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They probably kept the ferrets so the smell would cover the gamer funk. Quite ingenious really.

Reallllyyyy a Problem for me.. The Starring at Girls/Woman.
I once send my wife into the local gw because i hAd some icecream in my hands.
I told her to buy me 2 boxes of eldar Weapon platforms.
She entered and every Guy in the store...12-14 People stopped their game and their tAlking starring at her.
Till she left...
She since then hasnt entered a flgs or gw anymore.
I have seen/heard similiar things from other people

 Theophony wrote:
My peeve with game stores is them allowing the obscenity. I know there's lots of young games around who haven't learned to control themselves, but I just won't take my kids into the shop with me anymore because of hearing the F bomb thrown around by one or two people at the top of their lungs thinking they are so cool because they are fighting "the man" and because they are the customer and their money will leave when they are told to use polite words.

Implying that anyone who disagrees with your specific cultural biases is lacking maturity isn't really on - if you dislike swearing and the store allows it, either do the polite thing and ask people pleasantly and without judgement to refrain when your kids are around, or go elsewhere.

 paulson games wrote:
Back when the Chicago Battle Bunker carried Forge World models they occasionally took forever to get in, I'd ordered a set of missiles and a pair of heavy bolters that I was going to use for a scratch built thunderhawk. Placed the order in January and paid for them at the time I placed the order, they didn't show up November. Normally I would have cancelled the order after 30 days of no show, but I forgot I'd ordered them and was like wtf? when they finally showed up.

It toom that long because GW would take orders, but wouldn't place them until they had enough orders to qualify for free shipping. They really only took FW orders as a courtesy to their customers. They didn't make any money off FW sales.

 paulson games wrote:

I'd go up there when I wanted things then and there, not to use their web portal to order stuff I'd get in a week or two, I can do that from home and at a discount. Why would I want to drive to their store just to web order everything? I can't buy something you don't have on the shelf, drove me nuts.

... in addition to stinky clothes he also kept a pair of ferrets in cages in that room, and they have a terrible oily stench that follows them everywhere and their cages weren't cleaned often enough so they also reeked of ferret piss which is even worse than the smell of cat piss. It was so bad we'd all try and hold our breath while passing through there and even then the smell would cling to you for a bit after you walked through. It was pretty horrible and the major reason why we eventually stopped going there. It wouldn't have taken much effort to relocate the ferrets and clean on occasion but he preferred to keep his place a pit ultimately at the expense of his customers.

You're comments are mostly spot-on, but to be fair to GW though, IIRC, orders made via their web portal were shipped free for pickup at the store. Not a useful service, but for regulars to the bunker, it was pretty handy.

As for the Stinky ferrets store, I think that's kind of emblematic of the kind of lack of business sense that many folks have, and some even manage to get away with for a while. I recall a video store owner that used to rent space from my grandpa, they had uncaged parrots inside the store. They were fairly clean, but there was still an ever-present low level animal smell in the place and though they held on for years in a small town, they went out of business eventually when a more professional store opened up.

Customers usually just want to buy and play with products in a clean professional environments, not be assaulted by the owner's personal issues/hobbies/etc.

Out of curiosity, is that store still around?

 Yodhrin wrote:

 Theophony wrote:
My peeve with game stores is them allowing the obscenity. I know there's lots of young games around who haven't learned to control themselves, but I just won't take my kids into the shop with me anymore because of hearing the F bomb thrown around by one or two people at the top of their lungs thinking they are so cool because they are fighting "the man" and because they are the customer and their money will leave when they are told to use polite words.

Implying that anyone who disagrees with your specific cultural biases is lacking maturity isn't really on - if you dislike swearing and the store allows it, either do the polite thing and ask people pleasantly and without judgement to refrain when your kids are around, or go elsewhere.

Actually, I too have to question the maturity level of anyone who is comfortable with using foul language loudly in mixed company. It's either a lack of maturity or a complete lack of consideration towards other people (which is often a sign of immaturity).

