengthy tirade on sales figures and the like, but after having visited your site, I'll give you the same discount that I give other people that wouldn't make a living without GW. Its your way of making a buck, so I'll rate your post in accordance.
There's drinking the cool aid, and then there's bathing in the stuff.
I suspect that a lot of the vitriol is that many people actually liked Warhammer and all that it has begat. What they hate is what GW (The business model) insists on doing to both the hobby at large and the HOBBY they insist they are. Like a good friend from childhood growing up to be a dick.
ArbeitsSchu wrote:I suspect that a lot of the vitriol is that many people actually liked Warhammer and all that it has begat. What they hate is what GW (The business model) insists on doing to both the hobby at large and the HOBBY they insist they are. Like a good friend from childhood growing up to be a dick.
This, at least for me. I would love to be more involved with GW games. I have a partially finished skaven army at home that can attest to that. But it's hard to get motivated to finish it when prices keep going up, and the reports that I hear about this edition of Fantasy are so bad.
To the OP... Chill out, dude. One store closing isn't the end of the world, and none of us should want it to be. We want GW to get better, not die.
rockerbikie wrote:They've never closed an Australian store.
I've never seen an English store close... *prepares to be proved wrong*... as repeated before one store closin gis not the end of the world. They may be opening another nearby in a better spot.
Battle Ready Studios wrote:GW stores closing might be good news for nearby FLGSs, but it would NOT be good news for GW's "competitors".
Make no mistake, GW's largest "rival" is nowhere near the size of GW. The mini wargaming hobby is a niche of a niche, and is only as big as it is because of GW. If GW never existed, mini wargaming would be a bunch of old men playing napoleonics, and a few crusty grognards holding on to scraps of battletech. So no, GW being in trouble is NOT good news for their "competitors"... GW is the battleship that all the other little frigates sail safely in the shadow of.
However, stores closing cast NO reflection on the overall state of GW. Its simply the sign of bean-counters being on point. Keep in mind, GW is the ONLY miniatures company with ANY stores. If a store isnt showing growth, why not close it down? Saves GW costs, while local hobbyists will still buy online or at other FLGSs.
It seems all the GW hate stems from gamers who aren't comfortable with GW actually being ran like every other retail corporation, rather than a couple fellas pouring molds in their basement. Its just the nature of the beast when something grows to that size. Let's not hate on success. If you really want to see something fail that would please miniatures games companies... quit playing video games.
I guess I love the hobby enough, I don't want to see ANY miniatures company fail.
Wow, you really drank from the cool aid didn't you?
I could get on a lengthy tirade on sales figures and the like, but after having visited your site, I'll give you the same discount that I give other people that wouldn't make a living without GW. Its your way of making a buck, so I'll rate your post in accordance.
Its just math.
Privateer is commonly accepted as GW's largest competitor. Since they are not publicly traded, their financials are not easily accessible. However, several independent business profile services including Hoovers, Manta, and Dun & Bradstreet note Privateer as generating $1m to $5m in yearly sales. Even if the true number is as much as 300% higher than that, it still puts their sales at roughly 10% of GW's yearly sales.
As hobbyists, we can often have a difficult time seperating our hobby prejudices and preferences from what is actually occurring out there in the business world. I quite like Warmachine (Khador is the coolest faction in any game. ever.), I enjoy other wargames such as Flames of War and Infinity. I am also quite intrigued by games like Dust Tactics and Dystopian Wars ...I only seem to receive GW commissions because that is the VAST majority of miniatures gamers out there.
Really my point is that we can like other companies and hope they grow and do well WITHOUT wishing ill on Big Bad GW.
ArbeitsSchu wrote:I suspect that a lot of the vitriol is that many people actually liked Warhammer and all that it has begat. What they hate is what GW (The business model) insists on doing to both the hobby at large and the HOBBY they insist they are. Like a good friend from childhood growing up to be a dick.
This, at least for me. I would love to be more involved with GW games. I have a partially finished skaven army at home that can attest to that. But it's hard to get motivated to finish it when prices keep going up, and the reports that I hear about this edition of Fantasy are so bad.
To the OP... Chill out, dude. One store closing isn't the end of the world, and none of us should want it to be. We want GW to get better, not die.
Instead of listening to reports, why not try and see what you think for yourself?
Battle Ready Studios wrote:GW stores closing might be good news for nearby FLGSs, but it would NOT be good news for GW's "competitors".
Make no mistake, GW's largest "rival" is nowhere near the size of GW. The mini wargaming hobby is a niche of a niche, and is only as big as it is because of GW. If GW never existed, mini wargaming would be a bunch of old men playing napoleonics, and a few crusty grognards holding on to scraps of battletech. So no, GW being in trouble is NOT good news for their "competitors"... GW is the battleship that all the other little frigates sail safely in the shadow of.
However, stores closing cast NO reflection on the overall state of GW. Its simply the sign of bean-counters being on point. Keep in mind, GW is the ONLY miniatures company with ANY stores. If a store isnt showing growth, why not close it down? Saves GW costs, while local hobbyists will still buy online or at other FLGSs.
It seems all the GW hate stems from gamers who aren't comfortable with GW actually being ran like every other retail corporation, rather than a couple fellas pouring molds in their basement. Its just the nature of the beast when something grows to that size. Let's not hate on success. If you really want to see something fail that would please miniatures games companies... quit playing video games.
I guess I love the hobby enough, I don't want to see ANY miniatures company fail.
It is irrelevant to debate the history of mini wargaming. You never really state the reason that you think that GW closing would be bad for their competitors. I am confident that if GW closed up shop the hobby would continue, and that most GW customers would migrate to other games such as Warmachine. This is an outcome that would definitely benefit their competitors. (I do not think that GW will go out of business anytime soon. I do not hope that the company goes out of business. However, I would like the company to change its policies and stop treating its customers and employees like dirt.)
In terms of your comment about closing stores that are not in growth I would like to respond there are many reasons not to close a store that is not in growth. Firstly, the economy is in a dreadful state, and thus expecting growth at this point in time is not realistic. Secondly, and more pertinently, the store may actually be profitable, but not in growth. If I owned a store that made money in this economy I would be quite happy, even if said store were not in growth.
space wrote:elf I am confident that if GW closed up shop the hobby would continue, and that most GW customers would migrate to other games such as Warmachine.
curran12 wrote:And thanks for proving my problems with the PP community. It's not about the games, it is about you wanting to be smug and condescending.
<broadcast mode active: enhance your calm, and keep your discussions on-topic, or you may experience some problems here, too>
Towson native for a few years now--I've been to the Yorkridge store a number of times.
I feel bad that it's closing, but I'm not surprised.
The store in question was always clean and well-stocked, but it was regrettably closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, which usually meant that my post-gaming-weekend dollar got spent on Amazon.
The store also never opened earlier than 2 p.m. on weekdays, which meant that if I wanted to get in an early afternoon game (I'm a student) with a friend then I'd have to go elsewhere, and elsewhere we went.
Rounding out the trifecta were the lunch breaks, made necessary by the store's light staffing. There was an hour or so lunch break during which the store was closed, every day. Although these were always regularly scheduled and John once opened up so I could buy something I'd called ahead about, scheduling one's visits around the proprietor's lunch was always a bit of a turn-off.
Honestly, I'm not even certain if this is an involuntary closure. Although the staff was professional, the lack of hours suggests to me that John really wasn't into the store.
There are also several other stores in the area, both GW (White Marsh is about 20 mins away) and otherwise (Collector's Corner is about 10 mins away). Both of these stores keeps good hours and the area does not lack for good gaming stores.
rockerbikie wrote:They've never closed an Australian store.
I've never seen an English store close... *prepares to be proved wrong*... as repeated before one store closin gis not the end of the world. They may be opening another nearby in a better spot.
Apparently there used to be one here in Wisbech but it disappeared...we used to have a GW factory too...that moved up north for some reason :/
And I too do not want GW to fail...the only other FLGS I know of is at least 2 hours drive away. Without my local GW there is nowhere else I can go to to be part of the hobby.
That Yorkridge location was doomed when Borders closed. Its in a weird location, with not much around it. You cant see the store from the road either. York road is awful to travel on. Between that store's hours and the just sheer dreadfulness of Legends over the past decade, Towson and the surrounding areas has been under served when it comes to Warhammer, and gaming in general.
As erewego86 said, slide over a few miles around the beltway and things seem much greener. The White Marsh GW has to keep a 7 day, full day schedule due to the shopping area they are in. They have tons of foot traffic going by all day, and do a good job of fostering community. Collector's Corner seems to be finding a good balance, especially after the move. In general, Baltimore is not hurting for gaming options, both still having a huge amount of GW stores and some good to great indy places. I couldn't say if the closing is isolated or not, but I'd guess that it is GW closing a store that no longer made sense to keep open.
At Erewego86: That's actually pretty close to the hours that GW is mandating for all of it's one man stores. They take two days off a week, usually mon/tue, and have to take that hour break. Aren't really allowed not to. The two Philly stores keep mostly the same hours. I don't see the point myself, but I quit trying to wrap my mind around what the UK mandates the US market to do.
There's a lot of reasons why they might be closing the store. Foremost is that the lease is up. It may not be a good place to keep a GW store, especially if there are a lot of empty shops in the center, especially a dead Borders. Rent is negotiable in this economy. GW may just be closing that store, re-evaluting the Baltimore area and deciding if they want another store nearby, or it they are good with the stores they have.
