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So I had this experience at my local game shop and it really left a bad taste in my mouth. Was wondering if this is normal or not. So here goes.

I recently got into Warmachine (and table top gaming for that matter) a few weeks ago, I have a 25 pt Cygnar army (purchased at the store in question) and a 25 pt Skorne army (purchased at other stores). I went over to the shop with my friend to play a couple games on one of their tables. I know the owner (not like super well, but as well as your average friendly repeat customer). I have been stopping by the shop once or twice a week for the last month and a half or so (bought a few comics from there before getting into Warmachine).

Anyway, he knew I played Cygnar and saw me unpacking my new Skorne army. He quickly told me that I could not play that army on his table unless I paid 10 dollars for the day. Basically you are only allowed to play with pieces that were purchased at the store. I thought this was ridiculous. Between my Cygnar pieces, storage, and paints I have spent a little over 160 dollars in the store in just the last 3 weeks. No matter what pieces I am using, I feel that gives me the right to play there.

In his defense, after laying down the law he said I could play for free just for today. At this point I was so surprised and unwelcome that I packed up and left.

Sort of sucks cus the next closest game shop is about 40 mins away. I called them today though to ask what their policy on this was and they told me they don't care at all where I buy my pieces, I am always welcome to come use their tables. He asked what my name was and told me he hopes to see me soon. 40 minutes drive or not, he now has my business.

So anyway, I was wondering if this policy is common or not. Don't get me wrong, I understand it to a degree. You don't want people constantly using you're table if they aren't contributing to the shop, but at the same time I was obviously a returning customer and I was turned away. That does not make much sense. Just because I made purchases at other stores doesn't take away the money I've spent at his shop and doesn't mean that I wouldn't continue to spend money there. Instead of being rewarding for shopping at his store I am being punished for shopping at others as well, Thoughts?

First off welcome to Dakkadakka.

I have never seen a FLGS owner do that to a new player. I have seen them get angry (and rightfully so) when people hang out all day and bring new armies when they barely make purchase in said store. Or my personal pet peeve of walking over to a new player that has a box in his hand and telling him to buy it cheaper online.

Personally I would play at the other store. If they are more welcoming and seem friendlier why not. Just make sure to pre-arrange games cuz nothing is gonna make you madder than driving 40m and not getting a game in...

You realistically have no right to play at all at the guy's store, that is entirely up to him and he can make up his own rules since, again, it is his store. By the same token, you do not need to purchase anything from him either.

IMO, hes a dick and does not seem to have the skills needed to operate a store and people like that are exactly why retail stores all over the country lose business to online stores. This is the same reason why I rarely purchase anything from retail stores in my area...that and my nearest store charges so much money for items that I cannot afford to buy them.

Yeah, guy's a dick.

Tell him that you won't buy anything from him at all, and will ask everybody you know to do the same, if you can't use stuff that was purchased elsewhere.

Its to his advantage to have games there, even if models were purchased elsewhere. His loss if he drives people away.

I've heard this before, but it is decidely rare.

An unfortunate turn of events. Sometimes it truly is worth the extra drive to find a Friendly LGS.

If there is a person who does that and runs there store like that, then I say you have full right not to buy from him and tell others the same experience you have while trying to get to the other store. A policy like that is very rare from what I have seen, but it is very detrimental to a business.

Personally, also, I would try to give the other one a try and see if you like it, even though it is a good drive, it might be worth it in the long run.

I would think 2 x 40 minutes drive costs more than 10 USD, didn't check the gas prices.

Does pp allow shipping to your local flgs like gw does? if yes then get out a mobile device and order it all infront of him and have it shipped to his store. he will be forced to unpack all those sales he could have had

@Lathor: The drive probably comes out to about the same price, maybe even a little less (I drive a hybrid). But I think you are missing the point. It's not about saving a couple bucks, it is about not supporting a business whose practices I do not condone.

@hotsauceman1: Hah, I have no idea, but that's an amusing thought. Although, the very next day after this happened I drove up to the other game store I mentioned and spent around 50 dollars. 50 dollars I was planning on spending at my local shop until my altercation there.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Does pp allow shipping to your local flgs like gw does? if yes then get out a mobile device and order it all infront of him and have it shipped to his store. he will be forced to unpack all those sales he could have had

PP doesn't do direct sales like GW does. They only sell a few limited edition models and bits directly to the consumer.

