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Went to the GW web site today, planning to hit a GW store on Saturday to check out the new WD and found only two stores left in the SF Bay Area: Union City and Antioch. Shut down stores include Alamo and Pleasanton at least. There were stores in Concord and Santa Clara(?), but they may not be part of the recent closures.

They closed the San Jose store at the start of the year- the manger said that all the stores in their area located in malls were due to be closed when the leases end.

The store in Factoria, WA is closing at the end of the month. It used to be the Seattle Bunker but they cut all the staff, closed off the entire back area where the tables were, and then wondered why it didn't make the numbers it used to.

timd wrote:
Went to the GW web site today, planning to hit a GW store on Saturday to check out the new WD and found only two stores left in the SF Bay Area: Union City and Antioch. Shut down stores include Alamo and Pleasanton at least. There were stores in Concord and Santa Clara(?), but they may not be part of the recent closures.

Antioch is closing or closed, and I'm about 90% sure Union City is too. I heartily recommend Game Kastle in Fremont or San Jose or one of the many other independent retailers that carry WD and all kinds of other gaming goodies. Game Kastle Fremont even has many of the best former GW staffers on their staff now, and they are happy to help you and recommend products they couldn't while GW we're paying them.

The GW managers still wonder why reducing sales staff, reducing opening hours and closing stores doesn't produce more sales: It looked so good in the annual report

 tomjoad wrote:

Antioch is closing or closed, and I'm about 90% sure Union City is too. I heartily recommend Game Kastle in Fremont or San Jose or one of the many other independent retailers that carry WD and all kinds of other gaming goodies. Game Kastle Fremont even has many of the best former GW staffers on their staff now, and they are happy to help you and recommend products they couldn't while GW we're paying them.

Looking at the store details, Antioch is indeed closed as of Feb 15, so at least four recently closed stores.
This leaves Union City as the only GW store left in the SF bay area (and it does appear to still be open).

 Kroothawk wrote:
The GW managers still wonder why reducing sales staff, reducing opening hours and closing stores doesn't produce more sales: It looked so good in the annual report

Except for the fact that someone posted one of the bigger reasons why GW might be closing these particular shops.

They're located in malls.

 Kroothawk wrote:
The GW managers still wonder why reducing sales staff, reducing opening hours and closing stores doesn't produce more sales: It looked so good in the annual report

Remember Kroot this is also the same company that is headed by a guy who was "surprised" that the independent store numbers were way down this year. Its not like they nuked them online and banned them from selling across borders or anything.

 Ravenous D wrote:

 Kroothawk wrote:
The GW managers still wonder why reducing sales staff, reducing opening hours and closing stores doesn't produce more sales: It looked so good in the annual report

Remember Kroot this is also the same company that is headed by a guy who was "surprised" that the independent store numbers were way down this year. Its not like they nuked them online and banned them from selling across borders or anything.

Yes, strange thing that. After all those restrictions they put in, those independents aught to be doing better than ever. Strange thing indeed

I may not live in sf bay but I still think that it's idiotic what they're doing. We have tons of GW's in shopping centres so why close down the american stores?

They did the same here.
The big malls charge like wounded bulls (GW took lessons from them - but be of no doubt - the malls are the masters, not the apprentices) and "insist" you move your shop to lesser patronised areas if they need to boost numbers.

Refit and movement of store and stock is at your cost.
They also usually wanted an extra 10% off your profits per year (unless you were large enough to tell them to GTFO and STFU).

 Kanluwen wrote:

 Kroothawk wrote:
The GW managers still wonder why reducing sales staff, reducing opening hours and closing stores doesn't produce more sales: It looked so good in the annual report

Except for the fact that someone posted one of the bigger reasons why GW might be closing these particular shops.
They're located in malls.

Yeah, forgot that closing the store in New York and reopening it in the Antarctic saves a lot of rent!

Pleasanton was in a mall, and was a terrible store, and it was 5 minutes from my house and I'd never go to it, so it's not missed. The Alamo store, however, was not in a mall and had great tables and a vibrant community centered around it. I can't speak to the other stores closed around here, but closing the Alamo store (about a year ago, now) was the dumbest decision that GW could have made with regard to their local influence.

 Kroothawk wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

 Kroothawk wrote:
The GW managers still wonder why reducing sales staff, reducing opening hours and closing stores doesn't produce more sales: It looked so good in the annual report

Except for the fact that someone posted one of the bigger reasons why GW might be closing these particular shops.
They're located in malls.

