Digital [email protected] Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 Today I went to one of the few LGS in the area and bought 10-15 paints, 6-8 minis and a Buffy RPG, Fury of Shadow box for Midnight and another Midnight suppliment all at 50% off. Normally such savings would have me giddy, but the store is going down for the count. The sad part is everytime I went in the store it was full of people. I only went on weekends, but the game tables all had wargamers beating the crap out of each other. Lots of 12-20 year old kids. Now where do they go to play their games? Sure they have all these armies, but if there is no game store within a 30 minute drive, when do they play? What happens to the owners who were living their dreams. Just remember if you are lucky enough to have a LGS remember to support it. Sure you can save a buck or two online, but where can you go to play the game, where can future generations of gamers go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enchantra Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 This is exactly why I prefer to buy locally before I search online for anything. I only buy online if my local store (s) don't have it or cannot get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFallen Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 i am fortunate enough to have an LGS with major connections... he is able to get just about anything in print, and a lot of things out of print. In additition to that, he is able to get mini's that I thought had long since gone away... i order everything i have from him.... talk about a life saver. I guess what I am saying is, I love my FLGS. Fallen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froy The Orc Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 What happens to the owners, we move on, we accept, and then we wonder what we could have done different. I am still in the process of selling off my stores inventory on Ebay. :: sighs :: From my experience, I found that some gamers will play at a store because it is convenient, but will buy from many different places to find a cheaper alternative. Sometimes you are the cheap person, sometimes the online store is, it just depends on the item and the cicumstances. Sorry to hear about your local FLGS Froy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkstar Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 I love to support my FLGS as well, but I just can't do it for everything... Specifically Vallejo paints. Even though they carry the full selection The cost per bottle is $3.50 there. I get 'em online for $2.00 a bottle. That's AFTER tax and shipping. (it's a CA distributor so I have to pay tax, if it wasn't they'd be even cheaper!!) So you see, 60 bottles of paint only costs me $120.00 flat., but if I bought them in town, that's $210.00 a difference of around $90.00...or in paint terms that's 45 extra bottles of paint...! I would LOVE to spend my money there and not wait for shipping etc... but I just can't afford to unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital [email protected] Posted October 28, 2004 Author Share Posted October 28, 2004 I do the same thing for game books. I buy from Amazon for the 30% off (I hardly buy them anymore, but that is besides the point). Everything else I buy from my LGS. Since I have mucho paints, I hardly buy more than 1-2 paints at a time so I don't care about that, the same with miniatures. I do spend 75%of my gaming money at my LGS (not the one that went out of business) and feel happy to support them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shakhak Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 That's a sad event indeed. Hats off to all FLGS Froy The Orc, sorry to hear about your ill fated venture. I hope things turn out ok later none the less. Good luck on the E-Bay auctions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 Aww that's always sad when any small business goes under and good folks have to set aside their dreams and get lousy mundane work like the rest of us. Recently Steve and I got a fantastic bargain deal from the nice couple who owned (until recently) Dragon's Keep in Canton. It was a very friendly store full of kids roleplaying and mini-gaming. They had a bookshop and even a rather well-stocked snackbbar for the kids who stayed there all day long on weekends. Last time Steve and I did a Warlord demo there, the owners bought pizza for us and the few people who were still there afterward. Anyway, when they couldn't make their dream make enough money to support them both and the baby that was on the way, they closed the shop and later offered us their remaining Reaper stock at cost to help get them liquidated. They tell us they've put the dream on hold for a while until they get re-established out in the midwest, and had nothing but kind things to say about Reaper and the service Reaper gives. They put alot of work into their shop I'm sure, as does any small-business owner. It all reminds me of a sign a friend of mine had in his sandwich shop (now closed) that read, "IT OPENS WHEN I GET HERE AND CLOSES WHEN I LEAVE - DO I REALLY OWN IT OR DOES IT OWN ME" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars Porsenna Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 Hey my LGS closed down 6 months ago. bought $50 of stuff marked down 75%. I did get Reaper's The Eldest Son. Maybe I'll even run it someday! Damon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meady Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 Ugh, I hear stories about small hobby stores and stuff going down. Sadly, I haven't even had the previlige of going to one yet. I have to buy all my stuff online. The nearest store is 8 Hours away! All the same, its too bad about your store. Is there another in the area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azreii Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 One of the biggest priblem for LGS is that markup on miniatures and gamming supplies is so bad. Think of this A retail clothing outlet sells a 100 dollar jaket, normaly the markup is about 300% so they have paid 25$ or less for that item, that is 75$ profit. Now the average markup on hobby supplies is between 50 to one hundred percent. so on an average 100 dollar item the store is happy if they are making 50$ usually though you are talking about profit on a 100 dollar sale of between 20$ to 35$. this make it difficult to pay rent and have enough money to buy stock etc. Online stores can make money selling at 30% off retail because of the low overhead and bulk sales. This is the reason I give props to GW (let me finish here) because they do not sell to online stores only to brick and mortar stores they are hellping the LGS's out a lot. And for the record I also had a LGS for four years, going under sucks pretty bad. But you get over it and think about how to do it all over again. Point of note for some of the local gamming shop owners out there. A huge investment is put into your gamming tables. Make money off of them, charge a small fee for using the tables, and have a club card, member pay a yearly fee for it but they get to use the tables for free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital [email protected] Posted October 29, 2004 Author Share Posted October 29, 2004 yeah, I have the greatest game store that I have ever seen in my area (60+ miles actually) but since I have a large base of gaming supplies I don't feel a need to go too often. I just remember how great having local stores were when I was growing up. We had a military hobby shop (mostly war games and models) but he had a good selection of rare board games and RPG stuff as well. I don't think they ever made a profit, but he ran it out of a section of his wifes nursery (plants) which was profitable. In the end, they were both able to live their dreams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erion Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 The only stuff that I don't but at one of the FLGS's is stuff that none of them Carry. Right now, that isn't much. Oh, and once Alliance was having a problem getting Confrontation stuff through customs (It had been like 2 months waiting) so I canceled that order at the FLGS and ordered via the Warstore. If you're lucky enough to have a quality local game shop, be sure to support it with your gaming dollars and your time by running demos of the stuff you like to play. If the place is run by a crotchety old fart with no interest in the store aside from the money it provides, feel free to let it die. We had a guy who tried to run a shop three different times in the same number of years, and all of them failed because he was outright mean to his customer base. One time I was in the shop and was appalled to hear him scream at the top of his lungs that the kids playing magic were a bunch of pigs that needed to leave right now because one of them had dropped a booster pack wrapper on the floor (that had just been purchased) and not picked it up. I swear to god, he canceled a regular booster draft night because he had one wrapper on the floor. I was glad to see him fail. If the Adventurer's Guild ever closes, however, it will be a tragedy. The guy who owns the place has been a gamer since middle school, and provides quality gaming tables for free. He found a way to make a living doing what he loves, and it shows in the kind of establishment he runs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankthedm Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 Sometimes the LGS deserves to die. I ahve encountered FAR too many stores who will outright LIE to me and say a product has not yet been released when it has. My nearest store did that to me over deathsleet. I went online for that one 3 months after release after i was sick of their continous lies. I also believe this LGS is activly choosing NOT to stock the large reaper greanstuff tubes in hopes of selling through thier overstock of overpriced GW greenstuff. When a lgs that did that crap goes under, i rarely shed a tear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenmaster Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 Hey Erion, you live in San Bernardino? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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