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 Skinnereal wrote:
They are giving between 1 and 4 of these models per store :(
It was a nice gesture, but making it hard for the FLGS to look good with this.

So a PR stunt like expected. I'm laughing that people actually thought otherwise and fell for the "hey everyone GW is such a great company look what they're doing" routine yet again.

Wayniac wrote:

 Skinnereal wrote:
They are giving between 1 and 4 of these models per store :(
It was a nice gesture, but making it hard for the FLGS to look good with this.

So a PR stunt like expected. I'm laughing that people actually thought otherwise and fell for the "hey everyone GW is such a great company look what they're doing" routine yet again.

Like I said in the thread on the topic, people don't seem to understand that these models when they are done for GW events?

They're distributed in limited numbers to only the GW stores, with anyone wanting one after the physical stock runs out having to effectively pay for a Made to Order figure. They usually are not available at independents at all. When the 500th store Primaris Lieutenant and Nighthaunt hit, accounts were that GW shops had 20ish of each model with a limit of 1 per person.

How many independent shops do people think are out there? Even just independent retailers with trade accounts with GW? Because looking at the shopfinder, I can find 17 independents within 100 miles of me...compared to 3 GW shops(which are 1, 60, and 89 miles from me) .

I'm sure someone has the exacting numbers of GW shops, but I would be curious if there is similar for independents.

If they'd have thrown in a few of the other exclusives, to bulk up the numbers, they'd have been OK.

I mean, yeah a limited run model is a PR stunt. So? Maybe I wont be able to get one, I'll live. Frankly the fact that GW is even trying to throw non-GW Brick and mortar stores a bone at all is note worthy. Especially given GW's actions in the last 15 years.

 Commodus Leitdorf wrote:
I mean, yeah a limited run model is a PR stunt. So? Maybe I wont be able to get one, I'll live. Frankly the fact that GW is even trying to throw non-GW Brick and mortar stores a bone at all is note worthy. Especially given GW's actions in the last 15 years.

Spoke with a very angry FLGS owner yesterday. Her understanding is the model is free with orders.

Her store has been closed for 3 months, she has inventory. She thinks online retailers, who have been selling all this time, are the only ones who will truly benefit.

Given that GW hasn't been shipping orders at all from their warehouses, I can't imagine why online retailers would be benefiting.

This is seeming to be trade account based. Online retailers that don't have a physical storefront can't qualify for trade accounts, from what has been said over the years.

 techsoldaten wrote:

 Commodus Leitdorf wrote:
I mean, yeah a limited run model is a PR stunt. So? Maybe I wont be able to get one, I'll live. Frankly the fact that GW is even trying to throw non-GW Brick and mortar stores a bone at all is note worthy. Especially given GW's actions in the last 15 years.

Spoke with a very angry FLGS owner yesterday. Her understanding is the model is free with orders.

Her store has been closed for 3 months, she has inventory. She thinks online retailers, who have been selling all this time, are the only ones who will truly benefit.

Yeah that does make sense. Our local store does have an online store as well so they've still been able to get stuff out to people and are currently super low on stock since they haven't been able to get orders from GW.

This whole thing is clearly going to ding stores that don't have an online presence.

I'm resigned to having to pay more via EBay....

EDIT: not worth getting into this argument

I had to remove a post and those replying to it.

If you need to start a post by saying "I know this will get me a warning" and subverting the swear filter, obviously it's not going to be appropriate or something we can keep up...

Also guys in the future, if there's an issue like that, please just hit the yellow triangle rather than responding in kind. Thanks everyone

 techsoldaten wrote:

 Commodus Leitdorf wrote:
I mean, yeah a limited run model is a PR stunt. So? Maybe I wont be able to get one, I'll live. Frankly the fact that GW is even trying to throw non-GW Brick and mortar stores a bone at all is note worthy. Especially given GW's actions in the last 15 years.

Spoke with a very angry FLGS owner yesterday. Her understanding is the model is free with orders.

Her store has been closed for 3 months, she has inventory. She thinks online retailers, who have been selling all this time, are the only ones who will truly benefit.

