the Jester
Legend
Nice. I forwarded a link to that article to the local press; hopefully national attention will cause the local media to pick the story up.
Hillside Games, Asheville: The Unfriendly Local Game Store
- Thread starter Nareau
- Start date
Nice. I forwarded a link to that article to the local press; hopefully national attention will cause the local media to pick the story up.
gamerprinter
Mapper/Publisher
Heh, I was quoted in that article.
Silver Moon
Adventurer
Interesting story! I do agree with earlier posters, that a name change would be the best solution. From a marketing perspective, Wyvern's Tale might not be the best for a game focused in boardgames. However, as a fan of justice and karma, I would like to see how this impacts the petty offender.
catsclaw227
First Post
I think Wyvern's Tale is a neat name, but for a game store, there are much better ones. And for a website domain name, it's even worse. It does very little to help with your marketing, and from an Search Engine Optimization (SEO) standpoint it's awful.
I still don't get why a name like "Asheville Games" or "Asheville Gamers Paradise" isn't a better fit. Only D&D or fantasy geeks will get "The Wyvern's Tale".
Don't you want "regular" people to wander in and see what it's all about? Especially if the property is in a small corner strip, a stripmall with a grocery store anchor, or especially a stand-alone building.
I recall that our local FLGS originally wanted to be called something like Goblin's Den but they changed their name right away to All Fun 'n Games and they have been very happy about it since then, as they get random people coming in and see kids playing MtG and decided that maybe their kids might like it too.
I still don't get why a name like "Asheville Games" or "Asheville Gamers Paradise" isn't a better fit. Only D&D or fantasy geeks will get "The Wyvern's Tale".
Don't you want "regular" people to wander in and see what it's all about? Especially if the property is in a small corner strip, a stripmall with a grocery store anchor, or especially a stand-alone building.
I recall that our local FLGS originally wanted to be called something like Goblin's Den but they changed their name right away to All Fun 'n Games and they have been very happy about it since then, as they get random people coming in and see kids playing MtG and decided that maybe their kids might like it too.
gamerprinter
Mapper/Publisher
I'd go as far as calling it a terrible name for a gaming company.
However, the company in question has already filed the name as a corporation (LLC) to North Carolina, and if it's anything like filing for a corporation name in Illinois - it has already cost them a substantial fee to do this already.
I think it's a bit too late to change their corporate name, due to the cost that has already been spent.
Again, back to my first post on this on page one. Corporate name filed or not, the domain name best for them, would be asheville-boardgames.com, so it wouldn't matter either way.
Though I almost wish the company had posted here with a question like, "What should we call our gaming shop?" and they'd have been better off doing so - but it's too late for that...
I'd like to address the issue of our store name once more, perhaps with some finality. Do not get us wrong, we very much appreciate all the advice we have been given. But for many reasons, both personal and practical, we are committed to the name The Wyvern's Tale.
Practically speaking, The Wyvern's Tale is the legal name of our LLC. Changing it now would not be easy, and a DBA is also out of the question at the moment. We have too many connections already established with this name.
One reason that I, personally, like the name is that I tire of game stores that are "______ Games", or some variant of that. Perhaps it gets a point across, but we want to get another point across. That we are not just a business providing a product. We are a place, a location, a destination, for people to come together and share their love of games, to play games, and to meet new gamers. A sense of community is very important to us, and the people in the local community we have spoken with thus far have all been very happy with the name. The wyvern has a long history in heraldry and European myth. As a seller of traditional games, we want a symbol of tradition.
The sense of community (and our lack of websales) is one of the reasons that SEO is barely in the margins of our concerns. We want to network locally, and we want word of mouth. We already have a dedicated following, as the previous store (Blitzkrieg Games) is being very cooperative and telling everyone all about the new operation. Even though we are not yet open, we host a weekly board game night at a local cafe. Gamers will find us, and once they do, we think they'll love our sense of atmosphere.
