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PREDICTIONS:

It will be in Cincinnati, Ohio

The coffee will be free but you will need to pay for use of the cups and no outside cups will be allowed. The Primaris cups will be $30.

To access the game play table area you will need to let staff go through your miniatures to make sure they are GW models only. In addition, there will be a $5 per visit (all day pass) fee to use miniatures tables but this will be structured so you can pay for multiple visits at a reduced rate or a per month/year "membership" fee. The discounted payment structure will only work out for people who access the store 5+ times per month.

All the fanboys out there will lap it up like flies on dog crap!

I'm not even joking here, I halfway expect them to sell snacks at Cinema prices.

And like a lot of the GW stores I've been to, be located in parts of town where you start trying to figure out where you can get the best cover bonus.

I don't game in GW stores. I don't want to game in a store where they're going to refuse to allow Forge World or third party conversion bits.

I'll stick to my FLGS, where I'm pretty much free to do whatever as long as I'm a loyal customer.

I heard something from a Warhammer store manager I know that leads me to believe that Memphis is the location.

 matphat wrote:
I heard something from a Warhammer store manager I know that leads me to believe that Memphis is the location.

The current GW in Memphis is in the actual shipping district. Lots of crackheads and gangbangers right up the road.

 Tokhuah wrote:
PREDICTIONS:

It will be in Cincinnati, Ohio

I could live with that...

 Iron_Captain wrote:

 Galas wrote:

Daedalus81 wrote:

 Galas wrote:
My local Great Mall put a Starbuck store in his lower floor, just at the side of one of the entrances, with windows to the exterior, etc...
It EXPLODED in customers, and it was a very high number of them even before.

Don't underestimate how physycally and socially addicted people is to coffe. If the "Cafe" part of the "Warhammer Cafe" is good enough, people could just enter for coffe. And then is a matter of time until they start playing warhammer.
Is the kind of business parents go to let their childrens play where they are speaking for hours.

The biggest danger - it gets used as a cheap daycare for smelly children. It happened to an internet cafe I went to - $20 for a full day pass = cheaper than a babysitter.

Small children are very dangerous, yes. 10 years should be the younger a child can be there without adult supervision. But at the end of the day it depends of the child. My little cousin played Warhammer Fantasy 6th edition with my when he was 10 years old. I know guys with 15 that are like a children when it comes down to have respect for others and to know how to behave.

Guys... There is nothing dangerous about kids.
Seriously, it would be good to get more children into the hobby. Or else there isn't going to be a 40k anymore in 10-20 years. Kids are fun if you know how to interact with them. But if you think they are annoying, just ignore them.

Err, the primary reason people find children tiresome is you can't ignore them. They screech. They pester. They smear. They run around well below an adult's eyeline without regard for their own safety, but it's somehow your fault when they run into you.

My local GW when I was growing up was pretty firm - under 12s could be dumped on them on the Sunday newbie day or the Saturday late-afternoon big-giant-WAAAAGH game only, otherwise spawn were their parents' responsibility and they happily ejected anyone who tried to just let them off the leash, and the evening games during the week were 16 & over. I think that's a fair enough compromise - recruitment is important, but so is retention, and focusing exclusively on the former - especially if the pool is predominantly young children - will damage the latter.

All that said - this is a brilliant idea, and it's the only way GW's store chain is going to survive into the future: much, much fewer locations, with each being a big "destination" thing that people have a reason to travel to and locals have a reason to attend frequently. Frankly I'd cut their entire chain to a fifth the size it is now and consolidate those resources into stores like this everywhere, not just do a couple of one-offs in the US.

 Iron_Captain wrote:
Guys... There is nothing dangerous about kids.
Seriously, it would be good to get more children into the hobby. Or else there isn't going to be a 40k anymore in 10-20 years. Kids are fun if you know how to interact with them. But if you think they are annoying, just ignore them.

My friend, I must respectfully disagree. To a certain extent.

It's very hard to ignore children doing certain things. The FLGS is not the ideal place to have your children if they're rough-housing, screaming, crying, etc. That's on the parent, not the kids. I don't 'hate' the kids or anything.

Like, there is a time and a place for everything. If your kids behave a certain way, you know it. It's YOUR job as a parent to know the appropriate place to bring your children, and it's very selfish to expect the staff and other customers to tolerate misbehaving children. And as horrible as it sounds, I understand that some children have various problems or issues, and they can't help but screech, have meltdowns, act out, etc. But it's still not something for the staff and other customers to just 'suck up' so you can play the game. The other people want to have fun, too- and if you know your children misbehave or become loud and obnoxious in places of business, then perhaps it is time to consider a babysitter or something similar.

