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Now I live in a large city..and there actually already is one small GW store on the far side of town from my FLGS...so when that moved in..It didnt effect us in the least. But now there is word that there is going to be one get put in..Fairly close by. While my FLGS is very big with a massive customer base. All the talk has been all week is if/how it will effect us. I have been on the positive side of it. While GW stores are great to get people into the hobby that have never played before..There customer service is well..god awful..That would be were our store steps in..With a much more pleasant place to play at.

So how has a GW moving in effect everyone elses FLGS that have been in the same situation.

Past history suggests that once the GW store is open your FLGS will encounter issues with new release stock being delayed due to technical issues along side an increased number of problems ordering normal stock and it being delivered again due to technical issues or being out of stock, however shock horror the GW store will have no such issues an be able to provide the new release stock.

But overall to yourselves as customers I doubt you will notice much change unless/until your FLGS tells GW to stick there account due to the runaround there going to get.

We've had one open within the last year or so in our area. It hasn't seemed to affect our main two GW peddlers at all.

It has actually brought more people into the game, however.

Have the LFGS diversify their product line.

Etched In Pride wrote:
Now I live in a large city..and there actually already is one small GW store on the far side of town from my FLGS...so when that moved in..It didnt effect us in the least. But now there is word that there is going to be one get put in..Fairly close by. While my FLGS is very big with a massive customer base. All the talk has been all week is if/how it will effect us. I have been on the positive side of it. While GW stores are great to get people into the hobby that have never played before..There customer service is well..god awful..That would be were our store steps in..With a much more pleasant place to play at.

So how has a GW moving in effect everyone elses FLGS that have been in the same situation.

All you as a player need to be is positive.

There are going to be issues, but if you support your Local Store, they don't spaz out and start treating everyone like a clown, and ignore the GW indoctrination center, it will end up on the chopping block for yearly dividends soon enough and you'll have some war stories about how you remember that GW once had a store near you and you've seen them come and go.

1. they don't game in these so called stores, hhhobby centers, or whatever clever catch phrase they are using these days.
2. they are shilling overpriced gak that people buy for a game that is falling off in popularity, playability, and being kicked from everywhere from here to there.
3. the stores are small and the people that work there don't want people in them.
4. the overhead will kill them off in your area faster then they expect.

As players, support your local scene, keep your heads about you, and don't buy into the bullgak they will shill you in trying to target you and your gaming community. To throw it down, they are going to use dirty tricks and shenanigans to try to mess with your groups and baffle you with bullgak when you walk in the door, but in the end it is only a high end specialty store that sells .... overpriced gak.

Keep calm,carry on and roll those dice.

There is another thread about GW shutting down all gaming other than their events in their stores. I think your FLGS is pretty safe.

The GW store will most likely focus on recruiting new players, and hopefully your players are smart enough not to buy from down there.

It is odd the difference between the US and UK gaming places. It sounds like in the US you all go to a FLGS to play whereas in the UK we tend to all go to clubs.

I wonder why we do it this way?

Does your FLGS actually stock GW products? Mine doesn't, and they seem to be doing pretty well at the moment with a GW store just up the road. Some of the GW staff even use the FLGS for RPGs.

My GWs support local FLGS and local clubs and indy events. If you are playing and selling 40k, they support it and want to make sure customers know about it.

They even run Primer tourneys for indy events and promote tourneys at other non-GW stores.

Maybe it is a warzone somewhere, but it has never been anything close to what you guys describe anywhere in my area... and we had the GWUSHQ here for like 20 years in Glen Burnie.

I'd put up a sign or billboard somewhere close to the GW store advertising better pricing and free tables..... but that's just me...

Well, according to http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/516952.page the arrival of a GW store won't mean much. If you're FLGS can beat them on prices, there's absolutely no reason to ever go to the GW store.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/369662.page

Should actually boost the sales of the FLGS because GW will promote warhammer at their stores, and then your FLGS will be selling the same products at ~20% off. So they will be taking customers from GW.

That what mine does. It is literally 4 streets from a GW and they are doing very well.

nanook wrote:
It is odd the difference between the US and UK gaming places. It sounds like in the US you all go to a FLGS to play whereas in the UK we tend to all go to clubs.

I wonder why we do it this way?

I have actually seen the guys in the UK refer to this. "club" what do you mean by it?

and yes. Other then the things that you HAVE to buy direct from the GW store. They stock at least one of everything both 40k and fantasy.

Etched In Pride wrote:

nanook wrote:
It is odd the difference between the US and UK gaming places. It sounds like in the US you all go to a FLGS to play whereas in the UK we tend to all go to clubs.

I wonder why we do it this way?

I have actually seen the guys in the UK refer to this. "club" what do you mean by it?

A gaming club- normally a formally organised group who rent space somehwere (church / community hall is popular) and run regular gaming nights / days.
We have the Gaming Club Network in the UK too which clubs can become a part of in order to get promotion and support.
GW stores often help out with getting them started in the surrounding area as it's a good place to send gamers to once they've got all they need from the store.