And as for non-gamer types, not being interested in a store with our off-the-wall name? Well, that may be a concern for many places, but not for Asheville. We are a tourist town, well-known for our "eccentricities". The tourists love to come and explore our specialty shops. Many businesses in our town have names like Cosmic Visions, Karma Sonics, and Vintage Moon. We once had a game store by the name of The Sword and Grail, and it was well-loved by all. We firmly believe our name is an attraction, not a deterrent. We will be on a high street with lots of foot traffic. We believe that when people see "The Wyvern's Tale", hand painted on a wooden sign, emblazoned with a wyvern, even if they're not gamers, they'll want to come in and see what it's all about.
An optimized name may be very marketable, but we believe that more marketable than an optimized name is a location that is dripping with amazing atmosphere, that people see and want to tell everyone they know about, and that starts with the sign outside.
Lastly, we love the play on words with tail/tale.
Again, we do not want at all to seem unappreciative, we are very grateful, for everything that has been done here. But I felt like we had to make a case for our name.
Edit: sorry about all those smilies, don't know how that happened.
Practically speaking, The Wyvern's Tale is the legal name of our LLC. Changing it now would not be easy, and a DBA is also out of the question at the moment. We have too many connections already established with this name.
One reason that I, personally, like the name is that I tire of game stores that are "______ Games", or some variant of that. Perhaps it gets a point across, but we want to get another point across. That we are not just a business providing a product. We are a place, a location, a destination, for people to come together and share their love of games, to play games, and to meet new gamers. A sense of community is very important to us, and the people in the local community we have spoken with thus far have all been very happy with the name. The wyvern has a long history in heraldry and European myth. As a seller of traditional games, we want a symbol of tradition.
The sense of community (and our lack of websales) is one of the reasons that SEO is barely in the margins of our concerns. We want to network locally, and we want word of mouth. We already have a dedicated following, as the previous store (Blitzkrieg Games) is being very cooperative and telling everyone all about the new operation. Even though we are not yet open, we host a weekly board game night at a local cafe. Gamers will find us, and once they do, we think they'll love our sense of atmosphere.
And as for non-gamer types, not being interested in a store with our off-the-wall name? Well, that may be a concern for many places, but not for Asheville. We are a tourist town, well-known for our "eccentricities". The tourists love to come and explore our specialty shops. Many businesses in our town have names like Cosmic Visions, Karma Sonics, and Vintage Moon. We once had a game store by the name of The Sword and Grail, and it was well-loved by all. We firmly believe our name is an attraction, not a deterrent. We will be on a high street with lots of foot traffic. We believe that when people see "The Wyvern's Tale", hand painted on a wooden sign, emblazoned with a wyvern, even if they're not gamers, they'll want to come in and see what it's all about.
An optimized name may be very marketable, but we believe that more marketable than an optimized name is a location that is dripping with amazing atmosphere, that people see and want to tell everyone they know about, and that starts with the sign outside.
Lastly, we love the play on words with tail/tale.
Again, we do not want at all to seem unappreciative, we are very grateful, for everything that has been done here. But I felt like we had to make a case for our name.
Edit: sorry about all those smilies, don't know how that happened.
Last edited:
catsclaw227
First Post
Understood. I was only trying to give some help. I didn't know you weren't interested in online sales. One thing that might help would be to start a local gaming Meetup Group and make your store the "base of operations" or "prime meeting place". Boardgames, Living FR or Pathfinder Society, MtG night, Warhammer Hordes, etc. That's how I learned about our local FLGS when I moved into town.
I live in NC (Raleigh-Durham area), but my family and I might come out that way to vacation and we'll definitely stop by.
Have you found your property yet? How big is your gaming area going to be? Our FLGS is like 75% gaming area, the rest is game product. You can do a lot with good shelving. It might help to get a local closet expert help you design your area so you can maximize your gaming area. Our local boardgame nights are fun, as well as the RPG night.
catsclaw227
First Post
Now a local news website is running an article:
Hillside Games versus The Wyvern's Tale | Mountain Xpress | Asheville, NC
Hillside Games versus The Wyvern's Tale | Mountain Xpress | Asheville, NC
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