Yeah, forgot that closing the store in New York and reopening it in the Antarctic saves a lot of rent!

Since I'm actually in this area, and you're not, I can say that closing SJ was a good idea. It was in the back corner of a mall that had few people going through it, and gaming there was a pain (actually gaming at any mall seems to suck). A store in an outdoor shopping center would be nice, but rent here is insanely high. I'm rarely pro-GW business decision, but I was surprised how long the store at the Oakridge store lasted.

 chromedog wrote:
They did the same here.
The big malls charge like wounded bulls (GW took lessons from them - but be of no doubt - the malls are the masters, not the apprentices) and "insist" you move your shop to lesser patronised areas if they need to boost numbers.

Refit and movement of store and stock is at your cost.
They also usually wanted an extra 10% off your profits per year (unless you were large enough to tell them to GTFO and STFU).

I'm curious where you heard that and would immediately call BS if the answer is your local GW when asked why they moved.

I suspect the move from malls and the like is because malls will expect you to operate within certain hours and they will not want a store in there closed Monday and Tuesday.

 jonolikespie wrote:

 chromedog wrote:
They did the same here.
The big malls charge like wounded bulls (GW took lessons from them - but be of no doubt - the malls are the masters, not the apprentices) and "insist" you move your shop to lesser patronised areas if they need to boost numbers.

Refit and movement of store and stock is at your cost.
They also usually wanted an extra 10% off your profits per year (unless you were large enough to tell them to GTFO and STFU).

I'm curious where you heard that and would immediately call BS if the answer is your local GW when asked why they moved.

I suspect the move from malls and the like is because malls will expect you to operate within certain hours and they will not want a store in there closed Monday and Tuesday.

I know nothing about the malls that GW has built in - but that is very close to how Simon handled the Maine Mall when it was under their control.

They drove out the local stores to make room for the national brands, and were then shocked that the stores remained empty - the national chains not moving in to the vacated stores. A quarter of the stores remained empty for over a year because of that one attempt at a money grab.

So, at least some malls do operate that way, and can be just as as GW at their worst.

Then Simon sold off the Maine Mall to General Growth Properties, and business slowly started picking back up - with a few local stores moving in. (Too late for the game store - they have been gone for the better part of a decade, their move was to a location that did not sustain the same business as their old location at the mall, then add the recession.)

But now it looks like the firm that bought the Maine Mall from Simon is selling it back to them because of bankruptcy. The recession did too much damage, maybe, or they just misjudged the traffic.

The Auld Grump

 tomjoad wrote:

I heartily recommend Game Kastle in Fremont or San Jose or one of the many other independent retailers that carry WD and all kinds of other gaming goodies. Game Kastle Fremont even has many of the best former GW staffers on their staff now, and they are happy to help you and recommend products they couldn't while GW we're paying them.

Thanks for the recommendation. Stopped by on Friday to pick up the White Dwarf and was amazed at the number of miniature lines carried, including many of the smaller resin lines (Scibor, Kromlech, Hasslefree, High Tech and many more).

Tim

 THEDARK1RI5ES wrote:
I may not live in sf bay but I still think that it's idiotic what they're doing. We have tons of GW's in shopping centres so why close down the american stores?

Because generally:

1. Americans who go to malls, don't play with little toy soldiers; it's the wrong demographic.
2. Mall retail space is ridiculously, prohibitively expensive, and most malls are not open at the appropriate times for a profitable gamestore.
3. GW stores can't compete with FLGS for our dollar; we love variety, being able to hang out, discussing other companies and their products, and actually playing games at the store (this last bit relates to the hours of operation mentioned in 2).

The sooner GW closes all stores the better things will be, they simply are too incompetent to run hobby shops (since they don't want us actually playing games in them). Western PA has 0 GW stores and it's great!

We've lost a few in the Chicago area as well. One was 15 min from my house, the other 25. I grumbled and moaned at first, but what with 6th Ed, price hikes, etc., I'm not feeling the loss anymore.

Malls also have hours that the store is required to be open or they get fined. This is not compatible with the one man store model as the most stores are open 12 hours 7 days a week. I think even some strip malls (next likely place) also have similar standards. Closed shops are bad for visibility in malls.

Check out Game Kastle Fremont if that's close. The manager from Alamo is now the manager there. There's also Black Diamond games in Concord and a little hobby shop called Ronin Games in Castro Valley.