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Manager GW Wollongong:
+++ ATTENTION ALL CUSTOMERS +++

Starting Monday December 3rd, Games Workshop Wollongong will be changing its opening hours. The hours will be:

MONDAY: Closed
TUESDAY: Closed
WEDNESDAY: 11am - 6pm
THURSDAY: 10am - 7pm
FRIDAY: 11am - 6pm
SATURDAY: 9am - 5pm

SUNDAY: 10am - 5pm

If you require more information, just give us a call at the store and we'll help you out!

This is crazy, 2/7 days a week closed, no business 2 days a week in complete idiocy by the company, they can't really compete being open only 5 days a week.

Annoying but not that unusual (especially for small stores with 1-2 staff)

They'll have sales figures and weighed up the extra sales from the 2 closed days vs the staff/light/heat costs.

If the numbers don't add up or are marginal it may make more sense to close (especially if extra opening would mean needing another staff member who they have to pay benefits for/to)

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
Annoying but not that unusual (especially for small stores with 1-2 staff)

They'll have sales figures and weighed up the extra sales from the 2 closed days vs the staff/light/heat costs.

If the numbers don't add up or are marginal it may make more sense to close (especially if extra opening would mean needing another staff member who they have to pay benefits for/to)

True but the store is one of the bigger stores. It is one of the stores which actually has a back dedicated to gaming. I see the business sense in it but it may hurt customer loyalty.

 rockerbikie wrote:

Manager GW Wollongong:
+++ ATTENTION ALL CUSTOMERS +++

Starting Monday December 3rd, Games Workshop Wollongong will be changing its opening hours. The hours will be:

MONDAY: Closed
TUESDAY: Closed
WEDNESDAY: 11am - 6pm
THURSDAY: 10am - 7pm
FRIDAY: 11am - 6pm
SATURDAY: 9am - 5pm

SUNDAY: 10am - 5pm

If you require more information, just give us a call at the store and we'll help you out!

This is crazy, 2/7 days a week closed, no business 2 days a week in complete idiocy by the company, they can't really compete being open only 5 days a week.

So they are opening Saturday and Sunday, I guess more kids and parents will be available to spend money on fantastically priced miniatures and are instead closing Monday and Tuesday, slow days for selling?

It's an outrage I tell you!

I don't find mon/tues closings odd at all. Makes sense actually.

Do you know if the staff are college kids?

I know multiple stores in my area which are closed on a weekday. When you have basically one person, usually the owner staffing the store, it is hard to 'restock' at night or other things while the store is open. So it is either work 16 hour days 7 days a week, or have an alternative.

I know restaurants who are closed 1 day a week too.

Not seeing an issue with it. They obviously see data which shows those days are not impacting sales to a point where they need to be open.

Lots of small stores and restaurants do this. It is pretty common. Monday is a good day to do it too IMHO.

Sydney CBD is closed two days a week.
from their own facebook timeline.

They are closing on their slow days - Sydney CBD is pretty much dead on Sundays these days (even now that the reign of the dark queen of weeds is "over" ). A lot of the stores in the back streets are closed on that day.

Their store model isn't cost effective to operate here. They reduce hours (or close) of operation on several stores, and use it to open up more NEW stores in other locations.

This is not unusual, most of the UK stores are closed Monday and Tuesday and have been for some time.

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
Annoying but not that unusual (especially for small stores with 1-2 staff)

It might not be unusual for GW in the UK, but it's extremely unusual for a retailer in Australia.

We still have some small stores that don't open Sundays, or open for shorter hours on weekends, but these days most retailers have realised that not being open costs them sales. Sure, being open on days when the cost of staff exceeds your sales might seem pointless in the short term... but the first time a customer tries to walk in and buy something on a weekday and finds you closed, you create a customer who just goes somewhere else next time.

Australians are a fairly lazy lot. Make it harder for us to buy your product, and chances are we just won't bother.

So, they're not allowed to opt to close on the most likely two slowest days of the week? Get real...

What? Of course they're allowed to.

That doesn't make it a good business move, though, and it's certainly not a sign of a healthy business.

Why is it bad business? How do you know they don't use one of those days to vacuum the funkiness out of the store? Or set up for a big new release? Or just to give the staff a day off?

The GW here in Kansas City that just opened this past summer has always been closed Monday/Tuesdays. I guess I just assumed this was the company standard.

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
Why is it bad business?

Because those two days that you're closed are two days that you are turning away potential customers.

How do you know they don't use one of those days to vacuum the funkiness out of the store? Or set up for a big new release? Or just to give the staff a day off?

It doesn't matter what they are using those two days for. The relevant thing is that for those two days customers can't walk in and buy something.

Pretty much every retailer in the country manages to clean the store, set up new releases and give staff time off without needing to close the store for two days. If your business has reached a point where that is necessary, either you're doing so much trade on the other 5 days that losing those two days doesn't matter, or your business is in a very bad way and you simply can't justify the expense of being open.

And going by the number of people I've seen in store the last few times I've been into or past GW stores, it's far more likely to be the latter than the former.

To me, this is a continue decline of the quality of services being provided to their customer base. The erosion will continue as more and more of their customer base leaves and does something else. This is a savings to the company in all aspects as they have to pay less hours for their staffing (plus benefits and so on) utilities, etc. Strictly a business move as a way to show additional profit to their share holders.

The Fremantle store has been closed the monday and tuesday for about 3 or 4 months as well. As well as the Perth and Morley stores too.

