Any evidence of Gw

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**midnight**

GW's relationship with independent retailers is horrible. They released their buying guide for retailers for March-June. Trying to order about 1/3 things did not get you a delivery. They quietly just pulled all the Marine chapter specific stuff about April and would not answer why until late June. Apparently the Blood Angels codex is out of print. And yet there it is on their direct buying guide...

Blatently lying, and poorly does not sit well with some people. The fact that if GW had actually filled those orders they would have gotten at least around 3K in one month alone should tell everyone how stupid their direct buy policy is because the people that wanted to buy the stuff just gave up. They won't buy direct from GW here. Most of our customers see no reason to be forced to give all the money to GW when the local shop has provided terrain, tables, a good atmosphere, and they started thanks to the support of the local store.

GW's biggest competitor should not be considered the people that sustained their game in the 90s.

**mauleed**

A good club in a bad store still equals a bad store with crappy sales.

I would say that about half the stores I've visited have management that does, in my opinion, what is required to support the hobby in their store. The other half does nothing or little, and then complains about poor sales.

**keezus**

The FLGS(s) around my area usually have trouble stocking GW new releases. The one store I regularly go to has a good relationship with the area rep, and as such, they get new releases one week after the release date printed in White Dwarf and one week after the local GW outlets. The other store in my area does not have as good a relationship with GW and GW routinely ships their "new releases" 3-4 weeks after the release date - I mean, they got the new Tau stuff they ordered in the same shipment as the Cities of Death stuff. Some stuff like the boxed army sized Cities of Death, they didn't ship them at all, and claimed they were sold out - only to have it arrive in the next shipment.

Its also frustrating that bitz for new kits don't become available until 8-10 weeks after release date - especially when GW is showing all these cool conversions you can do with them. If the prices weren't so high, people might buy full kits to convert with, but to use Commander Shadowsun as an example, I'm not about to buy a $45 (cdn) kit just to get some extra fusion blaster arms for my XV-15s. Shadowsun should be at most $30 (cdn)... more realistically $25 (cdn). The direct services techmarine shouldn't be more than $18 (cdn). The current Canadian prices are stupidly high and are utterly nonsensical! Sentinels are $35 (cdn), Pirhanas are $40 (cdn), Falcons are $45 (cdn). Every time I finally think of a cool conversion idea, the prices for the bitz just turn me away.

**two heads talking**

Posted By mauleed on 07/12/2006 8:18 AM

(quote)A good club in a bad store still equals a bad store with crappy sales.

I would say that about half the stores I've visited have management that does, in my opinion, what is required to support the hobby in their store. The other half does nothing or little, and then complains about poor sales. (quote)

and even the ones that promote the hobby the best could do better, but the ones that do not promote it and sit behind the counter eating candy bars or playing video games, well, i am surprised they can keep their staff payed let alone pay the bills.. it is pretty sad actually to entere a store with nice gaming tables and then realize they haven't been used in months..

**mikhaila**

The FLGS(s) around my area usually have trouble stocking GW new releases. The one store I regularly go to has a good relationship with the area rep, and as such, they get new releases one week after the release date printed in White Dwarf and one week after the local GW outlets. The other store in my area does not have as good a relationship with GW and GW routinely ships their "new releases" 3-4 weeks after the release date

Here's how ordering from GW works, if you are dealing with them directly. On monday morning at 10 a.m., you can call your account rep and place an order for the new releases, and anything else that you need. Any order placed between monday at 10am, and Wednesday at 4pm, is guaranteed to arrive at your store by Friday. While I've had instances of UPS or Fedex messing up the shipping, usually due to a holiday, it works this way 99% of the time.

If a store is ordering direct from GW, they should have no trouble getting there orders at the same time, or even sooner, than the Saturday that the GW stores put out the new releases. If the store chooses to order every other week, or once a month, then yes, they won't be getting new releases nearly as quickly.

It's that simple, place an order, get your product. There are a few things that can slow this process:

1) Not paying your bills. I know of at least 5 stores that have blamed GW for not shipping them product, when it turned out that they were not paying their bills. Don't pay your bill, don't get new shipments. All distributors work that way.

2) Not ordering on a weekly basis. Many stores choose to order twice a month, once a month, once a quarter. Perfectly fine. But it obviously makes it impossible to ship them new stuff each week.

3) Dealing with a sub distributor. If a store doesn't order from GW, and goes through Alliance, ACD, or any of a number of other distributors, then they can add anywhere from a couple of days to a month to the time they get new releases. It depends on how ofter the subdistributor restocks from GW. Good ones get a weekly shipment, bad ones, small ones, get a monthly restock, or whenever they feel like putting in an order.

People have made claims that because of a GW sales rep, their store gets screwed and orders come in weeks after they should. If this actually happened, - a rep deliberately delaying an order- then he's fired. I'll even make the offer of helping it happen, although any store shouldn't need help. You just call GW Trade Sales, ask to speak to the Manager, or the head of the department, and tell him what's happening.

**ironkodiak**

mikhaila - my experiences with GW ordering is pretty much identical (although I've been out of the biz for a few years) except I'll add that the 1% of the time they screw up, they usually try to give you something extra to make up for the trouble. For example, when we received box sets missing parts, they usually will just send a whole new box and you can do whatever with the leftovers.

**Jum P. Axe**

I see their stock is plumeting like there's no tomorrow. Why don't they just lower prices, i know like 5 people who would immediatley start playing if Infantry costed 20$ a box, like they used to.