That's not exactly the case, at least not in the UK and I'm fairly sure GW will be using the same system in all countries for deciding which stores get how many models. From speaking to my FLGS owner it seems GW are giving the free models out according to the amount of GW stock ordered over a certain (fairly long) period of time. His shop doesn't sell a huge amount of GW stuff so he's only getting one. As pointed out above me, GW have been shut down for about 8 weeks now so online stores aren't getting any benefit from their ability to trade through the lockdown since they couldn't order from GW.

I'd be interested in the statistics of those small businesses that closed during this time. Specifically did those businesses: 1. Maintain a large stock; 2. Have an online presence or sell product online; 3. Diversify their online sales (eBay, Amazon) vs using a purchased online web store.

A game store is a lifestyle business. That is, you do it because you enjoy it, not because it makes a lot of money. As such, most are very poorly run because when you do a business model on a game store, it just doesn't work.

"So here's the plan, I'm gonna sell this dude a box of minis and accessories for an army, and out of that $200 purchase, he's going to camp in my store every week for the next umpteen years not needing to buy anything else because I've already sold him what he needs. But wait, I can sell him a bag of chips and soda!"

Well, yes, it doesn't work if your business plan revolves around just selling a bag of chips every week. Successful gaming stores do a little more than that.

And, honestly, I don't understand why any retail business in this day and age doesn't have a webstore.

Well, I was obviously being tongue in cheek, but the basic premise of my statement is valid and true. What else can you sell that guy other than a new army book every few years?

As to the having a webstore, it really isn't as simple as just turning on the webstore switch. You have to pay to have the site set up, pay for hosting, pay for someone to maintain it, both in terms of the physical sever itself as well as the products and listings on it, pay to have someone pick, pack & ship the items, pay for and store shipping supplies, pay for shipping, pay someone to answer customer service emails, etc... the list goes on with stuff I'm not even thinking of offhand.

And for what really? How much extra profit will all that generate, if any? Who is going to buy a box of space marines from Bobs random game store instead of Miniature Market or any of the other established etailers? Oh and by the way, those marines better be rock bottom prices (in other words very low profit margin), because on the internet, that is ALL you have to compete with.

I totally understand why a small business doesn't have a webstore.

 Phobos wrote:
Well, I was obviously being tongue in cheek, but the basic premise of my statement is valid and true. What else can you sell that guy other than a new army book every few years?

For the most part, the sales are going to come from new customers (either new to the game, or an existing customer looking to start a new army or game), rather than the guy with the finished army who is not interested in another. But if you're running a store with gaming space, then monetising that space through organised play events is going to be essential as well.

As to the having a webstore, it really isn't as simple as just turning on the webstore switch. You have to pay to have the site set up, pay for hosting, pay for someone to maintain it, both in terms of the physical sever itself as well as the products and listings on it, pay to have someone pick, pack & ship the items, pay for and store shipping supplies, pay for shipping, pay someone to answer customer service emails, etc... the list goes on with stuff I'm not even thinking of offhand.

And for what really? How much extra profit will all that generate, if any? Who is going to buy a box of space marines from Bobs random game store instead of Miniature Market or any of the other established etailers? Oh and by the way, those marines better be rock bottom prices (in other words very low profit margin), because on the internet, that is ALL you have to compete with.

Yes, I'm well aware of the costs of running a webstore. The thing is, for small stores those costs are going to be negligible on top of the website that they should already have anyway, and the tradeoff is opening up another potential sales avenue, in a time when fewer and fewer people are walking into physical stores. Those 'established etailers' all started with nothing as well... and as more and more retail moves online, local stores are going to have to learn to compete with them if they want to survive.

Not to mention that having the option to sell online would have come in incredibly handy for those stores right now, if only to keep selling to their regulars.

 Phobos wrote:

And for what really? How much extra profit will all that generate, if any? Who is going to buy a box of space marines from Bobs random game store instead of Miniature Market or any of the other established etailers? Oh and by the way, those marines better be rock bottom prices (in other words very low profit margin), because on the internet, that is ALL you have to compete with.

