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I went into GW today, and they had basically no good blisters up there, just the boring stuff no one wants that they never remove... (?)

I was looking for kharne the betrayer (pretty easy to find) and the commissar with a power weapon (VERY easy to find), and they didn't have either!

Have you had problems with this? It's really pissing me off! There wasn't even a space for "commissar with power weapon" on the wall...

GW generally has a problem with not having the things that people actually want. Like the time I tried to order from their website a dozen SoB melta gunners... I got 4, cause that is all they had on hand. But man, they have some sisters with storm bolters if I wanted them...

At the FLGS (non GW, hence the friendly part) they are required to stock a certain range. The range is basically the stuff that is in a battleforce/battalion box, that you already have enough of. As for specials (for fantasy) or support options that people ACTUALLY take.... none in stock since they aren't required. But at one point they WERE required to stock a baneblade and a stompa?!

I have actually herd the same thing a time or two from others.

At my FLGS one of the owners plays 40k so that part of the store has at least one of everything if it comes in a box. As well as always one stomba/baneblade/the other kit. As well as one of each battleforce.

But for blisters he actually only has what people need/will buy. But there are a few things missing but the things missing make total sense.

Samus_aran115 wrote:I went into GW today, and they had basically no good blisters up there, just the boring stuff no one wants that they never remove... (?)

I was looking for kharne the betrayer (pretty easy to find) and the commissar with a power weapon (VERY easy to find), and they didn't have either!

Have you had problems with this? It's really pissing me off! There wasn't even a space for "commissar with power weapon" on the wall...

Stocking blisters takes up a lot of room. You might not think so, but to maintain even a quarter of their blister inventory takes up most of a wall in an already crowded shop.

Hence, they don't keep a complete inventory of every blister they produce. Because it'd be asinine to do so.

I don't know about the blisters you were after (Or if GW has the same policy in America), but I've discussed this with the owner of my local non-GW store.

Apparently quite a few of the units in the blister range have become mail order only, the stores literally aren't allowed to stock them. Annoys the hell out of me, but its not like there's any other option for me to get the models.

I had a similar experience to NotaBot187, just recently I mail ordered some Sisters of Battle with Bolt Gun Blisters and GW USA didn't get a restock for 2 weeks. I'm frustrated that Sisters are Direct Order only, I want to support both GW -and- my friendly local game store with my purchases, and I feel awful buying mail order then showing up at the store to play every week... GW, take care of the FLGS's! We wouldn't have 40K at all in Hawaii if it weren't for them! (I exaggerate but you know there's truth in it)

Be well, be blessed!
Frankie

Kanluwen wrote:

Samus_aran115 wrote:I went into GW today, and they had basically no good blisters up there, just the boring stuff no one wants that they never remove... (?)

I was looking for kharne the betrayer (pretty easy to find) and the commissar with a power weapon (VERY easy to find), and they didn't have either!

Have you had problems with this? It's really pissing me off! There wasn't even a space for "commissar with power weapon" on the wall...

Stocking blisters takes up a lot of room. You might not think so, but to maintain even a quarter of their blister inventory takes up most of a wall in an already crowded shop.

Hence, they don't keep a complete inventory of every blister they produce. Because it'd be asinine to do so.

^This

This is why not many people get to see the cool Mordheim blister pack which is way better than the boring 40k/whfb one.

At my FLGS one of the owners plays 40k so that part of the store has at least one of everything if it comes in a box. As well as always one stomba/baneblade/the other kit. As well as one of each battleforce.

But for blisters he actually only has what people need/will buy. But there are a few things missing but the things missing make total sense.

same gak in my local one

Seems to be the issue all over. My local GW has nearly halved the amount of space they have for blisters. So glad they give you free postage to the shop other wise I would be rather annoyed.

Shops are by definition finite spaces, it would unfair to expect them to stock every single option in the entire range. I'm sure no one wants them to start moving into bigger units with higher rents etc etc, we all know who'll be paying for that in the end.

The online ordering being out of stock is less forgiveable but still understandable, why tie up capital in large stocks of things that aren't big sellers (it's a waste of time, space and logistics all of which cost money)? It may be annoying when something you want isn't immediately available but it would be wildly impractical for GW to stock everything in all their branches and to stockpile everything for direct shipping from their online store.