Considering how many different people have talked to me in the last two weeks about opening stores in Baltimore, I don't think the area will be hurting for long. May get substantially better for gaming in fact.
Hey I like painting 40k Models. Playing games here and there. I've been around since 3rd edition, well off and on. But prices do increase but on the level GW does, is a little off. Plus they seem to ignore what the customers want. You learn from your mistakes. I don't hate GW I just think they are not listening to the consumers. Finecast was a BIG mistake, yet GW still gets rid of metal. How many people would be fine with it being plastic at the same price? No, that won't do. Instead we will make a model that is not of a higher quality and charge your more. That is just a move to save money I guess, GW pissed many people off. I feel meh because I know the finecast won't make it forever.
mikhaila wrote:Considering how many different people have talked to me in the last two weeks about opening stores in Baltimore, I don't think the area will be hurting for long. May get substantially better for gaming in fact.
Can you elaborate on that? Like solid plans for some stores? Or is it just people putting out hypothetical feelers and asking for what it takes to start it up?
I ask because any hobby shop opening in my backyard would be awesome.
XCom wrote:Finecast was a BIG mistake, yet GW still gets rid of metal. How many people would be fine with it being plastic at the same price? No, that won't do. Instead we will make a model that is not of a higher quality and charge your more. That is just a move to save money I guess, GW pissed many people off. I feel meh because I know the finecast won't make it forever.
You don't seem to understand the main difference between plastic anf metal/resin molds.
Metal/resin molds are rubber spin cast molds. These are very cheap to make, but need replacing regularly. They are excellent for models you don't expect to sell a lot of, because while they're cheaper make and produce models for, the fact that they get replaced regularly means the cost of producing the models is constant. This is fine for what they use them for.
Die cut plastic injection molds are serious business. They cost an absolute gakton to make initially, but they don't degrade very much. Occasionally one will break and need repairing/replacing, but they are pretty much make mold, produce models until the company dies. They are expensive to make, IIRC the figure floating around for the type GW uses was $10,000 per mold. Consider that every large sprue is a mold, and complex plastic kits reach 3-4 sprues sometimes. These are what you use for things you expect to sell a lot of, because once the mold is made, all you're doing is maintaining is and buying plastic to run through it. The up front cost is dampened over time.
Then there's the detail difference. Forgetting the finecast hype, rubber spin cast molds let them do sculpting techniques you can't do with plastic molds for better levels of detail, like undercuts. The new Fantasy range of plastic characters is a very odd move - though very well received by the customerbase. But look at what they're producing, minor generic heroes that anyone with said army can fit into their collection, on sprues cut to fit 4 different characters. They can write off poor sales for one or two if the rest sell well. This isn't something they could do with, say, Dark Eldar Wracks which, if they don't end up selling as well as needed (which is what they expect, and why they went finecast), they can't make the money back on the expensive mold.
GW uses finecast for models they don't expect to sell in the quantities needed to make a good profit on a plastic mold, or models they expect to change on some way or another (look at the Tyranids, they have significant range alterations almost every edition for their metals). GW simply cannot, and should not, move all metal production to plastic. Finecast is the replacement, and they're not going to back out. This sort of thing is a business decision, and despite what you think of the managment, they do know whats going on and how their bottom line is being affected. They wouldn't have built a company worth 120 million pounds if they didn't.
XCom wrote:Finecast was a BIG mistake, yet GW still gets rid of metal. How many people would be fine with it being plastic at the same price? No, that won't do. Instead we will make a model that is not of a higher quality and charge your more. That is just a move to save money I guess, GW pissed many people off. I feel meh because I know the finecast won't make it forever.
You don't seem to understand the main different between plastic anf metal/resin molds.
Metal/resin molds are rubber spin cast molds. These are very cheap to make, but need replacing regularly. They are excellent for models you don't expect to sell a lot of, because while they're cheaper make and produce models for, the fact that they get replaced regularly means the cost of producing the models is constant. This is fine for what they use them for.
Die cut plastic injection molds are serious business. They cost an absolute shitton to make initially, but they don't degrade very much. Occasionally one will break and need repairing/replacing, but they are pretty much make mold, produce models until the company dies. They are expensive to make, IIRC the figure floating around for the type GW uses was $10,000 per mold. Consider that every large sprue is a mold, and complex plastic kits reach 3-4 sprues sometimes. These are what you use for things you expect to sell a lot of, because once the mold is made, all you're doing is maintaining is and buying plastic to run through it. The up front cost is dampened over time.
GW uses finecast for models they don't expect to sell in the quantities needed to make a good profit on a plastic mold, or models they expect to change on some way or another (look at the Tyranids, they have significant range alterations almost every edition for their metals). GW simply cannot move all metal production to plastic. Finecast is the replacement, and they're not going to back out. This sort of thing is a business decision, and despite what you think of the managment, they do know whats going on and how their bottom line is being affected. They wouldn't have built a company worth 120 million pounds if they didn't.
The only way to stop finecast is to not buy it.
I'm personally never going to purchase a finecast model. I'll ebay what I need, convert what I need, or bring in something from another model range if needed. Your right, management sees the bottom line. They saw metal was expensive, and decided to switch to finecast. Once it becomes apparent that the terrible quality of finecast is lowering sales below the money saved by switching to finecast, we may see a re-release of metal models.
I liked the metal guys. Sure, they were hard to convert / work with, but I cannot recall a time where I got a miscast metal model.
Horst wrote:The only way to stop finecast is to not buy it.
Which will require everyone not buying it. Which won't happen, because the majority of their customer base seems to be happy with it. Message board populations are not the majority of their customers. There's plenty of customers, even adult customers, out there that play GW games without posting on message boards at all. Without getting those people to stop buying them as well, you're not going to make any difference.
There's also the fact that most of the people that gripe about finecast on messageboards still buy the models. It's all well and good saying you'll never buy a finecast model, but starting a Tomb Kings, Ogre Kingdom or Dark Eldar army without buying any finecast models is pretty much not possible without putting serious time into conversions. And it'll happen like this for all future army releases.
Not buying finecast will do nothing to stop GW converting more stuff to it, because it's not possible to get enough people to stop buying it to make GW take notice.
Well I play space marines, and the only other armies I'd ever be interested in playing are GK or IG, which are both either plastic or have forgeworld models available, so honestly its very easy for me to say I'll never use finecast.
People can do what they want, but I'll never buy it
Yeah some of the fine cast I have bought lately have been fantastic. But the original versions were horrible. I still love GW stuff but the one thing that stops me buying rediculous amounts of "plastic crack" is painting time.
I bought An airbrush two days ago, when I walked into a GW store today I showed them some of the work I had done. So they eventually found out I was using an airbrush. That was when the gak hit the fan, they told me that "their" products, should be painted with "their" paints, and "their" spray gun. I will no longer be supporting GW stores, I will still buy their products every now and again. But as of today I am only buying from FLGS. I still love their models, but their business model is killing me.
My only finecast problems have been small holes in the models...these were stupidly easy to remedy by either filling them with liquid gs or just making them bigger or into chips in the armour and calling it battle damage
I honestly don't see what people don't like about it, it's no more problematic than FW in my experience.
And it seems I am lucky with my local GW, the manager there is rather lenient...we get away with using non GW glues and brushes in store without any gripe...we even have the occasional talk about other companies products
Horst wrote:The only way to stop finecast is to not buy it.
Which will require everyone not buying it. Which won't happen, because the majority of their customer base seems to be happy with it. Message board populations are not the majority of their customers. There's plenty of customers, even adult customers, out there that play GW games without posting on message boards at all. Without getting those people to stop buying them as well, you're not going to make any difference.
There's also the fact that most of the people that gripe about finecast on messageboards still buy the models. It's all well and good saying you'll never buy a finecast model, but starting a Tomb Kings, Ogre Kingdom or Dark Eldar army without buying any finecast models is pretty much not possible without putting serious time into conversions. And it'll happen like this for all future army releases.
Not buying finecast will do nothing to stop GW converting more stuff to it, because it's not possible to get enough people to stop buying it to make GW take notice.
You seem to be assuming that the "non-messaging" part of the community are all having a happy problem-free finecast experience and not independently complaining or boycotting? Surely there is an equal possibility that people who do not use forums can still see a pile of toss when it is handed to them? Consumers have been complaining successfully for years before ever the internerds existed. They may be doing that even now.
mikhaila wrote:
There's a lot of reasons why they might be closing the store. Foremost is that the lease is up. It may not be a good place to keep a GW store, especially if there are a lot of empty shops in the center, especially a dead Borders. Rent is negotiable in this economy. GW may just be closing that store, re-evaluting the Baltimore area and deciding if they want another store nearby, or it they are good with the stores they have.
Considering how many different people have talked to me in the last two weeks about opening stores in Baltimore, I don't think the area will be hurting for long. May get substantially better for gaming in fact.
The shopping center is not ideal in certain respects. It is not right off of 695, and foot traffic is not good. However, it is fuller than it has been in decades. I think there are two empty slots, Borders being one of them. It has a Kohls, a Michaels, and a new grocery. However, as you stated rent
is negotiable, so the lease being up could work in their favor.
I think that this is a case of GW just soaking the local economy for what it is worth and then moving on.