 Yodhrin wrote:

 Theophony wrote:
My peeve with game stores is them allowing the obscenity. I know there's lots of young games around who haven't learned to control themselves, but I just won't take my kids into the shop with me anymore because of hearing the F bomb thrown around by one or two people at the top of their lungs thinking they are so cool because they are fighting "the man" and because they are the customer and their money will leave when they are told to use polite words.

Implying that anyone who disagrees with your specific cultural biases is lacking maturity isn't really on - if you dislike swearing and the store allows it, either do the polite thing and ask people pleasantly and without judgement to refrain when your kids are around, or go elsewhere.

Completely disagree with you Yodhrin,
The "polite" things is to watch your mouth when in a place that caters to youth. Most any retail establishment should police the profanity of it's customers if it is a venue that is open to children and families. The onus should not be on the customer to constantly be asking folks to keep the profanity down. If unfettered profanity is to be allowed, than the store should be 18+ only with a printed warning to customers with children.

Of course you can't keep all profanity out, but if someone was repeatedly swearing or doing so in a loud voice at a grocery store, or shopping mall, they'd be asked to leave. Why should we expect any less from a game store? Putting up with an over-abundnace of profanity is bad for the store, and bad for society's impression of the hobby at large.

Body Odor, butt-crack displays, bad manners, and now we're going to defend public profanity? Is it any wonders gamers have an image problem?

I kind of miss the old tradition of the Game Store Cat/Cats. I can see why you shouldn't do it, but I kind of miss it.

As an aside, I was at a Resturaunt(sp) Supply store recently and they had a Store Cat roaming around. I was a bit surprised considering the hoops the Health and Agriculture Dept made us jump through about contamination that a store cat would be kosher at such a place.

It seems to me that a cat whose litter box is in some customer-inaccesible part of the store is not really a problem as long as the store owner knows he will loose the business of anyone with severe cat allergies (are there cats that don't shed much?).

The charm of the gamestore/bookstore cat in a well cleaned store is that you don't even know they're there until they appear. It's animals that squawk, stink, defecate publicly, etc that can be a problem.

 inquisitorlewis wrote:

 paulson games wrote:
Back when the Chicago Battle Bunker carried Forge World models they occasionally took forever to get in, I'd ordered a set of missiles and a pair of heavy bolters that I was going to use for a scratch built thunderhawk. Placed the order in January and paid for them at the time I placed the order, they didn't show up November. Normally I would have cancelled the order after 30 days of no show, but I forgot I'd ordered them and was like wtf? when they finally showed up.

It toom that long because GW would take orders, but wouldn't place them until they had enough orders to qualify for free shipping. They really only took FW orders as a courtesy to their customers. They didn't make any money off FW sales.

Do you mean independents? Most GW's got weekly deliveries anyway, so the web orders were added to that. I can see a lot of independents waiting until they next viable order though.

1. No terrain for fantasy, 40k or any other wargame. Nothing at all. You had to bring it all in yourself.

2. No one organizing anything but posting a "hey it warhammer night" on meetup.com

3. Constantly saying yeah we have to get a scene going on

We stopped going there and just play at house now. Sometimes we head to the store about 45 minutes away which has theer own problems but is much better all around. Super padded carpeted floors is a great plus.

My local FLGS has a dog.

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
My local FLGS has a dog.

Are you allergic? Not sure the issue here.

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
My local FLGS has a dog.

My FLGS has a dog, but it's a Friendly Local Gun Store. I wish my friendly local gaming store had a dog

The LGS owner who does not even offer a discount on items that are 25%+ cheaper on line. Yes I understand they need to make a living, but welcome to the days of the internet. Discount does not need to be much, maybe cover sales tax.

 FeindusMaximus wrote:
The LGS owner who does not even offer a discount on items that are 25%+ cheaper on line. Yes I understand they need to make a living, but welcome to the days of the internet. Discount does not need to be much, maybe cover sales tax.