Depends. If what I want is sold out at MM, etc but Bob's Random Game Store has what I want when I want it.... Cost can be = MM price on up to full retail. And I don't have an issue paying legit shipping.
For example: A few years back (2015?) I built a Finnish army for Flames of War (15mm WWII). Battlefront was sold out of certain Fin specific units/vehicles & said it'd be weeks-months before they'd be restocked. No local shop had the pieces. MM, Warstore & NobelKnight were all out of stock. There were a few on Ebay for purely ridiculous prices. So I just did a general search.
And thus my Finnish Stugs are sourced from: two random stores in the USA, a shop in Vancouver Canada, one somewhere in England, and a shop in Paris France. Total cost? About $5 shy of MSRP + around $30 in shipping. And about a 10 day shipping delay overall until the last tanks arrived (the order from Canada was the slowest). Wich was cheaper than the EBay route & turned out to be way faster than ordering through my local shop/Battlefront.
BTW, the shop in Paris was quite surprised to get an order heading to NE Ohio, USA.....

Yup, I've done similar in the past when I was looking for something specific.

I'd agree that scarcity of stock is a chance for smaller stores to get some sales. I bought some Star Wars Legion from Belgium that was sold out in the UK.

What's surprised me is how many uk FLGS are not online. Outpost (uk based) has been buying up any stock they can in bulk from other stores who want to generate cash, and they e had some absolute gems , which they've sold at RRP OR 10% discount - I picked up a long OOP boxed game that goes on eBay for far more - I've bought it to play btw - and this must have been sat somewhere unsold ? They've had OOP underworlds, stuff that's so old it's now direct only , etc

I think what this has done is shown who is able / willing to adapt to make the most of it.

Long term a big problem coming up is how/when anyone can get a game in - club meetings are going to fall under the same rules as clubs /pubs and stores are likely going to have to enforce occupancy limits and distancing. Without straying too far off topic, those limits is going to kill the scene at nearly every FLGS as , using rough math, :

My local probably has a limit of around 80-100. That's very busy and every table in use. To enforce distancing between tables I'd say that's down to 20. But then no one can get to the stock as it's around the ground floor walks with tables in the middle. To stop that , say 10.

Can't have 10 people gaming as that prevents browsing.

Thing its running online isn't just putting up a website; its marketing; its having a back-end of the store setup for boxing up products; it means having packaging material and a lot of boxes ready to pack things up and staff with time to pack. For some smaller stores they might only have one or two staff on hand at any one time who also have to serve living customers through the door.


I'd say the other issue is that onilne already has some big names so if you're going online to trade chances are you might end up on ebay or with a small no-name store that, unless you put big money into advertising, is likely only to make a small income. The internet is great, but you've already got giants like Wayland, Element and Firestorm games.



Gaming in stores is likely to remain banned until the lockdowns lift entirely. The issue with it is that you're bringing together two people for a prolonged period of time in an enclosed space. Even with a table between them they are going to be sharing the air. So if one is infected the other is certainly able to be infected too - along with any store staff.

Shopping "sort of" works right now because you're spread out and the time you spend in store is limited as much as possible. So you're exposed to far less air sharing potential.


Gaming is likely worse than a restaurant where you might go with family (people you are already exposed too) and serving staff are not hanging around you all the time - even then you might be in an enclosed room for an hour or two. For wargames its certain contact with a different person for what could be 4, 5, 6 or more hours at a time.

Well my Local Gaming stores all open this week. I already dropped 150 bucks on stuff I probably didn't need but who cares! Just glad they are open and seem fine so far...but well see.

I hope my doom and gloom predictions were all wrong!

One shop opened this last week around me as well.

At least two of my local shops are open.

The one I call "home" never truly closed though.
They have a side business making a line of paints & resin car models. The orders kept coming in, so they just kept mixing paint, casting models, & shipping stuff out.... Since they were there anyways they also did curbside pickup. Just the owner & one employee working away about 6 hrs/day in the basement.
Now they're back open for walk in customers & limited gaming.

The other comic/game shop closed down completely, but I see on their site they're open again. No idea about their in-store gaming though.

I haven't checked on the other three (though I only really care about one of them).

Right now most of the stores in my area are open for picking up stuff, but the gaming tables are still closed.