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Two changes have been made by Games Workshop as of last week. These definitely apply to North America, though since the GW website is now treated as a global store this should be generally applicable everywhere they would be relevant.

First, many customers may have noticed that a lot of Advance Orders are posted to the GW web store on Tuesdays. This practice prevents a lot of their retail shops from getting credit for those purchases since many GW shops are now closed on Mondays and Tuesdays due to the "one employee per store" model GW now utilizes. This is because a lot of customers who would order at the order point in their local shops and pay at the register there do so from home when Advance Orders appear on days those stores are closed. From now on, Advance Orders that would have been posted on Tuesdays will be posted on Wednesdays instead to allow GW one-employee stores to have a chance to bring in those sales.

Second, if you've ever been in a one-person GW shop when that one person was trying to teach The Academy to beginning hobbyists you may have noticed the difficulty that entailed on a busy day where the store operator would be forced to interrupt The Academy class repeatedly in order to address questions from other customers, ring up purchases, etc. GW noticed this difficulty too, but as they are sticking to the one employee per store operating model and doing away with the Academy. The Academy will no longer be offered again at this time once any current classes are completed.

Bravo GW, Bravo. Another well thought out move to encourage active participation in the hobby.

Pshwah! Sunday Beginners on your todd is a doddle!

Seriously, been there, done that, had the t-shirt (had to hand it back of course)

Wedensday Advanced Orders....much betterer idea. Several times people got told off for poor advanced orders, when having spent a good couple of weeks (sometimes more) promoting the 'Big New Shiny', we'd be closed on the day it went up, and all our effort didn't show up as a Store result.

First part is reasonable- why not give the guys a chance to make the sale, instead of being closed.

Second part is slowed. Since you have only one person around, bring in a second to run the academy, and one to run the store. Instead of being silly and killing the class.

Beginners will be back. I guarantee it. There is a definite art to getting them to learn.

My advice to those struggling? Make sure each side has at least a single rulebook between them (ideally one each, being the whole point of beginners). Don't tell them how to play the game, teach them how to use their rulebook. Keep the games short and punchy, and you're done.

Brilliant so now the lil kids who get there parents to buy all there models now won't be shown how to play the game ? As well as being closed mornings /Monday /tuesdays having a customer service focused staff base but no staff ! And a pricing structure that takes the pee and alienating there long turn customers ! I realy can't see where there business plan is heading ?

Make money and retire early before the ship sinks town?

carmachu wrote:First part is reasonable- why not give the guys a chance to make the sale, instead of being closed.

Second part is slowed. Since you have only one person around, bring in a second to run the academy, and one to run the store. Instead of being silly and killing the class.

Killing the classes makes buisness sense. One of the best ways to lose sales in the retail market is to have customers waiting to be helped. GW has dropped down to a 1 man store model because there isn't enough work for two people in the first place,so bringing in someone else to do the classes isn't going to happen. In the gaming industry,veteran players have always been there to teach the noobs,anyways.

They could always just have a Vet volunteer to do the class instead of hiring someone to do it...

Is it just me or does GW have a death wish?

The problem with having a local vet do it for free is all veterans are not created equal. What happens if they get bored of spending their Sundays teaching the newbies and no shows?

Then it reflects poorly on GW.

Have the employee pick a "volunteer" to run the classes and pay them in store credit. It's what I do at the FLGS.

Aduro wrote:Have the employee pick a "volunteer" to run the classes and pay them in store credit. It's what I do at the FLGS.

Our FLGS does this and allows the Vets who the owner approves of to rotate. Now if we can only get some painting classes implemented, they Grey and primed hordes are getting tiresome.

I don't think painting classes would help with that. Painting is more about having a Desire or Incentive to paint rather than mere skill.

Skill does play a big part in it, though...I'd rather deal with people whining about grey/primer armies than having my gakky painting ripped apart and being told to do it all over again.

Anyway, seems like a stupid move to me, but after reading a couple of WD battle reports I question how good any GW employee's tactical advice really is, so...no big loss really.

