Death of the LGS

[Raven Crowking]

going for sarcasm here?

Sure am.

We lost out when independent book sellers and independent record stores began to close their doors. We lost out big time.

We have seen, repeatedly, the business model of "lower prices until small vendors are out of business, then raise them".

We seem unable to learn from the experience.

RC

 

[Mallus]

We have seen, repeatedly, the business model of "lower prices until small vendors are out of business, then raise them".
RC

Except, of course, in the businesses where that doesn't happen.

 

[Mercule]

I think I am going to open a game shop with a pizza oven/deli counter in the back, game tables out front, and a computer for ordering RPGs online in the middle

Depending on the quality of the pizza, there's a very good chance you'd see me regularly. Especially when my gamer buddies and I get together for lunch.

 

[Arnwyn]

--the problem that's causing the death of the FLGS isn't the people who would be affected by an improvement in customer service; it's the people who benefitted from the customer service when they started out gaming, then for some reason (usually age/marriage/kids) moved to home gaming and stopped buying their goods at an FLGS in favor of an online or big-box discount solution.

Heh... you just described me almost perfectly.

Indeed - I did shop at a LGS (not F) for a few years before a combination of them moving out to the fricking boonies along with the internet made buying certain things (like gaming books) much easier and cheaper.

Combine all that with my disinterest in 4e and that Paizo's stuff is hit and miss in any b&m store, and my purchasing habits are sealed.

No, what I want--as a gamer and a game store owner--is people to support their FLGSes not to keep them afloat because without your business they would go under, but because the FLGS is important to the entire gaming community.

But you lost me here. I was never "fostered" or supported in any way by the LGS. I had to fight tooth and nail when they (invariably) didn't have what I wanted and had to "special order" something, hoping to god it might come in at all, much less in any semblance of a reasonable time frame.

And, needless to say, I am only interested in gaming with my close friends - I certainly have never met anyone who I wanted to game with in a store, and I have quickly discovered in recent years that the way strangers play sucks. Yeah, that's right - I said it.

'Supporting the gaming community as a whole' is one of the last things I care about.

 

[vazanar]

No, what I want--as a gamer and a game store owner--is people to support their FLGSes not to keep them afloat because without your business they would go under, but because the FLGS is important to the entire gaming community. Without support they're not necessarily going to go out of business, but rather go out of the business of //selling RPGs//, which turns them into UNfriendly local gaming stores.

(As a side note, I couldn't agree more with posters who say that it is the onus of the FLGS to serve the customer. That's just good business sense. The problem is that they need customers (of RPGs) to serve, or they'll stop supporting RPGs.)

I am, perhaps, naive in appealing to the community. I can only state that there are many out there from those I have spoken with who benefitted greatly from FLGSes, and many people are of similar opinions.

Perhaps I am also unique in being a gaming store that keeps a large variety of out-of-print and non-D&D/White Wolf RPG materials in store, as well. I should hope not, but that may be the case.

I go to my local Flgs for 40k, warhammer, comics or dd minis. Sides that the owner, to stay in buisness has gotten away from anything else. He is doing quite well so it seems to have been the right choice. However, the general attitude to things not on that list sends me to the internet. So I buy comics and 40k/fantasy there, but thats it.

The only real rpg xp Ive gotten from a store (a now closed flgs) was introduction to warmachine then the Iron Kingdoms.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Except, of course, in the businesses where that doesn't happen.

You mean, of course, the ones where the small vendors remain in business? Otherwise, I wonder which ones you mean.

 

[Belen]

No way.

Competition between amazon, bn.com, buy.com, and other online vendors will keep it where it is.

Very doubtful. The prices would rise significantly. It happens with every industry that undergoes this process. Sometimes the prices even go higher. Of course, Wizards could fix the situation by demanding a min. sale price, but I do not seem them doing it.

 

[Mallus]

You mean, of course, the ones where the small vendors remain in business?

What's happening with music pricing models in light of the disappearance of independent music retailers?

 

[Mallus]

Very doubtful. The prices would rise significantly. It happens with every industry that undergoes this process.

Can you provide some examples? I'm not a huge supporter of conglomerate-shopping, but I'm having a hard time accepting that retailers like Walmart or Target raise their median prices above what smaller, independent retailers used to charge in the same market.

 

[Storyteller01]

Can you provide some examples? I'm not a huge supporter of conglomerate-shopping, but I'm having a hard time accepting that retailers like Walmart or Target raise their median prices above what smaller, independent retailers used to charge in the same market.

Depwnds on how you look at it.

1) Wal-mart hasn't killed off all competition yet.

2) Having your own factories and shipping means under cutting these industries, especially with as much business as Wal-Mart could generate for them. Combine that with telling employees to use welfare for medical, then their mark up is higher than what independants use, even at the lower rate.