It would be great if a new gaming store opened in Bmore. Most stores around here lack gaming space. White Marsh is tiny and only has a couple of tables. The same is true for Collectors Corner. One of the problems is the oppressive business laws in Maryland. Businesses pay tax on their inventory and on their property. Thus, even gaming tables are taxed, ... every year. Big companies like GW can get around this by shifting stuff around, but little guys stuck with the bill. The price of rent also makes it hard to justify devoting space to gaming. It is quite sad.
Once it becomes apparent that the terrible quality of finecast is lowering sales below the money saved by switching to finecast, we may see a re-release of metal models.
Expect a price rise higher than Finecast then, because the price of metal is skyrocketing.
inquisitorlewis wrote:Also good to hear positive reports of finecast products.
I was livid when I got a finecast butcher, bought online, and found that it was an absolutely perfect cast, and much better detail than the metal butcher I already have.
I thought about complaining anyway, in the hope of getting a free model
Tech Guard wrote:Yeah some of the fine cast I have bought lately have been fantastic. But the original versions were horrible. I still love GW stuff but the one thing that stops me buying rediculous amounts of "plastic crack" is painting time.
I bought An airbrush two days ago, when I walked into a GW store today I showed them some of the work I had done. So they eventually found out I was using an airbrush. That was when the gak hit the fan, they told me that "their" products, should be painted with "their" paints, and "their" spray gun. I will no longer be supporting GW stores, I will still buy their products every now and again. But as of today I am only buying from FLGS. I still love their models, but their business model is killing me.
Games Sanctuary was a dirty store, with hardly any product, and a lot of older stuff for OOP games. Their game room was small and dingy and they charged for playing on the tables.
Alternate Worlds had a small selection of product, and relied upon volunteers to run games on Sundays and push product. When Yorkridge opened up rather than keep selling, they just stopped carrying the product on the belief that they would not keep up sales. Alternate Worlds was my first regular comic store, and it is a small, clean store, but no real room for gaming. I ran GW games there and they tried to get me to run DnD 3.5.
Legends of Towson is where I first got started in Warhammer and 40K. The owner Randy is a nice guy, and I consider him a friend. Unfortunately for him he had employees who were not honest or diligent, and the store went through some ups and downs. He started in TowsonTown Mall, moved to a location down the street, had both open at one time, then permanently moved out of the mall. The York Road location was fantastic...dirty and dingy, but a great crowd and an upstairs gaming room that you could hang out in, and after hours have beer and 40K. I ran games and DnD for Randy. Eventually he moved across the street, and three things happened. First, he had limited gaming area. Second, the card gamers took over the gaming space, and most of his hardcore players graduated from high school and college. Oh, and no parking. I also had to stop running games for him.With the up and down overall sales of the store, and some shifty trade managers at GW, Randy finally decided enough was enough for Warhammer and 40K. He has since moved the store onto Joppa Road near the Wal Mart, attached to his wife's Thai restaurant, Spice and Dice. He has no gaming space except for some private tables in the back that can be used for card gaming and DnD.
And that's about it for the Towson area. Collector's Corner is in an edgy neighborhood ( you can find a hooker after gaming hours), and like Legends it looks like the card gamers are dominant there, but the staff are nice. The main table for 40k is in a cramped room, but they can set up tables in the back gaming room.
Other than that, aside from White Marsh I think there was a GW store in Owings Mills. That's about it north of Baltimore, though there is Critical Hit games in Bel Air. Now south of the city there's Games and Stuff, but I've only gone to tournaments there. I've heard rumors of a new store opening up somewhere nearer to the highway intersections.....ok I know there is but I am sworn to secrecy.
I almost bought out Randy in the early 2000's, and I am glad I did not because I would not have been successful.
What's the secret about a successful FLGS???? Recruit recruit recruit. Get new people to get into gaming. Stock all the product so they will make immediate impulse purchaes. Hold great events and invite people and promote promote promote. In the end it is a ton of hard work, and unless you are really good at it ( like Showcase is, and how Games and Stuff seems to be), you'll fail. It has nothing to do with whether a GW is nearby or not, because a good FLGS with alot of gaming area always beats a GW store.
Scipio.au: I'd like not to say, even though they pissed me off it is really GW that is speaking. I really don't want to land any body in $hit. After all it is their job, they are just complying to a set of rules [even if these rules are a bit linient sometimes]. I recently found another GW that is much friendlier, Maybe that store was just a bad egg. But after my experiences I will be more hesitant to step into a GW.
You will get some gak-heads who work in GW and absolutely believe the company line (aka "True believers").
I'm still waiting for GW to release their own distilled bottled water for the purpose of thinning THEIR paints (naturally for use with THEIR brushes and THEIR water pot).
I probably ran into another of that salesperson's clonekin years ago. He also maintained that I should be using their brushes with their paints as their brushes were formulated to work better with the paints than other companies' brushes.
Tech Guard wrote:Scipio.au: I'd like not to say, even though they pissed me off it is really GW that is speaking. I really don't want to land any body in $hit. After all it is their job, they are just complying to a set of rules [even if these rules are a bit linient sometimes]. I recently found another GW that is much friendlier, Maybe that store was just a bad egg. But after my experiences I will be more hesitant to step into a GW.
Well, their job is to push and promote their product and "the Games Workshop Hobby". That in no way extends to telling customers which paints or spray guns they should be using, particularly in a rude manner. Given that their spray gun is only any good for base coating, and that any GW employee with half a brain knows where airbrushes fit into our hobby (overlap with the gun but does so much more.) - not to mention that their paints work in an airbrush (though I wouldn't recommend them) and Game Colour looks identical to Citadel anyway. If it went down in the way you described, they way overstepped the line.
chromedog wrote:You will get some gak-heads who work in GW and absolutely believe the company line.
I'm still waiting for GW to release their own distilled bottled water for the purpose of thinning THEIR paints (naturally for use with THEIR brushes and THEIR water pot).
I think that's next year's April fool sorted right?
Regarding people only complaining, I thought that was one of the core principles of having good customer relationships? That if someone complains about something they will tell ten people, whereas with a good experience they will tell just one? The problem is also that as a consumer you have to expect the quality to be of a certain standard, and when it is not, then it's only fair that you make a stink about it. This time last year everyone was buying metal miniatures quite happily, with an extremely low failure rate (and normally these were because the incorrect components had been packed, rather than a casting problem). That situation has now changed.
Are GW happy with this level of QC? The fact that the miscasts are still coming so far into the release makes me think that they must be, otherwise it would have been rectified. However whichever way you look at it, the forum community makes up only a minority of wargamers. There are probably thousands of kids who will receive botched casts this year for Christmas but will be none the wiser as they have nothing else to make a comparison to. By the time they start to explore the hobby more fully, and start typing 'finecast' into google, then it doesn't matter as they are probably moving outside of GW's target demographic anyway and have already spent a pile of cash.
Sorry for this massively cynical post and I really hope it is not the case, but the way the company has gone on for the last few years, and having heard the contempt with which the upper-echelons of the company view their customer base, makes me think there is every possibility that it is correct.
chromedog wrote:He also maintained that I should be using their brushes with their paints as their brushes were formulated to work better with the paints than other companies' brushes.
chromedog wrote:He also maintained that I should be using their brushes with their paints as their brushes were formulated to work better with the paints than other companies' brushes.
>8|
How does that even work?
GW raises their own sables under the FineSable brand! The rodents are raised on only the finest of foods and water imported from glaciers in the North Pole!
you can't make a sable brush behave differently with any particular product. Acrylic paint will all behave the same when being brushed with the same brush. It's not like their paint has ground up pixy wings in it that allow it magical properties that only their brushes will bring out.
My $4 kolinsky sable brushes are just as good as W&N series 7's and are better than GW's magic pixy dust brushes.
chromedog wrote:He also maintained that I should be using their brushes with their paints as their brushes were formulated to work better with the paints than other companies' brushes.
Other than that, aside from White Marsh I think there was a GW store in Owings Mills. That's about it north of Baltimore, though there is Critical Hit games in Bel Air. Now south of the city there's Games and Stuff, but I've only gone to tournaments there. I've heard rumors of a new store opening up somewhere nearer to the highway intersections.....ok I know there is but I am sworn to secrecy.
Clarification... There IS a GW store in Owings Mills. Yorkridge refugees should definitely stop by... Dave, the store manager, is very nice and easy to talk to.
Besides, with the store located in between a Starbucks and a Baskin Robbins, you can't lose. There is a pizza place and a chinese restaurant in the same center, plus a grocery, liquor, and pet store. A Home Depot is located one block over. It is very easy to "run errands" and just happen to end up in that very shopping center!
Hey KGatch113, if you have any more you can share, I'd love to know. Is it a GW? I love the local GW, but sometimes, would like to play something else! LOL
Thanks for the info about solo GW stores--I can't fault John personally for following company policy, but the policy did hamper my ability to use the store.
I wish GW were more consistently lenient about exchanges. Another big factor in not shopping there was the guilt trip I'd get over exchanging some ork stuff for eldar or the like. My FLGS (which is The Game Vault in Fredericksburg VA) happily exchanged over $400 of ork products for other stuff. That's why I travel 100 miles to visit my favorite game store, I guess.
I also really wish GW would get off their high horse about 3rd party stuff. If I could but army painter products locally I would have.