I have to say, since I've been gaming I've seen the FLGS's ask several people to leave. I'd have to say about half of them are for a parent refusing to supervise and manage their children. And I don't mean the kids are being a minor annoyance- we have several children that play in my area. I mean, it's that typical manchild that brings his kids into a store, and the children do not have the capacity to behave in public due to either medical reasons or poor home training- and the adult simply refuses to put aside the game and deal with it like an adult with children.

And every time I've seen this, it's never been "You need to leave your kids at home", it's been "you need to leave, and you may return with your children when you can calm them down".

It's not the kids, really. It's just the fact that there's a lot of lousy parents that expect the rest of society to deal with their kids.

Agreed, it is 100% on the parent to make sure their kid behaves at a FLGS. Bothers me to no end when people think its the responsibility of others to deal with annoying kids or pets that don't act respectfully in public.

 Kirasu wrote:
Agreed, it is 100% on the parent to make sure their kid behaves at a FLGS. Bothers me to no end when people think its the responsibility of others to deal with annoying kids or pets that don't act respectfully in public.

Yes. And to get this on topic, I can honestly say I hope it doesn't become a day care...

... and to be fair, I think this means that the Cafe' owners will have to be a bit more reactive to the Great Unclean Ones that come into the stores. If you'll be selling food products, you can't have someone that hasn't discovered soap and deodorant shuffling about. And people tend not to want to ingest a coffee or a sandwich when you catch the scent of Mildew, Armpit, and Butthole.

I'm really hopeful that they "do it right" and put it in a location that can sustain it. I don't drink coffee so that aspect has no bearing on me, but....if they offer food and drink (that isn't coffee) it can only help to bolster the bottom line of the location.

If they're successful the probability of more locations seems to be high.

There is a new store opening up close to me that is in an old restaurant so maybe.....?

If it is on the west coast I will defineatly visit. If it's anywhere else I won't probably be stopping by (unless I'm in town). I'd rather save up $ for a trip to Nottingham.

 Ghaz wrote:

Nvs wrote:
The US is a big place. Where will it be?

They haven't said yet, but I'll be very surprised if it isn't in or near a major city like New York, Chicago, Dallas or Los Angeles.

....Dallas......?

I like the sound of this, something different and a good place to grab a hot drink and a natter.

I would love it if they had a couple in the UK as it can be a right pain driving up to Nottingham.

mononides wrote:

 Ghaz wrote:

Nvs wrote:
The US is a big place. Where will it be?

They haven't said yet, but I'll be very surprised if it isn't in or near a major city like New York, Chicago, Dallas or Los Angeles.

....Dallas......?

I believe their American HQ (or one of them) is in Dallas. Every significant North American GW management meeting is held in Dallas, anyway.

 EnTyme wrote:

 BaconSlayer wrote:
Sounds like it is going to be in Dallas, since that is where the retail HQ offices are.

I'd be 100% okay with that. 6hrs isn't too far to drive for a special event.

Have you ever actually driven to Dallas? Just wanted to make sure your estimate of 6 hours is based on experience.

If they think those burgers are Bugman's are gonna be worth the prices they charge over here...

...Oh, who am I kidding? You could slap an Aquila on a corn dog and sell it for $10.00 here....

Should have kept reading

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
It will be in LA: Where everyone needs to be, but nobody wants to be.

If it's in LA, it will be in Orange County, just like the previous battle bunker. The Los Angeles Warhammer Cafe of Anaheim.

This is pretty cool. It'll be interesting to see whether this is intended to be the one North American equivalent to Warhammer World in Nottingham, or the proof of concept for a second type of retail locations designed to make the hobby more accessible.

I could see a case for both, but I find the second option much more intriguing.

 Aesthete wrote:
This is pretty cool. It'll be interesting to see whether this is intended to be the one North American equivalent to Warhammer World in Nottingham, or the proof of concept for a second type of retail locations designed to make the hobby more accessible.

I could see a case for both, but I find the second option much more intriguing.

I hope its not an equivalent to warhammer world as that probably won't work in America. In the UK Games Workshop is way more of a known brand and company but in the US beyond the walls of Dakka or your FLGS no one has any idea about the hobby or cares to.