Eh. I stopped dropping in on the GWs when the Monday / Tuesday
closings happened. I think I tried to go a few times, but getting blocked
a few times in a month (I kept forgetting) made me more willing to visit
the independent retailers who were open all week long.

I'm not as shocked about them being closed on slow days as I am learning that they only stay open until 5 p.m. on Saturday...and 6 on Friday? The fething Game Stop in my gakky little town stays open later than that, and they aren't selling a hobby like GW is, it's a "Get in, get your gak, get out" kinda store.

GW stores are more likely to have people staying in there for several hours at a time to paint or play games with their models (a.k.a. free advertising), and they boot everyone out before dark?

Well, I dunno actually, someone brought up the new KC GW store earlier in the thread and if I recall correctly, they put that store in a bad part of town. If the other GW stores are in bad neighborhoods (possibly to save money) then perhaps it's more of a safety precaution than anything? lol, less chance they or a customer get robbed I suppose?

My FLGS is actually closed on Monday and Tuesday as well but it is owned and operated by one guy and his wife. He does stay open pretty late though and even does all-nighter events on the weekends sometimes.

Well, I dunno actually, someone brought up the new KC GW store earlier in the thread and if I recall correctly, they put that store in a bad part of town. If the other GW stores are in bad neighborhoods (possibly to save money) then perhaps it's more of a safety precaution than anything? lol, less chance they or a customer get robbed I suppose?

Well Sidstyler I know for a fact that a GW store is closing and it is in a wealth hub. A very rich wealth hub. I believe that unless you are a battle bunker type of store or a one man type of store, those GW stores that are in the middle ground will be closing.

There is a trend even in the 1 man stores to remove one of their gaming tables and use that as a demo table. That is very unfortunate.
Seen this happen as well.

Yeah, being closed Monday and Tuesday aren't such big deals, but early hours on Friday and Saturday? That's butt-fething horse-gak. Who only games until 5 on a Saturday? Jeez.

Manager GW Wollongong:
+++ ATTENTION ALL CUSTOMERS +++

Starting Monday December 3rd, Games Workshop Wollongong will be changing its opening hours. The hours will be:

MONDAY: Closed
TUESDAY: Closed
WEDNESDAY: 11am - 6pm
THURSDAY: 10am - 7pm
FRIDAY: 11am - 6pm
SATURDAY: 9am - 5pm

SUNDAY: 10am - 5pm

If you require more information, just give us a call at the store and we'll help you out!

Dozens of stores do this. I'd bet this store only has one/two shopkeepers? They do have to have time off you know.
Edits; Quotes wont co operate.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
Yeah, being closed Monday and Tuesday aren't such big deals, but early hours on Friday and Saturday? That's butt-fething horse-gak. Who only games until 5 on a Saturday? Jeez.

For stores in shopping centres, staying open later isn't always an option, as trading hours are often dictated by the centre.

That being said, somebody opening a gaming store should probably consider that when they're looking at potential venues

 Sidstyler wrote:
I'm not as shocked about them being closed on slow days as I am learning that they only stay open until 5 p.m. on Saturday...and 6 on Friday? The fething Game Stop in my gakky little town stays open later than that, and they aren't selling a hobby like GW is, it's a "Get in, get your gak, get out" kinda store.

Fairly normal in Australia. You're hard pressed to find smaller stores open after 5pm here. Larger stores like Target do very late or even 24 hour trading, but that's all. Even video stores tend to close early, about 7pm-8pm, with returns after that going in a little chute. Hell, a town near me closes all stores in its town center (basically a Mall) at 4pm on a Saturday.

Thursday night is the only night where all stores open until 9pm, and thats because it's the unofficial 'late night shopping' night, which caught on because Thursday was the usual payday, and people did their grocery shopping, then all other stores gradually started opening late until it became the late night shop for anything night.

 insaniak wrote:

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
Annoying but not that unusual (especially for small stores with 1-2 staff)

It might not be unusual for GW in the UK, but it's extremely unusual for a retailer in Australia.

I wouldn't say it was usual in the UK for retailers to buy up some of the most expensive real estate in the world and then leave it shut Monday and Tuesday.

All but 2 of the 7 GW stores in the DC/Baltimore area are closed Monday and Tuesday. Coincidently, the ones open 7 days a week are the ones with more than one staff member. The rest are all single staff member stores, which also means they close for 45 minutes in the middle of the day when the manager goes out for lunch, and are randomly closed when the shop keeper has to take time off.

 -Loki- wrote:

Thursday night is the only night where all stores open until 9pm, and thats because it's the unofficial 'late night shopping' night, which caught on because Thursday was the usual payday, and people did their grocery shopping, then all other stores gradually started opening late until it became the late night shop for anything night.

Although I've noticed, that not all of our states have "thursday night shopping" (Vic does Friday nights) and some places don't allow Sunday trading if at all.
In NSW, yes, it's pretty much Thursdays that are the busy days.

The GW near me has had these hours for a long time.

 Doctadeth wrote:
The Fremantle store has been closed the monday and tuesday for about 3 or 4 months as well. As well as the Perth and Morley stores too.

Morley has never closed on the Monday or Tuesday unless its been a public holiday but now that WA here has 7 day trade they open Sundays too.

I think it depends on location eg shopping centre or stand alone. I mean you pay for the space regardless if your open or closed. It's not like they say "oh your closed...take $150 off the rent the week".