Earlier today, the manager for my local GW resigned. He did this after having a visit from his boss to the store. Needless to say that said boss didn't like how he ran things even though his numbers were amazing. This manager took a dying store with barely a community and made it great. When I first started going there, there were barely any players, and he took that and made it packed consistently. He organized countless tournaments and paint contests. He basically revitalized the community. And from what he's said, his sales numbers were always great, consistently beating his quotas.
One of the things the boss had a problem with was a 'Game Room' that the manager had previously gotten the OK on. He took a back room of the store that wasn't needed and converted into a playing area with tables and everything. He then spent his own money and time to get it painted and looking great. With such great works of art like:
That's not to mention all of his own money he's put into the store getting terrain and such for people to play with. This is a massive blow to my local gaming community as he was a beloved member and leader of it. He will be missed and whoever comes after him better have a PhD in PR after this mess.
If the guy was that into the game and community, he'll resurface elsewhere, probably an an independant store, and do much more amazing things with even more games. Just keep an eye out.
The bloke sounds like a champion, I hope he does well. He could probably start his own store and pull all the customers away from GW, although I guess he'd be at the mercy of GW for stock so that may be a no-go.
We've already heard it before, gaming isn't the hobby. Buying is.
That store looks brilliant. I used to shop at, what I was told and confirmed by other GW stores in different states, at the highest grossing GW store in the country (or one of the highest). The manager is amazing and still a good friend. He could make anyone fall in love with the hobby and somehow put up with my bad puns and snark. I would go out of my way to drive past other stores to go to a GW shop and help new players roll dice and how to paint models. He even, with a bit of his own snark, let me paint using Vallejo (as long as I had a few GW washes and metallic paints out, which I still enjoy greatly).
I hope he never gets hit the same way, but if he ever started his own shop, I'd ask him to mail order me stuff at my expense even. That's how awesome a dude he is. Sounds like this was the same situation. I feel for your community and I hope you can find a new place to play and that he lands on his feet.
Being a store manager myself, I've seen bosses who let me run my store the way I want (so long as I follow company policy in every other category) and we become a top ten store in customer service. Start to put the clamps on and you see that life isn't so nice afterwards (those kind of bosses don't last long).
Hopefully this former GW manager gets a better paying job with a better place to work for in his next line of work.
It sounds like your guy the one thing GW truly values, the old "Company Way":
I heard this the other week and thought "damn, this is pretty relevant to how GW seems to act these days." In case you're still wondering what I mean, I'm basically saying he made the mistake of looking better than most other managers (both horizontal and vertical),
I can guess what the upper management was saying; "What is all this stuff, you should put your energy in selling our products, get rid of this nonsense!"
TheKbob wrote: It's like... a song about Jervis Johnson? At least, that's the tone I get from his White Dwarf articles.
Is the previous GW guy going to start his own store? I bet he'd get the player base to follow.
There'd be no doubt we'd follow him if he opened his own store. He's the reason over half of us even bother going there. Right now though, it's uncertain what is going to happen.
TheKbob wrote: It's like... a song about Jervis Johnson? At least, that's the tone I get from his White Dwarf articles.
Is the previous GW guy going to start his own store? I bet he'd get the player base to follow.
There'd be no doubt we'd follow him if he opened his own store. He's the reason over half of us even bother going there. Right now though, it's uncertain what is going to happen.
If he's half as good as you say he is, he'll find employment and get back out there. But for your gaming pals? Try to find a new FLGS with the same credence?
Medium of Death wrote: Your gaming group should send an email to GW's HR or Customer Service department saying what you've said here.
I fething hate meddling upper managers.
I hate to say it but i think the reply would be something along the lines of " the use of that room unfortunately was not sanctioned for use by the general public and not covered under insurance"
Medium of Death wrote: Your gaming group should send an email to GW's HR or Customer Service department saying what you've said here.
I fething hate meddling upper managers.
I hate to say it but i think the reply would be something along the lines of " the use of that room unfortunately was not sanctioned for use by the general public and not covered under insurance"
The issue is that as far as everyone is aware, they gave him permission to do it.
Being a store manager myself, I've seen bosses who let me run my store the way I want (so long as I follow company policy in every other category) and we become a top ten store in customer service. Start to put the clamps on and you see that life isn't so nice afterwards (those kind of bosses don't last long).
Hopefully this former GW manager gets a better paying job with a better place to work for in his next line of work.
Had a similar experience.
My line manager couldn't believe his luck when I asked for the manager's position in his worst store. Some staff changes and the effect of yours truly turns said store around in a little under three months.
Lines get redrawn on a map, and I get a new line manager. He tries to force my store into doing stuff I genuinely felt would damage both staff morale and store performance. Really puts the pressure on, is stood on the doorstep before opening times on days he isn't working, threatens me with warnings if store performance doesn't improve two or three days into the month, multiple phone calls "just to see how we were doing for the day" every day, all sorts of gak that really stressed me out, especially as I was trying to insulate my team from everything as much as possible.
It all went away when his role was revised and he became responsible for his own store in addition to supervising the area. We continually outperformed his store in mine, which completely eviscerated any leverage he had to try and force his ideas on my team.
Moral of the story? Some people care more about making people do things their way than they do about getting things done well.
Sucks that the guy quit though, I'd be pretty pissed if my area lost another great place to play (there are so few where I live). Hope the guy finds another place to be awesome at, maybe even start his own store?
Did he get to take the stuff he purchased with him?
The thing is, if this was the 90's or early 2000's he'd be getting a raise. As someone who's generally pretty pro-GW, I can't stand how they handle stores. I'm jealous of a store with that kind of guy running it, and I hope he can work at or open his own game store and bring that same kind of passion and enthusiasm to the job.
I hate to be the devil's advocate but there is usually something more than meets the eye here. As much as we would love to call GW a faceless corporate entity hell bent on sales and nothing more, there is always a reason that he must have quit voluntarily.
Why not ask him why he retired? The only thing I can imagine is continual stress and pressure from the company but I don't recall GW kicking people out based on what OP said.
I may seem like one of those "GW apologetics" but everyone straight up blaming GW before any solid evidence was presented seems disturbingly alarming at how much one can hate a company regardless of cause or reason.
From OP's post, we only know he retired, after a meeting with the boss. We don't know what took place in the meeting or the state at which he left (sad/angry/relieved/etc). I will reserve judgement until OP gives us the full story and I hope more people do too.
I just read the OP again with my Commercial Managers head on, Warning this is Arch-pedantry but people like this do exist and are drawn to middle management like moths to a flame;
- Uninsured activity possibly including minors without parental consent.
- Un-supervised activity on premises or store understaffed if this room was in use during store hours.
- Possible leasing issues if designated storage areas are being used for sundry Front of House activities and/or Out of hours.
- Premises in use for longer hours - who's paying for utilities?
- Employees on property for longer than opening hours - health/welfare and work /life balance issues and liability.
- Nice artwork now who's paying to clean this up when the Landlord sees it?
None of this counters the fact that on the face of it the Manager seems to have been doing a stand up job but there are many people that could and would over look good results to make a point and/or show someone they are the boss/don't get too big for your boots.
Jebus knows I've work for some bell ends like that in my time.
Boss feels threatened by a current subordinate who he knows can outperform the Boss in every way imaginable.
Boss takes action while he can to remove subordinate before someone even higher up the food chain decides to give the current subordinate a chance to really show what they can do.
Fortunately for the Boss, as notprop points out, there are so many rules nowadays that an arch pedant can make trouble if "i"s aren't dotted or "t"s crossed.
