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947 Burlington Avenue Downers Grove Illinois

The Chicago Bunker will be closing Jan, 25 2014. This address is where a smaller store will be opening. From what I hear it will only have a couple of tables.

If you want to go by and see the location, it is on a one way street going from east to west so plan accordingly.

Why would we want to go by and "see". You already need freaking reservations at gw's tiny overly hostile shops now. Replacing something good with something sub par so GW can pad its books to look profitable in order to sell the company to suckers before the bottom falls out of their business is not something that should be rewarded.

Easy there, killer. He's just providing new in the new and rumors section.

What an odd location for the store. It's smack across the street from the train station in between several hipster restaurants, so the rent will be quite high for a very limited amount of space. Their previous location had tons of parking, the downtown area is nearly impossible to park in. There is a parking garage about a block and a half away but it's always full of commuter traffic, the street is a one-way that caters almost exclusively for train based traffic so it offers very little drive visibility for standard folk.

The previous Bunker was close to two major highways which meant very easy access for people outside the area, downtown downers grove is buried in the middle of the town which means taking side streets to get to the store. I also places it about 10-15 minutes from either highway where it was less than 2 minutes before. Traffic is also typically snarled up due to the constant train crossings and the downtown being reduced to a single lane of traffic.

The location is simply terrible for people trying to access the store. With a lot of stores currently being out of business there's so many other options in the area they could have gone with that would have made much more sense.

@paulson, obviously gamers don't need vehicles, except small plastic ones where you make your own engine noises. Take the 20-30K and invest in a small marine chapter, they still have the deal going for the full caboodle don't they? With 20K you can get that delivered for free to your home, get the mega paint set, and all the marine codex variants.

Just kidding, but you were trying to make sense of a GW business transaction .

Well it opens up a spot for someone in Chicago to buy their old space and turn it into a flgs, points for them if they wear red shirts and call themselves Games-Playshop: we kicked the work out of here

Wasn't Chicago the last bunker? Or does Memphis have one?

GW really needs to just admit defeat in the retail store market.

Well if there is one still in Memphis and you remind GW HQ that it still exists, then they will close it.

I do not think the retail market defeated GW. They just decided to close their stores.

 Orock wrote:
Why would we want to go by and "see". You already need freaking reservations at gw's tiny overly hostile shops now. Replacing something good with something sub par so GW can pad its books to look profitable in order to sell the company to suckers before the bottom falls out of their business is not something that should be rewarded.

Just not true. You can go in and find an open game at the Cincy GW any time they're open.

 cincydooley wrote:

 Orock wrote:
Why would we want to go by and "see". You already need freaking reservations at gw's tiny overly hostile shops now. Replacing something good with something sub par so GW can pad its books to look profitable in order to sell the company to suckers before the bottom falls out of their business is not something that should be rewarded.

Just not true. You can go in and find an open game at the Cincy GW any time they're open.

The same cannot be said for every store though. My local GW has 2 tables, and every weekend they are pretty much called for well in advance, meaning no pick up games. Meanwhile table 3 shows off the 3 starter sets, which I've never seen used other than as examples of painted models.

Meanwhile(granted it's an hour away) MGI Games in Riverside has at least 5 tables up all the time, with about 5 more than can be set up for tourneys. And they have a soda machine, and you can play other games, and you can use other models, and they are open 7 days a week, and they have ample parking, and they are located close to quite a few food options.

If I won the lotto, I'd open up an awesome game store right next door to a GW store even if it meant taking a loss until the other store was gone. I'm that jaded now. If GW does it to their own independents, why shouldn't they do it back? Nothing says they have to use GW as their distributor.

Didn't Baltimore have a bunker? Did that get downsized?

Baltimore had a bunker, which was closed for a few years. It was re-opened in the middle of nowhere after a long hiatus... by which time an independent FLGS, run by the old bunker manager, had opened in the old bunker location and is absolutely thriving.

