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My local FLGS is closing. I cannnot believe this, theyve been open for less than a year. Where am i to go now?

Form a club with others or join an existing one since they may have a venue for you guys to go to still. There could also be another, but they're probably sparse over there.

Somewhere...... Else perhaps?
Why are they closing though?

Theyve gone under. Its really pissy because now all we have is a GW, and if anyone ever been into Preston GW they will know why this is bad. The gaming club is still going though, but i wont be able to get all the no GW figures i wanted.

Ah, it happens, shame, perhaps you could try all the usual online stores for any GW stuff you want? Though I bet waiting for shipping is a bummer (having never shopped online before).

What makes this GW store so bad if I may ask?

P.S. Off topic I know, but am I the only Aussie here annoyed that half our places here share a name with some place in England?

Seems to be a common thing among English colonies. For example they have a Liverpool, we have a Liverpool and Canada has a Liverpool. Street names also seem recycled quite a lot.

Guess too many people ordered online to save some money.

what was the name of the store master of ordinance?

Very difficult for anything other than massive chain stores to survive in the current economic climate, and the fact that the government and local councils has done nothing to help give the high street shop a chance to fight against the internet.

Sad news though in any case.

And being open for less than a year might be an indicator that they were under capitalized from day one. The early years of retail can be really tough to weather until a sufficient regular customer base is built up.

 master of ordinance wrote:
My local FLGS is closing. I cannnot believe this, theyve been open for less than a year. Where am i to go now?

To bad to hear about your store man, there may be others closer by than you think check out dakkas store finder. http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/store_finder.jsp

Also what non-GW stuff did you buy, there are a lot of good online stores in the UK that sell non-gw stuff as well, like Gifts for Geeks.

Also what is happening with the stores stock, maybe you can get yourself some cheap clearance bargains?

 frozenwastes wrote:
And being open for less than a year might be an indicator that they were under capitalized from day one. The early years of retail can be really tough to weather until a sufficient regular customer base is built up.

I agree with this statement. Sad to see another brick and mortor close though.

Is the UK really that spread out that another store is further than 30 minutes away? There was a time when my closest store here in CA was 50 miles from me.

Still, always sad to see stores close down.

 Krellnus wrote:


P.S. Off topic I know, but am I the only Aussie here annoyed that half our places here share a name with some place in England?

Given that we were settled by the English (and Scots, and Welsh and so on), that explains the reason for place names being what they are.
I live in Newcastle, for example. I'm NOT a geordie, though.
We do have a lot of places named after Scottish places, too (Scone, Lochinvar, etc) because the Hunter was settled by many Scots (free settlers). It's also why we have the highest proportion of redheads in the country.

We also have places with completely made-up names - that due to the way they sound, people thought were 'indigenous' place names and were thus thought to be unable to be changed (because it would insult the memory of those who were here before us). This has since been revealed to be not so.
"Wattanobbi" being the funniest. The surveyor who first found the place described it as "what a knobby place." due to the abundance of hills.

 chromedog wrote:

 Krellnus wrote:


P.S. Off topic I know, but am I the only Aussie here annoyed that half our places here share a name with some place in England?

Given that we were settled by the English (and Scots, and Welsh and so on), that explains the reason for place names being what they are.
I live in Newcastle, for example. I'm NOT a geordie, though.
We do have a lot of places named after Scottish places, too (Scone, Lochinvar, etc) because the Hunter was settled by many Scots (free settlers). It's also why we have the highest proportion of redheads in the country.

We also have places with completely made-up names - that due to the way they sound, people thought were 'indigenous' place names and were thus thought to be unable to be changed (because it would insult the memory of those who were here before us). This has since been revealed to be not so.
"Wattanobbi" being the funniest. The surveyor who first found the place described it as "what a knobby place." due to the abundance of hills.

I know why they are named after English (and Scottish, Irish and so on) places, its just seems lazy, like the people who had the job of sitting down and naming everything gave up half-way through, pulled out a map of the United Kingdom and copied what they saw.

So pretty much everytime I see the names of place I recognise as 'Australian' I have to double check that they aren't talking about a place somewhere else in the Commonwealth.

Still perhaps we should curtail this Off-Topicness.

The problem as I see it is that people want a FLGS, but also spend most of their cash on online deep discounters.

