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... from The Miniatures Page:

Christian Augst of Astronomi-con has posted the following on his website:

"I have just recently gotten confirmation that the GW Canada HQ will cease operation as of April 30th, 2009.

I do not have any specific information about what this will mean for Canadian GW customers, Games Day events, Canadian White Dwarf, or all of the other myriad of GW Canada related topics.

This will I suppose complete the transition of GW Canada and GW U.S. to become GW North America."

You would have to assume that if they do amalgamate they will still keep the stores open and run games days, tournaments etc, just with a layer of local management removed.

that's actually pretty crazy news.

The Canadian WD was kind of strange, because while it was cool to get some Canadian content, it just seemed superfluous.

Tournaments to my knowledge have already stopped being run by GW, but run by independents.

If it cuts down costs (Hopefully it'll translate to cheaper miniatures *fingers crossed*) I guess it'll help in the long run?

Actually I believe that THIS POST by John Spencer confirms this rumor.

Not sure if this is good news or not. Hopefully a combined GW North America will standardize the pricing between Canada and the US (though not sure if the differences are as bad as they used to be), but will still provide some level of local management/support to the Canadian community.

AJC

Standardized pricing would be welcome, though unrealistic.

I think this will be more of step backwards, as the standardization of the warehouse doesn't seem to have streamlined anything at all up here. Availability of some product seems artificially restricted even though it is coming from the same place... Example: Space Marine Veteran boxes (either version) are not availalbe from direct services Canada. We do have the option of buying the same stuff seperately for the low low price of $60. The guy at direct services tried to sell me on how this was better because I could pick which guys I wanted...! (Dur, I want them all, hence the box!) Giving both markets the same access to product would be a good start.

I fear that having GWHQ based in the US will mean that the Canadian market may become marginalized. US based companies often have a history of viewing Canada as kind of secondary market, unworthy of the same level of service as the US. (Canada usually gets fewer product lines than the US, be it automotive, computers or entertainment.) While the GW product line will remain 90-99% available here in Canada, this sort of corporate attitude may be felt in event support and might even trickle down through the retail stores by way of restructuring.

Hoping for the best. Time will tell.

keezus wrote:Standardized pricing would be welcome, though unrealistic.

I think this will be more of step backwards, as the standardization of the warehouse doesn't seem to have streamlined anything at all up here. Availability of some product seems artificially restricted even though it is coming from the same place... Example: Space Marine Veteran boxes (either version) are not availalbe from direct services Canada. We do have the option of buying the same stuff seperately for the low low price of $60. The guy at direct services tried to sell me on how this was better because I could pick which guys I wanted...! (Dur, I want them all, hence the box!) Giving both markets the same access to product would be a good start.

I fear that having GWHQ based in the US will mean that the Canadian market may become marginalized. US based companies often have a history of viewing Canada as kind of secondary market, unworthy of the same level of service as the US. (Canada usually gets fewer product lines than the US, be it automotive, computers or entertainment.) While the GW product line will remain 90-99% available here in Canada, this sort of corporate attitude may be felt in event support and might even trickle down through the retail stores by way of restructuring.

Hoping for the best. Time will tell.

Sure!!! Blame Canada for being Canadian!

j/k

I have to agree. Services will become different... I hope GW can keep this together!

So in Canada we don't have a canadian warehouse (everything comes out of the US), we got no WD for the month of March (they lost the pallet of Canadian WD and they can't sell us U.S. WD). So yeah we Canadians are getting boned, becuase GW decided to merge U.S. and Canada into GW North America. Now this is a good move in a business sense, but they have encountered many problems and haven't cared enough to fix them. Hopefully soon they will resolve all of these issues, but I don't see it in the near future.

Ein, you didn't miss anything when they lost the skid/pallet of WD's..

With this being a GW north america vs GW us or GW canada, I'm sure the one will run better an more efficiently than the two..

two_heads_talking wrote:Ein, you didn't miss anything when they lost the skid/pallet of WD's..

With this being a GW north america vs GW us or GW canada, I'm sure the one will run better an more efficiently than the two..

But I like the pretty pictures in WD. Hasn't it been GW North America for a few months? I remember the RT in the area saying that the GW Canada head staff got the pink slip in October or so (I was just before the release of the new SM stuff).

