D&D 5E BAM: Where's 5E??

[GMforPowergamers]

our local Barn and Noble combines RPG and Video game stradagy/walkthrough guides next to comic books. As such it is impossible to tell anything apart.

I will say, the pathfinder card game is on top of the shelf though

 

[RandomCitizenX]

Having just visited a Barnes & Noble at the beginning of the week (in search of a MM and DMG), I can honestly say, their organization of these materials was little better.

For 5 minutes I was scanning the hodge podge shelves, with rows of Pathfinder materials, 2e reprints, 3.x PHBs, MMs and DMGs, 4e PHBs (1, 2, and was there a 3?), MMs (1, 2, and was there a 3?), and DMGs (1 & 2?)...eventually, in disgust, I happened, quite by accident, to notice the remnants of the 5e "end cap" it's called? Which was about 15 PHBs and a half dozen Rise of Tiamats, stacked , face up, on the floor...and a single MM remaining on the facing out shelf (which I scooped up after checking a few pages for printing smears and the like, all good. It was MINE!).

Has the DMG not hit B&N yet or were they just all gone from the holiday rush? I am chalking some of the disarray of the whole thing to the fact it was 5 days after Xmas and the store was still reeling/trying to get rid of its holiday stock. But the fact there were NO 5e books on the "normal" PF/D&D/gaming shelf where I would imagine everyone would go to look, was a bit disconcerting. But the PF materials do, notably, overrun the shelving compared to 3 past editions of D&D.

When I got my PHB from them [a different location, but a B&N], in Sept, I also could find noting but past editions on the shelves. But then, after asking, was directed to where the PHB and RoT (that's the one with the white dragon on the cover, right?) were right up front, on the "new release/hot stuff" tables in the front of the store.

I was surprised the (new enough, I would think) MM wasn't to be found their as well.

The care given to organization really is going to come down to the people working there. I was lucky to work with a bunch of gamers/comic people (with the exception of our store manager) so we generally kept that section in order. As the staff changed and we moved on to other jobs/careers, that changed.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Ive been to a few stores in my area, this type of display is not uncommon, you can tell the owner/staff are really biased towards PF. This is unfortunate, because as you say a casual browser will miss the new 5e books.

Never presume malice where ignorance may prevail, my friend!

If I was a store owner who knew bupkiss about this nerd game, I imagine I would've seen Paizo stuff outsell D&D stuff for at least the last year (thanks, in part, to WotC taking the year off). I also got these banners for PF from corporate with instructions to put 'em on the shelves in my games section. And these card games are big weird boxes that don't fit well on the shelves.

That's not bias. That's just business as usual.

 

[Queer Venger]

You've spoken to any of them?

I havent' but what I will do is I will ask the owner (whom I know) why this is the case. I will post his response on this thread.
I dont think its malice on his part, he genuinely likes the brand and has every single 5e product stocked (including the 3rd party products).

 

[Mark CMG]

you can tell the owner/staff are really biased towards PF

You've spoken to any of them?

I havent' but what I will do is I will ask the owner (whom I know) why this is the case.

You know the owner but haven't spoken to him before? Your original statement implies you can tell from looking at the shelves in the store that the "owner/staff" like PF over 5E, as if you don't know them, and (now) despite believing the owner "genuinely likes the brand and has every single 5e product stocked (including the 3rd party products)." I may be misunderstanding something here. I wouldn't have guessed that any BAM (or other large retail bookseller) would carry third party 5E products at all. This owner sounds pretty knowledgeable and unbiased. How is it you are seeing a bias toward PF in this case?

 

[Dungeoneer]

I thought Books-A-Millions were everywhere, like Starbucks and glitter. Maybe not. Anyway in my part of the world it is a chain of large bookstores which tends to be a little cheaper and more disorganized than Barnes & Noble. Generally speaking I doubt the staff know Pathfinder or 5th edition from a hole in the ground. I am certain that the organization of their RPG shelves reflects no intrinsic bias, just ignorance.

After reading the comments about end caps I'm now curious if I missed a 5e end cap in the store. Alas, it's a twenty minute drive across town and I'm not THAT curious. Should I be in the neighborhood again soon, I'll look around. But the point that your typical person wandering into the store to purchase some D&D books is probably going to look at the RPG shelf first is quite valid!

(Incidentally, while I didn't commit the store layout to memory, I'm pretty sure manga was one of the first things you saw when you came in. Regular comic books were just behind it, then the gaming stuff. The only piece of nerddom still exiled to the back was the regular sci-fi section.)

I just think it is very odd that apparently Paizo is making more of an effort to promote their product than the industry leader is. I mean, the name "Dungeons & Dragons" is synonymous with RPGs to the general public. It's the fortieth anniversary of the game. There's a new edition out. I would have expected banners hanging from the ceiling, a Christmas tree made of monster manuals, and a line of tie-in bath salts to be prominently displayed!!! Instead you get a game of hunt-the-DMG. Very odd.

 

[TrippyHippy]

I would’t be surprised if much of D&D5 sales are simply online currently (it did top the Amazon charts for example), but the specialist shop presence will only come as they sell through their own stock in their own cycle. Check it again in a year, and see if it’s changed then.

 

[Queer Venger]

You know the owner but haven't spoken to him before? Your original statement implies you can tell from looking at the shelves in the store that the "owner/staff" like PF over 5E, as if you don't know them, and (now) despite believing the owner "genuinely likes the brand and has every single 5e product stocked (including the 3rd party products)." I may be misunderstanding something here. I wouldn't have guessed that any BAM (or other large retail bookseller) would carry third party 5E products at all. This owner sounds pretty knowledgeable and unbiased. How is it you are seeing a bias toward PF in this case?

I dont know the owner of the pics from the OP's post. I know the owner of my FLGS, so I think you misunderstand me.

 

[Mark CMG]

I dont know the owner of the pics from the OP's post. I know the owner of my FLGS, so I think you misunderstand me.

My confusion was over you discussing an FLGS rather than a BAM. They have very different structures of management, most FLGSs being independent game store operations and BAMs being a large corporate retail chain book stores. Personally, I expect game stores to have employees with knowledge of the games but not necessarily (maybe even probably not) at a BAM unit. As for the shelving of games, I expect a manager of a FLGS to be very aware of how his RPG displays are set up and to do so to maximize sales based on his knowledge of local clientele. For a BAM, I expect their corporate hierarchy to analyze trends throughout their corporation, hand down general thoughts on minor sections like "games," and for employees with limited knowledge of such things to move stuff around in a section to suit them, whatever proves easiest for them to do and make it look generally organized. Until your latest post, based on you quoting the OP and not making the distinction between the BAM he was discussing the the FLGS you meant to discuss, it wasn't clear you weren't discussing the same things the OP had been discussing.

 

[Queer Venger]

No worries, my appologies if I was not clear. I am not familiar with BAM, what I was commenting on is that some stores Ive been to have similar displays (meaning they dont really feature 5e). However, my own FLGS is the opposite, they have a dedicated display featuring all the new D&D 5e books, cards, tokens, screen. Sorry if I was not very clear.