None of this counters the fact that on the face of it the Manager seems to have been doing a stand up job but there are many people that could and would over look good results to make a point and/or show someone they are the boss/don't get too big for your boots.
Jebus knows I've work for some bell ends like that in my time.
Sadly, that's true. And when a company's results are flat, often paranioa spreads through an organisation, and there are certain people who revel in the conflict, like psychic vampires.
In my own Plc, a boss in my division wanted to sack a senior figure I'd appointed. He failed because at every board meeting I argued the case, and showed why, statistically, the approach they wanted would fail. They waited until i was camping in the South of France and sacked him, anyway. Just 'cos they could. The business in question is now, 10 years later, a quarter of the size it was.
notprop wrote: I just read the OP again with my Commercial Managers head on, Warning this is Arch-pedantry but people like this do exist and are drawn to middle management like moths to a flame;
- Uninsured activity possibly including minors without parental consent.
- Un-supervised activity on premises or store understaffed if this room was in use during store hours.
- Possible leasing issues if designated storage areas are being used for sundry Front of House activities and/or Out of hours.
- Premises in use for longer hours - who's paying for utilities?
- Employees on property for longer than opening hours - health/welfare and work /life balance issues and liability.
- Nice artwork now who's paying to clean this up when the Landlord sees it?
None of this counters the fact that on the face of it the Manager seems to have been doing a stand up job but there are many people that could and would over look good results to make a point and/or show someone they are the boss/don't get too big for your boots.
Jebus knows I've work for some bell ends like that in my time.
These are all good management concerns but if the person had been given permission to go ahead they should have been covered n that decision making process.
Thats a shame, my wife and I were born and raised in Columbia and didnt get into Warhammer until after I was stationed elsewhere. We had been planning on visiting the store next time we went home.
meaples wrote: I hate to be the devil's advocate but there is usually something more than meets the eye here. As much as we would love to call GW a faceless corporate entity hell bent on sales and nothing more, there is always a reason that he must have quit voluntarily.
And, for the vast majority of the time, the person opts to resign rather than get fired because he feels that it will look better for his future hiring prospects. The company will typically give the employee the option to resign rather than being fired for the sole reason of avoiding having to pay unemployment.
Alternatively, he might have left because he didn't agree with the direction his supervisor wanted him to go.
But, if the company had absolute cause to fire someone (such cause that would negate any attempt to collect unemployment), they wouldn't have given him the chance to resign. The manager would have shown up with the termination papers and probably and HR rep.
notprop wrote: I just read the OP again with my Commercial Managers head on, Warning this is Arch-pedantry but people like this do exist and are drawn to middle management like moths to a flame;
- Uninsured activity possibly including minors without parental consent.
- Un-supervised activity on premises or store understaffed if this room was in use during store hours.
- Possible leasing issues if designated storage areas are being used for sundry Front of House activities and/or Out of hours.
- Premises in use for longer hours - who's paying for utilities?
- Employees on property for longer than opening hours - health/welfare and work /life balance issues and liability.
- Nice artwork now who's paying to clean this up when the Landlord sees it?
None of this counters the fact that on the face of it the Manager seems to have been doing a stand up job but there are many people that could and would over look good results to make a point and/or show someone they are the boss/don't get too big for your boots.
Jebus knows I've work for some bell ends like that in my time.
Agreed, although if I were his manger's manager, I'd be wanting to know either why he'd given permission, had been so out of touch as to be unaware that these things were happening or hadn't taken action sooner.
Of course, given the nature of middle management, the two individuals could be involved in their own little circle jerk and none for it would matter.
Given how homogenous their stores have become, I just don't think they like independent attitudes. GW recruit people who are a good fit. Maybe his managers decided that while he was good at selling, he wasn't a good fit because he wasn't towing the line. Drawing 80s style orcs on the walls and setting up a gaming room is doing stuff that makes the shop look different to the others, maybe even embarrassing others that don't offer these things. By doing non standard things and doing well smacks of challenging the management. People should be in the shops buying GW not playing games and other non-spending activities. Individuality is bad, don't ask questions and be a good little drone.
RiTides wrote: Our local GW manager ended up opening and running an independent FLGS a few years after the GW Bunker left Maryland. So, there's hope
Titan?
Dropzone Games, but maybe Titan qualifies, too!
I still drop by the St. Thomas GW on occasion, and even a year on it still has a only fraction of the customers after GW ran Dave out on a rail. I wish I could've taken a picture showing Saturday evenings before, when the store was generally packed with players, painters, and shoppers, and what Saturday nights have been like since, and sent that to GW customer service.
He didn't get fired he quit. It could all be nothing more then his boss saying "you know all that work you've done in the back room? Turns out we aren't allowed to use it for gaming purposes" to which he replies "that's bs I'm outta here"
So a GW store with a dedicated gaming area and tournament support was out selling other stores? Usually numbers are the only thing companies like this care about. They dont care how you do it, just sell sell sell. I dont understand their logic, the game room and tournaments were holding the store back from even more sales lol? No chance the sales were due to those differences i guess.
Boycott the store and tell the regional manager directly that you wont be shopping there any more.
Games Workshop Careers Website wrote:
About the Job
Do you want to be responsible for growing sales by running your own Games Workshop retail store?
Are you excited by working on your own, engaging with all your customers, understanding what’s important to them, and responding appropriately?
You will be responsible for and expected to make all the decisions to drive sales in your store all of the time. We will provide you with broad guidelines and access to a variety of support to allow you to do this effectively.
We know that the real challenge to growing sales is to provide a consistently exceptional standard of service to every customer no matter what. For those of you that meet this challenge, you will be financially rewarded with a proportion of your sales growth on top of an already competitive salary.
From the looks of it, the guy "commissioned art" on the building that GW is leasing...as in, painted on the walls.
I can't think that would have been approved.
Howard A Treesong wrote: Given how homogenous their stores have become, I just don't think they like independent attitudes. GW recruit people who are a good fit. Maybe his managers decided that while he was good at selling, he wasn't a good fit because he wasn't towing the line. Drawing 80s style orcs on the walls and setting up a gaming room is doing stuff that makes the shop look different to the others, maybe even embarrassing others that don't offer these things. By doing non standard things and doing well smacks of challenging the management. People should be in the shops buying GW not playing games and other non-spending activities. Individuality is bad, don't ask questions and be a good little drone.
Games Workshop does not own the buildings that their stores are part of. They lease.
Having art "commissioned" for the walls? Might violate the terms of the leases and leave GW as a corporate entity not the manager in question liable for the costs of refurbishing the space.
Kanluwen wrote: From the looks of it, the guy "commissioned art" on the building that GW is leasing...as in, painted on the walls.
I can't think that would have been approved.
Howard A Treesong wrote: Given how homogenous their stores have become, I just don't think they like independent attitudes. GW recruit people who are a good fit. Maybe his managers decided that while he was good at selling, he wasn't a good fit because he wasn't towing the line. Drawing 80s style orcs on the walls and setting up a gaming room is doing stuff that makes the shop look different to the others, maybe even embarrassing others that don't offer these things. By doing non standard things and doing well smacks of challenging the management. People should be in the shops buying GW not playing games and other non-spending activities. Individuality is bad, don't ask questions and be a good little drone.
Games Workshop does not own the buildings that their stores are part of. They lease.
Having art "commissioned" for the walls? Might violate the terms of the leases and leave GW as a corporate entity not the manager in question liable for the costs of refurbishing the space.
