Death of the LGS

[Dragon Snack]

If you could choose what products that weren't White Wolf or Wizards on the shelves (including 3rd party 4th edition companies), what would you stock?

I think a game like Savage Worlds would do well. It's easy to learn and, perhaps more important to you, their Explorer's Edition is only $10. It's within most peoples 'impulse purchase' range, plus they aren't going to save much ordering it online. The biggest problem may be that it is digest sized (but that could also be a plus, since it takes up less shelf space).

Beyond something like that, it isn't us that you should be asking. Having people demo games is the best way to get them to sell. Savage Worlds isn't a big seller nationally, but you wouldn't know that around here. Someone must have taken up the mantle to promote it and it has grown exponentially. I also still see people playing GWs spaceship battle game (Inquisitor?) locally, despite it not having much (any?) support from GW themselves.

Ask some of your best customers what other games they like. Then ask them if they would demo those games to your other customers. Find out if any companies have people on their demo team near your store and use them. Enthusiasm is contagious (and it can sell product).

A customer of mine used to work in a GW store and said that the keywords there were "Fast, Fun, and Furious".

Heh, the tagline for Savage Worlds is 'Fast! Furious! Fun!'...

 

[gamersgambit]

I also have items you can't find in many places anymore (Judges' Guild modules, Queen of the Demonweb Pits, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, etcetera).

 

[Corjay]

WoTC might not be big enough. But Hasbro absolutely is. and if amazon or anyone else was breaking the established rules and damaging Hasbro's income then u can bet your butt that Hasbro can and would take them to court to get thier money back. Thats one of the only advantages for D@D to be part of a big company.

Which brings the legality of some of these discounting practices into play. Is borders or amazon or barns and nobles really killing the local stores all on thier own, releasing early at a huge discout on thier own, or are they maybe doing these things with the total support of WoTC and hasbro?

It is a common misconception that an umbrella company acts like some kind of parent or big brother to its subsidiary. That is not true. They're more like a deep pocket adopted uncle. Every penny that WOTC borrows from HASBRO has to be paid back. Every case brought to HASBRO has to have a bottom line. Everything else, WOTC has to take care of themselves. HASBRO didn't invest in WOTC because they wanted to take up its cases and dump money into it. They invested in WOTC because they think WOTC can take care of itself and bring in a little cash at the same time.

HASBRO may lend its lawyers, but WOTC still has to pay those lawyers. HASBRO's might does not stand behind WOTC unless HASBRO products are included in the issue. WOTC is NOT a division of HASBRO. WOTC is a SUBSIDIARY of HASBRO. Why do you think HASBRO doesn't put their logo on WOTC products? All copyrights belong to WOTC, not HASBRO. All product issues are WOTC's product issues, not HASBRO's. If WOTC doesn't pay for itself because of distribution costs, HASBRO will sell them in an instant, because they can and that's all WOTC is to them.

 

[Dykstrav]

Thanks for the callout, gamersgambit.

There's one more thing you said that made me think. You mentioned doing things for the community. While you were speaking of the "community of gamers", it occurred to me that one of the best ways to get people to notice your store is to do community service and charities in whatever way your store can afford. Not only does it provide tax breaks, but it makes your store and its name visible. Just another idea.

This is a great idea, and an old LARP game I was involved with did exactly this.

My vampire LARP back in the day hosted a charity ball on Mardis Gras to benefit the local blood bank--not only did we get dozens of nongamers to show up and pay for tickets, the news showed up and even the mayor's office sent some people to make the scene. The group got new players and the FLGS that hosted the ball said that their sales for that quarter went up something like 500%. Not bad for getting a cheap DJ and some bowls of red punch.

 

[Simon Atavax]

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.

If your FLGS was my FLGS, then I probably would, Scott. But unfortunately the only FLGS near where I live is a scary dungeon-type place with an owner who bathes infrequently. Merchandise is haphazardly strewn about the floor, and on any given afternoon the place is crowded with obese teenagers drinking slurpees, eating fried chicken wings, and swearing loudly as they play Magic: the Gathering.

I wish I was exaggerating.

 

[pogminky]

But if FLGS become clean, family-friendly, nice places then where will all the socially-maladjusted teen geeks cruise for fanboi fights & foil rares?

 

[gamersgambit]

My competitors' places, one hopes.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

it occurred to me that one of the best ways to get people to notice your store is to do community service and charities in whatever way your store can afford. Not only does it provide tax breaks, but it makes your store and its name visible.

My FLGS has been supporting gamer troops by accepting reading materials and gaming supplies for shipping overseas. It seems that there aren't too many LGSs or Amazon deliveries to Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, and certain other locales.

Remembering how my Dad (an Army reserve MD) was stationed in Germany (a country he knows well; a language he understands) during Desert Storm and nearly went bozo from boredom until his care packages started arriving, I knew that the guys abroad were doing even worse on average. My Dad could at least see some mainstream entertainment where he was.

So I started dumping huge lots of softcover books into my LGS's bin- mostly collections of short stories, single-volume novel collections, and self-contained novels (those without sequels). Some came from my own collection, others came from Half-Price Books. I even sold off some games I didn't like or use to get more. Sometimes I'd even buy 2 copies of a collection of stories when they first hit the stands- one for me, one for those abroad.

Then I asked about gaming supplies. After some inquiries to the military, the FLGS said they could collect & send them, so I scoured some sales (and Half-Price Books) found and sent a HERO book, a set of the Core3 from 2Ed & from 3Ed + Oriental Adventures, Ars Magica 5th, Mutants & Masterminds 1st and such, plus a few bricks of Chessex dice.

According to the manager, I was the main supporter of the drive.

The store actually got a commendation from the military!

After the commendation, more people started contributing, especially relatives of soldiers and parents of younger store patrons.

I'm pretty sure that little display of patriotism increased sales, if only for buying books. I know it improved customer loyalty (based on what other customers said, at least).

 

[Corjay]

Yeah, I've seen specific requests from soldiers for people to send them roleplaying supplies. I would imagine the best bet would be the kind they can play within a couple of hours.

 

[jmucchiello]

By doing nothing to curtail the releases in Amazon or B&N, they have effectively condoned their actions. Wizard's won't do anything because whatever incestive has been established is batter than what they get from LGS's.

How do you know they've done nothing?

We'd have heard about it by now. Amazon or B&N seeing possible legal action from wizards would be industry news.

They won't do anything. Much as we want to believe otherwise, wizards sn't big enough to go after these companies. They can't afford to.

OTOH, WotC dropped support of paper magazines in order to move players onto the Internet. Perhaps they don't see a need for healthy LGSs.