**HelloConsumer**

I don't post much but I read Dakka everyday. I've been reading this thread and I feel compelled to give you some reliable information. I'm in the hiring process for a GW Hobby Center in the US (which is crazy but I won't get into that) and I'll tell you what the local metro manager told me. GW is in the process of expanding from 50+ stores to 1500 in the US. Let me spell it out for you, one-thousand-five-hundred. If that is even a half truth it represents a massive expansion. They plan to concentrate on major metropolitan areas to create a buzz in the centers of popular culture. This is what Apple is doing with it's Apple stores and it's what video game system manufacturers have done in the past. They are getting the word out in the most densely populated areas.

I think it's a great idea and the most efficient way to market the product without stepping on the toes of local suburban retailers. Imagine how awesome every city in the US would be with tons of GW stores to game in.

So bugger to all you haters. The future's so bright I gotta wear shades.

**Kilkrazy**

1,500 shops across the US? No way! It's a colossal investment. I don't think they've got 1,500 stores in the whole of the rest of the world. In fact, I think they've got only a few hundred (300, 600?)

Also I think their product is too niche to make the grade in pop culture buzz. If they produced a wide range of rules and miniatures, not just WHFB and 40K but historicals as well, it might do something. But let's face it, miniature wargames are fairly geeky, and GW games even more so.

**chuckyhol**

I agree with killkrazy.

i also think however that even though GW popularity is declining in the US, it's only getting more popular in Australia.

Chuck

**Tazok**

Posted By HelloConsumer 08/12/2006 2:54 AM
I don't post much but I read Dakka everyday. I've been reading this thread and I feel compelled to give you some reliable information. I'm in the hiring process for a GW Hobby Center in the US (which is crazy but I won't get into that) and I'll tell you what the local metro manager told me. GW is in the process of expanding from 50+ stores to 1500 in the US. Let me spell it out for you, one-thousand-five-hundred. If that is even a half truth it represents a massive expansion. They plan to concentrate on major metropolitan areas to create a buzz in the centers of popular culture. This is what Apple is doing with it's Apple stores and it's what video game system manufacturers have done in the past. They are getting the word out in the most densely populated areas.

I think it's a great idea and the most efficient way to market the product without stepping on the toes of local suburban retailers. Imagine how awesome every city in the US would be with tons of GW stores to game in.

So bugger to all you haters. The future's so bright I gotta wear shades.

Not even Tom Kirby would make such an outrageous claim!!! GW expanded its operations by a whole 2 stores in the US last year. We'll see the return of Squats before GW breaks a 1,000 stores in the US.

**deitpike**

1500?
wow, I remember 8 years ago when they were going to open 200 stores over 5 years...........echo echo

**Dice Monkey**

I'm in the hiring process for a GW Hobby Center in the US (which is crazy but I won't get into that) and I'll tell you what the local metro manager told me.

Ya don't think he was telling you that to get you to sign on do ya? I mean seriously you will get the same speil at McDonalds when you sign on. I also take it for granted you are relatively new to the labor force so welcome to your first taste of being a mushroom.

**mikhaila**

I've never heard anything like that before. The current plan is to work on stores in 10 major metro areas, and that's going to take a few years. Even with a lot of work put into expansion, (and things going well), I doubt they can even begin to think of hitting 100 stores in less than 8 years. Yeah, 1500 is doable, but we are talking major effort to expansion, explosive sales, EVERYTHING going right, and 20 years.

My plans are a bit less bold. I figure that in 20 years I'll have my chain of 2 stores up to, umm, ... 3?, no, make that 2. Even the thought of a third store made me tired. Sticking at 2.

**Rafi**

When I talked to the regional manager last week he said they were hoping to put two more stores into Seattle by November. I'm praying for a store that's actually in Seattle, as opposed to the suburbs.

**Frazzled**

1500 would be more than most banks have branches in the US. You either heard wrong or the metro guy was major blowing smoke up your rear.

**Blackmoor**

Well, look at it like this: 1500 stores is 30 stores per state.

For just a niche hobby like this, only California might be able to support that many. All of the other states would fall far short, and most states could not handle 5 stores.

**nyarlathotep667**

d00ds my future is so bright (working minimum wage as a redshirt at GW) I gotta wear shades yo! So all you haterz, 1500 stores is reeaalll!!!! Gee Dubya told me so, and they NEVAR lie! Nevar!

I don't even think there are 1500 independant retailers (that carry GW products) + GW Hobby Centers in all of North America. Less than 900 if I remember those numbers correctly. There was, however, a time when that was the case, but GW's polices the last few years has seen to the end of that. Mind you, I'm not saying 600+ shops closed house, but rather a mix of some stores going out of buisness and others just dropping the GW product line.

**Tazok**

To give you some perspective on how ludicrous the 1,500 GW stores is, KB Toys (you know the large national toy store chain) had 1,240 stores back before it went into bankruptcy in 2004. If a generic mall toy store chain can't support that many operations and stay in business (they now have roughly 600 stores), how much do you think a very specialty toy store like GW is going to do?

**Playa**

Hey,

Posted By Cyric036 07/07/2006 8:35 AM
Detroit Metro Area has 2 GW stores (within an hour 15 min of each other) and both are very well supported

The GW in Great Lakes apparently offers free daycare. X- P

The 12 Oaks GW is the size of a walk-in closet.

Neither fit my criteria for 'well-supported'.

AFAICT, GW stores exist as advertisement and warehouse facilities.

A big sign out front and colourful posters in the windows is all the ad GW has.

Playa

"What we do is make wonderful miniatures
in a timeless and culturally independent
way and sell them at a profit.
Everything else we make and do is
geared around that end."
- Tom Kirby, GW Exec since 1986