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"Better deliver on great customer service" by reducing shop size and opening hours. This is great news!

After doubling prices, less and less people start the hobby. Can't be advertising (we do none). Must be the stores!

I guess people will now just have to play at Games and Gizmos, Card Kingdom, Game On, Game Matrix, or that one place in Ballard I went to once and can't remember the name of.

Oh, and there's probably places in Auburn and Federal Way I'm forgetting as well.

This is great news!

I mean you aren't really supposed to play games with GW figures. You are just supposed to keep buying all the new and awesome releases and put them on a shelf. I mean you are never
going to get around to painting all that stuff anyway.

-typed while pooping

 SickSix wrote:


...snip...

-typed while pooping

Dear lord! Don't strain yourself

 DA's Forever wrote:
I'd always wanted to go to the bunker. Had never gotten around to it though. Dammit GW

 Civik wrote:
It's sad but not unexpected, I can't remember the last time I had seen many people in there if it wasn't a tourney. But I also can't remember the last time I was in there.

 AT wrote:
Wow, I haven't been in there in years!

Dunno... seems kinda evident why they close it just from this thread

Those hours are pretty strange. Friday from 1-8? That seems to successfully stop any mid-shifts from coming in to game--as well as the day shift/after work crew. Saturday closing at 8--Sunday at 6?

I'm assuming this is because they insist on having one person run the store--as that puts him at 37 hours--which allows 3 hours a week for other managerial duties. I'm guessing the schedule is probably pretty easy for the manager to do


Unless of course, he gets ill or wants to take this family on a vacation---then do they ship relief managers in?

 SickSix wrote:
This is great news!

I mean you aren't really supposed to play games with GW figures. You are just supposed to keep buying all the new and awesome releases and put them on a shelf. I mean you are never
going to get around to painting all that stuff anyway.

-typed while pooping

GW has always said 2/3rds of their customers never play the game and only buy the models for collecting or display.

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
Hate to burst everyone's GW hate bubble, but corporate stores are doing this all over the place. I work at Target and their new company concept is to use far fewer staff to cover the same number of positions for the same pay. I am often assigned to at least one extra department a night, saving the store 6 hours of labor. We are always short on cashiers, so that salesfloor people have to sprint to ring up customers. All of this added stress on the employees is to protect overhead and ultimately pay off the stockholders.

The sky is not falling and we are not victims. It is the new corporate concept.

This is not about having fewer people do the same amount of work that more people used to do. GW is reducing the size of the store, and reducing the store hours. One man stores suck for customers and staff alike. For the customer, the store closes for breaks, is not open seven days a week, and opens late and closes early. For the staff, they cannot even go to the bathroom without locking up the store, and do not have time to devote to run events.

Companies that are failing are downsizing or closing stores. Companies that are succeeding are opening or expanding stores. One local Apple store has recently expanded, and Tesla are opening stores.

As a regular customer at the Seattle (Factoria really) Battle Bunker, it's had plenty of people there on Saturdays at least, probably had 3-4 people ready to play a game of 40K at any given time on Saturdays with another 6-10 people hobbying or playing Fantasy. The final tournament this last Saturday at 1850 points had about 20 people attending.

The frame shop next door to it was acquired by the bunker several years ago and remade into space for another 10ish tables because the 6 or so they originally had weren't even enough for all the people that started showing up for tournaments.

There's probably at least a half-dozen or so regulars that show up almost every Saturday like clockwork to get in a few games of 40K, now that's been thrown out the window and is likely to kill any further purchases from veteran players because why pay full price when you have no incentive to even drive down there?

It's a sad state of affairs as there are so many GWs in western Washington that FLGS are few and far between comparatively.

The battle bunker may not have seen sales any better than a one man store for that population base to "justify" it's existence with their new store model.

I got into GW stuff because it was so universal: you could find opponents and a place to play pretty much anywhere.

That is how I was able to justify spending the money to "support" the infrastructure so do not have to depend on my friend's availability as my only means to get a game in.