It would be great if they put it in St. Louis or Kansas City. 2 hour drive in either direction for me, and centrally located within the continental US.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
It would be great if they put it in St. Louis or Kansas City. 2 hour drive in either direction for me, and centrally located within the continental US.

Physically maybe, but not centrally located for the population of the United States. For that you need to come further east towards Cincinnati and Dayton Ohio..

 ZergSmasher wrote:
It would be great if they put it in St. Louis or Kansas City. 2 hour drive in either direction for me, and centrally located within the continental US.

Uh yeah that's not centrally located at all. Most of the population of the entire country lives in a collection of 5 states. If you want to put it where people actually live instead of the mid point of longitude and latitude you'd want to be on the NY-DC corridor or southern california. Although you'd want more than 1 of these stores unless you have a vast misunderstanding of the American population (specifically military populations or vets)

Chicago is where most international shipping goes first
Texas is texas with a gak of military people
Southern california has people + income (lots of navy and marines)
north east has lots of geeks with disposable income
Flordia+Georgia has a lot of people, money and tech as well (again lots of military)

Rest of the country? Meh they can travel.

They will more than likely put it where the most business is for them.
probably Texas so US HQ can have a mini WHW

I put money on SoCal or Chicago.

 matphat wrote:
I heard something from a Warhammer store manager I know that leads me to believe that Memphis is the location.

That would be my guess. I just visited Warhammer World and it was very impressive but I doubt something like that would be possible without bring right at headquarters which both cuts rent costs and allows you to use existing staff to build displays etc.

I go to Warhammer World relatively regularly (it’s less than an hour away); tables are free and the food and beer is on par with a reasonable city centre pub in terms of price and quality, certainly not extortionate.

I would guess that they know that a single, big, US WHW equivalent wouldn’t work, as the market’s too spread out, but a few strategically placed mini versions with tables+eatery+shop with special stuff could do well.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

 matphat wrote:
I heard something from a Warhammer store manager I know that leads me to believe that Memphis is the location.

That would be my guess. I just visited Warhammer World and it was very impressive but I doubt something like that would be possible without bring right at headquarters which both cuts rent costs and allows you to use existing staff to build displays etc.

I just feel like Memphis would be such a bad location. The population of all those surrounding states of the deep south combined can't compete against a single of the more populous states, not to mention the overall income levels or starbucks culture not being as welcomed.

For a HQ wanting cheap labor and cheap taxes? Sure, but for high income customers that can actually afford your hobby? So many better spots.

It's interesting to see they decided to launch their first café in the US.
Game shops that offer relatively similar things (game tables + food/drink) are already very common in the US, while still pretty rare in many European countries. There are many players in the US/in Canada, but the population density (and therefore player density) is quite low. It looks like they intend for people to travel from far away to go there (just like Warhammer world), and most people would indeed have to travel quite a lot to get there.
I suppose they consider that in Europe, people willing to travel a large distance for something like that would tend to go to Warhammer world, even if there was a smaller, somewhat similar thing closer (especially if said place is in a non-english speaking country).

I just hope it will be a success, and similar things would be implemented elsewhere.

 Tokhuah wrote:
PREDICTIONS:

It will be in Cincinnati, Ohio

The coffee will be free but you will need to pay for use of the cups and no outside cups will be allowed. The Primaris cups will be $30.

To access the game play table area you will need to let staff go through your miniatures to make sure they are GW models only. In addition, there will be a $5 per visit (all day pass) fee to use miniatures tables but this will be structured so you can pay for multiple visits at a reduced rate or a per month/year "membership" fee. The discounted payment structure will only work out for people who access the store 5+ times per month.

All the fanboys out there will lap it up like flies on dog crap!

Well, none of that is remotely true of any GW Store or Warhammer World. You even get a waiter service to your game board. Which is nice. And not only on Tournament/Event days, which is doubly nice.

Boards are free, but advised to book in advance if you want a specific one (their Apoc board is lovely).

Expectation is 'our house, our models', but never witnessed staffers enforcing it to the degree you claim, or indeed at all. Mind you, I've never seen anyone trying to deploy anything obviously non-GW.

But I guess people who enjoy a thing will continue to enjoy a thing. Specifically and solely to spite you, naturally.

I wonder how they would feel about my brother and I coming there and playing 6th Ed. WFB?

 Just Tony wrote:
I wonder how they would feel about my brother and I coming there and playing 6th Ed. WFB?

Would probably depend on whoever the manager is there. In our GW store you can still play 8th if you want to, but our manager lets us manage ourselves and is why he has solid sales.