If you want to keep a games store open, you need to spend all your gaming cash there, not just the odds and ends.
Gamers want the big discounts that a FLGS simply can't compete on.

I've seen it before. It'll happen again.

The main reason our FLGS stay open is because they sell cards.

Miniatures games can't (unless you really know what you are doing) keep you afloat. The cards are their bread and butter, which allows them to do other stuff.

Wargames stores need a 2nd income.
It's usually MtG or Yugioh, but some near me are toy shops or model shops.
A pity yours folded, though.

As for names, Newcastle will be named after their new castle was built.
York is a modern name for Jorvick, but New York had little to do with Vikings.
Yarmouth is at the mouth of the river Yar, but I'm sure there's one of these around the Colonies.

Likewise with scottish place names. Anything beginning with Inver or Aber is celt for confluence or mouth of a water system - Aberdeen is the mouth of both the Don and the Dee etc.

I think there are about 11 other aberdeens around the world though!

Set up a club or even another FLGS. Preston's a city at least, so I imagine there'll be a fair few places that you can hire for a gaming night for a few hours once or twice a week.

You could even try and get another FLGS going, maybe learning from any mistakes the old one made. Did it not advertise enough, perhaps? Was it too close to the GW, so GW stole a lot of the customers? Was it in a place where it didn't get enough footfall, thereby losing out on customers? I don't think you can rely on your player base too much. Attracting in new players to play your games should also be a focus.

Good idea, open a FLGS on a whim in the same town were the last one closed down. This is great news!

In all seriousness clubs are the way to go. There is an abundance of cheap recreation space in the UK and will probably have a bar. Win double.

 marv335 wrote:
The problem as I see it is that people want a FLGS, but also spend most of their cash on online deep discounters.

If you want to keep a games store open, you need to spend all your gaming cash there, not just the odds and ends.
Gamers want the big discounts that a FLGS simply can't compete on.

I've seen it before. It'll happen again.

Indeed. That said... I've seen a few game stores that shot themselves in the foot as well but catering to the whims/interests of the owner instead of customers. There was a large and well stocked historical minis store within a few city blocks where I grew up. Unfortunately, they had no sign in the front and the building looked like a small office building for lawyers and dentists (despite the minis store OWNING the building and having it built for them) so that I had no clue they were a games store until 3-4 years after I got into the hobby. They never had any clue on the fantasy and scifi minis that I kept asking about and frankly didn't even have any interest in finding out. "Did the new D&D player's option book come out?" "Um.. no, not that I know of.." *goes back to reading his osprey book* They only got into 40k when the store was failing and bought a huge line of 2nd edition 40k minis and books.... two months before 3rd edition came out. I'm sure the owner's purchase of multiple suits of full plate armor to decorate the store was a much better investment than carrying lines of fantasy and scifi gaming books/minis/whatever. Online discounters and customers who shop them but frequent the games store to play are a big part of the problem but seldom the only part.

 notprop wrote:


Good idea, open a FLGS on a whim in the same town were the last one closed down. This is great news!

Such a reaction would be justified if you were to open a FLGS in the exact same location, using the exact same marketing strategies. However, I did say in my post that, if you were to change some of these aspects, the FLGS might have more success. Is there a spot you can open with higher footfall, perhaps further away from the GW? Is there anything that the old FLGS didn't do that you could improve on? Perhaps there weren't enough events? Perhaps they didn't offer good enough intros to the games? The list could go on.

If the OP's so concerned about the lack of a decent gaming store in his city, trying any of the above would be a good move. Certainly better than talking about it to people on the internet, people who probably haven't ever visited the city, much less have spent time living in it.

Worthy Gaming was a interesting idea to combine his painting service and a retail store. I am thinking the rent on that building was a bit too much and the retail side was not as profitable as hoped for. It does not help that trying to direct high quality painters to complete projects in a timely manner is a pain in the arse. Nick is a good guy with a nice painting business who made a mistake by opening up a retail store.

Where exactly are you in the UK? in the south east we have 5 gaming conventions a year where i can source new/used GW products, so i definately recommend getting from any convetions if you go to them. As well as that wargames emporium are a good company to source from, they go to conventions so you can be confindent that they wont rip you off

 chromedog wrote:
The main reason our FLGS stay open is because they sell cards.

Miniatures games can't (unless you really know what you are doing) keep you afloat. The cards are their bread and butter, which allows them to do other stuff.