You don't know what you're talking about. Here's why:
1) Yorkridge: It's lease is up, it's numbers have been terrible pretty much throughout it's existence. And to be blunt, it's been deemed redundant. There are something like 9 GW stores around Baltimore. That's just plain too many for this economy and a relic of when GW was still HQ'd here. You're going to see some more going away in all likelihood this coming year. White Marsh will move out of the Avenue. Towne Mall of Westminster will move out of the mall. St. Thomas will get shot in the head.
2) Games Sanctuary: GS failed because, even though Skip Lippman was a great guy that everyone liked, he wasn't a good business man. How do I know Skip? He taught me how to play 40K Rogue Trader back when his family still owned The Armory. I still have the beaten up Rogue Trader book that Skip gave me. Skip also taught me how to play Magic:The Gathering and Warhammer Fantasy. I played in Skip's VTES game every wednesday.
3) Legends: Legends stopped carrying miniatures because Randy is too lazy to do the work involved in keeping that community alive. It also doesn't help that you can't deal with the man with out immediately starting to feel like he's trying to put something over on you. Once Evan and Mark quit (and this was several years ago) the community dried up and blew away because no one wants to deal with Randy.
4) The Arena in Eldersburg: The Arena died because Dave lost interest in it.
I ignored your last attempt at playing the part of Chicken Little, but not this one. Mostly because you're invoking names that you have no business invoking.
Maybe if Yorkridges community had supported the store better, it wouldn't be closing.
Tech Guard wrote:Scipio.au: I'd like not to say, even though they pissed me off it is really GW that is speaking. I really don't want to land any body in $hit. After all it is their job, they are just complying to a set of rules [even if these rules are a bit linient sometimes]. I recently found another GW that is much friendlier, Maybe that store was just a bad egg. But after my experiences I will be more hesitant to step into a GW.
If it is GW speaking, than how can it just be a bad egg and the other friendlier store isn't the problem. Either it is just the store being a bad egg or GW is at fault... I'm fairly certain corporate policy isn't to berate customers, so I'm going to go with Bad Egg.
You don't know what you're talking about. Here's why:
1) Yorkridge: It's lease is up, it's numbers have been terrible pretty much throughout it's existence. And to be blunt, it's been deemed redundant. There are something like 9 GW stores around Baltimore. That's just plain too many for this economy and a relic of when GW was still HQ'd here. You're going to see some more going away in all likelihood this coming year. White Marsh will move out of the Avenue. Towne Mall of Westminster will move out of the mall. St. Thomas will get shot in the head.
I state in my OP that a store is closing, and the title of the thread suggests that more are likely to close. You say that I do not know what I am talking about and then you confirm my statements.
Worglock wrote:
I ignored your last attempt at playing the part of Chicken Little, but not this one. Mostly because you're invoking names that you have no business invoking.
You are not the only person who went to these shops. I started going to Legends when they will still in Towson Commons, and played at both of Skips locations.
@KGatch113: Skip's shop was not the neatest place, but its decor was fitting. I do not remember him charging people play (except booster drafts and such.)
@Gymnogyps, thanks for the update on the Owings Mills store.
I too would like to hear about other gaming shops in the area. To my knowledge there are very few with more than 3 tables.
spaceelf wrote:I state in my OP that a store is closing, and the title of the thread suggests that more are likely to close. You say that I do not know what I am talking about and then you confirm my statements.
Oooh. This is officially a rumor thread now.
Step 1: Say something vague or inflamatory
Step 2: Wait a while
Step 3: Profit!
And anyways, I'm sure this is not the first time that a GW store has closed.
1) Yorkridge: It's lease is up, it's numbers have been terrible pretty much throughout it's existence. And to be blunt, it's been deemed redundant. There are something like 9 GW stores around Baltimore. That's just plain too many for this economy and a relic of when GW was still HQ'd here. You're going to see some more going away in all likelihood this coming year. White Marsh will move out of the Avenue. Towne Mall of Westminster will move out of the mall. St. Thomas will get shot in the head.
...
...I ignored your last attempt at playing the part of Chicken Little, but not this one. Mostly because you're invoking names that you have no business invoking.
Maybe if Yorkridges community had supported the store better, it wouldn't be closing.
Worglock, dahling, you know you just supported the OPs assertion that "the GW store closures begin", right? Your point #1 describes how 4 stores are to be closed and some relocated. But, note, still 4 locations to be closed "in all likelihood".
BTW, you get on the case of the OP about Yorkridge's community not supporting their store, then you are so kind to undermine my attempts to support my local store by saying it "will get shot in the head'. Seriously uncool, dude. I'd appreciate it if you keep such unfounded speculations to yourself. Thanks.
The more I read this, the more it sounds like this areas dirty laundry list.
Seriously, OP.
The more this continues, the more your going to let your posts write checks your opinion can't cash.
YOUR AREA seems to have action going on. Between the number of other posters, and thier consistant opinions to the contrary-
Your area is fine. If you don't have one store to go to, you at least have people here FROM YOUR AREA to go to for some games.
Aside from the fact that in this particular case, I can honestly see your point of view, it is becoming more of a personal issue to YOU then it is any real issue in your gaming area.
The GW stores in that area are there, there are a few of them, and independents have been there for quite sometime, and will continue to be so, seeing the market in your area.
Tech Guard wrote:Scipio.au: I'd like not to say, even though they pissed me off it is really GW that is speaking. I really don't want to land any body in $hit. After all it is their job, they are just complying to a set of rules [even if these rules are a bit linient sometimes]. I recently found another GW that is much friendlier, Maybe that store was just a bad egg. But after my experiences I will be more hesitant to step into a GW.
If it is GW speaking, than how can it just be a bad egg and the other friendlier store isn't the problem. Either it is just the store being a bad egg or GW is at fault... I'm fairly certain corporate policy isn't to berate customers, so I'm going to go with Bad Egg.
Yes I would like to go with the bad Egg, but in my past experiences of GW australia they tend to act towards their customer base like this.
1) Yorkridge: It's lease is up, it's numbers have been terrible pretty much throughout it's existence. And to be blunt, it's been deemed redundant. There are something like 9 GW stores around Baltimore. That's just plain too many for this economy and a relic of when GW was still HQ'd here. You're going to see some more going away in all likelihood this coming year. White Marsh will move out of the Avenue. Towne Mall of Westminster will move out of the mall. St. Thomas will get shot in the head. ...
...I ignored your last attempt at playing the part of Chicken Little, but not this one. Mostly because you're invoking names that you have no business invoking.
Maybe if Yorkridges community had supported the store better, it wouldn't be closing.
Worglock, dahling, you know you just supported the OPs assertion that "the GW store closures begin", right? Your point #1 describes how 4 stores are to be closed and some relocated. But, note, still 4 locations to be closed "in all likelihood".
BTW, you get on the case of the OP about Yorkridge's community not supporting their store, then you are so kind to undermine my attempts to support my local store by saying it "will get shot in the head'. Seriously uncool, dude. I'd appreciate it if you keep such unfounded speculations to yourself. Thanks.
Agree Gymnogyps . I found this/his post to be somewhat... Dismissive and self aggrandizing. Also Oxymoronic. YMMV.
3) Legends: Legends stopped carrying miniatures because Randy is too lazy to do the work involved in keeping that community alive. It also doesn't help that you can't deal with the man with out immediately starting to feel like he's trying to put something over on you. Once Evan and Mark quit (and this was several years ago) the community dried up and blew away because no one wants to deal with Randy.
Mark hardly knew how to play and Evan was not as knowledgeable as he thought he was. Great guys, but the community was there before them and the community at Legends was still thriving after they left. John Mc,Fraser, Scottie D and a lot of other guys still came untll 2005, when they graduated from high school or moved away. I used to have to turn people away when I ran games there because of lack of space.Randy was not lazy, he just was not a Wargames guy and could not replace his miniatures people. I also know he got ripped off by sleazy GW trade reps who are no longer with the company, and I know the company no longer pulls the shenanigans that were pulled. So I don't blame him for not carrying the line anymore.
Not sure if this is the best place to ask, but a few weeks ago there was a thread about a GW store where the salt-of-the-earth manager was sacked marched off the premises in the middle of the day. Obviously their local community was upset, but what was the upshot of all that? Was the sacked guy okay?
Howard A Treesong wrote:Not sure if this is the best place to ask, but a few weeks ago there was a thread about a GW store where the salt-of-the-earth manager was sacked marched off the premises in the middle of the day. Obviously their local community was upset, but what was the upshot of all that? Was the sacked guy okay?
All I've heard is mutterings that hundreds of good, veteran players have abandoned the store, and only the two trouble makers who complaints were what got the manager fired are the only ones who go to the store anymore.
So in other words, the next honest information I hear about what's going on will be the first.
Tech Guard wrote:Scipio.au: I'd like not to say, even though they pissed me off it is really GW that is speaking. I really don't want to land any body in $hit. After all it is their job, they are just complying to a set of rules [even if these rules are a bit linient sometimes]. I recently found another GW that is much friendlier, Maybe that store was just a bad egg. But after my experiences I will be more hesitant to step into a GW.
If it is GW speaking, than how can it just be a bad egg and the other friendlier store isn't the problem. Either it is just the store being a bad egg or GW is at fault... I'm fairly certain corporate policy isn't to berate customers, so I'm going to go with Bad Egg.
