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Ah good to hear that at least the Good Games around there is that good for 40k, though it is a shame that the GW seems to be so bad. Not sure why GW even bothers with 1-man stores (which I suppose is why it's being shut down).

If only there was a recent thread on that very subject.

(But yeah, I'd say basically advertising and as a hobby gateway and player funnel to their games)

Looks like the store won't even make it to the New Year, they can't find anyone to replace the outgoing manager. So instead of opening 7 days a week like most one man stores for Xmas we've got a guy who spends most of the time he's suppose to be open in the pub next door

It's mainly there because of the dirt-cheap rental and the fact it's GW's ONLY regional NSW between Sydney and the QLD border.

The "catch zone" so-to speak is a lot larger than any of the Sydney stores - I've met people from Taree in there (2+ hour drive) and Port Macquarie (a bit further out) as well as Gosford/central coast as a result.


There are a bunch of FLGS also in this zone, though, and they ALL carry GW products, and the "Good Games" ones even have gaming space (tables and terrain) available to play on. From Gosford, to Wyong (although that one's a "Rebel Outpost" and a short drive away from the railway station), Newcastle, Maitland and further north.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
far too often I've arrived at the GW on one of its closed days or in the manager's lunch break. Seriously so bloody annoying when you take the time to drive to the GW only to find a locked door and a sign saying out to lunch.

I'd never take a trip specifically to a GW these days unless it was a flagship store, and even then after checking the opening hours*. I walk past one regularly but I'd never make the 30 min drive on the offchance it's open.

*Heck even Warhammer World isn't open as much as you'd expect.

Herzlos wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
far too often I've arrived at the GW on one of its closed days or in the manager's lunch break. Seriously so bloody annoying when you take the time to drive to the GW only to find a locked door and a sign saying out to lunch.

I'd never take a trip specifically to a GW these days unless it was a flagship store, and even then after checking the opening hours*. I walk past one regularly but I'd never make the 30 min drive on the offchance it's open.

*Heck even Warhammer World isn't open as much as you'd expect.

Well given it's currently open till 10pm 4 days a week I'm not sure what you're expecting?

KingRickRich wrote:
First time poster on Dakka
Thought people should know this. I recently sent an email to Australia HQ complaining about the hours of my local store (Newcastle, NSW) and how it seems to be closed when it should be open.
Well I got a reply today with the usual "sorry for your experience" and then it went on to say that they have received a few complaints about the store and are aware of the "ongoing staffing problem" and unfortunately the store will be closing for good in the New Year.

Sorry to hear that, maybe look into setting up a club, rent a space a couple times a week, use the interwebs to make it easier for people to stay in contact, my local nerd herd had to do it when we lost our only FLGS and whilst its been a bit up and down we've largely muddled though the last 5-6 years maintaining a reasonably healthy community

Bummer. I've been to two GW stores in recent past, and both have been GREAT about letting me browse for what I want, talked shop and gauged interest, but didn't push anything on me that would push me out the door. It does feel like the new attitude upstairs has made them more laid back as well, and I'd LIKE to be able to game in a GW these days. So closing down anywhere feels like a bummer.

And lets not forget, GW stores will *likely* have more of their own items than regular FLGSs. Not always, but most of the time.

 CREEEEEEEEED wrote:

 The Warp Forge wrote:

It might be different down in the Midlands and the South, but in the North East it's thriving!

Yeah within the M25 there really isn't much.

South-East in general seems pretty sparse for gaming stores outside of Games Workshop. There are three within an hours drive of my house but the closest is extremely sparsely stocked and nothing recent (still had Arcane Legions on display when I last poked my head inside) and has a single mating table out the back but never seen it used, the next closest does stock board games but gaming tables are crammed extremely tightly and only big enough for cars games (yu-go-hi and Pokemon only when I go in) and final store I have never been to as it’s abojt hour away but does seeem to have active Warhammer player base.

There are two gaming clubs in my town which is a very rare occupancy but have been to neither. One is serious historic games and run Games at all the big UK conventions, the other focuses on X-Wing, a fixed RPG group and the occasi Back pickup game of warhammer or 40k.

I did see a new board game cafe launched in Croydon, South East London. Anyone been down there yet?

For me, here in my section of the U.S. at least, I don't have much of an interest in an actual GW store. It all comes down to prices in the end. I can go to my FLGS and get the same product at a discounted rate and still be supporting a local business that has space to play and run events.

