FLGS sucks

[Darrin Drader]

First, the owner and employees are facing computer screens containing WoW games and I only get a quick 'hello' as I enter the store (devoid of other customers, mind you).

You know, I'm all for a laid back atmosphere, and I used to frequent a spot where the employees played WoW, but there was never a case where someone didn't bother to come out and see if they could help unless it was pretty busy. Now that said, I have been to a few where one of the guys working there mistakenly thought he was a competent salesman and just ended up annoying the crap out of me.

... I was shocked to find that the store had shrink-wrapped every single book... even the old stuff.

Yeah, that makes no sense to me. The local place shrink wraps the Goodman Games stuff for some strange reason, or maybe they just show up at the store that way, but the core books and the hardback books are available to peruse. The thing is that anyone around here is free to leave their store, go to Hastings, and browse anything there that isn't shrink wrapped, which is most of it.

For some reason the only place that carried the Pathfinder adventure modules is Hastings, and they jack the price of those 30 page books up to $17.99, so it makes more sense for me to buy them directly from Paizo for $5 less.

That was the last straw for me. I left without buying anything or even saying a word to them. I guess allowing a prospective customer to actually peruse the stock is just too much for them. I might as well do my shopping at Amazon exclusively now... I at least get a steep discount over MSRP for the materials that I cannot look at physically.

If it were me, I'd send them a letter explaining to them how they lost your business. It's entirely possible that the employees were not supposed to be ignoring customers to play WoW, and it's also possible that the shrink wrap policy is turning people away but they aren't aware of it. I have complained a few times in the past and I was even rewarded for it on one occasion with a formal apology and a gift certificate.

 

[greatamericanfolkher]

It’s threads like these that make me really appreciate the fact that the FLGS that I go to is so awesome!

 

[Oni]

I hate shrink wrapped books, I like to browse stuff. I absolutely won't buy something on the spot if I can't look through it first. I went to a comic/gaming store that did this for a while, and I only ever bought books that I was specifically going there for. I often wanted to just pick up something random but never could bring myself to do it without browsing it first. I can't see how all the time and effort that goes into wrapping books pays off when it must decrease sales.

 

[Greylock]

To the OP - did you ask any of the employees if you could look at one of the books? It is quite likely that they might have said yes. I know that at my FLGS, when I first started shopping there they let me open quite a few and if I didn't want them, they gladly rewrapped them. In time, I became a regular customer and got to where I didn't have to ask anymore. They let me open whatever, knowing that I will treat it right and quite possibly buy it.

The last is the big thing. Many, many folks seem to be incapable of perusing a book without mangling it. And someone above mentioned the browser who takes his business online - that is something I'm aware of from my previous career, and it is a factor as well, but in the main it's the greasy fingered page crumplers who ruin it for everyone.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

In this thread, I remember why I hated working retail.

Seriously? As someone who used to work part time at a FLGS? Suck it up. They were relaxing, they said "hey" to you, and let you wander the store. Maybe they didn't engage in counversation with you...but did you try talking to them? It sounds like you went in and immidiately got in a twist that they didn't jump up and lavish you with attention.

Then you proceed to the product area. And look, the books are wrapped to prevent people from flipping through them and leaving without buying. On seeing this, you immidiately prove them entirely correct by leaving without purchasing something.

Seriously, don't make it sound like they "lost your business" when you had no intention of doing business there in the first place. As someone else stated, for every abnormally large number of people that walk in, very few are paying customers. And most of those non-customers go in wanting to get outraged or angry about something, and hey, how awesome is that, they inevitably find a reason to do just that.

 

[Glyfair]

Seriously? As someone who used to work part time at a FLGS? Suck it up. They were relaxing, they said "hey" to you, and let you wander the store. Maybe they didn't engage in counversation with you...but did you try talking to them? It sounds like you went in and immidiately got in a twist that they didn't jump up and lavish you with attention.

Just relaxing? I think they were way over the line in what they were doing (assuming everyone was playing WoW online). If I walked into Sears and saw the employees playing video games and basically ignoring me I would have a low opinion of the management and store.

