Death of the LGS

[Calico_Jack73]

One of the problems I have with my FLGS:

They certainly are friendly and have a nice, big gaming area and they sponsor events. The problem is that all of their books are shrink wrapped. I consider myself a bit of a impulse buyer. I can pick up a book, thumb through it and within 5 minutes I know if I am going to buy it. Obviously I can't do that at the FLGS. I CAN go to my local Borders which has a decently stocked gaming selection, flip through any book I like, and with my weekly coupon I get e-mailed to me sail out of the store with a new book that I paid less for than I would have at the gaming store.

If you want impulse buyer money, DON'T SHRINK WRAP YOUR BOOKS!!!

Answer? Don't know - maybe offer a play experience that can't be had in a home: interesting decor (the fantasy room, the horror section etc. for diff games)
controllable mood lighting and music
pro-quality dice/DM screens/minis and mats for hire
etc.

I like this! When I lived in Dallas in the early 90's there was a Virtual World center that I loved to go to. I certainly loved playing the games but I also like to just go there and hang out. They had a non-alcoholic bar where you could buy all sorts of coffees and sodas with different syrups mixed in (I liked the Martian Ale best of all). The place was also laid out like a Victorian era explorer's club with the heads of alien creatures mounted on the wall and artifacts from other planets for decoration. Comfortable, overstuffed highbacked chairs were arranged so you could just hang out and chat with the other visitors. If my FLGS did something like that I'd be there gaming in the store every single week.

 

[Felix]

I agree with you...except, here's where gg finds himself on the losing end of the trend = gg will have to spend far more money fighting harder for fewer and fewer sales of the impossibly broad range of products that gg would have to have pay to have available at any given moment in order to take advantage of the specialized nature of service that is the main competitive advantage for the FLGS.

About a centimeter of the middle finger of my left hand was cut off in a door years ago. I have since picked up playing the violin. I told my beginner violin teacher that I was having a hard time reaching the G string on the far side of the neck, which a long middle finger would reach easily. Her response?

"Aww, is it hard? Nobody cares: they only care about the music." I laughed, tried harder, and never mentioned it again.

It's hard for everyone that has their own business, and I have trouble supporting businesses that can't support themselves. gamersgambit and other LGS's will have to work darned hard, and it may be that their business model can't survive. But if he wants to survive, he'll have his best shot at doing so with service, since he can't beat online economies of scale; he has about as much right to restrict how much other people charge for their goods as I do restricting how well other people play the violin.

 

[Belen]

Sorry - as cold as it sounds, I don't need an LGS.

The internet has made such a place irrelevant to me.

LGS product is overpriced and the selection can't compare to online vendors.

Sure. The second that non-online vendors die, we will see Amazon charge full sticker price. It is called predatory pricing for a reason.

 

[Belen]

Anyone know a FLGS, y'know the Games-only, table-space kind that predates MtG and the upsurge in Warhammer?

I know lots of gaming-friendly comics and hobby shops... and johnny-com-lately FLGS's

www.allfunngames.com

They have a huge game space and great hours M-Thursday 10-10, Fri-Sat 10am-12am, Sunday, 12-6.

They expanded their store to carry board games and puzzles though, but they are a spectacular store.

 

[delericho]

Think of them as Wal-Mart, only worse. Buying your stuff at WalMart certainly saves you money, and may put local retailers out of business but they provide very little other than product (and tax base for your community, but few people apparently care about that).

Indeed. I made sure to purchase my 4e core rulebooks from the FLGS, and buy almost all of my gaming supplies there (I get Pathfinder via subscription, and get a couple of hard-to-find items elsewhere as required).

However....

So I put it to you: Support your LGS.

I'm sorry, but I can't support this as a blanket statement. I support my LGS because I have an excellent LGS where I have been shopping for years (indeed, I got my Red Box Basic Set at that same store 20 years ago). But excellent LGS are too few and far between. And an LGS that misses out the 'F' is probably not worth saving.

 

[RabidBob]

Sure. The second that non-online vendors die, we will see Amazon charge full sticker price. It is called predatory pricing for a reason.

Not necessarily. In the UK at least Amazon have a lot of competition. Heck, half the stuff I buy off Amazon I buy not from Amazon but from someone using their storefront. We also have Play.com for movies, computer games and who also have started stocking books at a competitive rate. My "FLGS" (which is not so friendly, have no gaming space at all, but have a very nice owner) has been in business since before I moved to the UK. However, LGS generally are a dying breed, off the top of my head I only know of three dedicated gaming stores in the London metropolitan area (Games Workshop stores don't count).

Lots of great points in this thread. I'd like to add my 2cp for the "clean and respectable" part of the LGS offering. I think also that where the LGS can win 100% of the time is in service. My LGS offer a mail order service and when I recently had a problem with an item I bought through the post they replaced it with out any hassle at all; if I'd bought from Amazon I'd have no end of problems. Hire friendly staff, make sure they don't sit there playing WoW or browsing 4chan when there are customers in the shop. Maintain order; gamers can be, uh, "exuberant" at times and sometimes that can be inappropriate and this'll put potential customers off. Make your store a place people want to be and they'll be there and be spending money they otherwise would not have. Ensure that your store is easy to locate, not just in physical terms but if someone was new to the area they'd find you easily via search engine, phone book, whatever.

 

[Tarek]

Calico_Jack, all you have to do is go to the employee working at the register and ask to crack the shrinkwrap. They'll happily allow you to.

The reason for the shrinkwrap is to keep the books looking nice despite the number of people handling it, and to provide a place for the price stickers to go that will not mar the book's appearance after you take it home.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Not many go down to a lgs looking for a rpg game to play these days. But a pick up game of Magic and making friends that can expand out into RPGs does happen more often.