I know excatly what you mean, I tried to get a Librarian the other day, and they didn't have it. I can understand that some things have become mail order only ect etc, but when I go to adsa I expect to be able to buy bread. It's not only blisters I've had trouble with, tanks I have trouble with, having less than 2 of each tank on hand is abit rubbish. I have no problem with no been able to buy certain things 'cos they are not big sellers. Bullfrog does have a really good point, but as far as not stocking things to be dispatched that's alittle bit crap really.

Plus my shop is closed like every day because of staff issues, which aint their fault, but I would think there might be something they could do, like advertise for jobs, probablly a good start.

Does anyone know how GW are set up shop wise? Are they all run as individual profit centres or is it a franchise arrangement?

From what I hear GW stores are all corporate owned. Its part of the reason why a company that has hundreds of millions of dollars in gross sales selling 20cent (in materials) boxes for 20-60 dollars and a tiny or nonexistent developer team can end up posting losses and slight profits. Tons of barely profitable stores equals tons of overhead. Especially since they are only selling GW products, god forbid that a company figures out they can make money selling their competitors products...

The corporate owned also explains the freaking annoying sales pitches that you get from their staff. My response: "No I don't want your new release, its crap and here is why (like planetstrike). I came for this actually good things that your company apparently doesn't believe in stocking OR EVEN MAKE (TW cavalry much?)."

Sounds like profit centres then, and I'll bet that managers don't have a huge say on what lines get stocked (I'm prepared to be proved wrong here by anyone who's actually worked for them)

That'll be your problem right there, centrally run stock systems tend to be cheap but poorly tailored to what the customers need/want.

Former retail store manager here.

Here's the bottom line in any retail store, and Kanluwen (can't believe I'm agreeing with him for once) actually hit the nail right on the head. You stock what you know you can sell, followed by what you think you can sell, followed by what you hope you can sell. If you know you can't sell it, you get it the hell out of there.

The vast majority of sales any GW store (or any FLGS that sells GW products) come from paints and box sets. Therefore, any retail store that sells GW products is going to fill the walls with paint and box sets. The second biggest seller is modeling supplies and battleforces. Then, after that is all said and done, comes blisters.

Think about it this way: when you put together your most recent army, how many blisters did you buy? Now how many boxes?

I'll give you my example with my Tau. I bought a Battleforce, three Fire Warrior boxes, three Hammerheads, two Devilfish, nine Battlesuits, one Battlesuit Commander, and two Broadsides. That's one Battleforce and twenty box sets. The only blisters in the entire army are my ten Pathfinders, which come three to a blister or one Shas'ui to a blister, which makes a total of five blisters.

So twenty boxes, one Battleforce, and five blisters.

To break it down, that's roughly $700 in boxes/battleforces and $60 in blisters.

Now, if you can fit three blisters in the same amount of space as one box (roughly), that's $36 is blisters that you hope you can sell, or a $35 box set that you know you can sell.

Now, which do you think your local GW or FLGS is likely to cover their limited wallspace with?

Boxes, or blisters?

I went into my GW every weekend for 2 months looking for an Eldar Avatar and Warlock with witchblade, Neither of which I could find. The only Eldar they had was 2 wraithguard and 1 farseer, for two months! I think, as far as blister's go, your much better off buying off the website.

Gorechild wrote:I think, as far as blister's go, your much better off buying off the website.

This is the bottom line, right here. So little of your FLGS's revenue are from blisters, you may as well just buy your boxes, paint, etc. locally and order your blisters on Amazon or the GW site.

Kanluwen wrote:

Samus_aran115 wrote:I went into GW today, and they had basically no good blisters up there, just the boring stuff no one wants that they never remove... (?)

I was looking for kharne the betrayer (pretty easy to find) and the commissar with a power weapon (VERY easy to find), and they didn't have either!

Have you had problems with this? It's really pissing me off! There wasn't even a space for "commissar with power weapon" on the wall...

