Your FLGS and You - What's your take?

[Chainsaw]

Don't use mine. The few times I've gone in, the place is cluttered, which makes it feel dirtier than it probably really is, doesn't have a great selection, doesn't feel that professionally operated and has an odd mixture of creepy looking men and kids. I prefer gaming at a residence, where I know there's been some crowd filtering (and can crack open a Guinness). Maybe I'm just a snobby jerk, I don't know.

I think the idea of a FLGS is good - neutral spot where you can buy products, meet gamers, support the local effort - but the execution seems lacking in my experience. Of course, the internet has made finding players and joining a group very easy (some filtering can be done through e-mail as well) and buying product is cheap as well, chipping away at what a FLGS has to offer.

Plus, if I'm looking to shoot the breeze about an edition or the industry, there are tons of great places online (like ENWorld, for example).

 

[Neonchameleon]

Depends. My current local gaming shop is called "Orc's Nest" - the running joke is that the orcs in question are the staff. But I've also had a fantastic one (Eclectic Games in Reading) - partly because it had masses of space and was open every night for some sort of gaming (minis twice a week, ccgs twice, board games once, and weekends and other stuff). And so built up a community.

 

[bouncyhead]

Depends. My current local gaming shop is called "Orc's Nest" - the running joke is that the orcs in question are the staff. But I've also had a fantastic one - partly because it had masses of space and was open every night for some sort of gaming (minis twice a week, ccgs twice, board games once, and weekends and other stuff). And so built up a community.

Orc's Nest for me too. What's up with those guys? They seriously need to lighten up.

Used to go to Leisure Games in Finchley and still order off their website - prefer them to get my gaming gold.

I've never really plugged into my local FLGS 'community' though.

In the UK, half the time the only LGS is a Games Workshop. I'll go in there for the minis but that creepy sales approach has me heading for the door likely as not within a couple of minutes.

 

[Votan]

I've given up on ours. With the bad customer service, the inaccurate game descriptions, the horrible hours, the lack of selection, the bad smells and not clean store, the ripping off of customers...We have four local gaming stores and in the end none of them I feel are that good. Some of them have good and bad but the good was never good enough. I'm happy with using Amazon for the occasional book, buying on line from the publisher for most things, and spending lots of money at Origins and Gen Con. I've even been buying from Barnes and Noble because they send out good coupons I can use.

I also noted that the books in the local Barnes and Noble are often in better shape than the books in my local gaming stores during my Seattle days. The selection was not as good but I often found the things that I wanted weren't in the local gaming stores either (the quest to find a copy of Castles and Crusades was lengthy, for example).

That is a shame because the long tail of obscure products was one of the major benefits of a FLGS. Community can be the other but that can also be cliquish too . . .

 

[Rykion]

I guess I'm just lucky that both the gaming stores in my area seem to be good ones. Both have friendly staff and large gaming areas that are separate from the shopping area. One offers a 15% discount on all new gaming products that increases to 20% when buying $100 or more worth of stuff. They're happy to special order items they can get through their distributor as well.

 

[Mark]

In the Seventies, we would drive (get our parents to drive us) up to the Dungeon in Lake Geneva, WI, to get our D&D stuff, or we'd buy things through the mail. Some other gaming stuff could be bought there, too, but many other places carried wargames back then, model shops, toy stores, etc. Friends Hobby Shop (formerly in Waukegan, IL, now in Antioch, IL) became the closest shop to get many gaming supplies in the early Eighties. This was supplemented as Gamers Paradise (no longer in business) started get more locations around Chicagoland. Games Plus is now my closest and best gamestore. It's easily one of the top ten stores in the country (maybe top five).

 

[drothgery]

I think I've been in a dedicated gaming store maybe once since the one in the mall by my old apartment closed a few years ago. And it's been much longer than that since I actually bought something at one. Heck, if Amazon hadn't run into supply problems with 4e gift sets, it would have been nearly ten years since I bought any gaming books in a physical store.

 

[Mallus]

My local FLGS is called Redcap's Corner and it's in walking distance from my home, a few blocks closer to the UPenn campus. We don't have a relationship. I bought dice there once... is that even a fling?

They seem to be primarily a gaming space and purveyor of various snack foods, not carrying much in the way of product. While my friends and I don't have any use for that, I wish them good luck. When my wife and I walk by the shop they're frequently packed, at worse half full, so it's looks like the their business is doing fairly well.

BTW, my gaming store is Amazon.

 

[Ruined]

I just wanted to chime in that we have some really good ones in the area. It helps that my closest one (All Fun n Games) is owned by someone we knew from the gaming community for many years. The store is clean, decently stocked in RPGs, minis, cards, and a large stock of board games. Staff is very helpful and knowledgeable about the hobbies. Over the years, they've switched locations to make more room for tables, and they always have people using the space for wargames, cards, rpgs, etc.

Taking from a comment above, sure there are large amounts of CCG players, but why discriminate against a different type of gamer? And I can't blame the store at all if they cater to the Magic/Pokemon crowd. Those products see greater sales and when you're competing against Amazon and the like, you do what you need to.

My friends also speak highly of Sci-Fi Genre in Durham, NC. I've been there once, and it was dense with all sorts of gaming and comic materials. They have a huge online presence which helps them stay competitive.

I don't know how it is for kids these days, but shops like these opening their doors for people to come in and play seems like a great thing. When I was growing up, my parents disliked the hobby and finding a place where I could spend hours gaming with the guys was a big hurdle. I'm glad to see shops like this around.

Just wanted to chime in with some positive responses.

 

[Mikaze]

A modicum of cleanliness, particularly with regards to air quality, would be nice too.

Hey, I'd like to be able to go into my FLGS without breathing in cigarette smoke with hints of pot.

Also, clean the bloody toilet so that it doesn't look like a set piece from Se7en for heaven's sake.

NOT BITTER AT ALL ABOUT HIS FLGS

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