Rise independent FLGS! Retail GWs are yesterday's news, and are now mostly only opened for a few years to expose a high traffic area (such as across from a train station like this one!) to GW, and then closed. Not to maintain a gaming scene with. That's what independent FLGS are for

Edit: I'm speaking with a US-perspective here, of course, I understand it might be a bit different in the UK where GW stores were so dominant for so long. But here, most people can travel quite a distance to get to a gaming store... I go to an independent one 45 minutes from my house, rather than to the small 1-man GW store that is only 10 minutes from my house. The drive is worth every minute and I can play other miniatures games, board games, etc to boot.

 Aerethan wrote:
Wasn't Chicago the last bunker? Or does Memphis have one?

GW really needs to just admit defeat in the retail store market.

There's one in Bowie, just outside the DC Beltway.

Yes, that's the one.

And it is completely overshadowed by the other 2 major FLGS in the area: Games 'n Stuff, and Dropzone Games (which is the one in the old bunker location, run by the old bunker manager). Unfortunately my work is in the opposite direction so I go to a completely different FLGS even further away.

Links:

http://www.gamesandstuffonline.com/

http://www.dropzone-games.com/

Games 'n Stuff tends to be better for other kinds of gaming, with Dropzone Games having a stronger miniatures games emphasis (although both have vibrant Warmachine communities, to boot).

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There are still bunkers in Seattle, been there, and down in Los Angeles along with Memphis of course. The Memphis and Seattle bunkers are cool places to visit but they usually aren't terribly busy so there is always room for gaming. They both had soemwhere bewtween 10 and 20 tables for playing on but I'm surprised Chicago is shutting their bunker down. I know the manager there and his store was actually quite profitable when I still worked for GW but then again it is a GW business transaction so why keep a profitable store open. We can pay less in rent and open a store with no room that will likely do little business so we can shut that down too and then the only way to get minis is internet ordering from Memphis. It's not like we can go to eBay or a dozen other places for our plastic crack. I did notice while working at GW they really didn't seem to have a solid grasp on how to run a business so I was glad when I left that company, still do love the product though but not the price thank you eBay.

 Aerethan wrote:
Wasn't Chicago the last bunker? Or does Memphis have one?

GW really needs to just admit defeat in the retail store market.

Toronto still has one sort of. It has 6 tables. It's probably on the chopping block.

baltak wrote:
There are still bunkers in Seattle, been there, and down in Los Angeles along with Memphis of course. The Memphis and Seattle bunkers are cool places to visit but they usually aren't terribly busy so there is always room for gaming. They both had soemwhere bewtween 10 and 20 tables for playing on but I'm surprised Chicago is shutting their bunker down. I know the manager there and his store was actually quite profitable when I still worked for GW but then again it is a GW business transaction so why keep a profitable store open. We can pay less in rent and open a store with no room that will likely do little business so we can shut that down too and then the only way to get minis is internet ordering from Memphis. It's not like we can go to eBay or a dozen other places for our plastic crack. I did notice while working at GW they really didn't seem to have a solid grasp on how to run a business so I was glad when I left that company, still do love the product though but not the price thank you eBay.

The one in LA closed last year

LA and Seattle are both closed and reopened as one man stores, pretty sure the LA closed again after that ( not 100 % on that) Chi-town is Jan and Bowie remains the last on of its kind after that. Memphis is the US World of Battle and more of a factory store and not a bunker, semantics really but its not classified as a bunker. Just as quick side note to those in the MD area, The GW Olney shop is closing on the 22nd and the VA Sugerland Location as well on the 24th I believe. Restructure of the retail chain rolls on.

So all the bunkers gone except Memphis.... I am surprised LA and Seattle closed. When I worked for GW less than 2 years ago both of those operations were profitable. Knowing their business acumen they were probably still making money but the clique bosses in the company decided they didn't want to work with those managers anymore. They are famous for doing that to managers that dont do things "their way".

No, Chicago is open until Late January and the Bowie one is still open.