Stocking blisters takes up a lot of room. You might not think so, but to maintain even a quarter of their blister inventory takes up most of a wall in an already crowded shop.

Hence, they don't keep a complete inventory of every blister they produce. Because it'd be asinine to do so.

The only reason to ever go there before was because of the ability to get a "quick fix" and grab the models you wanted.

Now GW stores expect you to wait for things to be ordered. IF I'm gonna have to wait I might as well order it from my internet retailer of choice and get a discount.

CT GAMER wrote:Almost as asinine as shopping at a GW. The only reason to ever go there before was because of the ability to get a "quick fix" and grab the models you wanted.

Now GW stores expect you to wait for things to be ordered. IF I'm gonna have to wait I might as well order it from my internet retailer of choice and get a discount.

GW stores should probably go the way of the dinosaurs to be honest...

You do realize that not everyone has a credit card or even a bank account? Not everyone can buy online, and among those who can, not everyone can have their "online retailer of choice" ship to them (for example, most of the decent online retailers who sell GW products are based in Europe, Australia, or the U.S., what happens if this person happens to live in China, or Thailand, or the U.A.E.?) or at least not without considerable expense.

Assuming your buying experience mirrors everyone else's is asinine.

SaintHazard wrote:

CT GAMER wrote:Almost as asinine as shopping at a GW. The only reason to ever go there before was because of the ability to get a "quick fix" and grab the models you wanted.

Now GW stores expect you to wait for things to be ordered. IF I'm gonna have to wait I might as well order it from my internet retailer of choice and get a discount.

GW stores should probably go the way of the dinosaurs to be honest...

You do realize that not everyone has a credit card or even a bank account? Not everyone can buy online, and among those who can, not everyone can have their "online retailer of choice" ship to them (for example, most of the decent online retailers who sell GW products are based in Europe, Australia, or the U.S., what happens if this person happens to live in China, or Thailand, or the U.A.E.?) or at least not without considerable expense.

Assuming your buying experience mirrors everyone else's is asinine.

Notice I said "If I'm going to have to wait..." I stated GW stores don't work for me.

I didn't tell you or anyone else not to use them. Knock yourself out.

try to cut back on the coffee a wee bit no?

CT GAMER wrote:Notice I said "If I'm going to have to wait..." I stated GW stores don't work for me.

I didn't tell you or anyone else not to use them. Knock yourself out.

try to cut back on the coffee a wee bit no?

Fair enough. Sorry if I was a bit harsh, I've been a tad high strung this morning due to another unrelated thread.

But calling shopping at GW stores "asinine" is also a bit harsh.

SaintHazard wrote:

CT GAMER wrote:Notice I said "If I'm going to have to wait..." I stated GW stores don't work for me.

I didn't tell you or anyone else not to use them. Knock yourself out.

try to cut back on the coffee a wee bit no?

Fair enough. Sorry if I was a bit harsh, I've been a tad high strung this morning due to another unrelated thread.

But calling shopping at GW stores "asinine" is also a bit harsh.

Fair enough. We'll call it even.

CT GAMER wrote:The only reason to ever go there before was because of the ability to get a "quick fix" and grab the models you wanted.

Now GW stores expect you to wait for things to be ordered. IF I'm gonna have to wait I might as well order it from my internet retailer of choice and get a discount.

GW stores should probably go the way of the dinosaurs to be honest...

bingo. back in my actual large scale 40k buying days in 3rd edition (i mainly snipe single figs on ebay or trade on various sites now), i'd start out my new armies with a large purchase online at a steep discount (30-35% back in those days) to get the core 1000pts of my army. i'd then buy the additional units necessary to get up to my desired 2500pt army at the non-GW FLGS that i played in weekly. the only reason i EVER went to the GW store (which incidentally opened up less than a mile from that FLGS which was also the only gaming store for 20 miles in any direction... pretty predatory on GW's part) was when my FLGS was out of a blister or didn't have enough of ones i needed multiples of. if they're not stocking the complete range of minis in their stores now then they're of no use for me if i start up another army in the future. i'm not going to go to them and give them a 85% profit margin just to wait for the product to arrive in their mail and have to make a second trip to the store; i'll just order it at the FLGS and support multiple tiers of the hobby.