Most commercial leases only have stipulations against structural changes or anything requiring permits/planning permission. Because commercial premises are normally essentially big empty cubes that the tenant develops to suit their purposes.
As long as things are put right should the tenant leave then there wouldn't be a problem. I would imagine that even if he didn't have permission, if the guy had the attitude he's reported to, then he would have painted over them should it have become necessary.
It wasn't an investigation. He was just showing up as a walk around. He was scheduled to visit more stores after.
Considering GW purportedly no longer has regional managers, I can think of absolutely no reason for a manager's "boss" to be showing up just to have a walkaround.
It wasn't an investigation. He was just showing up as a walk around. He was scheduled to visit more stores after.
Considering GW purportedly no longer has regional managers, I can think of absolutely no reason for a manager's "boss" to be showing up just to have a walkaround.
Uhmm. Yes they do. And he (Josh Wimberly) was doing rounds of all the local stores.
It wasn't an investigation. He was just showing up as a walk around. He was scheduled to visit more stores after.
Considering GW purportedly no longer has regional managers, I can think of absolutely no reason for a manager's "boss" to be showing up just to have a walkaround.
Uhmm. Yes they do. And he (Josh Wimberly) was doing rounds of all the local stores.
Even a cursory glance of Google says that Josh Wimberly is "head of retail recruitment", not a "regional manager".
Watched a bit of the video and got bored. Still, I'd strongly recommend he take it down ASAP. Even if your reasons are just, dissing your previous employer is a bad move and looks worse to future employers. Usually, if you separate on better-than-bad terms your previous employer will give you a good recommendation and it's generally expected that you will do the same.
There's a good chance that future jobs will Google their managerial applicants. For the sake of his career, this guy should either clear up or anonymize (reddit is good for this) his commentary.
Of all the fetching places that enthusiastic gaming places need to be shut down, South Carolina is the last man. We are suffering badly. I seriously feel for you man. What a sham.
If you are ever interested in playing 15mm battlegroup (WW2) we got a group of guys in Charleston with some crazy awesome dedicated terrain and space. I left 40k awhile ago and never looked back.
Still got my DE though. If you can't find a game, we love well painted, narrative games. If all else fails hit us up bother.
It wasn't an investigation. He was just showing up as a walk around. He was scheduled to visit more stores after.
Considering GW purportedly no longer has regional managers, I can think of absolutely no reason for a manager's "boss" to be showing up just to have a walkaround.
Uhmm. Yes they do. And he (Josh Wimberly) was doing rounds of all the local stores.
Even a cursory glance of Google says that Josh Wimberly is "head of retail recruitment", not a "regional manager".
It's the same freaking thing. His job is to manage the managers.
It wasn't an investigation. He was just showing up as a walk around. He was scheduled to visit more stores after.
Considering GW purportedly no longer has regional managers, I can think of absolutely no reason for a manager's "boss" to be showing up just to have a walkaround.
Uhmm. Yes they do. And he (Josh Wimberly) was doing rounds of all the local stores.
Even a cursory glance of Google says that Josh Wimberly is "head of retail recruitment", not a "regional manager".
OMG, the plot thickens, what was really going on here? so you think the OP is lying about everything? it's a conspiracy
please enlighten us all what really transpired here.
It wasn't an investigation. He was just showing up as a walk around. He was scheduled to visit more stores after.
Considering GW purportedly no longer has regional managers, I can think of absolutely no reason for a manager's "boss" to be showing up just to have a walkaround.
Uhmm. Yes they do. And he (Josh Wimberly) was doing rounds of all the local stores.
Even a cursory glance of Google says that Josh Wimberly is "head of retail recruitment", not a "regional manager".
And in that cursory glance I found this gem...
Assist with the on-going development and training of Management.
So... yeah, he's still doing "regional manager" stuff as part of his current job.
It wasn't an investigation. He was just showing up as a walk around. He was scheduled to visit more stores after.
Considering GW purportedly no longer has regional managers, I can think of absolutely no reason for a manager's "boss" to be showing up just to have a walkaround.
Same thing happened at the Columbia Maryland GW, random management check. The higher up gave the local manager a hard time, too. That local manager, Tony, was and is awesome. GW's corporate attitude / pressure on employees is quite bad, though. Seeing the way the higher up treated him was one of my last straws with GWHQ... although I'd still go by the store to get paint / etc when I could just to support Tony. It's awesome that two other GW managers in Maryland are at their own independent stores now.
Considering GW purportedly no longer has regional managers, I can think of absolutely no reason for a manager's "boss" to be showing up just to have a walkaround.
Ummm.... bulgak. You might not know who that guy is for your local store, but they do store checks on a regular basis. Similar thing happened at my local store. Two great managers set up with a store with eight game tables. They ran tourneys, campaigns, paint classes you name it. When they changed to one man stores they offered one of the guys his own store but it would not have any tables, he would only be allowed to do retail, and the store would be two blocks from an FLGs with tables that offered a discount. The other guy they assumed would stay at the first store but they told him he had to restrict painting at the paint bar to one hour per person, and he had to cover the tables with product with the exception of a 4X4 section he could use for demos. No more open gaming would be allowed in the store. They both quit. A store that you could barely walk in on a Saturday had two people in it the last time I was there.
It wasn't an investigation. He was just showing up as a walk around. He was scheduled to visit more stores after.
Considering GW purportedly no longer has regional managers, I can think of absolutely no reason for a manager's "boss" to be showing up just to have a walkaround.
Seriously? This happens at almost every retail place I've ever worked at/known. Bosses do it every 6 months or so, usually just to check things out or they do it when corporate pushes some new rules/plans into effect. This is not something surprising and if the higher up got word that he was supposed to implement some new plan/take his stores in a new direction, then he ABSOLUTELY would go around to all his stores.
Medium of Death wrote: Your gaming group should send an email to GW's HR or Customer Service department saying what you've said here.
I fething hate meddling upper managers.
I hate to say it but i think the reply would be something along the lines of " the use of that room unfortunately was not sanctioned for use by the general public and not covered under insurance"
The issue is that as far as everyone is aware, they gave him permission to do it.
Common practice for Corporate Management to give you the shaft if you do not conform to their quasi religious dogma.
On the other side of the fence being a owner of commercial property it depends on lease that they hold. I can say when the old tenants are gone it is turn key operation to get it up to specks for leasing to another business. So in this case the paintings on the wall will be a non issue as everything will have to be painted/cleaned/torn down regardless. The cost is what my maintenance crew is. An hourly wage.
I hope this guy does well in any endeavor he chooses. The guy has talent.
Sad to hear. I wish the guy well. If he needs a new town to start a FLGS he and all his customers are welcome in my town. Our store had to close the first of July. It didn't go under. The store owner was working another job while running the store and had no time for family. But, even he said as a FLGSGW was making things difficult.
The guy who ran the place is a great guy and a true friend to our gaming community. And no worries he has already started looking for other places to play.
So to give a bit more details, when this store first opened it did ok...for the first month. Then this guy came and changed everything around. When he first joined as manager he was completely new to the game and was just learning it, which to me helped him connect to the younger crowd. In no time the store was filled up with 5 to 7 people playing and buying.
We were told earlier from him that he was told by his boss that he wasn't exactly following the guidelines but he wasn't breaking rules either. They were happy with sales he made as well and had approved for the game room.
