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Just recently been in my local GW. and there seems to be a very high level of non-painted miniatures in the cabinets for example just showing off new releases. I remember not to long ago in years gone by the cabinets were full of beautifully painted miniatures and models, all so they seem to be updated them regularly

Now a days it seems to be this months new release out-of-the-box sprue taking centre stage..

With one person in the store, I don't know how they could get all that needs
to be done and still secure the product and make sales.

I'd, personally, rather see the unpainted stuff on sprue.

It lets me see all the detail and how the sprues are laid out, rather than relying on the assembly/painting skill of a staff member.

When I was a redshirt we usally displayed new releases for a bit unpainted to help show the customers what was in the box.

Also malfred is right with lots of shops moving to a single employee there is limited time to get everything done in a day.

My local GW has a system with new releases. They start the first week or so with their black box with the models on the sprue to show customers what they get (like the new grey knights right now)
Then he builds the models. And after that he usually gives them a paint job, or hands them off to one of the customers who is real artist about it (im pretty sure he was in golden Demon)

malfred wrote:With one person in the store, I don't know how they could get all that needs
to be done and still secure the product and make sales.

That makes sense from a staffing point of view, but it's a bit like a women's dress shop putting racks of clothes in the window instead of outfits on dummies.

it could be argued that womens clothing stores put clothes on dummies every time they make a sale.

Very droll.

However they only make sales because they put a fancy display in the window to attract customers.

GW seem to have flubbed their retail strategy with this one man store idea.

What Kasubot says has merit though.

Starting off with the bare plastic lets people see the unassembled components, how they're packaged, etc.

Our local GW paints their new models in the store, right in front of us... that's how it's been everywhere I go. The models are usually available to look at as soon as they pu them together, but they certainly paint them as soon as they can.

RiTides wrote:they certainly paint them as soon as they can.

It looks as though bigger shops can keep up with the painting.
Whereas, with staff being cut in UK shops in particular, single staff do not get the time.
I guess that with US shops being in citties, which are generally bigger then UK towns, there are more staff, and have the time to do that.

I was in a GW on Friday and they were painting those new Dark Eldar beasts and some other stuff, but they had a beautiful city board with crashed drop pods and all of that stuff, but it had no paint on it (witch is fair enough due to the amount of surface area!) but they also had a lot of unpainted models (like the new gray knights stuff)

Kanluwen wrote:What Kasubot says has merit though.

Starting off with the bare plastic lets people see the unassembled components, how they're packaged, etc.

That's fine for vets, but to capture new customers you need to present an inspirational image.

Kilkrazy wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:What Kasubot says has merit though.

Starting off with the bare plastic lets people see the unassembled components, how they're packaged, etc.

That's fine for vets, but to capture new customers you need to present an inspirational image.

If it were me in charge?

I'd do exactly what Kasubot was saying.

You start with the first week of the Black Box, showcase the untouched sprues.

The second week, you have them painted(in the shop itself) and start to put them up on display.

Of course, I'd do what my old FLGS used to do--rather than putting stuff down on the standard bases, they'd make little vignettes of the 'models in action'.

It has to be the one-man store issue. Considering back when I was an employee, we used to have 3 FT staff members (+ PT) and still used to struggle to get everything painted up to a good standard, it's a mystery to me how just a one man store manages it at all.

grizgrin wrote:it could be argued that womens clothing stores put clothes on dummies every time they make a sale.

ZING!


King Ghidor

Just popped into my GW for an Autarch and the manager was painting up the Black Box Dreadknight. The store was empty (apart from me) so it looks like he had plenty of time to himself.

Flashman wrote:Just popped into my GW for an Autarch and the manager was painting up the Black Box Dreadknight. The store was empty (apart from me) so it looks like he had plenty of time to himself.

I dont know if thats a good thing


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Kanluwen wrote:

Kilkrazy wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:What Kasubot says has merit though.

Starting off with the bare plastic lets people see the unassembled components, how they're packaged, etc.

That's fine for vets, but to capture new customers you need to present an inspirational image.

If it were me in charge?

I'd do exactly what Kasubot was saying.

You start with the first week of the Black Box, showcase the untouched sprues.

The second week, you have them painted(in the shop itself) and start to put them up on display.