This is in my opinion their sole means of differentiating themselves from other game companies. Despite their claims of creating the "best models in the world" I think that can be refuted now.

It is like they are going in reverse: our society has gone more service based away from commodity.

They have removed themselves from being relevant and I see my collection being a part of a dusty old game system no-one will remember in 15 years time.

 Aerethan wrote:
Give it 6 months and those hours will get cut down to 12-6pm as well.

GW wants nothing to do with local support of customers anymore. They want your money, then they want you the hell out.

The only reason I shop at the GW store in Kent, WA is to support the place that my sons and I play at. They've gone down to a 1 person store as well, but they still have 5 gaming tables and a decent community of regular players. If I have nowhere to just stop by and get a game after work, I'll be buying online only from discount stores, if at all.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Breotan wrote:

 Civik wrote:
But the party supply store nextdoor also shuttered recently making me wonder if they are upping rents for businesses in the building, or if it's just time to sign a new lease.

The frame shop also closed up but that was because the people retired or something. No, rent isn't really the issue. GW is "right-sizing" the Bunker because they don't want Bunkers anymore. This will also happen in Chicago, if it hasn't already. Don't know what the plan is for Memphis.

The last time I was in the bunker on a non-tournament day, there was one other person besides staff in there. So I can sort of understand why they're doing this, but I'm sad that the monthly tournaments are going away. I really enjoyed those.

Personally, I'm sad to see another Battle Bunker close, because it's a loss of focus from the hobby and my .02 is that if the store focuses on the hobby, than the sales will follow. When you have 1-man to run a store that is supposed to answer game questions, answer sales questions, run the register, and maintain order in the store, then you have a recipe for disaster.

Again in my opinion, GW's price point into the hobby for Warhammer Fantasy and 40k is a very hard sell. They don't advertise outside of their own web page, Facebook, and what email traffic they send out. So, unless you have an outlet for people to see what is possible to do with that army after you've built and painted it, I don't see many of these hobby centers lasting very long... There's just too much for the sales clerk to keep track of and without anyone else working the stores, it becomes a game of which will happen first: Either the store clerk will get burned out and leave or the store will close due to lack of sales and support.

This is really where the independent retailers/mom and pop stores can shine. An independent store with tables, terrain, and staffed properly running demos, leagues, tournaments, campaigns, and events can really set the example of what GW should look at. IMO, Games Workshop doesn't need Battle Bunker sized stores, but a store with a bit more space to have 4 tables in it and at least 1 additional employee I think would pay off huge in sales figures. Granted, I don't have any actual financial figures to hold up. However, I worked at one of the most successful independent game store in Southern California for 5 years and I saw first hand just what hosting leagues, campaigns, and tournaments did in terms of sales.... If you build it and promote the hobby, they will come.

gw has edged me out with their price increases. I'm just not willing to pay their prices. I've wanted daemon engines for my csm but I will not pay retail or even discounted retail prices. I can't buy anything without feeling ripped off. Close all the stores for all I care. Gaming at home is my preference anyway. Nice to see all the Seattle gamers shout out, tho.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Seaward wrote:
This is off topic, but where did the, "This is great news!" meme come from?

One of the GW stores put up a facebook post about how it was "great news" that they were ending in-store gaming except for newbie intro games.

Well if it gets non-buying mooches who squat on the gaming tables out, and teens with fistfulls of cash to buy new stuff in, then it is "great news" for them. It has yet to be seen if that "reality" is actually playing out and if ending open gaming and removing bunker space increases revenues or not at the location.

The argument that stores need to provide expensive gaming space as a loss leader expense to promote sales may not match reality... or it may be absolutley true. no one really knows. But GW has its big boy pants on, I don't need to worry about them and if their business decisions are sound or not. my GWs seem to be doing ok and treat me well and provide services I need for now, so I buy stuff from them sometimes.

This is sad for a whole number of reasons.

This battle bunker was my FLGS. The next closest game store that I'm aware of is an Uncle Game's in Crossroads and that's not really for wargaming.