From what I heard about that day, his boss came in and said he wasn't happy with the game room and some of the other habits he was doing and told him to change back to what it used be (while making the exact sales he was making)
What wasn't said was how his boss acted after he quit. He told everyone to leave and locked up. One of the customers is minor who had to call his mom and wait for about an hour in SC heat. Poor kid should never had to deal with that. When his mom confronted him about it, his boss said, "a Games Workshop manager's resignation is a private matter."
This kind of behavior is what's making me turn to other game companies.
The guy who ran the place is a great guy and a true friend to our gaming community. And no worries he has already started looking for other places to play.
So to give a bit more details, when this store first opened it did ok...for the first month. Then this guy came and changed everything around. When he first joined as manager he was completely new to the game and was just learning it, which to me helped him connect to the younger crowd. In no time the store was filled up with 5 to 7 people playing and buying.
We were told earlier from him that he was told by his boss that he wasn't exactly following the guidelines but he wasn't breaking rules either. They were happy with sales he made as well and had approved for the game room.
From what I heard about that day, his boss came in and said he wasn't happy with the game room and some of the other habits he was doing and told him to change back to what it used be (while making the exact sales he was making)
What wasn't said was how his boss acted after he quit. He told everyone to leave and locked up. One of the customers is minor who had to call his mom and wait for about an hour in SC heat. Poor kid should never had to deal with that. When his mom confronted him about it, his boss said, "a Games Workshop manager's resignation is a private matter."
This kind of behavior is what's making me turn to other game companies.
Again this is the EXACT behavior of the corporation. This is nothing new. The Double Speak is also the norm for the corporation.
Glad that the young kid is okay but man if the child had got heat prostration/stroke then the corporation would be in a hefty civil suit.
The thing is thigh, as with any resignation, we only know one side of the story. Perhaps the higher management were being unreasonable, equally perhaps they asked him to make some changes and he went off the handle because he didn't like authority telling him what to do (it happens).
Without hearing both sides of the story we are just guessing.
What wasn't said was how his boss acted after he quit. He told everyone to leave and locked up. One of the customers is minor who had to call his mom and wait for about an hour in SC heat. Poor kid should never had to deal with that. When his mom confronted him about it, his boss said, "a Games Workshop manager's resignation is a private matter."
I don't honestly see what the problem is there. It's been said time and again, GE stores are not kindergarten. What would the kid have done if the store had to close due to an emergency? It's down to the kids parents to not leave him stranded like that if he is not old enough to look after himself.
Sounds like a real shame, I would have thought GW would want to reward creativity in trying to boost sales and create a player community. They seem unable to realise that there is no reason to buy from a GW store anymore, with all of the discount retailers.
My local GW is my wargaming hell. The manager is pretty friendly, but there is one table at the back that always has people playing so no chance for me there even if I wanted to put up with the kids [last time one of whom was shouting "If I roll a 4 or more your warlord dies, snort snort *rolls a 5* there, your warlord is dead *picks up model and puts it off the table*]. I only buy the odd paint pot now, or if I need to get something last minute before a game. Wish we had someone like the manager mentioned in the OP.
So when you resign you leave immediately and they shut the shop? Don't people work a notice period? Or shouldn't he have been relieved?
The one man shop is a risk to child safety. It's not responsible to run businesses that aim to sell to minors and only ever have one member of staff on site and responsible. I have to be careful about sharing a classroom with a single pupil in school.
Howard A Treesong wrote: So when you resign you leave immediately and they shut the shop? Don't people work a notice period? Or shouldn't he have been relieved?
The one man shop is a risk to child safety. It's not responsible to run businesses that aim to sell to minors and only ever have one member of staff on site and responsible. I have to be careful about sharing a classroom with a single pupil in school.
All GW employees are CRB checked, or the equivalent. IIRC you can only leave kids aged 12 or older. As a parent whose kid often plays at their stores, I think they do a good job (apart from the pressure to get daddy to flex his credit card), and are normally pretty responsible, letting kids be independent, and usually giving clear directions about when to pick them up.
And really, are we all so paranoid these days that a 12 year old left at a shop is a major risk? When I was 12, we'd be playing on building sites or blowtorching Airfix models.
This one occasion, closing the shop and letting customers see the internal conflict, does sound very unprofessional, though.
Howard - depends on the situation. As he walked out he might have broken contract on his end and not served his minimum contract end period (or his given notice period). It might be that this one meeting just set him off and he walked or there could have been more in the background going on.
Far as I'm aware the highstreet shops don't have to remain open/onduty even if the sell to minors unless they have something like a specific area for child-care (like those leave your child to play whilst you shop things). Otherwise its just a shop like any other with its own opening and closing times.
tyrannosauru - part of that problem is expense. Sadly GW stores have gotten smaller and smaller because GW always tries to site them in a good area of town. And sadly rent and rates pushes the costs up more and more 0 I've seen several slowly shift into smaller and smaller properties; and with single staff they can't even use upstairs as a game room either.
And really, are we all so paranoid these days that a 12 year old left at a shop is a major risk? When I was 12, we'd be playing on building sites or blowtorching Airfix models.
When I make sure not to shut myself in a classroom with a pupil, it's to protect me. What will GW do the day someone accuses a member of their staff?
It wasn't an investigation. He was just showing up as a walk around. He was scheduled to visit more stores after.
Considering GW purportedly no longer has regional managers, I can think of absolutely no reason for a manager's "boss" to be showing up just to have a walkaround.
Same thing happened at the Columbia Maryland GW, random management check. The higher up gave the local manager a hard time, too. That local manager, Tony, was and is awesome. GW's corporate attitude / pressure on employees is quite bad, though. Seeing the way the higher up treated him was one of my last straws with GWHQ... although I'd still go by the store to get paint / etc when I could just to support Tony. It's awesome that two other GW managers in Maryland are at their own independent stores now.
Tony's out at GW Columbia? That's a shame. Good guy. Not that I visit GW anymore, but still... I already watched GW totally destroy the GW Annapolis store's community. Manager there was a good guy who tried really hard to keep that store going in the face of GW stupidity. And, yes, its very very good that GnS, Dropzone, and Titan are around.
And really, are we all so paranoid these days that a 12 year old left at a shop is a major risk? When I was 12, we'd be playing on building sites or blowtorching Airfix models.
When I make sure not to shut myself in a classroom with a pupil, it's to protect me. What will GW do the day someone accuses a member of their staff?
Fire them, probably, and attempt to pretend nothing ever happened.
it would be a good question for the AGM, though...
Overread wrote: Howard - depends on the situation. As he walked out he might have broken contract on his end and not served his minimum contract end period (or his given notice period). It might be that this one meeting just set him off and he walked or there could have been more in the background going on
Almost all US jobs are "at will" employment; no contractual terms on either side governing notice periods.
Howard A Treesong wrote: So when you resign you leave immediately and they shut the shop? Don't people work a notice period? Or shouldn't he have been relieved?
The one man shop is a risk to child safety. It's not responsible to run businesses that aim to sell to minors and only ever have one member of staff on site and responsible. I have to be careful about sharing a classroom with a single pupil in school.
All GW employees are CRB checked, or the equivalent. IIRC you can only leave kids aged 12 or older. As a parent whose kid often plays at their stores, I think they do a good job (apart from the pressure to get daddy to flex his credit card), and are normally pretty responsible, letting kids be independent, and usually giving clear directions about when to pick them up.
Think you might be being a bit short-sighted there Hivefleet Oblivion, a CRB check is no guarantee of anything. Having more than one member of staff in the store not only protects the kids, it also protects the people working in the store from any unfounded accusations - such things can ruin careers and lives.
