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I'm old enough to remember the days when you just couldnt shop on a Sunday apart from a very few stores allowed to trade on Sundays .

dereksatkinson wrote:
You people do realize that if they paid their cashiers more we'd be paying more for our plastic crack right?

Quite so, which is why I've been suggesting for some time that the stores are the millstone around the company's neck and that getting rid of them, allowing indy stores to establish in their absence, is a great way to reduce overheads (staffing, rent, utility bills, insurances and business rates/local taxes) and allow for more competitive pricing of the product, but the company has established a model of no advertizing or promotion for recruitment other than walking into the store on the highstreet or mall, which was all well and good when they paid for premium locations and were well staffed with plenty of room for gaming and other hobby activities, but somewhat flawed now they are tiny booths of stock that are increasingly closed and without hobby activities of any kind.

Back to the topic, I'll echo what was said here earlier, the average store employee will know less than any of the more active online hobbyists, the mushroom culture is strong in this one.

Eh. My local GW store is booming. They sell tons of models and have multiple games going every day they are open. weekends there is often a wait to get on a table. its pretty impressive considering there are 3 other very popular flgs in the valley. the GW store is in an affluent area of a huge metropolis though, lots of disposable income in that area of town.

There are lots of others that don't boom, though. You're lucky to have a successful one near you.

The reason given in the latest interim statement for their fallen sales and profits was the lack of success of one man shops.

Xyptc wrote: And that's an online gaming company's website. We're dealing with a tabletop gaming company.

But that's the thing... Every other tabletop gaming company seems to be able to maintain an online presence without all the silliness. It's just GW that finds it all too hard.

At which point, the logical conclusion has to be that this is down to something that GW are doing wrong, rather than an inherent problem with the internet.

sand.zzz wrote:
Eh. My local GW store is booming. They sell tons of models and have multiple games going every day they are open. weekends there is often a wait to get on a table. its pretty impressive considering there are 3 other very popular flgs in the valley. the GW store is in an affluent area of a huge metropolis though, lots of disposable income in that area of town.

The metro-Atlanta area has had 3-4 stores in the past, and all of them have dried up and gone away. A new one popped up a couple of years ago in a Kroger shopping center (that's a grocery store) that you can't even see from the roadway. The store has two tables.

 insaniak wrote:

Xyptc wrote: And that's an online gaming company's website. We're dealing with a tabletop gaming company.

But that's the thing... Every other tabletop gaming company seems to be able to maintain an online presence without all the silliness. It's just GW that finds it all too hard.

At which point, the logical conclusion has to be that this is down to something that GW are doing wrong, rather than an inherent problem with the internet.

Stop that. Logic has zero place in this discussion.

Petrov wrote:

 insaniak wrote:

 Captain Vyper wrote:
Some stores are now closed on Sundays and open tue-sat.

The idea that a games store with product aimed at late teens and young adults would be closed on the weeked boggles my mind...

Most people want the weekend of, one person store cant have that. Compromise between profit and retaining your employee.

That's a problem that was solved decades ago. Weekend staff. Hire a part timer to work Saturday/Sunday and then you're sorted. It also takes care of the holiday/sick day thing.

What's the pay like for running a one-man? Do you find your store often ends up closed due to unforeseen circumstances?

33,000 a year with full benefits and on salary. The only time my store has been closed due to unforseen circumstances is when my grandfather died and I had to fly out the same day. Usually If I'm sick or planning something I have an on-call manager that will fill in. I'm also good about letting people know exactly when it will happen.

If he is a real GW store manager this is how they track(ed) him down and sent him back to the re-education camp.

If your GW isn't closed on monday-tuesday then something is wrong. fri-sat-sun should all be 8 hour days for a one man store.

yeah,
What do one man stores do it the guy has to go toilet?
Lunch break?

Panic...

He has to kick everyone out, close the store then find a toilet in a nearby mall or fast food joint because there isn't one in the store.

 insaniak wrote:

Xyptc wrote: And that's an online gaming company's website. We're dealing with a tabletop gaming company.

But that's the thing... Every other tabletop gaming company seems to be able to maintain an online presence without all the silliness. It's just GW that finds it all too hard.

At which point, the logical conclusion has to be that this is down to something that GW are doing wrong, rather than an inherent problem with the internet.