I agree. That's why I was suggesting "outing" them. My local GW know me to a degree and have never tried that sort of attitude on. I don't hang out or play there or anything, but I stop past for a chat when I buy my WD. They know I have, collect and paint a lot of the older models (RT, etc) and don't give me any grief about that or buying them over the new stuff when we talk about them and I say where I got/get this or that model (eBay). Then again, none of the Melbourne Stores from the first opening through Andrew Long's day to Melbourne Central's second store ever gave me any crap either back when I was a CBD regular. I don't get into town much anymore, but the two or three times I've been to the new store tucked away in a corner the guys there were very nice as well - without being pushy or rude.
Yeah I mostly go to realm of legends now, Really nice guys and are always happy to help. The only problem is they are way to far away for just a quick visit.
I've had the same experience in the Wollongong, Campbelltown and Miranda stores in NSW. The staff have never been campany hardliners, and have always been friendly and usually enquire about what army I play, how scheme I use, how long I've been playing, etc.
I have the odd time when they're recommended me something new that I really don't want or need (like recommending me their overpriced emery boards), but I ignore it because it's what they're paid to do. I've never had someone be outright rude to me.
Though I haven't been to the Miranda or Wollongong stores in years, and the Campbelltown store just got a new manager.
Howard A Treesong wrote:Not sure if this is the best place to ask, but a few weeks ago there was a thread about a GW store where the salt-of-the-earth manager was sacked marched off the premises in the middle of the day. Obviously their local community was upset, but what was the upshot of all that? Was the sacked guy okay?
I tried to wheedle more info from some of my GW contacts, but all I got was that 40% of the managers have been replaced, including many long time managers and former managers of the year.
Howard A Treesong wrote:Not sure if this is the best place to ask, but a few weeks ago there was a thread about a GW store where the salt-of-the-earth manager was sacked marched off the premises in the middle of the day. Obviously their local community was upset, but what was the upshot of all that? Was the sacked guy okay?
If you're talking about the South Jersey affair, dakka's own mikhaila seems to have either hired or abducted the former manager in question for use at his shops. I'm not totally certain because the only local GW drama gossip I hear is from my idiot brother-in-law who cares about these things but is generally wrong.
I've also heard that some of the store's biggest adult players and organizers of activities have moved to other independently owned stores in the area. The scene at the South Jersey GW store has always been tons and tons of children so I don't know what kind of impact this has had on the player base (probably none if I had to guess).
Grot 6 wrote:The more I read this, the more it sounds like this areas dirty laundry list.
Seriously, OP.
The more this continues, the more your going to let your posts write checks your opinion can't cash.
YOUR AREA seems to have action going on. Between the number of other posters, and thier consistant opinions to the contrary-
Your area is fine. If you don't have one store to go to, you at least have people here FROM YOUR AREA to go to for some games.
Aside from the fact that in this particular case, I can honestly see your point of view, it is becoming more of a personal issue to YOU then it is any real issue in your gaming area.
The GW stores in that area are there, there are a few of them, and independents have been there for quite sometime, and will continue to be so, seeing the market in your area.
Fortunately, at present there is still a big gaming community in Bmore. This is not surprising as it was, until recently, the home of the US HQ of GW, and before that the base of Avalon Hill. Maybe it is just that we are spoiled with riches here. However, I do not think that is the case. Another astute poster noted that it is essential to recruit to keep stores and communities alive. My fear is that with store closures the community will dry up as people go to college, and move because of work, etc.
I think that GW will find that moving the store out of The Avenue is a big mistake. If they go with a low rent store they have the problems of lack of foot traffic and an abundance of hookahs. This is compounded by the fact that they do not advertise.
@marielle: I think Mikhaila was just commenting on GWs corporate policies from the UK being applied to businesses in the US.
I sympathise with the folks from Australia. Given the prices of GW stuff there, I am surprised that anyone is going to GW shops down under. In terms of outing the manager, I would be a nice guy and let it slide. It is a rough economy. GW is likely to sack him anyway. They turn over employees in the US at a staggering rate.
mikhaila wrote:Considering how many different people have talked to me in the last two weeks about opening stores in Baltimore, I don't think the area will be hurting for long. May get substantially better for gaming in fact.
Can you elaborate on that? Like solid plans for some stores? Or is it just people putting out hypothetical feelers and asking for what it takes to start it up?
I ask because any hobby shop opening in my backyard would be awesome.
Talks are serious enough that I can't say much more until the people involved make announcements. And also multiple groups. One was a discussion of feasability and location. On the other end of the spectrum is a store that is absolutely going to open from what I can tell, and will make many people quite happy.
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spaceelf wrote:
mikhaila wrote:
There's a lot of reasons why they might be closing the store. Foremost is that the lease is up. It may not be a good place to keep a GW store, especially if there are a lot of empty shops in the center, especially a dead Borders. Rent is negotiable in this economy. GW may just be closing that store, re-evaluting the Baltimore area and deciding if they want another store nearby, or it they are good with the stores they have.
Considering how many different people have talked to me in the last two weeks about opening stores in Baltimore, I don't think the area will be hurting for long. May get substantially better for gaming in fact.
The shopping center is not ideal in certain respects. It is not right off of 695, and foot traffic is not good. However, it is fuller than it has been in decades. I think there are two empty slots, Borders being one of them. It has a Kohls, a Michaels, and a new grocery. However, as you stated rent
is negotiable, so the lease being up could work in their favor.
I think that this is a case of GW just soaking the local economy for what it is worth and then moving on.
It would be great if a new gaming store opened in Bmore. Most stores around here lack gaming space. White Marsh is tiny and only has a couple of tables. The same is true for Collectors Corner. One of the problems is the oppressive business laws in Maryland. Businesses pay tax on their inventory and on their property. Thus, even gaming tables are taxed, ... every year. Big companies like GW can get around this by shifting stuff around, but little guys stuck with the bill. The price of rent also makes it hard to justify devoting space to gaming. It is quite sad.
I put emphasis on the statement of GW soaking the economy and moving on. Most of your statements are pretty biased against GW, but this one makes no sense. GW doesn't put a gun to peoples head and make them buy stuff. Having a LGS or GW store in the area is a benefit to the gamers in the area, IMHO. You obviously don't think so. And besides, If a store is getting good sales, theirs no reason to move on. I myself plan to soak...I mean, service my area for years to come. If i can sell them games one year, I can do it the next year.
As to Maryland Business Property tax affecting game tables, that's a far stretch. The highest tax on Business Personal Property is in downtown Baltimore at a little under 6%. A gaming table, even a nice one, can be built for less than 200.00, lets add in chairs and scenery and make it 300.00, and lets go with 20 gaming tables.
-Tax Year one on 20 really spiffy gaming tables, folding tables, 2 chairs per table, plus scenery = 20x300x.06 = 360 dollars. This assumes it's the first year before you depreciate the hell out of the stuff, and that you bought everything new. 360.00 dollars is next to nothing compared to other business costs. I pay that in rent for one day in my main store.
-As to the price of rent making it hard to justify gaming space - That assumes the store owner isn't making the gaming space profitable. If gaming space for organized play is done correctly, the store makes money from having it, not losing money. I know the gaming space in my stores absolutely pays for itself and then some.
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Howard A Treesong wrote:Not sure if this is the best place to ask, but a few weeks ago there was a thread about a GW store where the salt-of-the-earth manager was sacked marched off the premises in the middle of the day. Obviously their local community was upset, but what was the upshot of all that? Was the sacked guy okay?
Sacked manager has rebounded and started up a painting business, and is running events at other stores. The guys he gamed with at the GW store want to throw him a 'birthday bash tournament' at my shop next month. Should be a fun time. The community is a bit splintered, but a new store just opened and some are playing there, some roaming as gypsies, but over all they're still gaming and they all keep in touch through a couple of facebook pages. The new GW manager has to do some rebuilding. But overall things are settling down. Gamers will find ways to game.
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marielle wrote:
mikhaila wrote: but I quit trying to wrap my mind around what the UK mandates the US market to do.
Explain please?
GW US is moving to one man stores, based on what the head guys in the UK have decided worked well in a couple of stores and will work well in the rest of the world. UK says one man stores, US has to move to that. UK has never quite understood that the rest of the world doesn't necessarily work the way the UK does.
Closing for a lunchbreak and coming back an hour later is unknown in the US, for instance.
mikhaila wrote:
I put emphasis on the statement of GW soaking the economy and moving on. Most of your statements are pretty biased against GW, but this one makes no sense. GW doesn't put a gun to peoples head and make them buy stuff. Having a LGS or GW store in the area is a benefit to the gamers in the area, IMHO. You obviously don't think so. And besides, If a store is getting good sales, theirs no reason to move on. I myself plan to soak...I mean, service my area for years to come. If i can sell them games one year, I can do it the next year.
As to Maryland Business Property tax affecting game tables, that's a far stretch. The highest tax on Business Personal Property is in downtown Baltimore at a little under 6%. A gaming table, even a nice one, can be built for less than 200.00, lets add in chairs and scenery and make it 300.00, and lets go with 20 gaming tables.
-Tax Year one on 20 really spiffy gaming tables, folding tables, 2 chairs per table, plus scenery = 20x300x.06 = 360 dollars. This assumes it's the first year before you depreciate the hell out of the stuff, and that you bought everything new. 360.00 dollars is next to nothing compared to other business costs. I pay that in rent for one day in my main store.