I worked for GW years ago and I've worked as a teacher. In both cases I have met people who, in my opinion, should not have been working with children. I should stipulate here that I might have been completely wrong about them, and they might be completely straight down the line, but nevertheless it was enough to set an 'alarm bell' at the back of my mind.
Having two members of staff, in all cases, adds more of a safety net for everyone concerned. GW is either ignorant of this, or else has decided that the 14-15k a year or whatever it is that they save on an extra member of staff, is worth the cost of something that could potentially destroy their image as a company and their presence on the high street, looking at the worst case scenario.
It wasn't an investigation. He was just showing up as a walk around. He was scheduled to visit more stores after.
Considering GW purportedly no longer has regional managers, I can think of absolutely no reason for a manager's "boss" to be showing up just to have a walkaround.
Same thing happened at the Columbia Maryland GW, random management check. The higher up gave the local manager a hard time, too. That local manager, Tony, was and is awesome. GW's corporate attitude / pressure on employees is quite bad, though. Seeing the way the higher up treated him was one of my last straws with GWHQ... although I'd still go by the store to get paint / etc when I could just to support Tony. It's awesome that two other GW managers in Maryland are at their own independent stores now.
Tony is a great guy, and i will occasionally drive past the Owings Mills GW to throw him some sales! Currently sitting on about 400$ worth of dwarves and the paint set as well, just cause Tony was cool(i dont play fantasy lol). As well Dropzone is epic and i try to get in there as mu h as possible, there staff is awesome.
Edit: reading that made no sense to me lol, i meant ill goto the Columbia GW to spend $$ at Tonys store hes such a good dude. My owings mills guy is cool as hell too.
Considering GW purportedly no longer has regional managers, I can think of absolutely no reason for a manager's "boss" to be showing up just to have a walkaround.
Ummm.... bulgak. You might not know who that guy is for your local store, but they do store checks on a regular basis. Similar thing happened at my local store. Two great managers set up with a store with eight game tables. They ran tourneys, campaigns, paint classes you name it. When they changed to one man stores they offered one of the guys his own store but it would not have any tables, he would only be allowed to do retail, and the store would be two blocks from an FLGs with tables that offered a discount. The other guy they assumed would stay at the first store but they told him he had to restrict painting at the paint bar to one hour per person, and he had to cover the tables with product with the exception of a 4X4 section he could use for demos. No more open gaming would be allowed in the store. They both quit. A store that you could barely walk in on a Saturday had two people in it the last time I was there.
Oh, I always thought their covering the tables in product was a coincidence. Didn't realize it was a corporate policy! Lol
That seems strange to me. My local store has 1 table for product and 2 tables specifically for gaming. If the gaming tables weren't there, you wouldn't have 10-20 people in there hanging out, playing games and probably making some type of impulse purchase. I have a hard time leaving without grabbing a pot of paint, a white dwarf, or even some of the more expensive models.
Oh, I always thought their covering the tables in product was a coincidence. Didn't realize it was a corporate policy! Lol
Not a coincidence RiTides, 100% company policy. They were basically told GW is a retail chain and they should get people in to buy stuff and get them out, people should not be loitering in the store!?! The store has a Island bar with 12-15 seats around it for panting. When My friends were running the store you had to get there a half hour before opening to get a seat to paint or a game on one of the tables. I stopped buy today to pick up a Dakka Jet and there was one guy painting and two guys playing fantasy with unpainted models on the one open table. It's a shame what they have done to their stores.
Please have a look at the GW homepage.
There is a ''painting & modelling'' button, which has replaced the former ''gaming'' button.
This is in line with the small GW stores. Customers get it to be adviced, buy some stuff, and then get out. Small demo games for absolute beginners included.
An additional room for larger games seems to be against the corporal policy.
Kilkrazy wrote: Their retail locations are at the same time GW's key marketing tool and the millstone around their neck.
Space for demos and games needs a larger shop and more staff, both costing more than small shops.
The strategy of one man shops is to get the customer to buy something quickly and order more things from the GW web store.
Exactly.
And if some shop would offer more like the others (e.g. addition room for gaming purposes) this would eventually awaken desires among the customers to have more stores like that.
I don't know what else to assume from this thread other than the long term hope of GW is to go out of business with as much shareholder profit left in tact as possible. Short term just sell as much as possible and completely do everything in your power to alienate your customers, who in the future will be printing their figures from an iphone app anyway. sad.
Although I don't really want to get involved, its the internet so I might as well.
We have to face the facts that gw is a corporation in the 21st century. I can see where they are coming from, keeping actual gaming to a minimum and sales at the top of the list. This is the problem with a big corporation. The guys at the top don't play warhammer and they don't read it. They only go by numbers.
Although selling figures is a little different than electronics but let's face it. Gw are purely their to sell gak. Although I would love every gw store to be like the op one, they are just an expensive storefront.
Life would be bbetter if gw just ditched stores and franchised out to independent stores. That way, they could be ran however the owner wants. The downside to that is, after the bad rep gw have got sellers will probably push other products now.
I would rather buy from and goto an independent store with an enthusiastic hobbyist who knows what we want, instead some poor gw guy bound by rules. The gw of the 90's is long gone
You have to separate GW's ability to run a retail store from their ability to run a company. What I mean is, it's a miracle they operate a retail chain at all and just because they gak it up doesn't mean the "one more sign GW is going out of business." (Note: I am not saying GW is or isn't on a downward spiral - I am just saying the health of retail stores is a bad indicator of determinign this)
Most corporations stopped running their on retails stores because they figured out they don't know how go do it. Disney, who is a lot bigger and better run than GW sold off their retial stores to Children's place a few years ago because they realized they are not good at running retails stores.
One Day GW will realize this too and close their stores down. It's inevitable. There is no way a niche of a niche product can operate a profitable retail store chain when bigger more popular, higher volume selling type products can't run their own stores.
The continued attempts just show how GW stubbornly continues to try to get as many sales at MSRP as possible, they need to realize as a miniature company they are just going to have to accept they will make most of their sales through LGS, distirbutors etc. at that lower margin.
So to sum up, from my business experience and background, my belief is eventually GW will realize the retail chain is a bad, non-profitable move for them and shut them down all together A sad day for us players, but it will improve the overall health of the company.
We wrote: You have to separate GW's ability to run a retail store from their ability to run a company. What I mean is, it's a miracle they operate a retail chain at all and just because they gak it up doesn't mean the "one more sign GW is going out of business." (Note: I am not saying GW is or isn't on a downward spiral - I am just saying the health of retail stores is a bad indicator of determinign this)
Most corporations stopped running their on retails stores because they figured out they don't know how go do it. Disney, who is a lot bigger and better run than GW sold off their retial stores to Children's place a few years ago because they realized they are not good at running retails stores.
One Day GW will realize this too and close their stores down. It's inevitable. There is no way a niche of a niche product can operate a profitable retail store chain when bigger more popular, higher volume selling type products can't run their own stores.
The continued attempts just show how GW stubbornly continues to try to get as many sales at MSRP as possible, they need to realize as a miniature company they are just going to have to accept they will make most of their sales through LGS, distirbutors etc. at that lower margin.
So to sum up, from my business experience and background, my belief is eventually GW will realize the retail chain is a bad, non-profitable move for them and shut them down all together A sad day for us players, but it will improve the overall health of the company.
If they were going to realize store are a bad idea, it would of happened late 80's early 90's. I grew up were people buy multi-million dollar houses in a fog bank, sure it has some of the best golf coruses in the world. No, GW store ever lasted more then a year or two in that area, it may have been becouse the great FLGS in the area. But if they didn't figure it out then, they won't do it now. It is hard to see with their heads up their own .....
