Bingo!

Sad thing is, I actually heard something that very different from that from a new employee at one point...

They familiarized themselves with everything in the store.

Of course, they didn't have any Sisters in-store any more.

But don't they proudly have something like 1700 products direct only now?

A lot more than just sisters are getting let out there...

To be fair to GW, if they tried to represent most of their range in a single store, it would be about the size of a supermarket.

In my area it comes and goes. Right now it is growing and our LFGS is getting ramped up to do a lot of 40k specific events.

 Selym wrote:
To be fair to GW, if they tried to represent most of their range in a single store, it would be about the size of a supermarket.

Yeah but they could have at least the codex-- OH WAIT THEY CAN'T BECAUSE THERE ISN'T ONE.

There used to be three Games Workshop stores in and around my city centre...now there's just one left. Not only that but their opening hours are just off-the-hook crazy. They're closed Monday and Tuesday and don't open Wednesday until noon. The staff turnaround cycles faster than an Assault Cannon's rate of fire, but at least they're friendly, though.

Also, the way that GW have run their website's into the ground makes me seriously question whether they even care. White Dwarf magazine used to be, in my opinion, a decent read until the last year or so of its lifetime. The last year of its print run saw a marked and precipitous drop in quality of content. What used to be plenty of interesting articles and stories became nothing more than an advert for the latest releases (yes I know it always was an advert but at least it came with lots of other content).

It's always been a niche hobby but there doesn't seem to be a particular shortage of fans/players of 40k, in my opinion. However, something has definitely happened behind the scenes at GW in the last few years and whatever it is isn't good. Another prime example is the unholy mess they've made of the HH book series. The actual, physical novels have become an endangered species, usurped by truckloads of tiny ebooks that take sixty seconds to read and 128-page novellas costing thirty quid with a print run of only a couple of thousand. How this will affect the hobby in the long run is up for debate...but I for one am worried...

 Muhr wrote:
They're closed Monday and Tuesday and don't open Wednesday until noon.

This is what I don't get. Why even have game stores at all if they're hardly ever open? The independent stores in the area are open every day and stay open until 10-11pm. The local GW is closed at least two days a week, doesn't stay open long enough to get in an after-work game during the week, and closes whenever the one employee takes a lunch break. It's just amazing how they can screw up something so simple.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Muhr wrote:
They're closed Monday and Tuesday and don't open Wednesday until noon.

This is what I don't get. Why even have game stores at all if they're hardly ever open? The independent stores in the area are open every day and stay open until 10-11pm. The local GW is closed at least two days a week, doesn't stay open long enough to get in an after-work game during the week, and closes whenever the one employee takes a lunch break. It's just amazing how they can screw up something so simple.

I think I've shown up to my local GW to find it closed for lunch more times than not this last 6 months.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Muhr wrote:
They're closed Monday and Tuesday and don't open Wednesday until noon.

This is what I don't get. Why even have game stores at all if they're hardly ever open? The independent stores in the area are open every day and stay open until 10-11pm. The local GW is closed at least two days a week, doesn't stay open long enough to get in an after-work game during the week, and closes whenever the one employee takes a lunch break. It's just amazing how they can screw up something so simple.

Because they aren't intended to be game stores, but a boutique place you stop by on the way home from work to buy a few things. The problem is they are treating a game like it's art or luxury clothes and expect their customers to behave like rich housewives that will go out for a day of shopping and come home with bags of expensive things from brand name stores.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
A large part fo GW's costs go in running their retail chain. That's why I argue they should carry a wider range of games, which I believe would appeal to more customers and increase the selling power of the setup.

That seems to be the strategy of the new CEO. They're bringing back specialist games, although to what extent remains to be seen. I always thought it was shortsighted of them to kill off the games that provided the best and most economical gateway to the hobby. Maybe bringing back Necromunda, Mordheim, bfg, etc will make the retail arm worth it. Right now, it's nothing but an anchor. What is the sense in spending 50% of your operating budget on something responsible for 30% of your revenue? Focus on making models and rules and let the FLGS owners sell the product like every other TTWG company in the market unless you have something special to bring to the table. A one man store on a side road that's only open 30 hours a week and has no playing space is not worth the time and money to keep it running.

 Melissia wrote:

 Selym wrote:
To be fair to GW, if they tried to represent most of their range in a single store, it would be about the size of a supermarket.

Yeah but they could have at least the codex-- OH WAIT THEY CAN'T BECAUSE THERE ISN'T ONE.

I mean, Sisters are the one army that GW can point to as being mostly their invention. It's got a great background and interesting units and... Nothing. Not a peep on the horizon about any new models. The mind boggles.

 Melissia wrote:

 Selym wrote:
To be fair to GW, if they tried to represent most of their range in a single store, it would be about the size of a supermarket.

Yeah but they could have at least the codex-- OH WAIT THEY CAN'T BECAUSE THERE ISN'T ONE.

Why would you need a codex? This isn't a gaming hobby, it's a model hobby... Yay Gee Dubs.

 Tinkrr wrote:

 Melissia wrote:

 Selym wrote:
To be fair to GW, if they tried to represent most of their range in a single store, it would be about the size of a supermarket.

Yeah but they could have at least the codex-- OH WAIT THEY CAN'T BECAUSE THERE ISN'T ONE.

Why would you need a codex? This isn't a gaming hobby, it's a model hobby... Yay Gee Dubs.

They don't stock Sisters models, either. In many regions they're online-only.

 Melissia wrote:

 Tinkrr wrote:

 Melissia wrote:

 Selym wrote:
To be fair to GW, if they tried to represent most of their range in a single store, it would be about the size of a supermarket.

Yeah but they could have at least the codex-- OH WAIT THEY CAN'T BECAUSE THERE ISN'T ONE.

Why would you need a codex? This isn't a gaming hobby, it's a model hobby... Yay Gee Dubs.

They don't stock Sisters models, either. In many regions they're online-only.

They sell green stuff and paint don't they? There you go, and if that fails I'm sure they have a sea of Space Marines to sell you D:

On a serious note though, it's kind of sad Sisters get no love as I remember playing them a bit when they got a new codex and more during third, and it was a lot of fun to play too. Oh, and looking at the models on the GW site, I really like the Hospitaller model.