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I was on my way to BWI today to drop off my girlfriend when I decieded to visit the store/warehouse they have (or, used to.) in Glen Burnie, since its only 9 miles from the airport. After getting directions to the place via a GPS, along with an address and a phone number, I ventured off, getting lost as I looked for this Mecca of sorts. After retracing my route, I ended up driving around a warehouse center looking for something that was listed as real, but couldn't find it.

Even funnier, when I sent a application to GW(Because lets face it, anything is better than fast food.), this place was on the list! And that had to be less than 6 months ago!

So, what exactlyhappened to this place? Did it get moved like all the other GW stores in NoVa?

The Glen Burnie offices and retail store/battle bunker closed. The offices are now in Memphis. Sorry about your luck with that one.

Shepherd23 wrote:The Glen Burnie offices and retail store/battle bunker closed. The offices are now in Memphis. Sorry about your luck with that one.

Thats what I thought.

I shouldn't be supprised though, even after wasting a half tank of gas, paying rediclious tolls for getting lost on the way, and getting stuck in metro traffic. It just seems like the company squeezes every penny out of me.

brother_zach wrote:

Shepherd23 wrote:The Glen Burnie offices and retail store/battle bunker closed. The offices are now in Memphis. Sorry about your luck with that one.

Thats what I thought.

I shouldn't be supprised though, even after wasting a half tank of gas, paying rediclious tolls for getting lost on the way, and getting stuck in metro traffic. It just seems like the company squeezes every penny out of me.

at least you didn't waste an entire day looking for a store that while still listed on the GW site had been out of bussiness for a year.

True as that may be, it blows my mind how they can just "pull and move" stores this quickly.

Games Workshop should seriously consider running shops out of mobile homes, and sell product sort of like the Oscar Mayer weiner-mobile.

GW used to have a bitz van which made a circuit around to conventions and FLGSs.

snurl wrote:GW used to have a bitz van which made a circuit around to conventions and FLGSs.

That.......is incredible. how long ago was that?

6 or 7 years now I think. The Bitz Van used to make an appearance at Gencon...
back when GW acknowledged that such a convention existed.

Back before the Bitz Van y'know...got broken into.

And/or stolen.

Wow. I figured they would have just used their website and the mail order system to pump out bitz. Its a shame what money does to a small company.

brother_zach wrote:Wow. I figured they would have just used their website and the mail order system to pump out bitz. Its a shame what money does to a small company.

Bits do not exist. GW Marketing told me so.

brother_zach wrote:Wow. I figured they would have just used their website and the mail order system to pump out bitz. Its a shame what money does to a small company.

Not quite sure what you're saying there...

The Bitz Wagon was a GW owned and operated vehicle. It was broken into, on multiple occasions, and supposedly the "ending" of it was from the vehicle actually being stolen.

And as a sidenote, I'm kind of surprised you went to the Glen Burnie bunker/HQ when they made a big to-do about changing their operations in White Dwarf, etc.

Kanluwen wrote:

brother_zach wrote:Wow. I figured they would have just used their website and the mail order system to pump out bitz. Its a shame what money does to a small company.

And as a sidenote, I'm kind of surprised you went to the Glen Burnie bunker/HQ when they made a big to-do about changing their operations in White Dwarf, etc.

Not many people (including myself) read WD enough to learn these things. Hence my lesson learned; read the propagana or else things will get much harder.

It was also plastered all over this very site when it was announced

Kanluwen wrote:It was also plastered all over this very site when it was announced

Funny thing is, I just applied to work there this summer. Combine that with the fact that Google still sais its a valid location, and theres plenty of room for miscommunication.

I love the idea of a games van going around like like an icecream van

Instead of, "Row row row your boat" tinkling merrily out of the loudspeaker, you could have "For the EMPRAH!" blasting out to alert gamers that the bitzvan has arrived in the neighbourhood.

Would be pitiful to see 35year olds crying in the street, "I wanna Speez Maarheeen!"

LOL at the idea of grown-ups going to greet the bitz van! Wonderful mental imagery.

brother_zach wrote:True as that may be, it blows my mind how they can just "pull and move" stores this quickly.

Games Workshop should seriously consider running shops out of mobile homes, and sell product sort of like the Oscar Mayer weiner-mobile.