I can remember, quite vividly, walking into the Battle Bunker either nine of ten years ago, the walls full of blister packs, with a buy two get one free sale. The Steel Legionnaires I picked up that day are still in my army box. Back then, it was just the entry foyer, the gateway, and then the gaming area in the back with five-six tables and the bathroom.

I gradually stopped visiting the place after I went to college and gamed there, but it was only a few months ago that I started going to the battle bunker again. And it looked amazing, because in those years I hadn't been there, they had expanded into the framing shop next door, and there were loads of tables. And I was eager to get back into the hobby.

Ironically enough, I had just gone there Sunday, the day before the announcement, to pick up a battleforce for my brother who was interested in the hobby. I had justified buying direct from the store because hey, I wanted to support this local battle bunker of mine. (And I'm pretty sure they do brisk business given the lack of product on the shelves).

If they're obliterating the entire back room, that means there's only three tables in the entire store. I don't even know where I would go to play now. I might have to go up to Ballard to play, but I hear they're much bigger on PP than anything.

I mad.

 AgeOfEgos wrote:
Those hours are pretty strange. Friday from 1-8? That seems to successfully stop any mid-shifts from coming in to game--as well as the day shift/after work crew. Saturday closing at 8--Sunday at 6?

I'm assuming this is because they insist on having one person run the store--as that puts him at 37 hours--which allows 3 hours a week for other managerial duties. I'm guessing the schedule is probably pretty easy for the manager to do


Unless of course, he gets ill or wants to take this family on a vacation---then do they ship relief managers in?

When I worked there in 06-07 our hours were
Mondays: closed
Tues-Sat:12-9
Sunday: 12-6

Be mindful I had to be there by 11am to prep the store and generally left around 930pm. We had a 1 hour lunch break and that was it and if we were over our weekly time then our Regional MGR would fix the hours so we weren't. Like I said worst job I ever had was working at the Seattle Battle Bunker. OOOOH I forgot we were encouraged to play games with customers but we were forced to clock out to do so as the Regional didn't want us wasting the companies time (his words).

 undertow wrote:

 Aerethan wrote:
Give it 6 months and those hours will get cut down to 12-6pm as well.

GW wants nothing to do with local support of customers anymore. They want your money, then they want you the hell out.

The only reason I shop at the GW store in Kent, WA is to support the place that my sons and I play at. They've gone down to a 1 person store as well, but they still have 5 gaming tables and a decent community of regular players. If I have nowhere to just stop by and get a game after work, I'll be buying online only from discount stores, if at all.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Breotan wrote:

 Civik wrote:
But the party supply store nextdoor also shuttered recently making me wonder if they are upping rents for businesses in the building, or if it's just time to sign a new lease.

The frame shop also closed up but that was because the people retired or something. No, rent isn't really the issue. GW is "right-sizing" the Bunker because they don't want Bunkers anymore. This will also happen in Chicago, if it hasn't already. Don't know what the plan is for Memphis.

The last time I was in the bunker on a non-tournament day, there was one other person besides staff in there. So I can sort of understand why they're doing this, but I'm sad that the monthly tournaments are going away. I really enjoyed those.

I've been to the one in Kent while I was up that way for work. The GW there was very nice and the guy was extremely helpful in helping me plan out a purchase. Plan out. Not actually make a purchase. He gave me locations where I could find what I needed to get good, solid background info for my Crimson Fists. Very impressed with that store. And a guy there was making an awesome Daemon Prince conversion too.

 pretre wrote:

+++ +++ Incoming Transmission +++ +++

On Sunday, July 28th the Games Workshop Seattle Battle Bunker as you know it will be closing its doors in order to be re-envisioned and remodeled as a Games Workshop Hobby Center. This remodel will take place during the final week of July and doors will reopen on Saturday, August 3rd.

