Hobby/Game Stores in Malls...

There is a Games Workshop store in the mall I work at but no RPG or board game shops in any malls. We do have 6 (yes SIX!) game/comic/hobby stores in the area though if you count the models & railroad hobby store amoung them. This city is very well served for gaming but the malls are way too expensive ,according to the last game shop owner who was in one many years ago and is now downtown, for rent and service charges (the malls here apparently take a % of every stores sales, its not high but even 2% can cut badly into a business with razor thin profit margins). I don't know of a game shop in a mall in the cities I frequent (Windsor, Belleville & London).
 

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I don't even go to malls anymore in my area; they're all nothing but trendy clothing stores, and the closest one hasn't had even a book store since it got wiped out in Katrina.

Back in the 80's, there was a hobby store at the mall on the Coast, however, it was so expensive to buy gaming material out of there, I'm not surprised it went under.

<Edit> What I really miss about malls is a decent arcade.
 

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.

There's no shame in attending the Mall of America. It has the aforementioned Games By James, as well as an excellent Lego store and, well, all those rollercoasters and rides.

Of course, it may be less fun if your mother isn't interested in those things.

(Games By James is great, but given the current economy, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that while there were recently 10 Games By James stores, there are now only 7: http://www.gamesbyjames.com/about.htm)
 
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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.

While true, this is by no means the only factor involved.

Over time, the malls around Boston have slowly shifted to being "chains only", not by any direct rule, but as a consequence of lease costs. The game stores are not the only ones to have left, but all the quirky little individual stores have also gone.

Chains have brand recognition and prestige that helps drive sales, where mom-and-pop stores do not. With lower profit margins, the smaller companies have been driven out of the high-rent malls.
 

I didn't know their name! Thanks!

And no, I'm not ashamed of going to the Mall. But since you asked, my Mom is one of those folks that use the mall as a gym for walking in. So that's what we did.
 

The Mall in St. Clairsville Ohio has a new game store that just opened, called Bricks and Boards. They started out selling Legos but are adding in board games at the moment. No RPGs yet and a small inventory but hopefully they can last.

I was talking to the women who is running it and they're doing Board game nights on Thursdays and Card Games on Wednesdays. I offered to do some Roleplaying Games at some point so we'll see how it works out for them.
 

There is a Games Workshop store in the mall I work at but no RPG or board game shops in any malls. We do have 6 (yes SIX!) game/comic/hobby stores in the area though if you count the models & railroad hobby store amoung them. This city is very well served for gaming but the malls are way too expensive ,according to the last game shop owner who was in one many years ago and is now downtown, for rent and service charges (the malls here apparently take a % of every stores sales, its not high but even 2% can cut badly into a business with razor thin profit margins). I don't know of a game shop in a mall in the cities I frequent (Windsor, Belleville & London).


Last I checked there was a GW store in White Oaks Mall in London, but that's it. Truth be told, in my city, I don't think there have been too many game shops in malls...none that would carry RPGs anyway.

In fact, I can only think of one stand alone store, Imperial Hobbies, that is even a dedicated game shop. All the rest are comic book shops that also carry RPGs. And most of them are downtown.

And BTW, as a member of a family that had a shop in a mall, I can attest that rents and leases are out of hand for that kind of business. You might be able to get a reasonable rate in some of the less popular malls, but then you have to deal with the fact that no one goes to those malls.
 

While true, this is by no means the only factor involved.

Over time, the malls around Boston have slowly shifted to being "chains only", not by any direct rule, but as a consequence of lease costs. The game stores are not the only ones to have left, but all the quirky little individual stores have also gone.

Chains have brand recognition and prestige that helps drive sales, where mom-and-pop stores do not. With lower profit margins, the smaller companies have been driven out of the high-rent malls.

There is also the element of clueless management.

Ma Plume, one of the best pen stores in the entire Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex was located in the Dallas Galleria. The guy operated out of a cart for more than a decade, yet routinely had broader stock at lower prices than Colorado Pen Company. Mgmt routinely blocked him from getting a real storefront (which would let him have his entire stock on display).

Finally, he was granted a space, just a couple of years before they did a renovation which, among other things, was to eliminate carts from the mall.

After the renovation, they decided to jack his rent, not CPC's. He closed. Without competition, CPC...went under. Apparently, the only reason they were doing any business was by stocking what Ma Plume didn't (ultra-high end stuff- for which Ma Plume's owner would direct his customers to CPC) and ancillary purchases because the shopper was in the store. Without Ma Plume to prime the pump for low to moderately high-end pens, CPC folded.

Galleria management didn't understand the interrelation between the stores, and screwed things up for both.

The owner of Ma Plume is happily retired from the pen biz, and is currently teaching French at a Catholic girl's school.
 


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