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For those of you that don't already know they are raising the prices of stuff because the prices of materials is going up.

UltraDude wrote:For those of you that don't already know they are raising the prices of stuff because the prices of materials is going up.

Yeah right, the price of plastics have gone up those % recently. Wierd that the platstics actually gotten cheaper the last couple of years.
Also, since they are swapping from metals to platics with the same prices or even higher, that is pure WIN.

I think it might be more of a situation in that Dan Abnett requires the souls of GA stores in order to wright more books.....kinda like sacraficing pyscrs to the emperor?

I live in Delaware and GW just opened a store in Bear of all places. I dont see how it will survive . In a strip mall not too far from the University of Delware. I had no idea there would be enough call in that area. My friend works at Days Of Knights in Newark just blocks from the U of D. I am wondering if their business will be hurt. They do a lot for their customers and have a gaming room with tournaments and contests. I would think they researched the area before opening a store. Must be lots more gamers in the area than even I realised.

Oh, GW researched enough alright, and figured if they could take most of the business from the local guy, or better yet, drive him out of business, then they'd do OK.

Kallbrand wrote:

UltraDude wrote:For those of you that don't already know they are raising the prices of stuff because the prices of materials is going up.

Yeah right, the price of plastics have gone up those % recently. Wierd that the platstics actually gotten cheaper the last couple of years.
Also, since they are swapping from metals to platics with the same prices or even higher, that is pure WIN.

Utilities (lighting, heating etc), rent, council tax (or whatever the US equivalent may be), staff costs etc all affect store feasibility as well as marketing, administrative and general running costs of stores incurred by GW as a whole.

In fairness, a company can't always continue to support a loss-making store, particularly when a large amount of costs are set externally (bills, rent etc).

GW are a lot more expensive now than when I started playing in '97 but I think that's just the way things go. Just because an area has a large population, doesn't mean that a store should definitely be put there

I've been buying GW product since 1989. Obviously prices are a lot higher now than they were when I started, but so are costs for everything that we all pay for, GW and their customers alike.

That said, GW has really pushed the limits of what people will pay for certain items during the past year. $41.25 for the Empire Greatswords seems to be one notable instance where a lot of customers drew the line and said "I'm not paying that" and didn't buy them. $49.50 for a two-sprue plastic IG tank and $57.75 for the Steam Tank are also pretty out there at the limits.

On the other hand, to be fair to GW, over the years prices have gone down as well as up at times on many items and product ranges. I see a lot of comments to the contrary on forums, but having been at this twenty years I have definitely seen times when the product ranges were revised that the price structure was also rolled back as well. After those price drops, things eventually start to creep up again of course.

Now there's been a lot of cost cutting at GW this year. Many positions were eliminated. Stores where rent was considered too costly were closed. Games Day clearly had a much lower budget than usual. New stores have only one display cabinet taken from existing stores. Cabinets no longer have those little halogen lamps, saving thousands of dollars on bulbs and electricity throughout the chain (it also keeps the stores cooler, which I like, those bulbs produced a lot of heat).

Hopefully, after all the cuts and restructuring, things will look more steady at GW within a year or two. My biggest complaints about changes this year are not related to prices, but rather the new "community building" philosophy. Fortunately, the good staff at some stores has managed to keep the atmosphere fun and positive, but there are definitely places where the new emphasis on handing the reigns to the customers has, for me at least, had a negative impact. Of course, nowhere was this more obvious than at Games Day 2009, where many tables were poorly designed or left empty by customers and clubs who were supposed to provide displays. Some things are best left to the professionals and hopefully GW will realize that again soon.