We have to face the facts that gw is a corporation in the 21st century. I can see where they are coming from, keeping actual gaming to a minimum and sales at the top of the list. This is the problem with a big corporation. The guys at the top don't play warhammer and they don't read it. They only go by numbers.
Although selling figures is a little different than electronics but let's face it. Gw are purely their to sell gak. Although I would love every gw store to be like the op one, they are just an expensive storefront.
Life would be bbetter if gw just ditched stores and franchised out to independent stores. That way, they could be ran however the owner wants. The downside to that is, after the bad rep gw have got sellers will probably push other products now.
I would rather buy from and goto an independent store with an enthusiastic hobbyist who knows what we want, instead some poor gw guy bound by rules. The gw of the 90's is long gone
It doesn't make sense from any standpoint other than EXTREME cost cutting. Keeping actual gaming to a minimum will hurt sales in a store. Having foot traffic in a store, even if the gamers aren't buying regularly is a good thing. Having an empty store full of boxes doesn't lure much curiosity like it does when you have people actually enjoying themselves in a location. Think about a bar.
This isn't Verizon Wireless where people just come in, buy their phone or get it fixed and GTFO. This is a hobby store. Having at least a SMALL group of gamers there is important to potential players of the games. I mean imagine if you opened a restaurant and then months later told everyone to get up and leave after they are served the food in to go boxes..... wtf? Who would eat there?
This policy is just so abjectly absurd and self defeating that I would be hard up to find any other explanation other than the thought that the company actively wants to go out of business. They must want the managers to quit to avoid having to fire them or something. This is just terrible, terrible, business.
inquisitorlewis wrote: Maybe the store is about to shut down. Our local GW (Bear, Delaware) just announced they are closing at the end of August.
That store was boned the minute they picked that location. It's awful and Bear is an absolute hole. The store should've been in Newark, Hockessin, or the Christina mall. There's been a chain of decent managers in and out of there who start enthusiastically and eventually realize they're being asked to do the impossible. Pretty sure the only reason it lasted this long is because they signed a 5 year lease.
Glad that the young kid is okay but man if the child had got heat prostration/stroke then the corporation would be in a hefty civil suit.
No it wouldn't. Stores can close its doors at any time and ask everyone to leave the premises for any reason, regardless of age.
The store would not be liable if a negligent parent left a child unsupervised in a public place. If they were liable, that means if you are the last adult near a lone child and you walk away from them for any reason, you are liable, that opens the doors to a ton of bullcrap.
If an employee quits, or employees don't show up to work and no one can work... the store closes... People leave, and if they leave it is not the store's issue. Maybe the vising GW supervisor should have called the police on the angry mom for being a negligent monster?
All I hear is a GW store manager who put the company at risk by breaking lease terms and opening up the company to liability issues. He sounds dangerously reckless in the way he runs his store. When he shoulders the lease and liability, then he can reap the rewards of his risky actions.
Glad that the young kid is okay but man if the child had got heat prostration/stroke then the corporation would be in a hefty civil suit.
No it wouldn't. Stores can close its doors at any time and ask everyone to leave the premises for any reason, regardless of age.
The store would not be liable if a negligent parent left a child unsupervised in a public place. If they were liable, that means if you are the last adult near a lone child and you walk away from them for any reason, you are liable, that opens the doors to a ton of bullcrap.
If an employee quits, or employees don't show up to work and no one can work... the store closes... People leave, and if they leave it is not the store's issue. Maybe the vising GW supervisor should have called the police on the angry mom for being a negligent monster?
All I hear is a GW store manager who put the company at risk by breaking lease terms and opening up the company to liability issues. He sounds dangerously reckless in the way he runs his store. When he shoulders the lease and liability, then he can reap the rewards of his risky actions.
Oh, really?
And where did you read that he broke the lease terms, pray tell?
Oh, wait... you didn't - did you?
You have decided that it must be the manager's fault, because goodness knows GW can do no wrong....
Most commercial real estate leases do allow a store occupying that property to decorate - I would go so far as to say that GWhad already done so.
But don't worry, with the new and exciting direction that it sounds like the store is headed, it seems unlikely that liabililty at that location will be a long term problem... since annoyed gamers tend to spread the word about places that get rid of folks that those gamers like.
-Loki- wrote: Welcome to gaming at a Games Workshop.
If the guy was that into the game and community, he'll resurface elsewhere, probably an an independant store, and do much more amazing things with even more games. Just keep an eye out.
QFT!!!
And you should let that guy know how you feel. That if he does set up an Indie FLGS, your groups and the players from the "GW Store" will spend their time and money at his place. This will also let you guys expand away from GW and into other games (X Wing, Magic, D&D, board games, etc...perhaps that was the reason for firing him; was he allowing ANYTHING to be played in the GW store? Or just WFB, LOTR, and 40K).
Kanluwen wrote: From the way things are sounding, he wasn't really "running a business" but instead was "running a clubhouse".
It depends, it was said at the beginning of the thread the store was making money. If what you do puts money in the till then as long as its not illegal id say its successful. Though i didnt read all of it
Running a clubhouse? really? did I miss the invite to the keg parties? From what I can tell was building a community around GW products and games. Any corporation that would deter a manager from doing that has to be the most prolific assembly of idiots ever put together.
VanHallan wrote: Running a clubhouse? really? did I miss the invite to the keg parties? From what I can tell was building a community around GW products and games. Any corporation that would deter a manager from doing that has to be the most prolific assembly of idiots ever put together.
Yes, let's pretend that "running a clubhouse" equates to "keg parties".
Building a community around GW products and games does not necessarily require you to let people just sit around the shop, never buy anything, steer customers towards other shops to buy at a discount, or any number of things that would equate to a "clubhouse" atmosphere that might keep those people coming back at the expense of new customers/players.
Missed the bit where he was growing the store financially huh Kan?
"Running a clubhouse" is exactly the way this sort of business should be run, the tricky part is when hobbyists who aren't businessmen think that is all that is required and cease to run it in any way like a business.
Now, while of course we only have his own claims that he was growing the figures year in year, I'm willing to offer the benefit of the doubt on that.
It never ceases to amaze me in these threads when someone pops up and says "hey, here was a good guy who was doing a good job and it sucks that he's gone" that there always seems to be a number of people in absolutely no position to know who jump in with "ah, but there were pentagrams on the walls of the stock room and he was sacrificing chickens in his lunch hour out the back."
How's about taking this at face value, we have a guy who was doing a job well, but not in the right way, for a company that seems to desire conformity so strongly in it's employees that it would make a Stepford Wife uncomfortable and he got canned because said company has no vision?
VanHallan wrote: Running a clubhouse? really? did I miss the invite to the keg parties? From what I can tell was building a community around GW products and games. Any corporation that would deter a manager from doing that has to be the most prolific assembly of idiots ever put together.
Yes, let's pretend that "running a clubhouse" equates to "keg parties".
Building a community around GW products and games does not necessarily require you to let people just sit around the shop, never buy anything, steer customers towards other shops to buy at a discount, or any number of things that would equate to a "clubhouse" atmosphere that might keep those people coming back at the expense of new customers/players.
I'm sorry, the only clubhouses I am familiar with do exactly that. Rugby, Motorcycle club, Fraternities and fan clubs. I don't know how it is in the UK.
You're making an awful lot of assumptions about what was going on there. What makes you think people were sitting around the shop not buying anything? There is no evidence of that in the story.
