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Hey Dakka, I have a sad piece of news to share with you all.
Today Realm of Legends, the FLGS of Croydon, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, closed for good.
The store was a real joy to go to and play at, they had great staff, great gaming tables, great prices, and just a general good atmosphere to it.
ROLS will be sorely missed by all those who knew it.

Thanks to the owners for making it such a wonderful place to game, paint, and hang out at, and best of luck for the future!
Gutsnagga

Why did it close?

I always meant to go down there and have a gander but it was just a little further then what i was able to easily travel too. (public transport aside)

It was primarily due to financial difficulty, they just were't able to make enough money.
As the owner put it, 'It's a hard time to be a business owner.'
Cheaper overseas prices make it hard for independent Games Workshop stockists in Australia to make a living.

A awful shame hearing about your FLGS closing down. I've been though that myself (as a customer, not a owner).

Lucky over the next 2 years we got 2 FLGS's in our town.

Yeah a real shame it is.

See i frequent Mind Games on Swanson St and while it's a great store it has no gaming space. Good Games on Lonsdale St has gaming space but the few times i've went in there on their designated 40k night all the tables had been taken over by mtg players (and 2 guys playing the pokemon card game which brought along a soul crushing bout of nostalgia). Realm of Legends was the only other place i knew of with dedicated tables for wargames.

Buy GW overseas = play at home. I can't say that I wouldn't do it myself with the price differential quoted here for GW products but if every customer saves money by buying overseas then no one wins (except GW). Obviously a large part of the blame lays with the companies who charge "fair" prices when the AUD is weak and unfair when its strong but the only "fair" things for customers to do is to switch to companies that don't hold double standards (of course always in their favor!) for fluctuating currency.

From what I understand from reading various threads on wargamerau, Realm of Legends has a fair bit of a colourful history with various issues, so it's not just a case of blaming GW. Mind Games used to have most of the top floor dedicated to gaming space (including the back room) but this was years ago, and ended for various uninteresting reasons I won't go into.

Depending on where in Melb you live, there may be other places with dedicated gaming nights for 40k. If you're in the West there are a few options about. 2 Places I've heard of in Melton, 1 in Maidstone/Maribyrnong, there used to be another in Werribee that may still be around.

Know of any in the north per chance?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/124695097592111/members/

Our club has permanant tables set up at next level games, dandenong if you want to join us. Weekly thursday night gaming and club meet every second sunday (next meet, this sunday)

 Snrub wrote:
Know of any in the north per chance?

Sorry I don't know what's around that area. Wargamer AU would be the place to ask.

Always sad to hear.

A quick look on the Dakkadakka Store Finder (http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/store_finder.jsp) showed no other stores near Croydon.
The page for Realm of Legends is update to come here.

There look to be 11 others in town, though.
Like, this one:
Good Games Blackburn
http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/store_details.jsp?s=606

fattdex wrote:https://www.facebook.com/groups/124695097592111/members/

Our club has permanant tables set up at next level games, dandenong if you want to join us. Weekly thursday night gaming and club meet every second sunday (next meet, this sunday)

I don't have a facebook account so the site won't let me view the page.

Azazelx wrote:

 Snrub wrote:
Know of any in the north per chance?

Sorry I don't know what's around that area. Wargamer AU would be the place to ask.

Thanks anyway. I have been meaning to become a WargamerAU member but i just haven't got round to it yet. Now seems a good a time as any.

Skinnereal wrote:Always sad to hear.

A quick look on the Dakkadakka Store Finder (http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/store_finder.jsp) showed no other stores near Croydon.
The page for Realm of Legends is update to come here.

There look to be 11 others in town, though.
Like, this one:
Good Games Blackburn
http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/store_details.jsp?s=606

Again, Blackburn is a little to far out to be practical. Not as far as Croydon mind, but far enough.
If i could drive then i'd be alright.

Thanks for the suggestions guys!
Fortunately I buy all my 40k stuff overseas, so I will still be able to feed my plasticrack addiction, but thanks for the club mentions, I haven't really ever gotten involved in a 40k club.
Also, just out of curiosity, what is this colourful past you speak of Azazelx?
They have closed down before, as I understood it was because the landlord got a better offer for rent from elsewhere, and essentially just kicked them out. They reopened at the more recent store location.
If you are referring to that, I understand, but I haven't been around there long enough to know much history from back in the earliest store location, if so, I'm intrigued.

I've never been there or met any of the people. There was just a lot of rumour going around on various local forums about unpaid bills to suppliers, poor financial management and so forth a couple of years ago when they closed down - along with comments on how nice the actual people were/are. Since I don't know anything firm, and don't know anything firsthand (and can't remember much else), it's probably best to leave it at that. (Which is all I "know", anyway.)

Other forums would give you more info, I'm sure, though you'll find people much more invested in their story/stories.

 warboss wrote:
Buy GW overseas = play at home. I can't say that I wouldn't do it myself with the price differential quoted here for GW products but if every customer saves money by buying overseas then no one wins (except GW). Obviously a large part of the blame lays with the companies who charge "fair" prices when the AUD is weak and unfair when its strong but the only "fair" things for customers to do is to switch to companies that don't hold double standards (of course always in their favor!) for fluctuating currency.

The fair thing to do would be to have a globally fixed price so that the only regional difference in price was the difference in shipping to those regions. There should not be a 30% or greater difference in price between regions - of course customers who can are going to shop online.
I don't know how GW shops exist here given the size of our population and the similar price structure to Oz.
The new masters of the chapter are $NZ45 here, that's around £22.5, which for a single monopose model is a bit rich.

However GW closed down the ability for OS stores from selling to Oz and the Australian Dollar has dropped about 15% or so, so cheaper GW from OS cant be the reason.

Unless they are complaining about 2nd hand models in which case they may as well blame eBay and not GW for shutting their store...

They (and I) aren't complaining about people 'shutting them down,' they simply were finding it too hard financially, not being able to keep up with payments and the like.
Note that they didn't blame anyone for it, I did not start this thread trying to blame anyone/GW/Ebay.