Also FLGS's find it hard to maintain an eye on blisters, these end up being the items that people seem to steal... you will find people will never store blisters by doors or areas that are hard to keep an eye on... also reducing the space these items can be displayed....

Not always GW/FLGS fault. Blame the light fingered little pricks that steal them!!

This is the reason our FLGS stopped stocking blisters. He also found the stuff GW reps wanted him to sell, didnt sell... he has now ended up out of business... sad really

Liam

Hmm...I still find it surprising that they didn't have any commissars in stock....

People need those in multiples which= moneys for GW if they stock them....

If I want a blister, I call my local FLGS and tell them "Hey, I'm going to swing by next saturday, can you have X, Y, and Z for me?" "Sure. No problem."

Done.

Blisters take up a lot of room.

Not everyone wants them.

They don't sell that well.

They tie up working capital.

Gorechild wrote:I went into my GW every weekend for 2 months looking for an Eldar Avatar and Warlock with witchblade, Neither of which I could find. The only Eldar they had was 2 wraithguard and 1 farseer, for two months! I think, as far as blister's go, your much better off buying off the website.

Gorechild. On the first visit, did you say "Hey, could you order an Eldar Avatar and Warlock with witchblade for me? I can pick it up next weekend.'

Seriously. You went there 8 times and never spoke up?

The only blister problem I have run into as an IG player is that it seems like I can never find enough of the plasma/melta special weapons blisters! Since I already have a big back log of painting though, I usually just wait for the re-stock rather than order them.

If need be I just order it. I never seem to need anything right then and there...and I am never in "I have to have situation."

Th3ee Legged Dog wrote:If need be I just order it. I never seem to need anything right then and there...and I am never in "I have to have situation."

lets face it; none of us actually needs any of this stuff right then and then but we sure sometimes want it. there's something to be said about impulse buys, the purchase of a squad of terminators for your own army after getting trounced by another guys. it's not unreasonable to expect a company store to stock the complete line of the its own products (if anyone should, they should in their own store); to those gamers, GW that don't do this are about as useful as... well... your username suggests.

i used to appreciate GW for their ability to provide that complete line at a moment's notice as well as their strict stance on painting as part of the hobby. both my reasons are moot now it seems. Supporting your local FLGS supports one to two additional tiers of the gaming industry and not JUST GW. with their new and unimproved crappy hours and single member staffing, i don't see a reason for them to exist much anymore unless they're you're only option locally. (not a problem for me since GW saw fit to close every store within 500 miles of me)

kronk wrote:If I want a blister, I call my local FLGS and tell them "Hey, I'm going to swing by next saturday, can you have X, Y, and Z for me?" "Sure. No problem."

Done.

Blisters take up a lot of room.

Not everyone wants them.

They don't sell that well.

They tie up working capital.

I Understand this all perfectly well as I owned a store at one time, and I can tell you for every understanding customer willing to wait for things to be ordered you have four or five more that will go buy someplace else or on-line instead. INot everyone is patient and understanding about this sort of thing.

A store's ability to satisfy impulse buys is the one service that an on-line retailer can't compete with. An LGS that doesn't use this to it's advantage is really lowering it's appeal and the one thing that separates it from buying on-line.

Also I have had the misfortune of getting the run around from local stores about ordering stuff or not ordering what i asked for. At one point I had a local store that insisted certain items where unavailable for an extended period of time. I actually investigated and found such items could be gotten from one of my previous suppliers at a better discount than what the store was getting them for currently, but they told me they didn't want to use another source...

At that point it becomes clear that they simply don't want my money. I'm cool with that, and I simply order what I need on-line at this point.

My on-line retailer gets stuff to me with one day turn around I order tuesday morning and it is at my doorstep wed. afternoon, etc.

The main advantage/selling point of a GW/LGS over quick delivery and discount price for me was my ability to impulse buy ( I don't game in a store). If I want something bad enough I'll pay full retail to get my hands on it same day, but if I have to order it anyways or the retailer seems put out by my attempts to give him money then I 'll take the hint and buy elsewhere ...