This new Games Workshop Hobby Center format will allow us to better deliver on great customer service to our wide range of customers who are working on their own collections of models. This change also allows us to better focus on recruiting new customers to our great hobby. You can be assured that you will still have access to the same, great range of Games Workshop product as before, with the ability to enjoy a friendly game and improve your hobby skills in a smaller environment.

We thank all of you for your patronage and participation in the activities and events that have been showcased at the Seattle Battle Bunker over the years. We would like to invite you to visit the new Hobby Center beginning on August 3rd.

To prepare for this transition we will begin a new set of store hours starting on Monday, July 8th. The schedule will be as follows:
Monday/Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday/Thursday/Friday: 1pm – 8pm
Saturday: 12pm – 8pm
Sunday: 12pm – 6pm

This is great news! Well, GW certainly knows how to spin a story....

 timetowaste85 wrote:
I've been to the one in Kent while I was up that way for work. The GW there was very nice and the guy was extremely helpful in helping me plan out a purchase. Plan out. Not actually make a purchase. He gave me locations where I could find what I needed to get good, solid background info for my Crimson Fists. Very impressed with that store. And a guy there was making an awesome Daemon Prince conversion too.

The Kent store has been good for us (me and my sons). I'll continue to play there for the foreseeable future.

Hospy wrote:
This is sad for a whole number of reasons.
If they're obliterating the entire back room, that means there's only three tables in the entire store. I don't even know where I would go to play now. I might have to go up to Ballard to play, but I hear they're much bigger on PP than anything.

Games & Gizmos in Redmond isn't much farther than Uncle's Games, they've got tables. You're right about Uncle's, generally only board games and card games going on there.

 Empchild wrote:

...and if we were over our weekly time then our Regional MGR would fix the hours so we weren't.

Wow, that is incredibly illegal. At least here. And I can't imagine it isn't almost everywhere in the US.

~Eric

 Taarnak wrote:

 Empchild wrote:

...and if we were over our weekly time then our Regional MGR would fix the hours so we weren't.

Wow, that is incredibly illegal. At least here. And I can't imagine it isn't almost everywhere in the US.

~Eric

It's illegal everywhere in the US. Doesn't stop lots of managers/owners from doing it. I used to work at a restaurant where we were ordered to come in 15 mins before our shift started, work the 15 mins, then clock in when the shift was supposed to start. It's illegal, but happens a lot. I quit after about two months of that crap, myself.

 AT wrote:

Hospy wrote:
This is sad for a whole number of reasons.
If they're obliterating the entire back room, that means there's only three tables in the entire store. I don't even know where I would go to play now. I might have to go up to Ballard to play, but I hear they're much bigger on PP than anything.

Games & Gizmos in Redmond isn't much farther than Uncle's Games, they've got tables. You're right about Uncle's, generally only board games and card games going on there.

Thanks for the reminder!

Forgot they were still around.

nkelsch wrote:


GW has always said 2/3rds of their customers never play the game and only buy the models for collecting or display.

That was sort of me, briefly. From the time I started playing D&D in 2001 and up until I started playing 40k in 2008, I have purchased a box of lizardmen (skinks?), Warriors of Chaos, skeletons, and LoTR Orcs, all for D&D, because I wanted a lot of "mob" monsters and "grunt" bad guys.

I had no intention of every playing fantasy or 40k or LoTR until my meddling friends got me into the HHHobby.

Anyway, back to the news: Sorry for Seattle players. That sucks.

Illegal yes it is...highly and I'm sure I could have filled a complaint with the govt and never had anything done about it. When GW asked me if I wanted to work at the corp office I laughed and said hell no. Question BTW is the Kent store run by Jared Ramm? Old friend and great guy is why I ask.

I haven't personally played at the Auburn GW store, but I heard good things about it from others, might be worth looking into. I'm a 'garage games' guy myself.

Operating a successful and independent hobby store might be one of the most difficult ventures out there. I played a ton of magic way back, and saw numerous shops all close for the same reasons. Lots of people hanging around, but when it came time to actually buy anything, it was off to the internet. Everybody was always friendly to the shop owner, but really never supported them in any meaningful fashion.