Now, if GW had been able to maintain its old Battle Bunkers and even keep a small stock of Forge World on hand, like they did in Chicago many years ago, then I would be interested.

Herzlos wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
far too often I've arrived at the GW on one of its closed days or in the manager's lunch break. Seriously so bloody annoying when you take the time to drive to the GW only to find a locked door and a sign saying out to lunch.

I'd never take a trip specifically to a GW these days unless it was a flagship store, and even then after checking the opening hours*. I walk past one regularly but I'd never make the 30 min drive on the offchance it's open.

*Heck even Warhammer World isn't open as much as you'd expect.

These days I rarely make a specific trip to GW. Occasionally I go there on my way to or from work, which means I have to drive through a town I'd normally drive around, so maybe adds 5 minutes to my drive, plus parking the car and walking to the store, lets call it 10 minutes out of my way.

A couple of times I've specifically gone to the GW and found it to be closed and ended up continuing on to the FLGS (the GW is closer than the FLGS).

The lunch break one is really annoying because they don't advertise their lunch times and even if they did it'd be hard to keep track, at least going there on a monday or tuesday I can partly blame myself for not checking their hours, but showing up on a day they're advertised themselves as being open and being presented with a locked door is a pretty bloody annoying. I could hang around waiting for them to open, but you have no idea if they'll be back in a couple of minutes or maybe you only just missed them and will be waiting for ages.

The FLGS down the road also only has 1 person on during quiet times, but they keep their doors open by swapping staff over so they don't have to close for lunch and other silliness.

I could be wrong, but the lunch break times thing may well be due to allowing the single employee in the store to take their break when it's quiet, and allow for some flexibility in that within certain parameters so they're not kicking customers or browsers out. It's certainly how a number of other retail stores with a single employee work.

It could be the fact that the single employee gave his notice weeks ago and the lease is nearly up, GW aren't going to bother with the shop before they shut it for good.

 Azazelx wrote:
I could be wrong, but the lunch break times thing may well be due to allowing the single employee in the store to take their break when it's quiet, and allow for some flexibility in that within certain parameters so they're not kicking customers or browsers out. It's certainly how a number of other retail stores with a single employee work.

It's just bad to have lunch times interrupting business at all. If it happens once that a customer shows up and there's a "back in 5 minutes" sign on the door, that's annoying but sometimes unavoidable, once it happens 2 or 3 or 4 times customers start to lose their patience.

I've been at the local GW both when the manager has told everyone "you have to leave in 5 minutes for lunch" and also when the door has flat out been locked. I think last time the manager might have actually said "it's coming up to XXX time which means it's lunch time", so maybe it is a regular time but it's not advertised on their website or anything.

I have been to other (non-GW) stores where the single employee just eats their lunch behind the counter without locking the door or kicking people out. Obviously people need breaks (my work won't let me work for more than 5 hours continuously without a break) but kicking people out and locking the door seems to be a terrible way of handling it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Rolsheen wrote:
It could be the fact that the single employee gave his notice weeks ago and the lease is nearly up, GW aren't going to bother with the shop before they shut it for good.

I guess it depends if the employee is still employed thus being awful for not keeping the store running when they should be or whether they are no longer employed and GW just didn't bother finding a replacement.

I think the latter is a bit unlikely this time of year, even if the store's closing soon you'd think it'd be a good idea to stay open the few weeks before Christmas, but maybe business was so bad GW don't even want to sink money to keep it open through what would be the busiest period.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 Azazelx wrote:
I could be wrong, but the lunch break times thing may well be due to allowing the single employee in the store to take their break when it's quiet, and allow for some flexibility in that within certain parameters so they're not kicking customers or browsers out. It's certainly how a number of other retail stores with a single employee work.

It's just bad to have lunch times interrupting business at all. If it happens once that a customer shows up and there's a "back in 5 minutes" sign on the door, that's annoying but sometimes unavoidable, once it happens 2 or 3 or 4 times customers start to lose their patience.

I've been at the local GW both when the manager has told everyone "you have to leave in 5 minutes for lunch" and also when the door has flat out been locked. I think last time the manager might have actually said "it's coming up to XXX time which means it's lunch time", so maybe it is a regular time but it's not advertised on their website or anything.

I have been to other (non-GW) stores where the single employee just eats their lunch behind the counter without locking the door or kicking people out. Obviously people need breaks (my work won't let me work for more than 5 hours continuously without a break) but kicking people out and locking the door seems to be a terrible way of handling it.