And when you remove the incentive for people to congregate, play games, and basically make friends around GW's hobby, what do you think they'll do? a.) quit playing b.) go to another store.
Do you disagree? Please tell me how YOU believe reducing the function of GW stores to simply encourage the customer to buy stuff and GTFO is beneficial to the company or customers. Make up something really creative because I want to read something good.
He certainly suggested that the people playing games were hanging out and buying nothing. I don't know why he thinks he didn't say it was happening. He assumed it, typed it out, posted it, uh...... yeah, that's what I'd say he said. Even better is the rest of his post. It seems he assumes that this guy was running a GW shop, and allowing people to come in, hang out all day, buy nothing, and ** steer other customers to go to other stores to buy at a discount, and then, for some reason they come back and hang at the 'bad store' and just hang. What sense does that make to anybody? Still waiting for a rational response to how GW is doing anything beneficial for any involved party here.
Just like I can suggest as a possibility that you have as little knowledge of the situation in question as I do--or anyone in this thread beyond the OP does.
And even then I might call the OP into question, since there is always the likelihood that there were some behind the scenes shenanigans that he was not privy to.
So again, if you could just go on with your reasoning as to why GW's opposition to having a game room in any way enhances the benefits for GW, Store managers, or, most importantly in any business, the lives of their customers.
Please give me something. You must have some explanation as to why this game room is such an undesirable liability for a store to have.
Your assumption is that "GW was opposed to having a game room". That's not necessarily true.
There might have been issues regarding supervisory capacity for unaccompanied minors, liability issues for the same in areas where they cannot be readily seen by the staff member, insurance issues for having a space that cannot be readily seen by the staff member, etc.
There is also of course the simple reasoning of the person having gotten an okay from someone who was not really empowered to give the okay.
I thinks it's reasonable to assume that it was already one. That being the case having an ancillary room out back for gamingwould be impractical.
You either have an unsupervised activity or unsupervised store.
The important line was 'Nothing interesting going on'.
Here is the thing - pretty much every local game store that I have ever been in has been a one or two man operation (that is one man handling the store at a time - not one man is all we got, he goes on vacation and we close), at least some of the time - and still had gaming going on.
Often the gaming was after hours - but posted on the bulletin board.
Actual, dice on the table, gaming is part of what drives sales.
Driving a manager that has good sales away is tantamount to driving those sales away.
I would love to see if GW's profits on those B&M stores that have gone to one man operations have had a proportional increase in profit... my suspicion is that they are earning less, and and that the profit margin (if any) on those stores has dropped.
Ah, well....
Soon we will know how much of a hole GW has dug themselves out of with 40K 7th edition....
I thinks it's reasonable to assume that it was already one. That being the case having an ancillary room out back for gamingwould be impractical.
You either have an unsupervised activity or unsupervised store.
The important line was 'Nothing interesting going on'.
Here is the thing - pretty much every local game store that I have ever been in has been a one or two man operation (that is one man handling the store at a time - not one man is all we got, he goes on vacation and we close), at least some of the time - and still had gaming going on.
Often the gaming was after hours - but posted on the bulletin board.
Actual, dice on the table, gaming is part of what drives sales.
Driving a manager that has good sales away is tantamount to driving those sales away.
I would love to see if GW's profits on those B&M stores that have gone to one man operations have had a proportional increase in profit... my suspicion is that they are earning less, and and that the profit margin (if any) on those stores has dropped.
Ah, well....
Soon we will know how much of a hole GW has dug themselves out of with 40K 7th edition....
The Auld Grump
Ehhhhhh, Most FLGS like you describe have a store affiliated club with club leadership who has been trusted by the store owners to be 'responsible' for the store. This means damages, theft, supervision and so on. Basically the club leadership is a representative of the store often to an employee level or an actual employee. Clubs often have to provide justification and cost for the space via dues to cover the costs associated.
And you are right... it can be great for a store... It can also be a huge liability to to hand the keys to your store over to a club to make sure everything is being taken care of responsibly. When you own your store, you can make those calls. When you manage someone else's store, you can't. Clubs are a double edged sword for FLGS.
A lot of these issues are just the reality of a chain store in today's litigious corporate america. There are reasons franchises and chain stores are practically identical and prize conformity in their stores. Our GW Bunker is downsizing to 6 tables from like 20 tables and everyone immediately began railing against GW corporate and it came down to the store manager having to say 'this was my decision... I thought I could handle the extra work to keep 20 tables up, run a store and supervise gaming, but the sales don't justify multiple employees, and he was spending multiple hours cleaning, organizing and dealing with the table issues along with the supervision issue.'
We all think 'eh, can't be hard' and then it is. One-man store can't have that much. If they decide due to sales to have a 1-man store, then the liability and extra time of that extra gaming room is not a reality. In my local GW, the manager had to break it to his gamers, and it was his decision. In this store sounds like something wasn't working and someone had to make the decision for him.
Sadly both stores are probably gonna 'go away' soon... but that is the model because miniatures and miniature gaming doesn't keep the lights on *ANYWHERE* anymore. Unless they begin selling MTG at games workshop, not sure anything they do can fix that reality. (which makes WotC a good opportunity if they want to get back into the retail store model after their last failed attempt... If they made these 1-man stores half MTG/DnD they would be great I suspect.)
AduroT wrote: I personally can't fathom a game store without a gaming area or tables to play on.
The store has a large gaming area in the front. The back has a stocking area. The OP's manager seemed to have used the stocking area as more gaming space.
AduroT wrote: I personally can't fathom a game store without a gaming area or tables to play on.
The store has a large gaming area in the front. The back has a stocking area. The OP's manager seemed to have used the stocking area as more gaming space.
Actually you are partly right. The store originally had two stock rooms. The manager had gotten permission to combine them into one room and use the other room (the one pictured) for extra tables to game in.
Bit late to the party but I'd imagine they were annoyed because there were no products on those painted walls, I imagine GW wants us to play at home and buy stuff at the stores because it costs them lease money for us to play and we might not even buy anything.
inquisitorlewis wrote: Maybe the store is about to shut down. Our local GW (Bear, Delaware) just announced they are closing at the end of August.
That store was boned the minute they picked that location. It's awful and Bear is an absolute hole. The store should've been in Newark, Hockessin, or the Christina mall. There's been a chain of decent managers in and out of there who start enthusiastically and eventually realize they're being asked to do the impossible. Pretty sure the only reason it lasted this long is because they signed a 5 year lease.
You mean the lease that they just resigned in January of this year?
Edited: My above statement may not be true. It might have just been the business license for that particular store that was renewed in January.
Sorry to hear OP. Similar events lead to my local gaming store folding. Not had a regular gaming place since due to my location. Hopefully as others said, he will pop up again somewhere doing a store in future.
It wasn't an investigation. He was just showing up as a walk around. He was scheduled to visit more stores after.
Considering GW purportedly no longer has regional managers, I can think of absolutely no reason for a manager's "boss" to be showing up just to have a walkaround.
Uhmm. Yes they do. And he (Josh Wimberly) was doing rounds of all the local stores.
Even a cursory glance of Google says that Josh Wimberly is "head of retail recruitment", not a "regional manager".
Hey Kanluwen, sometimes one should take more than a cursory glance of google...
I get it, you put in his name and what popped out as the top result was probably:
Josh Wimberly | LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com/pub/josh-wimberly/46/402/90b
Head of Retail Recruitment at Games … · Retail · 4 connections · Cordova, Tennessee
View Josh Wimberly's professional profile on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the world's largest business network, helping professionals like Josh Wimberly discover inside ...
