A bit of an odd question for Sydneysiders

[dargoth3]

I live in Sutherland shire and the only place you'll find D&D stuff in the shire is a shop called Gamnes and Things its a generic hobby store and they dont have a wide selection there located on the bottom floor of Miranda westfields at the Myers end of the building.

Cronulla is on a train line that will take you into the CBD get a ticket to Town Hall and the Tin Soldier and Games Paradise are easy walking distance from the station

The only other option is Sydney Games Centre out of Burwood (Which is where I buy my DDM cases)

 

[STARP_Social_Officer]

Thanks all folks for your assistance. I'll probably check out all those places while I'm up there. I'm not up there for Necrocomicon, since I have no idea what that is. In any case, can I assume that all those joints are actually going to be open over Easter? I realise most places are these days, but us country folk have different ways to you smart city types, and your urbanised ways are strange and disturbing to me.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

All the stores should be open.

Without going into too much detail, it's common knowledge among Sydney gamers that the woman who runs the store is rude to customers of whom she disapproves, treats her employees badly, and would generally prefer to not have to do business with "weird gamers".

From my time there I think it's pretty obvious that she would much rather be selling nothing but board games and jigsaw puzzles to "nice, normal people".

A minority of people I know have never had a bad experience with her, but most people have at least seen her snap, sniff, or outright sneer at her gamer customers, if not been on the receiving end of it personally.

Plus, the real last straw for me was her racist comments about there being too many Asians living in the apartment building above the store.

 

[hong]

Thanks all folks for your assistance. I'll probably check out all those places while I'm up there. I'm not up there for Necrocomicon, since I have no idea what that is.

http://www.necronomicon.org/

 

[Herremann the Wise]

The only other option is Sydney Games Centre out of Burwood (Which is where I buy my DDM cases)

I'll second these guys. Burwood is kind of awkward to get to if you don't have any wheels and are relying on public transport from Cronulla. However, Chris and Keiran are excellent in both their passion and service, and so a trip there no matter how difficult would not be a waste. They excel more in the card side rather than the roleplaying side but they do have quite a bit of stuff.

As for Games Paradise, I think I can see where mhacdebhandia is coming from - although personally I have never had a problem with her the few times that I have been there. Admittedly, I wa$ buying a lot of $tuff $o that mo$t likely $ay$ $omething... $ort of. It's a shame when people with little passion for what they sell pick up a franchise.

However, if you want the greatest range of roleplaying stuff, The Tin Soldier is most likely the one and particularly good if you want some miniatures.

Games and Things in Miranda has about 6 D&D books and NOTHING else in terms of roleplaying. The people there are really nice but I can guarantee disappointment if you are expecting a large range.

I have not been to Napoleon's in years. How do you guys think they rate on the scale?

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Napoleon's actually has fairly decent prices and an okay range, considering that 95% of their roleplaying products are on one bookshelf. It's kind of impressive. Mainstream stuff, including some early d20 material which will never move, but it's okay. They also carry Dragon and Dungeon.

I had a friend who worked there for a few months.

It is, mind you, mostly a military bookstore.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

All the stores should be open.

Without going into too much detail, it's common knowledge among Sydney gamers that the woman who runs the store is rude to customers of whom she disapproves, treats her employees badly, and would generally prefer to not have to do business with "weird gamers".

From my time there I think it's pretty obvious that she would much rather be selling nothing but board games and jigsaw puzzles to "nice, normal people".

A minority of people I know have never had a bad experience with her, but most people have at least seen her snap, sniff, or outright sneer at her gamer customers, if not been on the receiving end of it personally.

Plus, the real last straw for me was her racist comments about there being too many Asians living in the apartment building above the store.

So, a top human being all round then! :\

If you don't like roleplaying, why would you buy a store that sells roleplaying stuff. And I really don't understand why you would be rude to people who are keeping you in business and making you money?

Olaf the Stout

 

[STARP_Social_Officer]

If you don't like roleplaying, why would you buy a store that sells roleplaying stuff. And I really don't understand why you would be rude to people who are keeping you in business and making you money?

Olaf the Stout

Like I said...your strange urban ways confuse and dazzle me, a simple country lad.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Let the rest of this post be read with the understanding that I'm not making statements about what is true; I'm making statements about what people tell me.

The story is: her husband started the store as an extension of his games import and distribution business (or possibly vice-versa), and she operates the main store in Sydney proper (there's another one in Warringah Mall on the Northern Beaches), presumably to keep operating costs down because she can run the place without drawing a paycheque and that means they have lower payroll expenses. (Possibly.) They do hire staff - often, since turnover is very very high due to her treating the staff even worse than the customers - but she does work there regularly.

Because the family owns a distributor, their prices are a little bit lower and their range a little bit better than other stores in Sydney.

So, basically, she gets away with being rude to customers because Gamers Are Suckers and suffer her attitude for the sake of slightly better prices and availability.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Let the rest of this post be read with the understanding that I'm not making statements about what is true; I'm making statements about what people tell me.

The story is: her husband started the store as an extension of his games import and distribution business (or possibly vice-versa), and she operates the main store in Sydney proper (there's another one in Warringah Mall on the Northern Beaches), presumably to keep operating costs down because she can run the place without drawing a paycheque and that means they have lower payroll expenses. (Possibly.) They do hire staff - often, since turnover is very very high due to her treating the staff even worse than the customers - but she does work there regularly.

Because the family owns a distributor, their prices are a little bit lower and their range a little bit better than other stores in Sydney.

So, basically, she gets away with being rude to customers because Gamers Are Suckers and suffer her attitude for the sake of slightly better prices and availability.

Yeah, I put up with MilSims crappy customer service for quite a while because they could get me products that my FLGS couldn't and their "Crazy Specials" that they had each quarter were sometimes really good deals.

I imagine if another place comes along that can offer a similar range and price to Games Paradise, and also gives decent customer service they will find that they start to lose customers. The fact that the family is a distributor as well as a store may mean that doesn't happen for quite a while though.

Olaf the Stout