Indeed, and its not just companies that get little criticism like Corvus Belli.

Mantic have garnered there fair share of anger over their products, some their own fault some perhaps a little out of their control, but what they have never done is close the doors of communication. Indeed, their community guy James seems more active when things go bad, just as he should be in fact.
Indeed, the fact Mantic, a company ran almost exclusively by ex GW staff recognise the need for a community manager and GW itself do not speaks volumes.

scarletsquig wrote:He has to kick everyone out, close the store then find a toilet in a nearby mall or fast food joint because there isn't one in the store.

And they have not been busted for labor law violations yet?

NoggintheNog wrote:
Indeed, the fact Mantic, a company ran almost exclusively by ex GW staff recognise the need for a community manager and GW itself do not speaks volumes.

Eh. GW is still a company that thinks that setting bibles are something written by the primarch of the Ultramarines. To say they have a mastery of mismanagement of their IP is a grotesque understatement.

GW will figure it out. They've never had this much competition before. Combine that pressure with 50-80% discounts on recasts - the impetus for change is sitting in their lap.

whether or not they accept reality before it hits them hard in the face is the question.

 Panic wrote:
yeah,
What do one man stores do it the guy has to go toilet?
Lunch break?

Panic...

Well, you see... when GW says that they want Dependable people, what they mean is a little different than you might expect....



The Auld Grump

 Panic wrote:
yeah,
What do one man stores do it the guy has to go toilet?
Lunch break?

Panic...

I just want to say that your signature at the end really matched your post.

 insaniak wrote:

Xyptc wrote: And that's an online gaming company's website. We're dealing with a tabletop gaming company.

But that's the thing... Every other tabletop gaming company seems to be able to maintain an online presence without all the silliness. It's just GW that finds it all too hard.

At which point, the logical conclusion has to be that this is down to something that GW are doing wrong, rather than an inherent problem with the internet.

Pretty much. Nearly every single company/entity in the world has an online presence save GW. From the Israeli secret police (they never get criticized!) to vagisil. The idea that it's our fault and not GW's is baffling.

 Panic wrote:
yeah,
What do one man stores do it the guy has to go toilet?
Lunch break?

Panic...

Yeah kick everyone out, close up shop and place up a sign 'back in 5' or whatever it happens to be.
Which sucks tbh The amount of times I've been planning to go into the local GW store to grab something, and instead grabbing it online (for less) because the local GW was closed is getting old - I no longer bother to try and go to GW preferring the online order where possible simply due to being inconvenienced too many times.They moved into town, pushed the flgs out of bussiness and now do this cool move!

Hard to believe that these One Man Stores can seriously push a FLGS out of business.

Limited hours, limited stock, limited in store gaming?

That can't compare to a well run 'real' game store!

 Alpharius wrote:
Hard to believe that these One Man Stores can seriously push a FLGS out of business.

Limited hours, limited stock, limited in store gaming?

That can't compare to a well run 'real' game store!

Not being a part of either company at the time, I couldnt say for sure; But GW came to town and the flgs went. The flgs was certainly better from a point of view of gaming tables and space, but the GW does have a 'better stock' (of GW products only that is), maybe the local market isnt enough to share and have the two stores survive... mayb it was just co-incidence, I dont really know But it certainly feels as if there was a dick move from GW

Well, it isn't unheard of for a FLGS to spontaneously develop 'supply issues' when a new GW opens up nearby.

If the FLGS in question has a substantial part of its income derived from GW, this could put them in a tailspin which they wouldn't necessarily have the reserves to recover from, as switching focus to other products takes time, if it is even viable at all.

When I worked for an FLGS in Hammersmith, west London, in the 1980s, we were 200 yards around the corner from the original Dalling Road shop where it all began for Games Workshop in retail.

It didn't hurt us, but we had a focus on board games and computer games, while at that time GW didn't have a focus on WHFB/40K and were more of a general RPG shop.

The problem now is that it's hard to keep any kind of a specialist games shop going with modern British business costs of commercial leases and so on. WHFB/40K is often the biggest selling thing in the area, so when a GW moves in nearby, your indie shop is often in big trouble.

In Reading, there is a nice mainly boardgames shop called Eclectic Games, which seems to co-exist happily with the official GW shop at the other end of the high street. Eclectic does little or no GW stuff, as I recall.