QFT. Most FLGS stores don't even bother with much else. However, they are quick to offer special ordering, but I can do that myself faster online.

 Skinnereal wrote:
York is a modern name for Jorvick, but New York had little to do with Vikings.

New York was (re)named that as a compliment to the Duke of York.

As for the original topic, most new businesses fail, regardless of industry. Running a business is difficult.

A small business owner has to work long hours, tirelessly promote the business, conserve money where they can, invest large sums of cash in stock and marketing to attract customers (less marketing, more stock, usually, for a gaming store), and have enough cash to start with (and usually a spouse making enough money to pay for food and other basic needs) that they can afford to work for at least a year or two with NO profit. It often takes 2+ years to even get out of the red and start making a bit of money.

When you add all those factors up, it’s no shock at all that a minority of small businesses survive past the first year or so. It’s particularly endemic with gaming and comic stores, where many folks get into it because they don’t WANT to work a “real job”, and have this idyllic view of supporting themselves by working in what’s basically a clubhouse where they hang out all day instead of busting their butt. But to actually make a gaming store profitable often requires 80+ hour work weeks, working hard. And if you don’t have retail management experience, you may not have the sales and management skills needed in the first place, even if you are willing to work hard.

The guys who produce the Dork Tower comic strip made an awesome poster/comic strip showing what the life of a game store owner is like.m One of my FLGSs has it posted on the inside of their bathroom door.

http://warehouse23.com/item.html?id=DSP901

 chromedog wrote:

 Krellnus wrote:


P.S. Off topic I know, but am I the only Aussie here annoyed that half our places here share a name with some place in England?

Given that we were settled by the English (and Scots, and Welsh and so on), that explains the reason for place names being what they are.
I live in Newcastle, for example. I'm NOT a geordie, though.
We do have a lot of places named after Scottish places, too (Scone, Lochinvar, etc) because the Hunter was settled by many Scots (free settlers). It's also why we have the highest proportion of redheads in the country.

We also have places with completely made-up names - that due to the way they sound, people thought were 'indigenous' place names and were thus thought to be unable to be changed (because it would insult the memory of those who were here before us). This has since been revealed to be not so.
"Wattanobbi" being the funniest. The surveyor who first found the place described it as "what a knobby place." due to the abundance of hills.

Totally OT but the best place name in Australia is Spankers Knob

 Aerethan wrote:
Is the UK really that spread out that another store is further than 30 minutes away? There was a time when my closest store here in CA was 50 miles from me.

Still, always sad to see stores close down.

The LGS nearest to me is about 45 minutes away.

 Mad4Minis wrote:

 Aerethan wrote:
Is the UK really that spread out that another store is further than 30 minutes away? There was a time when my closest store here in CA was 50 miles from me.

Still, always sad to see stores close down.

The LGS nearest to me is about 45 minutes away.

You're in the US though.

There generally are not posts here on Dakka about how widespread the distance between shops in the UK are, which is what Aerethan is likely referring to.

For myself, here in Raleigh?
There's a GW shop ten minutes from where I live. It's at a really nice shopping center and is convenient to access.
For anything NOT a GW store?
I have to choose between multiple shops spread all to hell and back. The 'best' is Atomic Empire Games which is in Durham and in a really inconvenient spot for me, which is good(limits my spending on Infinity!) and bad (pretty much kills any desire to go there to play Infinity for pick up games).

 Aerethan wrote:
Is the UK really that spread out that another store is further than 30 minutes away? There was a time when my closest store here in CA was 50 miles from me.

Still, always sad to see stores close down.

Away from the Cities and South East of England yes it can be a trek to get to a FLGS, though not in any way similar to the US (your always within 90 miles of the sea here ).

But because of the cost of travel and congestion people are not want to travel over an hour (30 miles) except for special reasons. Travelling 50 miles seems to me a long way for some miniatures for example. Limited and expensive public transport can also make even small distances difficult in rural areas particularly for Young'uns.

That said where I live in Essex (basically the suburban sprawl from London to the East) I have about 5-6 independent games stores (inc. Wayland) and 4 GWs within about 30-40 minutes drive; and that's without entering London proper where there are circa 10 more GWs spread across Greater London. So a real mixed bagged really.

The UK is big, just not US/Austrailia BIG!