Describe your FLGS

[Psion]

Bowes Books

Changed owners not to long ago, wherupon it became a hyper GW shop. Some of the faces changed since then and the hyper GW aspect mellowed out and its been more of a clicks and TCG shop. They have a fair RPG stock, but they are much less current since they changed owners. Mostly, they only stock fresh stuff by WotC and Mongoose.

 

[Devilkiller]

The FLGS around here is called Days of Knights. They have a pretty good supply of gaming stuff including a whole wall of D&D/d20 products. They also have an excellent supply of board games. Their prices aren't usually the best, but I like the convenience of being abel to pick up what I want when I want it and the chance to flip through books before I buy them. They also have a very nice selection of non-gaming products like statues, Polish boxes, incense burners, and other knick knacks. A non-gaming friend of mine recently bought Lord of the Rings shot glasses there, and I've bought many gifts for folks there over the years. The coolest was probably the cat wizard I got for my girlfriend last year. He has a built in candle holder that lights up his eyes and a cauldron that smokes thanks to a built in incense burner.

I'm currently in the process of moving about 20 miles north though, and there's another gaming store of a sort up there, Between Books. They're basically a bookstore with heavy leanings towards sci-fi/fantasy and comics, but they have a respectable supply of gaming materials too. The thing that gives me a soft spot for the place is the used book section though. Back in high school I got most of the early Lovecraft books I read from there in the form of wornout paperbacks with yellowed pages crumbling around the edges. This was before the new Carol & Graff printings, and many of these books were a good 30 years old when I bought them. It was kind of like finding a bunch of old books in the basement, and it felt oh so appropriate reading Lovecraft from old books that were tough to find. I remember a certain feeling of elation when I scanned the L section and saw a Lovecraft title I didn't have yet.

Both stores have some gaming events. I think Between Books might just have a few games in the back of the store at night, but Days of Knights has a lot of events. There's even a big room with a separate entrance in the back housing the "DoK's Gaming Club". I've never been in there myself, but it might be nice for a group without sufficient space for gaming at home.

 

[los_bastardo]

Hey there. I'm in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Greenwood, Indiana. We currently have a rather slim collection of Stores. First is Game Preserve. There are 2 in the metro area, and they are a local chain. Sadly, they are more geared toward selling puzzles and boardgames than RPGs. The mini's selection is great tho. The staff ath the one at the northside are friendly, and will try to help you out. The ones at the southside really dont' give a rat's arse about what you want, and would rather you bugger off while they paint figures. Not to rant, but you can /ask/ them to order soemthing and they pass it off to each other. About oh....3 times. Then there is boardroom games. Boardroom is a /very/ good store. It's the "Place to go" when you need somethign by a small company, or a obscure title. Sadly, the staff there goes from very cool, to complete jerk in degrees. There is a younger guy there that is a wargamer that knows his stuff, and is rather friendly. There is a younger girl there, I think a teenager, or a 20 something, that is nice, but seems largely ornamental, as she does'nt do /anything/, and largely anything out of her mouth is goofy far left liberal viewpoints....that really has little to do with a game store. The owner is a piece of work tho. He's the reason I stopped going there. He refuses to take credit cards from people. Randomly. By his own confession "they are too much work" He screams and yells at little children that touch /anything/ in the store. Dont' get me wrong, I don't want a kid messing up stock, but, /screaming?/ For the love of god man! Anyhow, he's rude to anyone thats a regular. He's admitted that he's never played a game in his life, and doesn't care to. He's sort of the lorraine Williams of Game stores. Due to all of the above factors, I usually just shop at Walmart dot com, or Ebay for my Gaming stuff. It's not worth the hassle of people that have no interest in selling you anything.

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

Here in brissie, Aussieland there's 3, three if you count Borders.

Ace Comics and Games: My favorite by far, star all the main WOTC stuff and WOD stuff, but tends to sell out of cool things quickly and easily. Always someone in there. Half the shop is dedicated to gaming, half to comics, and the rest to Magic. They even have a room out the back so you can play games if your lacking a table. Now thats cool.

Daily Planet: Mostly dedicated to comics of one sort or another, though it does have a large wall of overpriced, relatively rare gaming stuff. Good to come in if Ace doesn't have stuff. No one comes here, as it's exactly 10 dollars more expensive on every single item.

Napoleons: More a specialty bookstore on war, it nonetheless has a heap of exeptionally rare stuff that never pops up except on the internet. Also terribly overpriced. But what is good is when your researching for your real-world game. I got a book on every WW2 tank battle for 5 bucks!

Ahh, Godlike. Soon I shall play you.

And well, borders.