-As to the price of rent making it hard to justify gaming space - That assumes the store owner isn't making the gaming space profitable. If gaming space for organized play is done correctly, the store makes money from having it, not losing money. I know the gaming space in my stores absolutely pays for itself and then some.
Running the risk of Navarro spotting this post and blabbing about it to "my" FLGS manager: I would love to have a LGS run by someone like you over here on PIIG country! Despite the fact that you're a GW lapboy!
mikhaila wrote:Talks are serious enough that I can't say much more until the people involved make announcements. And also multiple groups. One was a discussion of feasability and location. On the other end of the spectrum is a store that is absolutely going to open from what I can tell, and will make many people quite happy.
Argh, I must know!! Time to dredge through your posts and look for dropped hints.
mikhaila wrote:Closing for a lunchbreak and coming back an hour later is unknown in the US, for instance.
Our local GW does this, and I find it... yeah. No One does this. Well, I take it back. A local shop near my work apparently did it, but I didn't know... a very small operation. Went to pick up something I'd paid for and worked out a time to pick it up on my lunch break, and no one was there! Neither store is getting a lot of my business at the moment... as there are many options in this area.
Howard A Treesong wrote:Not sure if this is the best place to ask, but a few weeks ago there was a thread about a GW store where the salt-of-the-earth manager was sacked marched off the premises in the middle of the day. Obviously their local community was upset, but what was the upshot of all that? Was the sacked guy okay?
If you're talking about the South Jersey affair, dakka's own mikhaila seems to have either hired or abducted the former manager in question for use at his shops. I'm not totally certain because the only local GW drama gossip I hear is from my idiot brother-in-law who cares about these things but is generally wrong.
I've also heard that some of the store's biggest adult players and organizers of activities have moved to other independently owned stores in the area. The scene at the South Jersey GW store has always been tons and tons of children so I don't know what kind of impact this has had on the player base (probably none if I had to guess).
It's had quite an impact on the stores sales. They'll rebuild eventually, and in the short term, those veterans have moved around to several different stores. All Things Fun now carries GW and has some veterans running demos and campaigns. Top Deck Games just opened, put in gaming tables and got in GW to sell, they have their first 40k event this weekend (free in fact!.) My 40k tournament Saturday was in overflow tables, with about 6 of the Voorhees community coming over for it, and lots of talk about the jersey guys hitting up tournaments like Colonial, Conflict, and the new GT down at Jesters Playhouse. So while there's some splintering of the community, theres also still a lot of energy. It will sort itself out.
I haven't gotten an answer at all from GW on why he was let go, when for all intents and purposes he was doing a great job. I've known Mike Diccico for 20 years since he started gaming her when he was about 10. He worked hard at that store, even to working on his days off, bringing players over to my store to make scenery out of his own pocket. (It all left with him, so he has a lot of stuff in his apartment now. ) I've got him coming by my shop now and then, and we run events and work to keep the community over in south NJ that used to shop at the GW store together.
mikhaila wrote:GW US is moving to one man stores, based on what the head guys in the UK have decided worked well in a couple of stores and will work well in the rest of the world. UK says one man stores, US has to move to that. UK has never quite understood that the rest of the world doesn't necessarily work the way the UK does.
Closing for a lunchbreak and coming back an hour later is unknown in the US, for instance.
The shops I know of in the UK don't operate like this. They are not one man operations and they don't shut for dinner.
Perhaps someone is in GW US is pulling a fast one.
PhantomViper wrote:
Running the risk of Navarro spotting this post and blabbing about it to "my" FLGS manager: I would love to have a LGS run by someone like you over here on PIIG country! Despite the fact that you're a GW lapboy!
Too big for a lapdog anymore.) I'm more 'tame wolf' that bites them in the ass a lot, and occaisonally eats a sales rep whole.
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marielle wrote:
mikhaila wrote:GW US is moving to one man stores, based on what the head guys in the UK have decided worked well in a couple of stores and will work well in the rest of the world. UK says one man stores, US has to move to that. UK has never quite understood that the rest of the world doesn't necessarily work the way the UK does.
Closing for a lunchbreak and coming back an hour later is unknown in the US, for instance.
The shops I know of in the UK don't operate like this. They are not one man operations and they don't shut for dinner.
Perhaps someone is in GW US is pulling a fast one.
Nope. It's the direction GW is going in, been many threads and discussions on the change. Not all UK, US, or ROW shops have changed over. But it's the direction Mr. Kirby wants to go, and was based on models they set up in the UK
mikhaila wrote:Nope. It's the direction GW is going in, been many threads and discussions on the change. Not all UK, US, or ROW shops have changed over. But it's the direction Mr. Kirby wants to go, and was based on models they set up in the UK
I wasn't aware of any one-man GW stores in the UK, certainly no trend. Maybe Covent Garden in London, that's pretty tiny (one small table) and there was one guy when I went in. But most GWUK stores are of a reasonable size and staffed by a couple of people at all times.
Used to be that way here- unfortunately, not the case anymore! As many have noted, though, it's opened the door to more independent stores opening to fill the gaming void, and so may not necessarily be a bad thing in the long run.
mikhaila wrote:
It's had quite an impact on the stores sales. They'll rebuild eventually, and in the short term, those veterans have moved around to several different stores. All Things Fun now carries GW and has some veterans running demos and campaigns. Top Deck Games just opened, put in gaming tables and got in GW to sell, they have their first 40k event this weekend (free in fact!.) My 40k tournament Saturday was in overflow tables, with about 6 of the Voorhees community coming over for it, and lots of talk about the jersey guys hitting up tournaments like Colonial, Conflict, and the new GT down at Jesters Playhouse. So while there's some splintering of the community, theres also still a lot of energy. It will sort itself out.
I haven't gotten an answer at all from GW on why he was let go, when for all intents and purposes he was doing a great job. I've known Mike Diccico for 20 years since he started gaming her when he was about 10. He worked hard at that store, even to working on his days off, bringing players over to my store to make scenery out of his own pocket. (It all left with him, so he has a lot of stuff in his apartment now. ) I've got him coming by my shop now and then, and we run events and work to keep the community over in south NJ that used to shop at the GW store together.
I've heard some truly ridiculous rumors from my brother-in-law regarding why Mike was let go - far too absurd to even bother repeating on the internet until I hear it from someone else. Let's just say it goes far beyond the rumors of being let go because of customer complaints.
I know the legendary Mr. Miles is out at ATF now trying to build a community. He'll likely succeed - I've seen him work before and he knows what he's doing. Hell, he even had people playing at the horribly mismanaged Ye Olde Hobby Gamestore. If he can make it work there, he can make it work anywhere. The guy who runs ATF is extremely receptive to community building efforts and appears to be a pretty smart business man as well. ATF has a very large customer base and playing area, so I'm certain good things will come of that location. I only make my way out there to purchase my Malifaux stuff and check out their Magic events (super well attended).
Top Deck I've heard nothing about besides it's the successor to Natural 20, which could be good or bad. Hopefully they have someone with half a brain in charge of the operation this time around.
I've been out to both Showcase locations and I know them to be major hubs of the gaming community, but beyond that I hear very little gossip about what goes on out there. There was one shop owner in South Jersey who would constantly ponder aloud where the GW players were hiding and we all told him repeatedly they were at Showcase. (this was a few years back before any of the other stores in the South Jersey area carried GW).
I personally shop at Redcap's, but I haven't been out there in a while and I believe that they're relocating. The original space was very cool and the crowd out there is completely fitting for the area (ie massive nerd hipsters). A lot of Magic and PP, though they carry GW and at least one of the guys on staff plays 40k. Haven't seen too much GW gaming going on there outside of a few random games here and there.
tldr: the south jersey area community is awesome/probably never gonna die
I'm still seeing multi-staff closets in Australia, though admitedly I only live near 3, and they're busy stores, so not likely the sort of small stores they'll change to single staff.
mikhaila wrote:GW US is moving to one man stores, based on what the head guys in the UK have decided worked well in a couple of stores and will work well in the rest of the world. UK says one man stores, US has to move to that. UK has never quite understood that the rest of the world doesn't necessarily work the way the UK does.
Closing for a lunchbreak and coming back an hour later is unknown in the US, for instance.
The shops I know of in the UK don't operate like this. They are not one man operations and they don't shut for dinner.
Perhaps someone is in GW US is pulling a fast one.
We have strict labor laws here in the US regarding meal breaks. In California it is illegal to work more than 5 hours before a meal break IF you are scheduled to work 6 or more hours in that day.
So if they open at noon, at some point before 5pm they MUST be closed for at least 30 minutes if they have only one employee running things.
Aerethan wrote:We have strict labor laws here in the US regarding meal breaks. In California it is illegal to work more than 5 hours before a meal break IF you are scheduled to work 6 or more hours in that day.
So if they open at noon, at some point before 5pm they MUST be closed for at least 30 minutes if they have only one employee running things.
Theoretically, that's how it works here as well. In practice, in smaller stores the employees just take their breaks as they can in between customers. If the store's trade is quiet enough for them to only need a single staff member, that's not usually too difficult.
mikhaila wrote:Nope. It's the direction GW is going in, been many threads and discussions on the change. Not all UK, US, or ROW shops have changed over. But it's the direction Mr. Kirby wants to go, and was based on models they set up in the UK
I wasn't aware of any one-man GW stores in the UK, certainly no trend. Maybe Covent Garden in London, that's pretty tiny (one small table) and there was one guy when I went in. But most GWUK stores are of a reasonable size and staffed by a couple of people at all times.