Competing on price for a LGS is a bad way to go. They instead need to offer something online shopping doesn't. I don't think expecting retailers to match the practices of online stores is all that realistic, but I totally understand choosing online over local because of price. My local stores have largely lost me as a customer to buying online. Not because of price per se, but because they stopped offering the advantages they used to offer like painless and reliable special orders, organized play, etc.,.

 frozenwastes wrote:

 FeindusMaximus wrote:
The LGS owner who does not even offer a discount on items that are 25%+ cheaper on line. Yes I understand they need to make a living, but welcome to the days of the internet. Discount does not need to be much, maybe cover sales tax.

Competing on price for a LGS is a bad way to go. They instead need to offer something online shopping doesn't. I don't think expecting retailers to match the practices of online stores is all that realistic, but I totally understand choosing online over local because of price. My local stores have largely lost me as a customer to buying online. Not because of price per se, but because they stopped offering the advantages they used to offer like painless and reliable special orders, organized play, etc.,.

My local stores both offer 10% off GW. It's not the 25% that I can get online but it's still enough to beat GW themselves which I feel is the important part. It's not much, but the discount exists so you're less inclined to dismiss it entirely and buy online.

 jonolikespie wrote:

My local stores both offer 10% off GW. It's not the 25% that I can get online but it's still enough to beat GW themselves which I feel is the important part. It's not much, but the discount exists so you're less inclined to dismiss it entirely and buy online.

A small manageable discount is a good way to go. It can definitely combine with the non price incentives to shop at a local store (play space, organized events, convenient hours, reliable special orders, etc.,).

 jreilly89 wrote:

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
My local FLGS has a dog.

Are you allergic? Not sure the issue here.

No. Hell, I had a dog myself for 9 years until he passed away 2 weeks ago. Pretty sure if I was allergic to dogs I'd know by now.

People were discussing stores with cats, and so I simply brought up that my local store has a dog. A very friendly dog too. I think its a springer spaniel or something - one of the large ones. And I think hes fairly old.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 jonolikespie wrote:

 frozenwastes wrote:

 FeindusMaximus wrote:
The LGS owner who does not even offer a discount on items that are 25%+ cheaper on line. Yes I understand they need to make a living, but welcome to the days of the internet. Discount does not need to be much, maybe cover sales tax.

Competing on price for a LGS is a bad way to go. They instead need to offer something online shopping doesn't. I don't think expecting retailers to match the practices of online stores is all that realistic, but I totally understand choosing online over local because of price. My local stores have largely lost me as a customer to buying online. Not because of price per se, but because they stopped offering the advantages they used to offer like painless and reliable special orders, organized play, etc.,.

My local stores both offer 10% off GW. It's not the 25% that I can get online but it's still enough to beat GW themselves which I feel is the important part. It's not much, but the discount exists so you're less inclined to dismiss it entirely and buy online.

My FLGS offers something like a 20% discount if you buy in bulk, with a single order over £80.

I was going to take advantage of it and order an entire 1000pt Panzer Grenadier & SS force in one go for Bolt Action by getting two of the 500pt army bundle sets but lost my job.

I don't get any discount at all, but my FLGS has only recently started to carry 40k, has bought 2 ROBB, one of the forgeworld boards, made lots of terrain, and dedicates 3 tables to 40k (even during large Magic events, his bread and butter).

I'll spend there before I spend online.

 jorny wrote:

 Aesop the God Awful wrote:


But it had some of the most useless employees I have ever seen in my life. I can imagine it being their dream job, slacking in a gaming store, drinking energy drinks, talking about God knows what with the fellow nerds that came in. Being retail employees was obviously secondary. And heaven forbid they'd have to pause their Malifaux game for something as trivial as money for the business.

When one of the managers had the register it was an amazing store though. It went bust earlier this year :(

Pretty much this!
I do not know what store Aesop is talking about, but this is a common problem in many gaming stores I have visited.

When I was stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, there was a game shop that had something similar to this problem..... So, my wife and I go in to check this store out on a whim. The owner is 400+ lbs of nasty human flesh, the "minion" employee has a Highlander pony tail (as in Duncan McCleod), coke bottle glasses and is wearing knee high mocassins To say that they sat around "talking" about games with fellow nerds would be a serious overstatement.