As to having a GW open near to a LGS: it will fill a niche that most LGS (in my experience) don't- it will recruit new wargamers / painters and bring them into the hobby.
Best thing to do from a customer and LGS owner point of view is to get along with them and share what you can to help the local hobby community.

 VanHammer wrote:
Should actually boost the sales of the FLGS because GW will promote warhammer at their stores, and then your FLGS will be selling the same products at ~20% off. So they will be taking customers from GW.

That what mine does. It is literally 4 streets from a GW and they are doing very well.

I wish my FLGS sold at a discount...

We have a new GW around here, its been a non issue.

I'm told that STL recently got it's GW store back after having had the other one close down years ago.

The fact that neither I nor most of the people I've talked to have ever been there suggests that the FLGSs are doing just fine.

 Lorizael wrote:

Etched In Pride wrote:

nanook wrote:
It is odd the difference between the US and UK gaming places. It sounds like in the US you all go to a FLGS to play whereas in the UK we tend to all go to clubs.

I wonder why we do it this way?

I have actually seen the guys in the UK refer to this. "club" what do you mean by it?

A gaming club- normally a formally organised group who rent space somehwere (church / community hall is popular) and run regular gaming nights / days.
We have the Gaming Club Network in the UK too which clubs can become a part of in order to get promotion and support.
GW stores often help out with getting them started in the surrounding area as it's a good place to send gamers to once they've got all they need from the store.


As to having a GW open near to a LGS: it will fill a niche that most LGS (in my experience) don't- it will recruit new wargamers / painters and bring them into the hobby.
Best thing to do from a customer and LGS owner point of view is to get along with them and share what you can to help the local hobby community.

Australian games clubs are also mostly like this - but we also have a number of flgs based "clubs" (the minority).
Our local model store used to stock GW up until about 15 years ago (GW moved in about 19-20 years ago). It was located a bit over a block away from the GW store. Then, after one delay or another, or one cock-up after another, it just became unfeasible to continue to stock it. Minimum order levels, maximum reorder periods, etc. It was another 13 years before we got another games store in the area.

It will have an effect on your local scene - maybe not immediately, but it will happen.

Other areas were different. They have a host-symbiote relationship with the local FLGS. At least TWO GW stores are located below the FLGS in question, and the FLGS tend to run GW game days when the GWs are closed (they are open 5 days a week, the flgs 7).

A GW store has 1 goal, get as many new players as possible. And now they aren't even allowing their new players to play at their stores. What does that mean? It means that all those new players will be going somewhere else to place. I work for a FLGS and we had a GW store open a few months back and we've seen an influx of new players. Our tournaments have gotten larger and even open play nights have gotten to the point where our 40+ tables aren't enough.

We may not the get the intial big sale people usually do for their army purchase, but after that they usually will be purchasing their add-ons and additional army units from our store.

While I think GW is harming the online sales, and bits sites with it's new rules. As well as shooting themselves in the foot with their practices, having a GW store has actually helped us. With that in mind it didn't stop us from intially freaking out thinking they were gonna steal some of our business. But our boss has a pretty good head for business and saw exactly what I explained and now months into it, we are doing better then we were.

Lastly, if your FLGS is good at what it does it will have created a community around itself, and that breeds loyality in it's clients. And that loyality goes a long way when it comes shopping at other stores looking for a deal.

SeanDrake wrote:
Past history suggests that once the GW store is open your FLGS will encounter issues with new release stock being delayed due to technical issues along side an increased number of problems ordering normal stock and it being delivered again due to technical issues or being out of stock, however shock horror the GW store will have no such issues an be able to provide the new release stock.

But overall to yourselves as customers I doubt you will notice much change unless/until your FLGS tells GW to stick there account due to the runaround there going to get.

QFT. Seen this happen first hand at a LFGS.

Support your LFGS so they can support you and your hobbies.

Only thing I've noticed is that both of the FLGS's got very few of that Warriors of Chaos codex for fantasy a couple of months ago. The store owners were actually ordering books by mail from online retailers in a desperate attempt to at least have some stock. Meanwhile the local GW had several.

Probably coincidence, since as far as I'm aware, that's literally the only problem we've had since GW popped up in Lexington.

That said, they just had a grand "reopening". Apparently trying to compete with two stores that have both been around for over a decade apiece is hard work

In my town the LGS and GW are literally opposite eachother... People buy in the LGS and go over to GW to assemble and paint as the LGS is all about Magic and has no space or love for people actually partaking in the hobby.

nanook wrote:
It is odd the difference between the US and UK gaming places. It sounds like in the US you all go to a FLGS to play whereas in the UK we tend to all go to clubs.

I wonder why we do it this way?

It would be nice if there were wargaming clubs in the US, the only one I know of nearby is very strictly for historical miniatures and they never advertise their existence at all. The FLGS business is a hard one and the rate of failure is high, I have seen many come and go over the years. A good club would definitely provide some continuity, especially in college towns were there is a high rate of population turn over.