There are a couple of one-mans in the South West that I know of. Kind of puzzling as there isn't a single Independent in the Gloucestershire area, so you would think they would have enough turnover to warrant more than one member of staff. Unless however it is a reflection on the terrible level of literacy in this part of the world.
Personally, I think they are a terrible idea, and have the potential to cause a major problem. Not because of sales (although that is undoubtedly as issue) or not having the models in the window painted, but more because having just a single adult working in a store populated by children opens the door for a major 'issue'. If a single child made an accusation against a staff member, whether it was true or not, it could be extremely damaging to the company. Having even two members of staff would stop that kind of issue from occurring.
The GW in Newbury where I work is one-man. I don't go there but I do know from having walked by there on my way to get a sandwich that they do indeed close over lunch hours.
Edit: Having said that, looking at the GW website opening hours for that store, seems to suggest on the days it is open, it opens from midday to seven PM so maybe they have taken the decision to have odd opening hours rather than having to close over lunch. Not sure how they handle staff breaks though; if it's a one man store, UK working hour directives state that the chap needs to have a certain amount of break every few hours so maybe he has to hang a 'back in 15 minutes' sign on the door and turf people out?
-Loki- wrote:I've had the same experience in the Wollongong, Campbelltown and Miranda stores in NSW. The staff have never been campany hardliners, and have always been friendly and usually enquire about what army I play, how scheme I use, how long I've been playing, etc.
I have the odd time when they're recommended me something new that I really don't want or need (like recommending me their overpriced emery boards), but I ignore it because it's what they're paid to do. I've never had someone be outright rude to me.
Though I haven't been to the Miranda or Wollongong stores in years, and the Campbelltown store just got a new manager.
Absolutely. I picked up the liquid greenstuff and the mold line thing (I have a ton of FW stuff, and I thought I'd give it a go over my hobby knife) - they tried to sell me the emery boards as well, but I just said I had heaps of fine grit sandpaper from Masters/Bunnings, and they were cool. (after telling me that I'd want to have some really fine grit sandpaper to be as good as their stuff.
GW Lakeside (a very big Shopping Centre here) had two bodies running it on a Tuesday morning.
No customers at all, except me buying my own Christmas presents again.
Certainly this has something to do with the Lakeside operating rules, but I have seen it with 3-4 staff on a Saturday before and it is a very small unit (say 15' by 25'?).
mikhaila wrote:Nope. It's the direction GW is going in, been many threads and discussions on the change. Not all UK, US, or ROW shops have changed over. But it's the direction Mr. Kirby wants to go, and was based on models they set up in the UK
I wasn't aware of any one-man GW stores in the UK, certainly no trend. Maybe Covent Garden in London, that's pretty tiny (one small table) and there was one guy when I went in. But most GWUK stores are of a reasonable size and staffed by a couple of people at all times.
There are a couple of one-mans in the South West that I know of. Kind of puzzling as there isn't a single Independent in the Gloucestershire area, so you would think they would have enough turnover to warrant more than one member of staff. Unless however it is a reflection on the terrible level of literacy in this part of the world.
Personally, I think they are a terrible idea, and have the potential to cause a major problem. Not because of sales (although that is undoubtedly as issue) or not having the models in the window painted, but more because having just a single adult working in a store populated by children opens the door for a major 'issue'. If a single child made an accusation against a staff member, whether it was true or not, it could be extremely damaging to the company. Having even two members of staff would stop that kind of issue from occurring.
Oddly though it's not completely outside their consideration as I seem to recall hearing that staff have to pass criminal records checks to work with children. I imagine they think the use of CCTV in the shop is supposed to keep them safe from accusations.
mikhaila wrote:Nope. It's the direction GW is going in, been many threads and discussions on the change. Not all UK, US, or ROW shops have changed over. But it's the direction Mr. Kirby wants to go, and was based on models they set up in the UK
I wasn't aware of any one-man GW stores in the UK, certainly no trend. Maybe Covent Garden in London, that's pretty tiny (one small table) and there was one guy when I went in. But most GWUK stores are of a reasonable size and staffed by a couple of people at all times.
They've been doing this for a couple of years now.
Games Workshop has piloted a “one-man” format that involves small outlets run by one person working a five-day rather than a seven-day week. That allows the company to open more profitable centres in smaller towns.
Generally, in the Uk anyway, they're near, or supposed to be, towns/cities which contain larger stores which have more staff and these stores are supposed to provide cover for leave, training days, sickness etc etc.
They've also rolled this out across ( bits of) Europe as well. I know Holland has a few and I believe Belgium has a few as well.
In the Uk the staff get a 30 min lunch break, which is all they're required to be given.
This does generally seem to involve a " back in X minutes" sign being hung in the window.
mikhaila wrote:
I put emphasis on the statement of GW soaking the economy and moving on. Most of your statements are pretty biased against GW, but this one makes no sense. GW doesn't put a gun to peoples head and make them buy stuff. Having a LGS or GW store in the area is a benefit to the gamers in the area, IMHO. You obviously don't think so. And besides, If a store is getting good sales, theirs no reason to move on. I myself plan to soak...I mean, service my area for years to come. If i can sell them games one year, I can do it the next year.
As to Maryland Business Property tax affecting game tables, that's a far stretch. The highest tax on Business Personal Property is in downtown Baltimore at a little under 6%. A gaming table, even a nice one, can be built for less than 200.00, lets add in chairs and scenery and make it 300.00, and lets go with 20 gaming tables.
-Tax Year one on 20 really spiffy gaming tables, folding tables, 2 chairs per table, plus scenery = 20x300x.06 = 360 dollars. This assumes it's the first year before you depreciate the hell out of the stuff, and that you bought everything new. 360.00 dollars is next to nothing compared to other business costs. I pay that in rent for one day in my main store.
-As to the price of rent making it hard to justify gaming space - That assumes the store owner isn't making the gaming space profitable. If gaming space for organized play is done correctly, the store makes money from having it, not losing money. I know the gaming space in my stores absolutely pays for itself and then some.
Running the risk of Navarro spotting this post and blabbing about it to "my" FLGS manager: I would love to have a LGS run by someone like you over here on PIIG country! Despite the fact that you're a GW lapboy!
Dont worry, your public secret is safe since your FLGS manager is pissed with me because I dont buy GW for years now
Aerethan wrote:We have strict labor laws here in the US regarding meal breaks. In California it is illegal to work more than 5 hours before a meal break IF you are scheduled to work 6 or more hours in that day.
So if they open at noon, at some point before 5pm they MUST be closed for at least 30 minutes if they have only one employee running things.
Theoretically, that's how it works here as well. In practice, in smaller stores the employees just take their breaks as they can in between customers. If the store's trade is quiet enough for them to only need a single staff member, that's not usually too difficult.
filbert wrote:The GW in Newbury where I work is one-man. I don't go there but I do know from having walked by there on my way to get a sandwich that they do indeed close over lunch hours.
Edit: Having said that, looking at the GW website opening hours for that store, seems to suggest on the days it is open, it opens from midday to seven PM so maybe they have taken the decision to have odd opening hours rather than having to close over lunch. Not sure how they handle staff breaks though; if it's a one man store, UK working hour directives state that the chap needs to have a certain amount of break every few hours so maybe he has to hang a 'back in 15 minutes' sign on the door and turf people out?
An independent store might have the owner/operator just eat while they work, or the like, but a chain like GW couldn't get away with fudging those rules here.
My local GW has a note on their hours on the sign on the door when they're closed, but I don't believe it's on the website. The manager also takes a late lunch to try to miss the rush of people who would stop by the store on their lunch break.
It's still a shoddy practice for a large company, though... most gaming stores (and stores in general) don't have to do this, simply because they'll have two people working at the needed times.
Edit: Having said that, looking at the GW website opening hours for that store, seems to suggest on the days it is open, it opens from midday to seven PM so maybe they have taken the decision to have odd opening hours rather than having to close over lunch. Not sure how they handle staff breaks though; if it's a one man store, UK working hour directives state that the chap needs to have a certain amount of break every few hours so maybe he has to hang a 'back in 15 minutes' sign on the door and turf people out?
An independent store might have the owner/operator just eat while they work, or the like, but a chain like GW couldn't get away with fudging those rules here.
My old LGS was run most of the time by one guy, his wife would come and go. Frequently he wouldn't even be in the shop but standing outside smoking a cigar. When you own your own place you can do what you like.
mikhaila wrote:GW US is moving to one man stores, based on what the head guys in the UK have decided worked well in a couple of stores and will work well in the rest of the world. UK says one man stores, US has to move to that. UK has never quite understood that the rest of the world doesn't necessarily work the way the UK does.
Closing for a lunchbreak and coming back an hour later is unknown in the US, for instance.
The shops I know of in the UK don't operate like this. They are not one man operations and they don't shut for dinner.
Perhaps someone is in GW US is pulling a fast one.