The owner completely ignored us (and we were the only ones in the store), but when I did ask him a question, I was practically shouting, and he appeared to be more annoyed that he had to stop playing Diablo 2 than he was at having to "help" a customer. He answered my question and then, apparently realizing that there was a "customer" in the store, began talking loudly about how he was going to hook his PC up to a treadmill, so that he could play Diablo whilst trying to lose weight.

The minion never said anything above a mumble, so I've no clue if the guy could actually hold a conversation... perhaps he may have, if my wife hadn't been present

The only thing with my LGS that I find irritating is that they have a very strict no booze policy. No I realize this is a rather niggling issue to most but I'm an alcoholic. Even beyond that there are six businesses all within walking distance, some even within throwing distance, that sell alcohol.

So if I have any hope of dealing with new players or the general ramblings of a comic-book store I need to duck out for a minute, pound some shots, and then saunter back.

They've even asked me not to bring my flask in.

I mean… I can totally understand why they have such a policy. They get a good amount of kids and younger adults in there for various reasons. But isn't that part of the comic-book store experience? To have someone around on the verge of belligerence that knows wayyyy too much about a niche universe?

 Dust wrote:
The only thing with my LGS that I find irritating is that they have a very strict no booze policy. No I realize this is a rather niggling issue to most but I'm an alcoholic. Even beyond that there are six businesses all within walking distance, some even within throwing distance, that sell alcohol.

So if I have any hope of dealing with new players or the general ramblings of a comic-book store I need to duck out for a minute, pound some shots, and then saunter back.

They've even asked me not to bring my flask in.

I mean… I can totally understand why they have such a policy. They get a good amount of kids and younger adults in there for various reasons. But isn't that part of the comic-book store experience? To have someone around on the verge of belligerence that knows wayyyy too much about a niche universe?

Err...

Never mind

My big problem is I don't have a hobby store, just a GW and they refuse to talk about anything that cannot be bought in the shop (other than online only stuff and food/whatnot.) Also, Cmon guys! It's not that hard to put stuff that kids might want on the middle shelves! If I want a tactical squad I have to ask one of the guys to grab it from the second-to-top shelf...

Another one is putting different models behind other ones, I have to dig through a cadian shock trooper squad, a heavy weapon team and a CCS before i can get a sentinal. WHAAT?

 Eilif wrote:

 Yodhrin wrote:

 Theophony wrote:
My peeve with game stores is them allowing the obscenity. I know there's lots of young games around who haven't learned to control themselves, but I just won't take my kids into the shop with me anymore because of hearing the F bomb thrown around by one or two people at the top of their lungs thinking they are so cool because they are fighting "the man" and because they are the customer and their money will leave when they are told to use polite words.

Implying that anyone who disagrees with your specific cultural biases is lacking maturity isn't really on - if you dislike swearing and the store allows it, either do the polite thing and ask people pleasantly and without judgement to refrain when your kids are around, or go elsewhere.

Completely disagree with you Yodhrin,
The "polite" things is to watch your mouth when in a place that caters to youth. Most any retail establishment should police the profanity of it's customers if it is a venue that is open to children and families. The onus should not be on the customer to constantly be asking folks to keep the profanity down. If unfettered profanity is to be allowed, than the store should be 18+ only with a printed warning to customers with children.

Of course you can't keep all profanity out, but if someone was repeatedly swearing or doing so in a loud voice at a grocery store, or shopping mall, they'd be asked to leave. Why should we expect any less from a game store? Putting up with an over-abundnace of profanity is bad for the store, and bad for society's impression of the hobby at large.

Body Odor, butt-crack displays, bad manners, and now we're going to defend public profanity? Is it any wonders gamers have an image problem?