But anyone who bothers to take a peek...
Josh Wimberly's Experience
Head of Retail Recruitment
Games Workshop
Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; GAW; Retail industry
June 2010 – Present (4 years 3 months)
.
Area Manager
Games Workshop
Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; GAW; Retail industry
June 2008 – Present (6 years 3 months)
Regional Manager
Games Workshop
Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; GAW; Retail industry
2001 – Present (13 years)
It wasn't an investigation. He was just showing up as a walk around. He was scheduled to visit more stores after.
Considering GW purportedly no longer has regional managers, I can think of absolutely no reason for a manager's "boss" to be showing up just to have a walkaround.
Uhmm. Yes they do. And he (Josh Wimberly) was doing rounds of all the local stores.
Wait, Josh Wimberly was involved?
I've known Josh on a personal level for the last almost 8 years. Josh has got to be the most laid back and store manager-friendly middle managers I've ever met in ANY company, bar none.
If Josh was there to have a talk with that manager, that manager was massively screwing up to start with. Josh doesn't just show up unannounced at your store, you know damn well in advance when he's showing up and most importantly WHY. There's more to this story than meets the eye so far, I almost guarantee it, now knowing Josh was involved. If he was there, then this guy was well on his way to being fired and I'll bet it had nothing to do with that art in the back room, as I know for a fact other stores have been given permission to do similar things in the past with no trouble at all, and at the full expense of the company to get them done. I'm also calling bull on Josh traveling from TN to SC just to walk around each on the stores in the area. I can only think of one time Josh did that since he moved to TN and that was for the Chicago area a few years back, and even then while he was there, it was to handle some specific business at one particular store. The rest of time, he spent most of his "walkarounds" at the Bunker BS-ing with us, Tim Lison, and a few others and painting the army he brought with him on the trip.
I'm not buying this for one second. I call shenanigans.
The thing to remember is that Josh isn't a middle manager anymore. He's now literally the only guy and reports directly to the board of directors. It's in the latest annual report.
There's no chain of middle management to filter down the policies from the top. It's Kirby to Josh to your local manager. That's it.
There's no more room for him to be laid back and easy going. Every single one of his middle management co-workers on the North American retail side of things has lost there job through lay offs. Check the annual report.
frozenwastes wrote: The thing to remember is that Josh isn't a middle manager anymore. He's now literally the only guy and reports directly to the board of directors. It's in the latest annual report.
There's no chain of middle management to filter down the policies from the top. It's Kirby to Josh to your local manager. That's it.
There's no more room for him to be laid back and easy going. Every single one of his middle management co-workers on the North American retail side of things has lost there job through lay offs. Check the annual report.
Bull, Josh hasn't changed in the 7+ years I've known him, and I still talk to him and the rest of the Chicago to Memphis crew fairly regularly as friends, as well as most of the former employees of the Chicago GW's. I don't care what some report says. I'm telling you from personal experience Josh ain't like that.
If Josh shows up at your doorstep, you've been screwing around, doing something you shouldn't have been in the first place and knew damn good and well from the beginning you shouldn't have.
I don't think that's incompatible with the manager doing things that aren't fitting with GW's retail plan. The guy can be laid back and a straight shooter but still have to enforce the CEO's plan and if the local manager lost his **** during the conversation and quit rather than complied, that's not saying anything negative about Josh. The manager of my local GW speaks highly of Josh as well.
frozenwastes wrote: I don't think that's incompatible with the manager doing things that aren't fitting with GW's retail plan. The guy can be laid back and a straight shooter but still have to enforce the CEO's plan and if the local manager lost his **** during the conversation and quit rather than complied, that's not saying anything negative about Josh.
Ok, agreed. The post I originally responded to made it sound like Josh was the bad guy here, and that sure as hell isn't the Josh I know.
The guy is also in a stressful position right now. 23 North American stores have been closed over the last year and sales volumes and profits are down for the whole region. You never know how people who had an enjoyable job for years get when everything goes sour and their co-workers are all fired and you get the whole responsibility for an entire retail operation for the continent put on the shoulders of one man.
I'm very happy to say my local GW isn't run like that. Our manager just bought us the new realm of battle table for the store and myself along with the other regulars are painting it together. While I was in there helping out today, I spent $75 I wouldn't have spent otherwise. It is driving sales, keeping the players engaged in the game, and giving us all a great place to play. Hopefully our manager doesn't get canned for doing that for us...
Is this all about the Forrest Dr store, in Columbia, SC?
Hah! I was just about to finally go check that place out tomorrow! I live down in Augusta. I was going to either go up there or go down to Gigabites Cafe down near Atlanta.
Also, this Josh... He happen to be a former Officer in the Army? Someone ask him sometime. Ask him if he was stationed at Fort Campbell, KY.
Edit again: Nevermind, I just looked him up. Wrong Josh.
Toofast wrote: I'm very happy to say my local GW isn't run like that. Our manager just bought us the new realm of battle table for the store and myself along with the other regulars are painting it together. While I was in there helping out today, I spent $75 I wouldn't have spent otherwise. It is driving sales, keeping the players engaged in the game, and giving us all a great place to play. Hopefully our manager doesn't get canned for doing that for us...
Is this all about the Forrest Dr store, in Columbia, SC?
Hah! I was just about to finally go check that place out tomorrow! I live down in Augusta. I was going to either go up there or go down to Gigabites Cafe down near Atlanta.
If you're willing to make the drive up to Columbia tomorrow, check out That Computer Store. We're having a tag team tournament there tomorrow.
Toofast wrote:I'm very happy to say my local GW isn't run like that. Our manager just bought us the new realm of battle table for the store and myself along with the other regulars are painting it together. While I was in there helping out today, I spent $75 I wouldn't have spent otherwise. It is driving sales, keeping the players engaged in the game, and giving us all a great place to play. Hopefully our manager doesn't get canned for doing that for us...
He shouldn't, as that's one thing GW tends to stress is to use their products in their stores. A good number of Chicago GW's have Realms of Battle as their tables, and a few of us helped paint them (it was around 50+ realms of battle IIRC at the time that had to be painted, along with enough terrain for all of them) when the Bunker moved from it's long time corner to the redesigned space next door and there was never a problem with us doing that for GW.
There shouldn't be a problem with it, in my experience.
GW's newest financial report openly states that their main "enemy" are more or less lower management and staff. The war against the competitor failed, the war against the consumer failed, so now it is time for a war against the employee. Kirby even uses some weird Clausewitz analogy to talk about crushing them, though in his defense he was probably drunk. But why anyone would want to work for a company that openly is at war with you is beyond me.
Is this all about the Forrest Dr store, in Columbia, SC?
Hah! I was just about to finally go check that place out tomorrow! I live down in Augusta. I was going to either go up there or go down to Gigabites Cafe down near Atlanta.
Also, this Josh... He happen to be a former Officer in the Army? Someone ask him sometime. Ask him if he was stationed at Fort Campbell, KY.
Edit again: Nevermind, I just looked him up. Wrong Josh.
Come to Giga-bites. You won't be disappointed. New space has around 3,000 square feet of gaming space. Very regular tournament scene. Here's a link to the next 40K tournament forum page:
crazyfoxdemon wrote: I'm just posting to inform people that the manager has found a new job at a FLGS.
Excellent news! My local FLGS was started by people who used to work at a big GW store. (From back before the one man thing.) It was an amazing the place and this new store is just as good. (FTW Games in VA.)
At least, that's the tone I get from his White Dwarf articles.