The one in Blackpool operates like this (not surprising really). But the guy who runs it has his team of what i like to call LapGeeks. they are the only kids (none of them are older than 14) that actually set foot in there and the guy uses them to maintain the shop, I saw once he had them hoovering the carpet for him when i walked past, and these are meant to be customers!
mikhaila wrote:Nope. It's the direction GW is going in, been many threads and discussions on the change. Not all UK, US, or ROW shops have changed over. But it's the direction Mr. Kirby wants to go, and was based on models they set up in the UK
I wasn't aware of any one-man GW stores in the UK, certainly no trend. Maybe Covent Garden in London, that's pretty tiny (one small table) and there was one guy when I went in. But most GWUK stores are of a reasonable size and staffed by a couple of people at all times.
There are around 50 1-man stores in the UK out of the 130 or so total stores. That's a pretty big trend!
The one-man stores close for 30 minutes each day for lunch. Though from visiting several stores this is up to the manager what time he closes.
Store closures? Heh. They're finally opening a store in Cincinnati. I believe it was Mark Twain that said Cincinnati was ten years behind everybody else
The reason people really dislike GW is because they do so much bull crap to the gaming community, that in fact, they dont give a rats **** about the gaming community. All they are is a business. If you look back a few years. GW's attitude towards price's and business really changed when they got listed on the London Stock exchange.
I love 40k and fantasy. Bin playing those games for 10 or 11 years. But because of the bull crap they keep giving us. Its helped me get into other games such as FoW, and DBMM ancients.
I havent bought from GW in over 7 years. I get my models from gaming conventions. Trademe (NZ ebay). and Friends. And it costs me like 50% less then what most people normally pay. Im quite sad at the moment because for the first time in 7 years I had to buy a Dwarf Battalion for $180.... $180 for 43 models (I think it's 43).
Automatically Appended Next Post: The only times I go in a GW store is to troll them about their crappy finecast models and why their prices are so high. Within 15min I usually get kicked out, BUT NEVER banned!... HA!
The only times I go in a GW store is to troll them about their crappy finecast models and why their prices are so high. Within 15min I usually get kicked out, BUT NEVER banned!... HA!
Your mommy must be so proud.
Even as someone who has sworn off GW forever and thinks GW stores in the US are a stupid idea, I can't really see the OP's info as "the beginning of the end". It's my understanding there were way too many GW stores in the Baltimore area, anyway. GW stores close and open all the time, it seems. Now, if they close down a large number of stores without opening any, then that'll be a big deal.
Even if I were still buying GW, I don't think I'd buy from my local GW store... there's at least three independent shops equally distant with much more space to play (5+ Tables, as opposed to the GW's 1).
Howard A Treesong wrote:50?!? I'm well out of the loop then, because I've only seen one.
Off the top of my head from stores I've been to: Kings Lynn, Winchester, Loughborough, Leamington, Livingston, Barnstaple, Angel, Newport, Cwmbran, Nuneaton, Kettering, Maidenhead, Bury, Newbury, Kendal, Durham, Torquay, Bradgord, Gloucester... etc...
Tech Guard wrote:Yeah some of the fine cast I have bought lately have been fantastic. But the original versions were horrible. I still love GW stuff but the one thing that stops me buying rediculous amounts of "plastic crack" is painting time.
I bought An airbrush two days ago, when I walked into a GW store today I showed them some of the work I had done. So they eventually found out I was using an airbrush. That was when the gak hit the fan, they told me that "their" products, should be painted with "their" paints, and "their" spray gun. I will no longer be supporting GW stores, I will still buy their products every now and again. But as of today I am only buying from FLGS. I still love their models, but their business model is killing me.
That is so funny in a sad kind of way. It's almost as good as the Red Shirt who insisted that GW 'invented power armour and space marines'' and another one who insisted that ' it was againsted the law (and the IP) to use 40k figgies for anything but 40k'?? Really where do they find these guys at old defunct cult club houses who are looking for a new 'Leader'?
I am glad that Mike D got back on his feet and is doing well. In my time with GW I have seen them do some really moves by 'upper managment in GW canada like fireing perfectly good managers because they where not 'ruthless' enough with there employee's and customers (and that was a area managers exact words not mine).
Tech Guard wrote:Yeah some of the fine cast I have bought lately have been fantastic. But the original versions were horrible. I still love GW stuff but the one thing that stops me buying rediculous amounts of "plastic crack" is painting time.
I bought An airbrush two days ago, when I walked into a GW store today I showed them some of the work I had done. So they eventually found out I was using an airbrush. That was when the gak hit the fan, they told me that "their" products, should be painted with "their" paints, and "their" spray gun. I will no longer be supporting GW stores, I will still buy their products every now and again. But as of today I am only buying from FLGS. I still love their models, but their business model is killing me.
That is so funny in a sad kind of way. It's almost as good as the Red Shirt who insisted that GW 'invented power armour and space marines'' and another one who insisted that ' it was againsted the law (and the IP) to use 40k figgies for anything but 40k'?? Really where do they find these guys at old defunct cult club houses who are looking for a new 'Leader'?
During my time following GW, both as an employee and customer, it's always amazed me how different the types of staff can be in a store. It ranges from those who can't toe the company line, become massively cynical and are usually fired or leave within 6 months, to those who seem to have their brains entirely taken over to the point where they have lost the ability for independent thought. The problem is I think over the last decade or so the pendulum has swung firmly towards that latter camp, in terms of the staff I generally encounter. Of course their are exceptions (and I've been lucky enough to have a sequence of great managers in stores near me), and of course you need to take some pride and have some belief in your job, but I still think there is a line in the sand that should not be crossed. Such as those comments above for instance, things that could only ever make sense to the mind-wiped jobsworth.
While this doesn't matter so much on the sales floor, beyond being an irritation, I think this 'yes man' mentality has spread further up the tree and to the decision making process. GW has done several completely mind-boggling things over the last year, which can only lead me to assume that there is someone saying, "I know, why don't we do this?" which is answered with a muted nodding of heads, the staff who would have perhaps pointed out a problem with it long since gone. Either that, or there is some kind of hive mind controlling all the staff with psychic tendrils inserted into their brains? I think it has to be one of these two explanations.
Pacific wrote:While this doesn't matter so much on the sales floor, beyond being an irritation, I think this 'yes man' mentality has spread further up the tree and to the decision making process. GW has done several completely mind-boggling things over the last year, which can only lead me to assume that there is someone saying, "I know, why don't we do this?" which is answered with a muted nodding of heads, the staff who would have perhaps pointed out a problem with it long since gone. Either that, or there is some kind of hive mind controlling all the staff with psychic tendrils inserted into their brains? I think it has to be one of these two explanations.
spaceelf wrote:GW just announced their latest store closing. The Yorkridge MD store will close by the end of the month.
This must be part of their brilliant cost saving plans to make their company appear more financially sound than it really is. First it was one man stores. Now it is no store at all. If we are really lucky they will discontinue finecast.
All of this is good news for FLGS and competitors of GW.
Capitansolstice wrote:According the GW manager here, We have the biggest Non-bunker GW In the US!!! It has 6 Game tables, and a hobby area for 10
It is always good to promote your store. However, you may not want to highlight the size given that GW has been downsizing and closing shops. Yorkridge which is about to close has five tables, and intro table and a 10 person paint bar.
It is ironic that GW went with the small one man shop idea from Japan, and then proceeded to close its shops in that country. I wonder if GW's sales in Japan have gone down since the closures.
@Lone Cat: I am surprised that GW has not made more out of worldwide campaigns. It is one thing that they have over FLGS.
Capitansolstice wrote:According the GW manager here, We have the biggest Non-bunker GW In the US!!! It has 6 Game tables, and a hobby area for 10
Think the Voohees NJ store is the same size. I know they have at least 6 tables. I think the Franklin Mills store used to have about 8, but the move down to Cottman avenue left them with I think 2 and a demo table.
Pacific wrote:While this doesn't matter so much on the sales floor, beyond being an irritation, I think this 'yes man' mentality has spread further up the tree and to the decision making process. GW has done several completely mind-boggling things over the last year, which can only lead me to assume that there is someone saying, "I know, why don't we do this?" which is answered with a muted nodding of heads, the staff who would have perhaps pointed out a problem with it long since gone. Either that, or there is some kind of hive mind controlling all the staff with psychic tendrils inserted into their brains? I think it has to be one of these two explanations.
Recently they had a guy from up the chain at a local GW and sweet christ it was impossible to reason with the man, everytime someone said fluff he busted out "please use background as it is important because we are selling 20 million books blah blah blah" he also gave the manager there some lovely gems like "to increase sales you should kick out all your regulars and start a new customer base", but the one that really pissed me off was when he told the manager to order less white dwarves so when they sell out you can upsell a subscription so you are always guaranteed a copy.
The company is full underhanded little s like this, and he is the one training new managers in north america! GW do not give a flying gak about us, they litterally want to steal your money and run.
Capitansolstice wrote:According the GW manager here, We have the biggest Non-bunker GW In the US!!! It has 6 Game tables, and a hobby area for 10
Think the Voohees NJ store is the same size. I know they have at least 6 tables. I think the Franklin Mills store used to have about 8, but the move down to Cottman avenue left them with I think 2 and a demo table.
huh who knew. I definitely have seen downsizing, They aren't closing down our GW, which is ok, because sadly there are no hobby shops besides it, but they went from 3 people down to one in less than 5 months
) I've got him coming by my shop now and then, and we run events and work to keep the community over in south NJ that used to shop at the 
moves by 'upper managment in 
s like this, and he is the one training new managers in north america!