Then you proceed to the product area. And look, the books are wrapped to prevent people from flipping through them and leaving without buying. On seeing this, you immidiately prove them entirely correct by leaving without purchasing something.

He has stated that he was planning on buying something. He just choose not to because of the complete lack of professionalism at the store (in his view).

I personally disagree with his POV with shrinkwrapping. I love to browse, but also have been in the position where I want to buy a product but all the store's copies are in obviously used condition because of "browsing" customers.

Seriously, don't make it sound like they "lost your business" when you had no intention of doing business there in the first place. As someone else stated, for every abnormally large number of people that walk in, very few are paying customers. And most of those non-customers go in wanting to get outraged or angry about something, and hey, how awesome is that, they inevitably find a reason to do just that.

Seriously, if you run a business assuming that someone who walks in isn't a paying customer than you are very unlikely to be in business long.

 

[Kzach]

For anyone saying that it's unacceptable for the staff to be playing WoW, hasn't owned or operated their own small business.

Sometimes the workload is enormous and you have zero time to do anything. Then you have massive lulls where through a 12 hour day, you might get two customers, one of whom doesn't buy anything and the other who buys something for $1.

When you work 80+ hours a week in a job like that, like a lot of owner-operators do, you NEED something like WoW to keep you remotely sane.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Just relaxing? I think they were way over the line in what they were doing (assuming everyone was playing WoW online). If I walked into Sears and saw the employees playing video games and basically ignoring me I would have a low opinion of the management and store.

Only they didn't ignore him. He said it himself - they turned and said "hello" when he entered. That's all they're supposed to do. If you want to talk to them, talk to them. Nothing's stopping you. Quite frankly, trying to really get into talking to the customer tends to only make them creeped out.

Seriously, if you run a business assuming that someone who walks in isn't a paying customer than you are very unlikely to be in business long.

Nor was I saying that's what you do. But that, conciously or unconciously, weighs down on you. When people walk in, you give them a "hey" or "Hello." If they then show interest in talking to you, THEN you go in and talk to them. Because most of the time, they don't want to talk to you.

 

[Mercurius]

Seriously? As someone who used to work part time at a FLGS? Suck it up. They were relaxing, they said "hey" to you, and let you wander the store. Maybe they didn't engage in counversation with you...but did you try talking to them? It sounds like you went in and immidiately got in a twist that they didn't jump up and lavish you with attention.

I've worked retail so I know how you feel; further, as a customer, I dislike it when store clerks "lavish" me with attention. That said, good customer service = customer loyalty = sales.

Now I think the OP might have over-reacted a bit, and could have asked questions if he had one, but it is also important for the employees to "check in" every so often, or at least once.

Then you proceed to the product area. And look, the books are wrapped to prevent people from flipping through them and leaving without buying. On seeing this, you immidiately prove them entirely correct by leaving without purchasing something.

This is entirely bogus. It may be that the OP left without buying anything because they didn't know what it was they would be buying. I will often do the same thing: Go into Barnes & Noble, browse a bit, then order online for cheaper, whether Amazon, Powells, or somewhere else. But occasionally I will make an impulse purchase, but only when I can look at the product.

The point being, while FLGS have been going out of business because they cannot compete with online prices, it is also because they haven't found other ways to be competitive, whether through good customer service, atmosphere, deals (e.g. 30% of Wizards products on their release date), etc.

 

[Foundry of Decay]

Ugh, I certainly can empathize.

We had a really good gaming/general geek interest store here that had a great way of letting people browse almost every book in the store. The 'Preview copy' would be at the front of each stack, with a big sign pasted on the front stating 'Preview copy'. You could peruse at your leisure, and then pick a fresh copy from behind the store copy to purchase (these would usually be shrink-wrapped or otherwise protected).

When the store moved to a much smaller store location, they cut their space down to a quarter, and did something that to this day I find utterly insane. They required you to PAY them 2 dollars to peruse any book that they had in comic protector baggies.

You didn't get the 2 bucks back after either.. You paid to peruse a book.

I often wonder if that place is still around. The owner turned out to be a miserable little blighter with that pay-per-perusal plan of his, and he lost the patronage of my entire gaming group that day. I'll order from the furthest corner of the world before I'd give him another penny.