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Recently I have been buying all my GW products from my FLGS and recently a question popped in my brain,

should I feel guilty for buying GW products from my FLGS and then using my local GW store tables to play 40k?

Should I only go to one store and buy and game there only?

No. Not in the slightest. You owe GW no favours, nor they you.

But let me ask this: Why don't you play at your FLGS?

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
No. Not in the slightest. You owe GW no favours, nor they you.

But let me ask this: Why don't you play at your FLGS?

They could just be a store and have no gaming space. That's just a guess though.

 motyak wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
No. Not in the slightest. You owe GW no favours, nor they you.

But let me ask this: Why don't you play at your FLGS?

They could just be a store and have no gaming space. That's just a guess though.

They have gaming space but at my store there is no reliable crowd of 40k gamer. I never know when I will be able to get a game.

Corporate stores will come and go. Do you feel guilty walking into Target wearing stuff you purchased from WalMart?

However, an FLGS is a boon for the community as a whole.

well, the way GW is going, make the most getting your plasstic crack from indie stores while you can, as i wouldnt be surprised if gw completely stop selling to indie stores and traders with the next few years

 fynn wrote:
well, the way GW is going, make the most getting your plasstic crack from indie stores while you can, as i wouldnt be surprised if gw completely stop selling to indie stores and traders with the next few years

Indie applies to games industry and a particular vomit enduring sub culture, everything else is "independent"

Customers do not owe anything to a particular store of company, even when you buy GW or any product from somewhere they still get more than enough money to make a profit off it alone, the tables GW provide are there to help them make money as well, without them people might not have a place to play warhammer or 40k and if they can't play the game they won't buy the product, unless they are someone who enjoys only building and painting, but this is still less than if they cater to people who want to play as well.

the only thing you owe any company is the money for any goods you choose to pick up off the shelf and walk out the door with, and all they owe you are that the product is satisfactory as well as sticking to country/state laws for consumer protection.

Ordinarily I would suggest the pay where you play mantra.

So buying in one FLGS to play in another FLGS would not be that cool, as I think it is important to support the place which fosters the community you enjoy.

That said GW want regular and vet players to move on from their stores to clubs and other locations where the hardcore of the gaming community will be focussed, so I am less concerned about it where they are concerned.

Though a GW store has to meet sales targets and if that is the focus of your community and you are using space there don't be surprised if you get moved on and definitely don't complain if it gets closed down.

TLDR: There is a balance to be struck.

I ask because I am worried that my local GW will check thier records and see I did not buy any of my new eldar stuff from any gw store. After finding out ban me from the store.

My local GW manager has a history of threatening to kick me out of the store if I do not buy anything or game.

They wont do that mate. Mostly because they won't care but also who has the time for BS like that?

No one - certainly not the manager of some one man GW store anyway!

Even if we were talking about the biggest jobsworth TFG manager they'll only know if you are standing in his store spouting about "how you can get it for 20% discount at XXXX". I'm sure you don't do that do you?

 MRPYM wrote:
My local GW manager has a history of threatening to kick me out of the store if I do not buy anything or game.

And that is exactly why you shouldn't be buying from GW direct.

 notprop wrote:
They wont do that mate. Mostly because they won't care but also who has the time for BS like that?

No one - certainly not the manager of some one man GW store anyway!

Even if we were talking about the biggest jobsworth TFG manager they'll only know if you are standing in his store spouting about "how you can get it for 20% discount at XXXX". I'm sure you don't do that do you?

I do not.

 fynn wrote:
well, the way GW is going, make the most getting your plasstic crack from indie stores while you can, as i wouldnt be surprised if gw completely stop selling to indie stores and traders with the next few years

this. they will switch over to direct only and the gak will hit the fan.

GW make money where ever you buy there products. (well apart from second hand) I feel more guilty if a buy online from a large company like Wayland, rather than supporting my Local hobby store.

 jonolikespie wrote:

 MRPYM wrote:
My local GW manager has a history of threatening to kick me out of the store if I do not buy anything or game.

And that is exactly why you shouldn't be buying from GW direct.

People can get fired for things like that.
Unless you mean that thing stores managers are told to do the; "If you aren't doing anything at all, please leave, you're taking up space for people who can actually be doing something"

Uh? it's about GW not their store, you have GW products, if you bought it at their store or FLGS, shouldn't matter, to ease your conscious buy a pot of paint there once in a while.

 MRPYM wrote:
I ask because I am worried that my local GW will check thier records and see I did not buy any of my new eldar stuff from any gw store. After finding out ban me from the store.

My local GW manager has a history of threatening to kick me out of the store if I do not buy anything or game.

I am more inclined to understand this part, if you are getting in the way and doing absolutely nothing, especially if it is busy, I can see you being asked politely to leave but not threatening to be kicked out of "HIS" store if the guy is a bad manager complain about him to customer support or something, They also can't check to see if you bought a product direct from them, odds are most managers do not care, unless you boast about spending less to other customers, they make enough cash off selling to an independent retailer already.