Serious question - Do you go to the toilet at all when you're at work outside of your lunch break and presumably before and after you officially start?

If you worked retail as a single employee (not your fault, but your employer's choice not to have a second person on from, say, 11-2) aside from holding on for several hours, can you think of another way to handle it aside from asking people to step outside and locking the door?

A single employee forced to eat their lunch behind the counter without closing a store is actually working without a break. That's bs and, I'm sure, completely illegal. (Though I'm equally sure it happens incredibly often).

Lets not forget that there are MANY shops which still have 1 staff member at any one time. Many secondhand retailers, small corner shops (there's a handful left around the place) etc.. often have only one staff member on call at any one time.

So going on break and closing up for a few moments is not totally abnormal in the world.


Of course its not ideal, but at the same time I think that GW is fighting a hard battle to keep itself on the highstreet whilst the highstreet itself is mostly killing off a lot of typical hobby-style shops. What we see left are clothing retailers (which I tend to notice change hands fairly often); mobile phone shops and food outlets. I've seen many a bookshop and some others start to add a food section to their site; either giving up space or combining two shops into one unit.


As for opening/closing times its the day of the internet; chances are you can check if a shop is open or closed by phone or computer before heading out. Granted it doesn't help for those chance visits

"is totally abnormal"?

Ahem the cold stole a word from me - the word's back now

 Azazelx wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 Azazelx wrote:
I could be wrong, but the lunch break times thing may well be due to allowing the single employee in the store to take their break when it's quiet, and allow for some flexibility in that within certain parameters so they're not kicking customers or browsers out. It's certainly how a number of other retail stores with a single employee work.

It's just bad to have lunch times interrupting business at all. If it happens once that a customer shows up and there's a "back in 5 minutes" sign on the door, that's annoying but sometimes unavoidable, once it happens 2 or 3 or 4 times customers start to lose their patience.

I've been at the local GW both when the manager has told everyone "you have to leave in 5 minutes for lunch" and also when the door has flat out been locked. I think last time the manager might have actually said "it's coming up to XXX time which means it's lunch time", so maybe it is a regular time but it's not advertised on their website or anything.

I have been to other (non-GW) stores where the single employee just eats their lunch behind the counter without locking the door or kicking people out. Obviously people need breaks (my work won't let me work for more than 5 hours continuously without a break) but kicking people out and locking the door seems to be a terrible way of handling it.

Serious question - Do you go to the toilet at all when you're at work outside of your lunch break and presumably before and after you officially start?

If you worked retail as a single employee (not your fault, but your employer's choice not to have a second person on from, say, 11-2) aside from holding on for several hours, can you think of another way to handle it aside from asking people to step outside and locking the door?

A single employee forced to eat their lunch behind the counter without closing a store is actually working without a break. That's bs and, I'm sure, completely illegal. (Though I'm equally sure it happens incredibly often).

I don't expect people to work without breaks.... but if you can't take a break without kicking people out and locking the doors for an indeterminate period of time then you need more than 1 staff on I don't work in retail but even at my work if we have a job that we know can't stop for lunch, we put on an extra person so that we can take staggered lunches, or maybe have 1 person on in the morning 2 person on in the afternoon, synced up such the 2nd person arrives when the 1st needs to go for lunch.

When I think of other stores that only have 1 person on. One has quite a large floor area and the 1 worker just waits for a quiet time and grabs his lunch and sits down at a table where he can see the front door and register. So he doesn't lock the door or kick people out, he just has his lunch when it's quiet and if someone comes up to the counter to buy something he says "I'll be there in a moment" puts his lunch down, helps the customer then goes back to his lunch. Another 1 man store I frequent the owner builds and paints model aircraft and he just has a work bench setup behind the counter and when the store is quiet he just takes a break, builds some aircraft, has some lunch, whatever; all without locking the door. I've never gone to one of those stores and found it closed for lunch, and I frequent them more often the GW store.

If the business is so busy that you can't take a break like that then proooooobably you shouldn't be trying to run it as a 1 man store

As for toilet breaks, put up a "back in 5 minutes" sign, that's fine, it's better than an "out for lunch" sign.

I applied for the Manager position, haven't heard back yet.

Oh, well best of luck getting it!

Good luck!

I hope all is well

I'm not holding my breath. They haven't even advertised the job on their own website, shows how interested they are in filling the position