But that's exactly what I'm referring to when I talk about cultural bias; YOU consider profanity to be on the same level as BO, bad manners etc etc, not everyone does, not every region or society does. Here in Scotland, for example, outside of a few specific "posh" areas or groups, most people will think you have a huge stick up your backside if you complain about people swearing - adults swear, kids swear, hell a lot of people use "a'right ya c**t" interchangeably with "hey man", "what's up dude" etc.

Frankly, the thing that I find to lack maturity and politeness is the way parents decide that the moment they pop out a couple of kiddies, anywhere open to members of the public must also be considered as "catering to youth" - the fact that there is no specific impediment to children going into an establishment does not obligate the proprietor or the customers to behave in a way any particular parent decides meets their own arbitrary criteria for what is "appropriate" - if you have children it is your responsibility to raise them and, if you consider it necessary, ensure whatever specific behavioural norms you wish to impose are followed, NOT society at large. Personally, providing they don't act like a patronising git about it, I'd have no issue moderating my language in public if a parent asked me to, but it's unfair to expect people to preemptively live their lives as if they're in a PG-13 movie, just in case some parents with specific dislike of some perfectly legal and harmless social norms happens to pass within earshot with their kids in-tow.

 Yodhrin wrote:

But that's exactly what I'm referring to when I talk about cultural bias; YOU consider profanity to be on the same level as BO, bad manners etc etc, not everyone does, not every region or society does. Here in Scotland, for example, outside of a few specific "posh" areas or groups, most people will think you have a huge stick up your backside if you complain about people swearing - adults swear, kids swear, hell a lot of people use "a'right ya c**t" interchangeably with "hey man", "what's up dude" etc.

Frankly, the thing that I find to lack maturity and politeness is the way parents decide that the moment they pop out a couple of kiddies, anywhere open to members of the public must also be considered as "catering to youth" - the fact that there is no specific impediment to children going into an establishment does not obligate the proprietor or the customers to behave in a way any particular parent decides meets their own arbitrary criteria for what is "appropriate" - if you have children it is your responsibility to raise them and, if you consider it necessary, ensure whatever specific behavioural norms you wish to impose are followed, NOT society at large. Personally, providing they don't act like a patronising git about it, I'd have no issue moderating my language in public if a parent asked me to, but it's unfair to expect people to preemptively live their lives as if they're in a PG-13 movie, just in case some parents with specific dislike of some perfectly legal and harmless social norms happens to pass within earshot with their kids in-tow.

Clearly I can't speak to Scotland, but none of what you say changes the fact that a retail establishment should adjust it's polices to accommodate a wide variety of customer's standards. That means that even if lots of folks want to swear, if there's a good portion who don't, a good store will maintain standards of politeness that include those who don't. In the USA if you run a store that caters to children, but you have alot of adults swearing at will, you're going to have lots of parents who won't enter or let their kids do so.

Put another way, some folks don't like clothes, but "no shirt, no shoes, no service" still is the order of the day in alot of places.

 Dannyrulx wrote:

Err...

Never mind

My big problem is I don't have a hobby store, just a GW and they refuse to talk about anything that cannot be bought in the shop (other than online only stuff and food/whatnot.) Also, Cmon guys! It's not that hard to put stuff that kids might want on the middle shelves! If I want a tactical squad I have to ask one of the guys to grab it from the second-to-top shelf...

Another one is putting different models behind other ones, I have to dig through a cadian shock trooper squad, a heavy weapon team and a CCS before i can get a sentinal. WHAAT?

That just sounds like a case of poor organization.

 Eilif wrote:

 Yodhrin wrote:

But that's exactly what I'm referring to when I talk about cultural bias; YOU consider profanity to be on the same level as BO, bad manners etc etc, not everyone does, not every region or society does. Here in Scotland, for example, outside of a few specific "posh" areas or groups, most people will think you have a huge stick up your backside if you complain about people swearing - adults swear, kids swear, hell a lot of people use "a'right ya c**t" interchangeably with "hey man", "what's up dude" etc.