 

[Alzrius]

Lexington has a few small, but very good, FLGS's.

The one I prefer most is Collectibles Etc. There used to be two stores in this area called that, owned by a father-and-son duo, however, when Bill died, his son, Tony, closed the downtown one and instead runs the uptown one himself now (I liked the downtown one to). I've been going to Collectibles ever since they were in Southhill Station. They do quite well with comics, and their RPG material is always 10% off, with a moderately good selection, especially of new products. They do miss some stuff sometimes, but Tony and John are great guys, so this store remains where I get my comics.

A+ Comics and Collectibles is where I go to get my RPG books. They have it so that you get 20% off if you pre-order (that is, order the book before its released). I think you can either get 10-15% if its already released. They're good about giving an extra 5% if they make you wait too long also. They can order almost anything, and usually never fail. I also pick up the comics I miss at Collectibles here. Russ, the owner, is very personable, but he seems to be taking a backseat these days, and the new employees are good, but not guys I feel like I can just chat for an hour or so with.

 

[Red Wyrmling]

I live in Ostend, Belgium.

We used to have a gaming store, but it went out of bussiness some years ago. There is one comic store where you can order. But I'm still waiting for a copy of my complete palladin's handbook from 2nd edition that I ordered in 1997.

There used to be a store about 40 miles from here, but it went out of bussines last year too. Leaving me with nothing else then the internet to order from.

I've considered on many occasions opening my own gaming store, but I have a wife, a horse and 5 cats to support and gaming is that popular here in Belgium. WOTC would be better of running a large promotional campaign overhere in europe. 75% of the people here haven't even heard of D&D or roleplay.

 

[mythusmage]

In San Diego CA there are two that I know of. I haven't been to Game Empire in their new digs yet, so I can't talk about them.

The one I do go to is Game Towne. It's small, and a good portion of it is taken up by board games, standard card games, and puzzles. Their selection of TCGs is sparse, Game Towne is not the place people go to for TCGs. However, the staff is big on Warhammer 40K and talk it up all the time.

Fortunately, they're also big on RPGs and talk those up all the time.

There are more game stores listed in the local yellow pages, but I haven't visited those yet. Same for the comic book stores and used book stores around town. The neigborhood Borders up the street has some RPG material, but it don't take up much space.

More when I've had the chance to do some leg work.

 

[Sado]

Pinellas County, FL. Technically I live in Largo city limits, but I have a Clearwater mailing address. Not that it makes much difference, the whole county is one big, ugly, overgrown, overcrowded concrete slum. It's nearly impossible to tell where one city ends and another begins. The whole county may as well be one big city (in case you can't tell, I hate it here-and the weather sucks too).

Emerald City-Two of these, one here in Clearwater and one down in Seminole. The one in Seminole is bigger, but I think the one in Clearwater has a better RPG selection (though they are both decent). They do enough business where they actually can afford TV commercials. Both also have (much larger) selections of comics. I like the one in Clearwater better, it's in a nicer area and looks nicer inside.

Gamer's Galaxy-A relative newcomer in Pinellas Park, last time I was there they didn't have a huge selection but had the best in-store gaming area except for...

Franks Trains and Hobbies-Way up in Oldsmar. Went there for the first time the other day, by accident (made a wrong turn). Huge gaming area, and probably the best selection of RPG material around. Got a chance to flip through lots of books I had been interested in but had only seen online. Great place, highly recommended.

A new comic shop just opened in a little strip mall in Largo (don't know the name). Haven't been there yet, so I don't know if they have games too. Any fellow Pinellas County residents know? It's in the strip mall on East Bay Drive at Starkey Rd, the one with Lifestyles Gym. While I'm asking, any Pinellas County people know any other stores that I'm missing? Is there anything in St Pete?

 

[OfRiceAndHen]

San Bernardino area, CA (about 50 miles east of LA). Only gaming store I know of in this valley is Comic Quest. Altho mainly a TCG and comic book shop, they do have a good variety of gaming materials, including dice, minis, and books. Staff is fairly knowledge-able, at best, but haven't met all of the staff yet.

 

[wingsandsword]

Lexington, KY also has a third FLGS, The Rusty Scabbard. A fairly large store out on Harrodsburg Road. It's got a large section devoted to miniatures in the front, a wall of CCG's behind the counter, several tables for running games (last time I was there, there was a card tournament going on), and a very large selection of gaming books. They are pretty good about having most of the d20 releases in, and it's a rare event when I have to special-order anything, because they always are getting it in stock anyway. The fact that they are within walking distance of my apartment also helps for me, but back when Collectables Ect. had their Downtown/Campus location I went there almost every day.