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http://plasticlegions.blogspot.com/2009/03/games-workshop-meet-recession.html

I learned to play Warhammer Fantasy with John (the blog writer) over at this shop.
It was really really bad to be the only two guys playing Fantasy in the shop and
doing a horrid job to boot. Some of the redshirts (great guys) even had to learn
the game to keep us from mangling the rules too badly.

As an additional disclaimer, I also game with John at his place and I think most of my
Battle Reports on Dakka are from our games together. It's sad to see the club night
go. I thought it was a fantastic marketing tool for such a small store.

Last thing. John seriously underplays his role as a gaming organizer. I quit the club
due to the late late hours on school nights and my wife's uncompromising work
schedule and location, but John pushed for games among the rest of them by
running campaigns and being a go-between the gamers and the staff. While the
staff were enthusiastic in supporting the club, John kept the games coming, ran
the campaigns, and pushed people to play some games. While I was not there
most of the time, the impression that I got was that much of this was John's baby,
so unless someone tells me otherwise...

EDITED to change title to downsizings instead of closings

Wow. Sounds like a cool guy and the league night must have been fun. I'm at the point now I have to ask for a day off of work just to get a good day of play in, so it only happens about once a month. . .

Uriels_Flame wrote:Wow. Sounds like a cool guy and the league night must have been fun. I'm at the point now I have to ask for a day off of work just to get a good day of play in, so it only happens about once a month. . .

Yeah. If you read the post he's moving operations to his basement, which is pretty hefty.

I guess John's a permanent citizen of Basement-land.

Yeah, I understand how that works. GW closed down their only corporate store in CO, despite the fact that we were also one of their more profitable ones (for instance, we were only behind GWHQ in pre-orders for the 40K v5 special boxes and such). Didn't even bother looking for a new place with cheaper rent (mall was doubling their current rent), just shut the place down. Poor decision, IMO.

Ouch. Sorry to hear that. When you say we, does that mean you're a redshirt?

Nah, just "we" as in the store and the players who supported it. Never worked for GW, prolly never will. But according to the manager of the store, *the store* was doing really well financially compared to others, especially since it was the only GW in CO.

It seems to me that during the last recession we had quite a few gaming and comic stores open because we had a lot of talented people with time on their hands and often severance pay for their capital.

I wonder if we'll see more of that this time?

Of course the world of brick and mortar is a lot harsher than it was...