At my store we certainly don't do that. We have one of the largest gaming spaces in New England and it's open 6 days a week to the public. We've even stopped running any event that we expect 100+ players at (MTG, PKMN, Kaijudo events) so our space is never inaccessible. I'm sorry to hear about your negative experience!

There was a store I played at that was thinking of a similar type of rule but they wanted to create an excusive club and use the money to pay for private gaming space, terrain, etc.

Frankly, the store owner can choose to run their store however they want and you can choose to play wherever you want.

My experience is that gaming stores welcome as many new customers as possible. If people play at your store it is often likely they will buy stuff. Usually because it is so convenient and some people feel obligated to buy stuff there.

Personally, I'd go to whichever place that was friendly and fun and allowed you and your friend to enjoy yourselves at.

However, what you can do is call the local place and not tell them who you are but just act like a new guy. Ask them if they have tables to play on, if the tables are free, etc. See what answer you get. It could be that the guy was just trying to joke around and be funny but failed miserably. There is a reason why gamers are often considered socially awkward. It is because quite a few of us are. But at least you should be able to confirm or deny the table fee.

Alternatively, play with your cygnar for the first time or two then start mixing it up once you get to know some of the people better. "friends" of the store can usually do whatever they like.

I can kind of understand owners mind set in that it would suck to have "freeloaders" hanging around the store, but the OP mentioned that he had spent a decent chunk of money in less than a month at the location.

I'm surprised you didn't confront the owner and remind him that you had spent a sizable chunk of money at his store and that maybe the shop would be more efficient if he spent less time monitoring people's armies.

I'd say split your time between the two shops (go to the place farther away if you have the time though).

No store owners likes when people hang around while buying stuff in other places. Those skorn models you bought somewhere else are his lose. Here everyone has to pay for using the tables and if the store owners notices that someone tries to play with an army , which was bought not at the store, they will be asked to stop .

Makumba wrote:
No store owners likes when people hang around while buying stuff in other places. Those skorn models you bought somewhere else are his lose. Here everyone has to pay for using the tables and if the store owners notices that someone tries to play with an army , which was bought not at the store, they will be asked to stop .

So according to this logic I have to start an entirely new army every time I start playing at a new shop?

that's insane!

While I do buy things online, they are usually the exception when I can't get them in a timely fashion from my LGS. I always make it a point to patronize the stores I game at, even if it's just a soda or 2. They know me there and know that I buy models there and have never had any problems.

A store really only have one or two reasons to have gaming tables and that is promotion of products they sell or to rent them out so to speak and there's very little money in that. Space costs money and every business must make each investment turn profit in some way.
If it's the best practice to run people off who make use of the available space like that, well that's anyone's guess. If you're offended by it, tell your friends about it, but try not to make it some sort of personal campaign to rob him of his business 'cause he's probably just trying to stay afloat.

Makumba: That's an odd logic, you pay for the privilege of playing and you're also expected to play only with stuff bought at the location. Well... not all too odd, but in my mind that store offers one service for the price of two.

Lathor: They're from 'murica, they've got dirt cheap gas over there

I've seen a store that has a small monthly membership to use the tables, but this just seemed dickish

Screw that noise. Guy wants to be rude to customers, and let's face, it was pretty rude, then he can shove it sideways.

Find another spot to play, or invest in a 30 dollar fold out table, and a 10 dollar OSB board from home depot. Hell, they'll even cut it for you into a 4x4 piece, and usually for free. Take them wherever you want and play away.

Nobody should have to deal with gaming store personnel like that. Instead of being pants on head idiots, they should just find a way to make money off people being there, like selling drinks or snacks or whatever.

As I said to you on reddit, if it really bugged you that much. Or if you see it happen a lot more and it happen to quite a few people. Tell privateer press.

That's an odd logic, you pay for the privilege of playing and you're also expected to play only with stuff bought at the location. Well... not all too odd, but in my mind that store offers one service for the price of two.