Frankly, the thing that I find to lack maturity and politeness is the way parents decide that the moment they pop out a couple of kiddies, anywhere open to members of the public must also be considered as "catering to youth" - the fact that there is no specific impediment to children going into an establishment does not obligate the proprietor or the customers to behave in a way any particular parent decides meets their own arbitrary criteria for what is "appropriate" - if you have children it is your responsibility to raise them and, if you consider it necessary, ensure whatever specific behavioural norms you wish to impose are followed, NOT society at large. Personally, providing they don't act like a patronising git about it, I'd have no issue moderating my language in public if a parent asked me to, but it's unfair to expect people to preemptively live their lives as if they're in a PG-13 movie, just in case some parents with specific dislike of some perfectly legal and harmless social norms happens to pass within earshot with their kids in-tow.

Clearly I can't speak to Scotland, but none of what you say changes the fact that a retail establishment should adjust it's polices to accommodate a wide variety of customer's standards. That means that even if lots of folks want to swear, if there's a good portion who don't, a good store will maintain standards of politeness that include those who don't. In the USA if you run a store that caters to children, but you have alot of adults swearing at will, you're going to have lots of parents who won't enter or let their kids do so.

Put another way, some folks don't like clothes, but "no shirt, no shoes, no service" still is the order of the day in alot of places.

And in what way does a normal gaming store "cater" to children?
A retail store should adjust its policies to accommodate what it wants to bring in. If they don't want people who are "offended" by cursing in there, they won't ban it by policy. You don't have a right to not be offended.
Will that lose them business? Potentially. But I know for a fact that the store I go to is more prosperous than the other one in town, and the other one disallows swearing (very strictly - after a single warning you're asked to leave).

rigeld2 wrote:

Clearly I can't speak to Scotland, but none of what you say changes the fact that a retail establishment should adjust it's polices to accommodate a wide variety of customer's standards. That means that even if lots of folks want to swear, if there's a good portion who don't, a good store will maintain standards of politeness that include those who don't. In the USA if you run a store that caters to children, but you have alot of adults swearing at will, you're going to have lots of parents who won't enter or let their kids do so.

Put another way, some folks don't like clothes, but "no shirt, no shoes, no service" still is the order of the day in alot of places.

And in what way does a normal gaming store "cater" to children?
A retail store should adjust its policies to accommodate what it wants to bring in. If they don't want people who are "offended" by cursing in there, they won't ban it by policy. You don't have a right to not be offended.
Will that lose them business? Potentially. But I know for a fact that the store I go to is more prosperous than the other one in town, and the other one disallows swearing (very strictly - after a single warning you're asked to leave).

Leaving off the fact that we're clearly talking about 2 very different markets...

Lots of game stores around here make quite a bit off of Pokemon and Magic, 2 games that cater to pre-teens as well as other age groups. Game stores cater to a wide variety of ages, so it's beneificial to be a touch more conservative in what behavior you allow.

The biggest game store in the Chicago area (Games Plus) seems to maintain a pretty balanced approach. I don't know if they officially bar profanity, but if you do happen to hear it, it's never in a loud voice and folks are pretty polite. That's the kind of environment that will be inviting and appropriate for a wide variety of ages (though I don't see alot of kids…) and does not give potential customers with more gentle sensitivities reason to stay away.

It's just good business for them.

A new store has opened near me. Great selection and the staff are nice but since a local club has made it their base (One night a week is their Club Night and these people are the main people there most days) it has a bit of an unwelcoming feeling when this crowd are there. You get the odd 'why are you here?!' stare etc. No one has ever been rude to me or anything and its not put me off going there at all as I pretty much know what I'm heading there for so I grab what I need, have a bit of small-talk with the staff member serving me and leave with the goods. But yeah, thats my only "Peeve" and such a minor one..

I gotta laugh at the "debate" about whether a previous poster should be allowed to disapprove of vulgarity in a game store... Or be accused of being culturally biased - whatever on earth that is supposed to mean in this strange context. Anyway, I know many Scots, have travelled there extensively and am quite positive the nation's children (posh or otherwise) are not widely permitted to act like savages.