A gaming club is so "odd" or rare in NA (no negative implied) that it would be perceived kind of strange to many people if you tried to set one up.I have read that some gaming clubs use church space. I just cannot even imagine trying to rent space from a church to play warhammer in the US. They would take one look at a chaos demon codex and freak completely out.

It would be an expensive proposition in many cities because rent is high, the utility bill can be very high in winter and summer, and liability insurance would also be expensive. The financial barriers to starting a club are nontrivial. Then there is the fact that US gamers are accustomed to gaming for free in stores so why should they go to the trouble of setting a club up and the expense of paying dues?

It may actually boil down to a "historical contingency", for a variety of reasons that may not even exist now, gaming clubs got going in the UK and were successful. Likewise, the circumstances needed to compel people in the US to start clubs simply did not occur and the FLGS currently fills this need in many but not all communities.

In general, are houses and apartments in the UK large enough to easily accommodate a wargaming table?

At home we have a GW and two FLGS.
(Well one friendly store and one ill mannered stench dungeon)
Neither stock GW, both seem to be doing well.

Provide gaming space.
Keep the environment clean and friendly.
Sell the GW stock at 10% off.

Should work just fine.

My urban area has about five stores that sell GW products with many of them selling at 10-19% off. A GW opened up about a year ago in the center of it. It's a rather small shop staffed by an individual that creeped me out when I first walked in; it's also difficult to find unless you're specifically looking for it. From my regular gaming groups, nobody really goes there, but they get the occasional traffic. Just about every GW-stocking store in the area has been largely unaffected.

nanook wrote:
It is odd the difference between the US and UK gaming places. It sounds like in the US you all go to a FLGS to play whereas in the UK we tend to all go to clubs.

I wonder why we do it this way?

all the us FLGS I saw over there were big affairs with plenty of gaming room.. over here they're usually stuffed in a corner somewhere.

GW will likely not want any of the regulars at your FLGS to come into their stores, so I doubt it.

SeanDrake wrote:
Past history suggests that once the GW store is open your FLGS will encounter issues with new release stock being delayed due to technical issues along side an increased number of problems ordering normal stock and it being delivered again due to technical issues or being out of stock, however shock horror the GW store will have no such issues an be able to provide the new release stock.

But overall to yourselves as customers I doubt you will notice much change unless/until your FLGS tells GW to stick there account due to the runaround there going to get.

This is what happens when a stockist goes out of buisiness and GW holds some right to prevent another stockist from selling within the same town/city for whatever reasoning. the new stockist isn't getting sales because no one really knows they sell GW stuff, that and they being just starting out buying are finding it generally isn't worth buying and selling at a loss product, therefore effectively the hobby is killed off. (no clubs/flgs/interest has moved on within the community, read as prefer MTG, FLGS doesn't stock enough = no one orders = no new stock and i as one person cannot support my FLGS as a one man buying product. it serves no purpose to sell GW materials = hobby dies off, well atleast for me, and those who do like to play but are too busy with RL. not complaining just pointing out facts as i know them)

Note: Online website is an option to buy but it isn't a place to game nor find gamers willing to game. the GW community side of things appears nonexistant on their website, and offline. however that said there always is just the hobby side ie converting painting etc.

 Orkimedes1000 wrote:

SeanDrake wrote:
Past history suggests that once the GW store is open your FLGS will encounter issues with new release stock being delayed due to technical issues along side an increased number of problems ordering normal stock and it being delivered again due to technical issues or being out of stock, however shock horror the GW store will have no such issues an be able to provide the new release stock.

But overall to yourselves as customers I doubt you will notice much change unless/until your FLGS tells GW to stick there account due to the runaround there going to get.

This is what happens when a stockist goes out of buisiness and GW holds some right to prevent another stockist from selling within the same town/city for whatever reasoning. the new stockist isn't getting sales because no one really knows they sell GW stuff, that and they being just starting out buying are finding it generally isn't worth buying and selling at a loss product, therefore effectively the hobby is killed off. (no clubs/flgs/interest has moved on within the community, read as prefer MTG, FLGS doesn't stock enough = no one orders = no new stock and i as one person cannot support my FLGS as a one man buying product. it serves no purpose to sell GW materials = hobby dies off, well atleast for me, and those who do like to play but are too busy with RL. not complaining just pointing out facts as i know them)

Note: Online website is an option to buy but it isn't a place to game nor find gamers willing to game. the GW community side of things appears nonexistant on their website, and offline. however that said there always is just the hobby side ie converting painting etc.

Must be a non-US thing. Here in the states in the area's I've been in only stores that refuse to adapt get hurt. Basically what Mikhaila covered earlier. Good FLGS's don't have a single issue with a 1-man store opening near them. Poorly run or stores that's management looses their minds tend to have issues.

And none of the FLGS owners I know (some in business with GW for 15-20 years) have ever had an issue that wasn't bog standard when dealing with other businesses. At least from what they've said.