Sad day. I'm sure this will also mean that we'll lose the Canadian GW website which, like the OZ GW website, has got a slew of hobby info that the US/UK sites either haven't bothered to continue to post or never had up in the first place. Too bad.

Yeah. I wish GW UK/US would at least have a hobby section comparable to the OZ/Canada websites. Or at least gank that content for their very own.

chaplaingrabthar wrote:Yeah. I wish GW UK/US would at least have a hobby section comparable to the OZ/Canada websites. Or at least gank that content for their very own.

QFT, yo.

chaplaingrabthar wrote:Yeah. I wish GW UK/US would at least have a hobby section comparable to the OZ/Canada websites. Or at least gank that content for their very own.

But then they'd be stealing back their OWN content as most of those articles were originally from the UK/US sites to begin with...

Canadian Direct Sales has been closed since I think October of last year or so, we retailers have been calling the US to make our orders for a while. In my experience, things have been so much better, GW US has been handling our account far better than GW Canada ever did. Orders are sent very quick, contacting my rep by phone or email he always gets back to me very quickly.

Only slightest hiccup we had with the switch is the first couple of orders, we were sent some French army books. I chalk that up to the reps probably juggling a few new codes as they took on Canadian accounts. However, it was a quick phone call when it happened and things were resolved in a snap.

I think prices will stay where they are, Canadian prices were adjusted last year when this whole thing started. I'm not sure really what else will change on the retail side. GW North America seems to be able to handle North America accounts better together than they are able to separately. Hopefully this means our website will be updated soon and get regular content.

With US GTs being scaled back, I wonder if they have any plans for canuck GTs? Or if they will push the indies like astronomicon as the only game in town (like they have for southeastern and northwestern US)

Ein Windir wrote:So yeah we Canadians are getting boned,

Not to up to date on my Canuckisms, but shouldn't that be hosed, eh?

Platuan4th wrote:

chaplaingrabthar wrote:Yeah. I wish GW UK/US would at least have a hobby section comparable to the OZ/Canada websites. Or at least gank that content for their very own.

But then they'd be stealing back their OWN content as most of those articles were originally from the UK/US sites to begin with...

Let 'em reclaim it, it's darn good stuff.

Platuan4th wrote:

chaplaingrabthar wrote:Yeah. I wish GW UK/US would at least have a hobby section comparable to the OZ/Canada websites. Or at least gank that content for their very own.

But then they'd be stealing back their OWN content as most of those articles were originally from the UK/US sites to begin with...

I wish that were true, but stuff like this Chimera conversion article (http://oz.games-workshop.com/games/40k/imperialguard/painting/treadheads/p1/default.htm), or this land speeder conversion article (http://oz.games-workshop.com/games/40k/spacemarines/painting/rr_landspeeder/default.htm - which I believe was actually on the French GW site first), or this terrain article (http://oz.games-workshop.com/games/40k/catachans/terrain/derelict_whirlwind/default.htm), or GW Canada's "Recruiting a Regiment" contest (http://ca.games-workshop.com/news/cn/articles/Imperial_Guard_CA/home.htm) - these never saw the light of day on the US or UK sites. It's a shame, too.

I know for a fact that Land Speeder and the terrain ones were on GW US for a while.

I can't really complain about this one. It's pretty common for a retailer to have horror stories about a supplier or two, but every store owner I've spoke with who has touched GW has just cringed at dealing with them.

The consensus I've gotten from the few I've spoken with who have started dealing with the Americans has been "Well, I've been burned by GW before....a lot, but these guys are sending me what I order (and only what I order mind), they're sending it in a timely manner and they're letting me know if there's a problem."

That's not exactly a ringing endorsement, but the folks I'm talking with seem to be at least less upset with GW at this point. I'm not sure exactly what the Canadian operation was doing to earn so much ire from the store owners, but I've spoken to quite a few across the country in the last couple years and the negative perception of GW has been universal.

In terms of personal orders, I know the folks I've dealt with in the last year or so have been in Tennessee (I think). The transactions were for a broken Kommando (Canada) and a Wierdboy with a missing leg (US). For the Kommando, I was told to go back to the GW Store in Montreal (about a 7 hour trip) where I'd purchased it and exchange the model. For the Wierdboy, it was 'Sorry about that. Definitely not what we want to be giving our customers. If you'll give me your address, I'll have a new one shipped to you by the end of the week.'