Hobby "veterans" have been and continue to be a valuable source of help for new and prospective new customers in hobby shops. I get approached quite a bit while I'm painting in stores and I always try to be helpful to anyone genuinely interested in learning more about any aspect of the hobby with which I am familiar. Without formal classes in GW stores now, friendly and thoughtful assistance from the community will be more crucial than ever at helping the hobby continue to grow.

BrassScorpion wrote:Second, if you've ever been in a one-person GW shop when that one person was trying to teach The Academy to beginning hobbyists you may have noticed the difficulty that entailed on a busy day where the store operator would be forced to interrupt The Academy class repeatedly in order to address questions from other customers, ring up purchases, etc. GW noticed this difficulty too, but as they are sticking to the one employee per store operating model and doing away with the Academy. The Academy will no longer be offered again at this time once any current classes are completed.

Saw this coming.

Yea, my local GW employee is incredibly nice, and you could tell he was visibly frustrated one time when there were a lot of people in the store during the Academy - he lost out on lots of sales during a short amount of time, which could mean his job.

Enh - a good solution would be similar to what everyone suggested. Pay someone part-time/seasonal to come in and teach the classes, and charge more for them. Test that model out and if it doesn't work, abandon the classes: just don't cut them out immediately in favor of the "one employee per store" model.

BrassScorpion wrote:Hobby "veterans" have been and continue to be a valuable source of income for GW by being free help for new and prospective new customers in hobby shops. I get approached quite a bit while I'm painting in stores and I always try to be helpful to anyone genuinely interested in learning more about any aspect of the hobby with which I am familiar. Without formal classes in GW stores now, friendly and thoughtful assistance from the community will be more crucial than ever at helping GW make profits off the back of your free labor.

Fixed your error.

Seriously, if anyone thinks that this wasn't factored into why GW streamlined to one person shops I believe they are very much mistaken. Now I don't disagree in any shape of form with helping people in a store but it just irks me that I know GW is relying on me and others to do so.

fullheadofhair wrote:GW make profits off the back of your free labor.

I'm well aware and so is every veteran who helps people that we're not making any money off of doing it and that GW is indeed making money off of our doing it. We like to help people and see the hobby grow and support our local stores. No problem there. Mission accomplished.

My only complaint about the one-person store operating model is that they are likely to burn out all their best people. When those people quit it hurts the community in whatever store is affected, thereby reducing the fun factor for everyone concerned, including obviously the employee who felt compelled to resign.

BrassScorpion wrote:

fullheadofhair wrote:GW make profits off the back of your free labor[/b].

I'm well aware and so is every veteran who helps people that we're not making any money off of doing it and that GW is indeed making money off of our doing it. We like to help people and see the hobby grow and support our local stores. No problem.

Oh don't get me wrong, I totally agree with you - growing the hobby is important regardless of it is vets or staff member. I am just irked that the one man store theory relies on that and was based around that. Even to the point where the staff member actually says it.

.....What? No more academy? That blows. I don't need any lessons, but the cheap stuff was a real boon to take the class...

35$ set+ Painting book+ Starter set for 70$....Seemed fine to me.

Aduro wrote:I don't think painting classes would help with that. Painting is more about having a Desire or Incentive to paint rather than mere skill.

Painting workshops absolutely help with that.

If run correctly, they encourage people to paint, which is most of the battle. We run one at my shop every saturday morning fro 3 hours. Free paint, glue, basing materials, and help with learning to paint. It's a social gathering of people who want to paint vs. a rigid class. Between 8 and 30 people, depending on what time of year, weather, and what tournaments are coming up. Been running them for 12 years. We have a hell of alot more painted armies than most stores. One of the kids that started painting here got a Golden Demon in youngbloods last year, and another got a bronze this year at Baltimore.

What they got rid of academy?!?!?!? WTF?
Gw Bravo Bravo. You just destroyed another reason why I now refuse to go to my LGS