Blood and Slaughter wrote:
Personally I'm sceptical about the wisdom of any retail outlet shifting from 7 day opening to 5 days, even if that allows them to avoid closing for lunch. But while I can see one table for open gaming as being something GW might want to maintain (so that customers can see the game being played 'for real'), having more than one table - especially if extra tables are hidden away upstairs or in a basement and possibly requiring staff supervision too is unlikely to bring in enough revenue to do more than cover costs (if a member of staff plus insurance etc is, say, £50 per day, it's pretty unlikely that those who come into game are going to be spending over and above what they might have done anyway unless perhaps you pay to play).
Wolfstan wrote:Just a crazy idea, but could GW just close it's stores and go into partnership with the FLG's? Either give them better support / discount or pay for an official GW member of staff? Keeps their overheads done whilst still able to have face to face contact with the public.
I put these quotes together, as really in light of
GW's history of operating as a store they are kind of flip sides of the same coin.
The
GW stores themselves I think have, at least in modern times, functioned as an advertisement for the hobby. Beyond just the intro game table, and the stacked shelves, as Blood & Slaughter has said having some people playing in store serves as an example of what can be accomplished by spending some money into the wargaming hobby. Speaking as someone who worked in a
GW, a lot of the parents who come in with their kid have absolutely
no idea of what
GW games or miniature wargaming are about. Having just an intro game is almost the equivalent of some of the 'demo' tables of phones/food or whatever you have set-up in shop aisles here in Asia, with one extremely smiley member of staff just trying to sell you a particular item. "Look, play this board game it's fun". But, in contrast having people in the store (who have already made this investment) and having fun with their own armies, in a non-official/fake set-up (which a parent could deem an intro game to be, there is a lack of a genuine feel about it).
With that in mind, and the thought that in many ways the
GW stores are 'loss leaders' (losing money, but necessary to get more people introduced and playing the game) I really question the logic of these cuts. Rent costs (at least here in the
UK) are already astronomical in most places - having one staff member, on minimum wage, working 14 hours a week less isn't going to make a big difference to the bottom line.
I can see this has been done to make a slightly better looking financial statement for the shareholders - but, I think it's playing a dangerous game in terms of defeating the purpose that
GW stores actually have in existing. Which, is in creating a fun environment for kids to enjoy, and therefore parents (and their wallets) buying into that experience.
As for making a good relationship with the
FLGS and using them? Speak to a few
FLGS owners and ask them what they think about
GW.. from the 90's where they did their best to get them closed down in cities where official
GW stores opened (by supplying late stock on new releases), to the Finecast quality-control fiasco which effectively forced a lot of purchasers into going into the
GW store instead, I don't think you will hear many good things about them.