I don't want to sound unsympathetic to GW Canada because I can't say I like to hear that Canadians are out of work, but I can tell you which response I preferred from customer service.

MrGiggles wrote:I can't really complain about this one. It's pretty common for a retailer to have horror stories about a supplier or two, but every store owner I've spoke with who has touched GW has just cringed at dealing with them.

It really is a combination of factors. For the longest time GW Canada's prices were amoungt the highest in the world, being runner up to the dubious price structure that GW OZ came up with. As a result, as online retailing started picking up steam in the last 10 years, and GW's Canada's ever escalating MSRP, (in 1998 at the onset of 3rd Edition, a squad box was $30CDN. A year into the next edition, 2005, that price had increased to $45 - thankfully adjusted back to $40 recently), it has been harder for the indpendents to compete as they were continuously losing sales to US based internet discount retailers (where savings could be had approaching 50% off Canadian MSRP at the peak of the price disparity), and to a smaller extent, GW's retail chain and mail order. Pressure was always intense from GW for the independents to "grow and promote the hobby more", and to "stock more product". Reduction in stock amounts would lower GW's retailer support as the store moved down the "support tiers" - this was a hard pill to swallow at a time when their hobby sales were under attack from all sides.

GW support to independents is based on tiers based on products carried and services offered. To reach the top tier, you must reach thresholds in both categories. This poses a problem to some stores as some of the required product may be near impossible to move depending on the tastes of their clientelle. (IIRC, to reach top tier today, they have to stock the three core games, and a certain selection of box kits. LOTR, is pretty much dead weight in most communities that I've visited, and Warhammer goes through lengthy periods sales and no-sales - usually measured in years.) This weakens an independent's buisness to have so much money tied up in non-moving merchandise. GW's usual suggestion for retailer woes was to support and promote the games more, but in a climate of declining sales, canibalized by the internet and GW's own retail stores - this sort of advice wasn't exactly helpful - especially since any new interest that the store painstakingly generated towards a poor seller usually resulted in their customers heading over to the local GW who stocked the full range.

Finally, there was a period of time in late 90s (early 2000's) where there was a lot of churn in GW sales reps to the independents. This is mostly for the Southern Ontario region, but all the FLGS owners I've talked to found it frustrating to have a constantly changing point of contact as prior-arrangements would repeatedly need to be renegotiated.

I'm glad to see that the problems with GWUS becoming GWNA have improved many of these issues. If they make the range of product available on the US web store available in Canada, and maintain event support - I can only see good things happening. My biggest gripe currently is that there is a lot of little stuff missing from the Canadian web store that is freely available from the US. Considering that Canada and the US use the same supply chain, this kind of thing is unforgivable.

Eh, one of the things was actually the price reduct. THe local guy got really pissed any time somebody bought scouts as they were now on for less than he payed wholesale for.... (went from 35 to 23)

The worst thing has been watching the slow death of GW Canada. The Outrider program used to be outstanding. The GreyKnight follow became less and less so over the years. Especially sad is what's happened to the Hall of Heroes system. Five years ago when HoH was it's peak there was some really great support from GW Canada for the system and a national ranking program! Well before the US had anything at all like it.

It's strange that GW Canada is closing down when GW Australia isn't.

Cheese Elemental wrote:It's strange that GW Canada is closing down when GW Australia isn't.

Where would it be rolled into? There's no GW Oceania.

Is this a surprise for everybody?

When they announced the US Gamedays this year they were Baltimore, Chicago and Toronto that should have been a clue.

keezus wrote:I fear that having GWHQ based in the US will mean that the Canadian market may become marginalized. US based companies often have a history of viewing Canada as kind of secondary market, unworthy of the same level of service as the US.

Don't worry, they do that to everyone. There use to be a Gamesday Los Angeles, but the people in the west of the country have been marginalized.

Not only that, but they should have announced the US GTs by now. A month ago Chris G. said that they are just finalizing the details, but I am still concerned.

Just wanted to confirm this rumour. All the Grey Knights got a message expressing sadness and yada yada. Oddly it seemed to indicate that the Grey Knight program would continue.

What the heck is the Grey Knight program for all us non canuks.

If I'm not mistaken, it is the Canadian version of the Outrider program. Sigh...I miss you guys!