I agree entirely. The only LGS (the Game Parlour in Reston-ish, VA) that any of my friends frequent does a great job hosting pick up CCGs and war games (and tournaments of each). That seems to be the main impetus to get them excited about going to the store.

 

[John Lynch]

I really appreciate those, and perhaps I should've titled this post: what can I, as an FLGS, do to retain/grasp your business from Amazon and Barnes and Noble?

First of all, and I mean this in a constructive way, your website sucks. Here's why:
* Header is hard to read, I thought it was because it was being stretched, but no, that image was designed to look like that. Why?
* Your homepage is too busy with very little delineation between areas. Make a decision, is the homepage there to display new products or to give people news? Because it shouldn't be for both as it just comes out as a mess.
* Those buttons are clumsy and aren't impressing anyone. If you must have them, but some padding between the button and the cell wall.
* Not all of your links work. Gambitcon '08 to Wings of War Fridays don't work. If you're going to code this yourself you need to test it better.
* On your calendar I see entries for lots of things, but none for D&D. This isn't exactly going to attract me to your store. Also on the events page you've got D&D listed last. If the D&D part of your business is failing, you need to give it more of a push, and putting it at the bottom of the page isn't going to achieve that.
* Put in a Pbp section on your forum. Include a sticky to such resources as the d20srd. I cut my teeth on that and I eagerly awaited 4e so I could get the books.
* Be more personable. I don't know if it would be a good idea to say why you're closing on Mondays, but this aint friendly. A "Unfortunately we'll be closed on mondays starting June 2nd" would be better then "That is all"
* Put the "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" section just below Gambitcon on the forum. When I load that forum I'm not seeing an area to talk about D&D. I'm seeing Forum Rules and General Discussion with a Chatter section
* Consolidate your sections on the forum. There isn't a lot of discussion at the moment and you DON'T want a forum that looks dead. Instead have "Cards", "Dungeons and Dragons", "Comics", "Video Games" (include MMOs here), "Warhammer Fantasy/40K/Blood Bowl", "Heroclix, Haloclix & Horrorclix", "Other Games" That's halved it.

Absolutely. We offer wireless internet now for a yearly fee

I saw nothing about this on your website.

Having said all that, you've got some pretty good ideas. I particularly like the calendar (although it needs more D&D stuff) and forums. Although if you aren't going to get the Online Store put up by the end of July, include prices next to the RPG products. If you're prices truly are comparable to Amazon (I find $5 difference comparable) then push this fact forward as much as you can.

is simply silly to me. I have no ties to you, and you say if I don't have ties with you I'm somehow part of a problem (otherwise why would people care if you die) is offensive.

The problem is that they need customers (of RPGs) to serve, or they'll stop supporting RPGs.

Well let's look at what you've done to push forward your store to the D&D crowd. You said

So I put it to you: Support your LGS. It's the birthplace of the next generation of gamers, unless you really WANT 5.0 and 6.0 to become *completely* focused on duplicating MMORPGS because the only market left becomes people who play online.

which as someone who came into D&D without ever entering an LGS, is simply silly. Your saying that if FLGS's die out (or simply migrate away from gaming) that people like me will be all that's left for WotC to cater to and this is a bad thing. Wow, I'm going to jump right over to your store! You need to put yourself forward as a worthwhile member of the D&D community, which isn't done by telling people you're a worthwhile member of the community. How could you do that? Well I don't see you holding any RPGA events. That would be a start. I'm hoping an FLGS here in Australia might eventually hold one so I could check it out, see what the store's atmosphere is like.

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'm not going to drive all the way to your store just to see what out of print books you have. You're going to have to get me that information through your website somehow.

or your store has a "No outside food & drinks" policy.

I hate these policies and refuse to eat anything in places that have them (unless they're a restaurant, corner store, etc and their business is to sell food rather then to sell gaming material). So if you have one, I'm going to refuse to eat any of your stuff and after 3 hours I'm going to be hungry so I won't return.

I'm all for a minimum discount for online retail and big businesses. It's ridiculous how much they hurt the small businesses.

Why not just have the government give them money then? That's effectively what you're asking for.

Sure. The second that non-online vendors die, we will see Amazon charge full sticker price. It is called predatory pricing for a reason.

Not true, because there will be multiple online vendors and so there will still be competition.

 

[subbob]

Supporting non-local Gaming Stores

Whenever I'm traveling (business or pleasure) I look for gaming stores. Time permitting, I'll visit them and purchase an item or two. Usually the owner is present and I specifically thank them for continuing to provide the local area service. I know my paltry $20-30 purchase does not make the difference in whether they succeed or not, but it's my small contribution to them for striving to make it work.

As a side benefit, this allows me to see some great game store business models.

I was visiting family up near Omaha, Nebraska and ran across the Ground Zero store in Bellevue.

The owner there has many of the features others have suggested in this thread. What impressed me the most was his mechanism for supporting gamers with snacks and drinks.

He had several coolers of sodas, energy drinks, water, etc. and a wide variety of snacks.

As I was talking to him, one of his regulars came up, grabbed a coke from the cooler and nodded towards the owner. The owner turned around, put a tally mark down next to the guy's name and continued his conversation with me.

He explained that he runs a tab for each of his customer's and they close it out with him (either time based or when it gets to $20, etc). That saves him doing a register transaction every time they get something. Also he pointed out that many of his customers do not always carry cash, so it provides them some convenience as well.

This seems like such a small thing - but I was very impressed. His prices were also very reasonable. It was not the "quick stop" $1.39 coke and 75 cent candy bar situation. I think the drinks were 50 or 75 cents and the other snacks priced equivalently.