Hobby/Game Stores in Malls...

[Scribble]

So do any of you out there have a mall near you with a game or hobby/game store in it?

Haven't seen one in years... (I don't count book stores that also sell games.)

I miss them.

 

[weem]

Not so much anymore.

I'm originally from the bay area (san jose, etc) and that used to be more common - not as much anymore, though there are still some.

When I was about 13-14 we were in a mall (I think in Fremont) and the gaming store there happened to be setting up a game in the store - right up front on the floor. My Dad was awesome, he told us to go ahead and play and he wandered around the mall for probably 2 hours while me and my brother played in this brief pickup game.

Anyway, it was a blast

 

[grodog]

Not so much anymore.

Ditto.

I'm originally from the bay area (san jose, etc) and that used to be more common - not as much anymore, though there are still some.

They were very common on the east coast too, BITD. Legends is still in the Vallco mall in Cupertino (South Bay), but that's the only one I know of, offhand (the GW store in the Cherry Hill, NJ, mall closed up, apparently---or at least it's not listed on their site).

 

[weem]

Legends is still in the Vallco mall in Cupertino (South Bay)

Yea, I have been to that one many times as well (used to live in Cupertino myself). Been a while though.

A lot of places that used to have a "lot" of D&D stuff have very little any more (if anything). It's a shame.

 

[Ktulu]

The seattle area is full of Uncles Game stores in their malls. I frequent the one in the South Center Mall. I know they're also in Crossroads, the one in Auburn IIRC, and there's another one, but I'm not familiar with where we were (was visiting my sister).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Game Chest in Dallas' Valley View Mall is still going strong. They aren't big by any stretch of the imagination, but they do an excellent job of finding OoP games, and they definitely do a decent job of having a broad stock (if not deep) of a variety of games... RPGs, CCGs, Wargames, Boardgames, classics (chess, checkers, go, backgammon etc.) and puzzles of all kinds.


Great place.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Yes - several. Though, as always, the best FLGS tend not to be in malls.

The retailing environment in the United States changed significantly in response to and in competition with direct sales over the Internet since the late 90s and most especially since ca. 2004. Those structural changes have not been felt to the same degree in other countries with different retail tax policies and which have significantly more expensive shipping/delivery methods to the consumer.

Americans like to shop online; Canadians, because of much higher shipping costs and enforcement of retail sales taxes over the internet, are more likely to window shop online and ultimately buy through more traditional retail channels.

As a result the FLGS is alive and well in Canada.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

As I recall, Games Workshop still has a location in the Grapevine Mills Outlet Mall- Grapevine is a suburban city lying North of and mostly between Fort Worth and Dallas.

Most of our area game stores are in strip malls, though.

 

[darjr]

I was visiting my mother and we were at the Mall of the America's. (don't ask)

At the very top level there was this game store, that I originally thought was for just board games and puzzles. After going in to look at those board games I noticed that they had a whole section of the store dedicated to rpgs.

 

[MortonStromgal]

The seattle area is full of Uncles Game stores in their malls. I frequent the one in the South Center Mall. I know they're also in Crossroads, the one in Auburn IIRC, and there's another one, but I'm not familiar with where we were (was visiting my sister).

Redmond... There are also the GW stores (Dark Heresy and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay), Barns and Nobel and Borders. At lease one of the B&Ns has an RPG section that rivals most gaming stores.

[edit] and of course many non-mall gaming stores