On the hand of supporting LGS I think that if you go into a small LGS you should pick something up to help keep the guy/gal in business especially if the tables are free. That being said, if a LGS is a bad one but the only place to play, you should try setting up a local club in a local venue, some can be very affordable if you explain you don't do it for profit and explain how it could help the community.

You shouldn't feel guilty. By showing up and playing there you are contributing to the community of players, which means more people in the store, which means more potential sales. Whether or not the manager realizes it, you are helping them.

The problem is that GW has pretty hard to meet sales targets for their store managers where they have to grow the sales year over year. This is 100% not your problem.

If the LGS has tables, even if they don't have regular 40k days, I'd try to get something started there. Find out which day the tables are free and schedule something there with one of your gaming buddies.

You should probably start exchanging contact information in some way because if the only 40k community is at a GW store, it's within the manager's job description to decide to no longer allow any gaming other than scheduled events and demos. So you could lose your place to play at a moement's notice and it'll be a lot harder to get people's contact info after you are no longer seeing them regularly.

Pay where you play.
It doesn't matter if its a GW or a FLGS, if you want your gaming space to remain open, spend your cash there.
If you don't, don't complain when it shuts.

 MRPYM wrote:
Recently I have been buying all my GW products from my FLGS and recently a question popped in my brain,

should I feel guilty for buying GW products from my FLGS and then using my local GW store tables to play 40k?

Should I only go to one store and buy and game there only?

No, by no means should you feel quilty!

Where I live we have made clubs that are not part of stores, to keep this kind of trouble at a distance. If you can spare some money buying another place, do it! GWs prices are a scandal already!

Depending on where you live, The leave if not buy message, is proberly illegel.
If you are treated with such a message, you own the local shop nothing!

I would be surprised if there is anywhere on this planet where a shop can not refuse you sale or entry if they so choose - with no explanation.

But then that's irrelevant as the OP isn't going be advertising the fact of the models lineage or rubbing the manager up the wrong way. So none of the issues raised in this thread will actually materialise anyway.

Don't feel guilty and if he gives you a hard time just say you got them from GW online.

When I ran a store we used to have a FLGS that undercut us considerably, it used to wind me up and I even asked Head Office if we could at least price match as it kind of hurts people coming in to learn a game from us then buying it elsewhere. Their response was it's still sold by us and it didn't matter it was indirectly.

Eh, I think Pay Where You Play applies to GW stores as well as any other game store. As such I tend to buy my GW product from the store near me (although I haven't really bought much GW this year except for panic buying Specialist Games stuff, which is direct only.) I like the shop and I'd like it to stick around, so I'll spend money there... same exact reasoning behind why I paid full retail at the independent shop for some Mantic stuff instead of getting it from an online discounter. I wouldn't feel guilty about playing at these stores with miniatures I bought elsewhere (and in fact I do so without feeling guilty,) but I do at least make a point to make *some* purchases from where I play.

GW stores *are* somewhat different beasts since HQ could decide to keep an unprofitable store if they think they're getting some other benefit from it, or close a profitable store for some other reason, whereas an unprofitable independent store is unlikely to survive.

I take my Kroger Shopping bags with me when I shop at HEB.

If you purchase from a FLGS, GW has made money from you, having sold the product to the FLGS through a distributor or directly.

Calm your fears and your guilt, support your FLGS.

Pay where you play. All these comparisons to other retailers don't wash as you don't consume an unpaid service from walmart or a grocery store.

You want to play for free on tables someone else pays rent on? then you support his establishment, even if it is great big evil GW.

Pay where you play. Why don't you attempt to organize play at your FLGS? If the GW manager throws you out, that is your problem, asking a loitering non-customer to leave is perfectly reasonable.

 jonolikespie wrote:

 MRPYM wrote:
My local GW manager has a history of threatening to kick me out of the store if I do not buy anything or game.

And that is exactly why you shouldn't be buying from GW direct.

That sounds more like the Manager doesnt want people loitering in the store, as for where you should buy your product from, I still have a hard time understanding why people buy things directly from GW. I throw some of my purchases to my FLGS just to support them but the bulk of my GW purchases come from online discounters like the warstore.

 ironicsilence wrote:
I throw some of my purchases to my FLGS just to support them but the bulk of my GW purchases come from online discounters like the warstore.

Do you do a bulk of your playing on the internet at the online discounters or in your home?

If you expect to spend hours playing on someone's tables in a FLGS, but then not buy anything from them, how do you expect them to pay the rent on the space you use without you being a customer? "Oh I bought a snickers bar once, that covers the 40 hours I played there this month" doesn't usually mesh.

Of course not. Given their prices, they already included a "gaming fee" in their products.

You might consider actively recruiting the people you play with at the GW store to come play at the FLGS that has a spotty community.

Just sayin'.

Also, you playing at the GW store provides a useful service to GW in that it creates community, and therefore demand for their game, at that store (and in general).