In retail, there are four main factors that determine whether or not you'll be successful. Rent, labor costs, sales and your margin on the sales.

If a slew of gaming tables actually created any measurable income, GW likely wouldn't be closing down the bunkers. The amount of dollars per square foot the smaller stores generate are probably far greater then a bunker store. We already know the labor costs become much smaller, the rent more affordable and the margins don't change at all. Risk of loss goes down, profits generally rise.

We don't have access to their books, but if it was your business, and your large stores were draining your bottom line, would you keep them open?

Auburn is awesome definitely go there or Olympic cars and comics. As for the business end when I was there our monthly goal was 20k in sales as it stood we only hit our goal 1 month out of 15 I knew of and that was the month I left. Sales overall were around the 16-18k mark nowiI don't Invision it getting much better since.

nkelsch wrote:

Well if it gets non-buying mooches who squat on the gaming tables out...

If you mean by "non-buying mooches" you mean, "the people who previously bought the product and now want to use it and get their money's worth", or "using the space as it was advertise as free" then you're being a jerk. However it's hard to tell from an internet post. The space is there to be used, so people who come in to form a community around the game shouldn't be looked down on for doing so. Community = more sales if you can form one at your business. I was a co-owner in a comic book store in CA for short period of time and we had small card tournaments and gaming nights. Sales around that time picked up every time. People recommended us to their friends because of it. I know from experience having open gaming spaces = more sales. Period.

I got to the SBB about once a week and make occasional purchases and play occasional games, and I see this as a mixed blessing. Bad because it's going to cut down on gaming opportunities. What I will not miss is all the moms treating it like an all day daycare, with kids running around screaming all the time. I won't miss that at all.

 Janthkin wrote:

 brassangel wrote:
The stores just don't bring people in like they used to, and several of their Sales and Marketing higher-ups have stated they want to move more of the gaming itself into the FLGS.

Of course, as they move more and more items to "direct only," they're trying to move as much of the purchasing out of the FLGS as they can.

Yep, they want stores like mine to do all the work, quite happy to see us adding more tables and hours. To reward us, they have taken away about 40% of the items we can carry.

Fething strange how my GW sales have gone down by over 40% when i have 40% less things to sell. I had to condense my GW wall down by about 20 feet. Gale Force 9 got more space, and we brought in a big chunk of Bolt Action miniatures from Warlord Games.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
In retail, there are four main factors that determine whether or not you'll be successful. Rent, labor costs, sales and your margin on the sales.

-Training and attitude of staff.
-The amount of work put into the store, especially by the owner.
-Events and Advertising. (For a gaming store, events are advertising.)
-Decor/ambiance, 'feel' of the store as customers percieve it.
-location, parking, etc
Many of those things can be lumped into "sales", but it's a mistake to not address them singly and try to maximize the effect they can have on sales, and the overall health of the business.

At this time, nearly every hobby game retailer in the US is working on increasing their Organized Play, and trying to get more space for it. OP is the driving force behind many successful games. You only have to look at MTG to see a hugely successful example. For two decades i followed GW's lead in running events, leagues, classes, and having a good number of gaming tables available with good scenery. It worked. Sales increased dramatically.

Having gaming space in a store attracts more gamers, for longer hours. This is a major form of advertising for the store. And the more hours a gamer is in the store, the more they buy. Organized Play programs are a huge thing now in the success of many hobby/game stores.

GW has forgotten what they used to teach. They ignore the things that seem like common sense to the retailers they try to sell to. They try to convince us that what worked now doesn't work. What made us money doesn't make us money anymore. What kept customers loyal isn't important. Because they have convinced themselves of it, they feel the need to convince independent stores.

It's really sad to see what the company is doing to itself, and dragging us down with them. Very happy I am expanding into other games and product lines. GW is less of my sales each year, and I'm still trying hard to turn that around. My biggest hurdle to sell more GW is....GW itself.