Really, why? It's not like they were putting on ninja outfits and sneaking out by moonlight. They announced the move and spent 6 months moving people and equipment down there.

They weren't quick at all, you just weren't paying attention and didn't notice.)

GW keeps reducing their offerings to hobbyists outside the minis and rules, no more GT's, the bitz van is gone, global campaigns, Eye of Terror was sweet and anyone who attended an event a hobby would agree, the walls of cadia was a sweet piece of terrain and how insanely awesome was abbadons tank!

mikhaila wrote:

brother_zach wrote:True as that may be, it blows my mind how they can just "pull and move" stores this quickly.

Games Workshop should seriously consider running shops out of mobile homes, and sell product sort of like the Oscar Mayer weiner-mobile.

Really, why? It's not like they were putting on ninja outfits and sneaking out by moonlight. They announced the move and spent 6 months moving people and equipment down there.

They weren't quick at all, you just weren't paying attention and didn't notice.)

I say that because in being around the NoVa area on and off for almost 10 years now, the locations of stores seem to change or dissapear completely. Mpst of the time, they move them reasonably(as the case is in Springfield), and alot of times, they move them well out of my way (we had one in woodbridge, which apparently "moved" to chantilly).

If your going to move your stores around, then why not go balls out and make a fleet of fed-ex trucks your selling points? Make sure to call in your Kill Team to clear all the info of that location too.

Is this only occuring in Virginia? I know several of the stores around Atlanta were moved or now cease to exist.

As I recall, the bitz van had the WHFB fifth edition artwork on its sides.
I remember reading that when it was stolen the thieves were after the computer equipment inside, not the bits.
You see, back in the mid 90s online shopping was in its infancy and computers were big expensive things. Thats why GW had the van, marketing was just different back then.

Now why didn't I ever think of stealing the bitz van?

The Bitz Van was kind of cool. It didn't have everything, but carried a lot of 'common' conversion pieces people wanted. It probably had a lot of the stuff that is in the 'Bitz packs' nowadays, or at least it had stuff that should be.

I recently had an even worse time looking for a small independent store up in Eldersburg, MD. I assume 'Arena Sports and Games' has closed, as I couldn't find it after wasting a half hour in a mall parking lot. The main reason I went looking was because I needed some paint and my usual options were the opposite direction of some errands I needed to run that day, so i thought I'd try a new store. I got lost, had to deal with a detour, and wasted so much time I couldn't just go to the Rockville stores.

Balance wrote:The Bitz Van was kind of cool. It didn't have everything, but carried a lot of 'common' conversion pieces people wanted. It probably had a lot of the stuff that is in the 'Bitz packs' nowadays, or at least it had stuff that should be.

I recently had an even worse time looking for a small independent store up in Eldersburg, MD. I assume 'Arena Sports and Games' has closed, as I couldn't find it after wasting a half hour in a mall parking lot. The main reason I went looking was because I needed some paint and my usual options were the opposite direction of some errands I needed to run that day, so i thought I'd try a new store. I got lost, had to deal with a detour, and wasted so much time I couldn't just go to the Rockville stores.

I know what you mean. Upon comming home, I looked up their locations in MD and saw that they had several (to a point, a rediclious number) stores in the state. Maryland is by no means a huge state, and your going to build over 5 stores there? Come on.

Use and update the dakka store finder, we started it for exactly these reasons and to highlight stores that might not have any other form of advertising

brother_zach wrote:I say that because in being around the NoVa area on and off for almost 10 years now, the locations of stores seem to change or dissapear completely. Mpst of the time, they move them reasonably(as the case is in Springfield), and alot of times, they move them well out of my way (we had one in woodbridge, which apparently "moved" to chantilly).

If your going to move your stores around, then why not go balls out and make a fleet of fed-ex trucks your selling points? Make sure to call in your Kill Team to clear all the info of that location too.

Is this only occuring in Virginia? I know several of the stores around Atlanta were moved or now cease to exist.

GW changed it's business model. They are no longer trying to open stores everywhere. As I recall, they closed or are closing all of their stores in every market that cannot support 4 or 5 stores (something like that) in the market. Essentially, they're targeting "prime" areas and really trying to just dominate them.

Virginia probably doesn't have any GW's any more. We lost our GW in St. Louis, MO a couple years (3?) ago for this very reason.

Eric