Well I doubt he checks , if this or that caster was bought at his store or not . But if someone else then him would turn up with a full convergance army he probably wouldn't let him play . Everyone knows everyone here , his is the only shop that runes WM in like 100km . He can do more or less anything he wants. That is why he doesn't like FW for w40k , doesn't let people play chaos dwarf armies or play games which his store doesn't run . At the same time the money people pay for tables let him make terrain and have 3 tables to play on and do events. Without the money and the customers people would have no place to play .

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Does pp allow shipping to your local flgs like gw does? if yes then get out a mobile device and order it all infront of him and have it shipped to his store. he will be forced to unpack all those sales he could have had

Ha a friend of mine did that at a Vegas gw when they wouldn't let him play with his forge world stuff.

i think he spent like 800 dollars through his Ipad.

Maybe talk to him about it- "I am either buying 60-40% of my wargaming money here or none at all! Do you want me to not play here?"

Makumba wrote:
No store owners likes when people hang around while buying stuff in other places. Those skorn models you bought somewhere else are his lose. Here everyone has to pay for using the tables and if the store owners notices that someone tries to play with an army , which was bought not at the store, they will be asked to stop .

I would be looking for a new game store immediately if that were to happen it my FLGS. That is just asinine.

I think the owner was being dense, and cannot fathom the fact that a good community of players will build up loyalty, and will want to spend money.

My FLGS has no such insane policy, but you know what... as a decent human being, I instituted my own. If I spend a few hours or a day of gaming at the place, I will ALWAYS spend at least $10 to show my appreciation. The result is, they make a sale, and I, in reality only "lose" the difference in their price versus the inevitable savings from buying online.

If my current FLGS owner said something like this, I'd be unable to play the 2 games I support at his store since I got all of my stuff before I moved into this area, or I was given the materials by the company.

I'd tell him that you are going to choose to support a place that lets you play with your toy models regardless of where you got them from.

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
My FLGS has no such insane policy, but you know what... as a decent human being, I instituted my own. If I spend a few hours or a day of gaming at the place, I will ALWAYS spend at least $10 to show my appreciation. The result is, they make a sale, and I, in reality only "lose" the difference in their price versus the inevitable savings from buying online.

This is what store owners should be trying to attain, loyalty from customers because the customers WANT to be loyal, not because they are forced. Forcing customers to purchase at your store only creates a mask of loyalty that the store owner will lose in a heartbeat as soon as another option becomes available, that is what drives consumers to purchase from online stores and causes retail stores to keep losing business.

Heh, the FLGS i play at has stopped selling wargame miniatures because there's too low profit in it since "all the veterans have the models they need and only like to complain about the new stuff".
It supports itself with board games, computer café, magic & pokémon as well as the fact that they've got a huge basement that nets them a large gaming community - which in turn means that they can apply for extra funds from the government for youth activity. (They're able to support themselves without these extra funds, but it's nice).

Warmachine models aren't very expensive in Sweden but GW are nearly at AUS levels, so I've already made a habit of purchasing from the UK.

Here's a tip. If you really want to support your FLGS, find out what the high profit stuff is. If you have to guess, it's probably snacks and soda and not miniatures.

 Mahtamori wrote:
Here's a tip. If you really want to support your FLGS, find out what the high profit stuff is. If you have to guess, it's probably snacks and soda and not miniatures.

Actually, its probably MTG/Yugioh/Heroclix

 Talamare wrote:

 Mahtamori wrote:
Here's a tip. If you really want to support your FLGS, find out what the high profit stuff is. If you have to guess, it's probably snacks and soda and not miniatures.

Actually, its probably MTG/Yugioh/Heroclix

Yeah, that's probably true, but the good thing about snacks is the storage requirement after purchase is even smaller than cards

Either way, let's remember why any game store exists: money. All that stock on the shelves, the electricity, and the shelves themselves cost money. While many of us have large collections and want to visit other stores, slipping the store owner some scratch is not an unreasonable concept. They're not running a charity, at the endnof the day, they'd like to show a profit. And I'm sure that the OP's perspective on the encounter is a bit skewed in his favor, as most of these threads end up being.