Of course, I'd do what my old FLGS used to do--rather than putting stuff down on the standard bases, they'd make little vignettes of the 'models in action'.

A store should be in theory a window to advertise your stuff... You should have fully painted armies and eye catchy stuff as much as possible 24/7 every day full year... Grey plastics dont fit that store biz model.

People have been saying that, at least in the US, a lot of the GW stores have been moved to really tight staffing (1 person working the store, 2 if they're lucky) so they might not have the time to paint.

Balance wrote:People have been saying that, at least in the US, a lot of the GW stores have been moved to really tight staffing (1 person working the store, 2 if they're lucky) so they might not have the time to paint.

Yes thats the point. There were times as a staffer when you might go an hour without a customer, and if there were 2 of you working you could really get cracking and get some work done. But equally, you'd be amazed how often the phone rings, some delivery comes in, or some other bit or piece that means you need to leave the painting station. My store used to operate a rotation system, where one of us would be the one to get up and deal with customers or anything that needed attention. That way, the other staff member could keep their head down and get the building and painting done which, if you think about it, is actually a pretty sizeable volume of stuff.

The 1 man store is wrong for several reasons, it just makes me wonder what is next for this perpetual tightening of the screws, where else is there for them to go.

Kanluwen wrote:I'd, personally, rather see the unpainted stuff on sprue.

It lets me see all the detail and how the sprues are laid out, rather than relying on the assembly/painting skill of a staff member.

*ahem* in a perfect world, there really isn't a good reason they can't lay out both, is there? Both a painted model, and then the sprue as well?

Ouze wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:I'd, personally, rather see the unpainted stuff on sprue.

It lets me see all the detail and how the sprues are laid out, rather than relying on the assembly/painting skill of a staff member.

*ahem* in a perfect world, there really isn't a good reason they can't lay out both, is there? Both a painted model, and then the sprue as well?

That would require GW to send 2 of each set in Black boxes, though.

They could dump the Black Box nonsense and just send out stock. Money saved on not sending out black boxes would cover cost of second kit for sprue display, which could be sold later or offered as a prize.

Sorted.

There are no more GWs in my area (5 years ago there were 3) so I cannot say. Just Rogue Traders, which I must say, do an excellent job displaying painted models.

Kilkrazy wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:What Kasubot says has merit though.

Starting off with the bare plastic lets people see the unassembled components, how they're packaged, etc.

That's fine for vets, but to capture new customers you need to present an inspirational image.

But only vets care that much about the new release. New gamers can be brought in with well painted armies in general.

my gw used to allways paint the new releases but since space wolves were relased they just dont seem to care anymore, they recently had the orcs and goblins balck box so they put the savage orcs together apart from the heads then some went into coffe then they just couldnt be bothered to do anything with them so they just painted THERE OWN models and threw the other ones in the bin, also they give them to vets to put together and paint now and its not even a 1 man store its a 5 man.

I think having display sprues in the display cabinets is lazy and untidy. If I was to pass a shop and saw that I would probably just keep going. Not of a high and mightyness stance(I aint) but as a shopper it wouldnt acctract me at all. Especaily as a shopper that is unaware of 40k/whf, etc.

Fully built models and unpainted do attract me as I can clearly see the model, I can see the joins and the amount of parts in that model. Painted models certainly get my attention both as a "vet" and a new buyer. Although in some cases, it would of been better off unpainted. A bad paint job can make the model look boring and "cheap" I don't mean money cheap. And if the paint job is rushed then all the worse, so given the current trend of one man stores most paint jobs I think are.

My local GW manager often didnt get around to finishing the display stuff, would get there in the end but to be fair that GW shop is damn busy, even for a small city. Busy at least from my point of veiw. 98% of the time when I drop by there were always 2-4(sometimes more) people in there doing stuff. Again a one man store.

Only ever get to one GW store anymore, and while its actually a really nice store with good staffer; the painting the guy does is kinda crap. Not terrible, but honestly I would think they would have higher requiremwnts for display models. Hate to say it cause every single other aspect of the store short of its hours is great, and that is a tough admission for me about a GW retail store.

My FLGS keeps a huge trophy case of painted models right by the door to promote new releases. Given the nature of that place, I'm sure you could get a look at box contents on request.