How Do You Prefer To Buy Your RPG Products?

[VictorC]

Come out to Pittsburgh! We'll do lunch and hit 4 stores staffed by sweethearts!

I may take you up on that.

 

[Razjah]

I prefer to buy in a brick-and-mortar store. However, that is getting increasingly more difficult. I try to check nearby stores first, it was much easier at college, hopefully when I start grad school there are some good stores nearby. My area is a game store dead zone.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

Definitely brick & mortar. I can look through the books and read the parts I'm interested in to see if I like it. I get an actual, physical book, which is a lot more convenient for me than a pdf. And I get the game right now rather than having to wait for it in the mail.

I'm fortunate enough to have several game and game & comic stores less than 20 minutes away. I won't go to the one two blocks away anymore because the owner is such a jerk, but the others are still very close.

The only draws for me for internet purchases are the ability to find rare games, and price. And as an adult with an income, the price differences aren't a big deal to me.

 

[randomeric]

Brick and mortar when I can. That would be for all the large distribution products. Unfortunately, the local game store can't afford to keep on hand a copy of every independent or small press release. So to the internet we go! But I'll always look at my local game store first. The extra 10-30% I pay, in the end, goes to keeping a place to play and meet other gamers open. Without that, I can buy all the books online I want, but I'll end up reading them and putting them on the shelf.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I'm kind of like the Wal-Mart shopper: you feel guilty for buying there, but often can't afford the alternatives.

When I can afford it I like to support B&M. And if I take advantage of free gaming space, or frequently go in to browse, I feel obligated to buy at least a little bit there. If nothing else I'll try to pick up some dice (can you have too many dice?) But most of the time nowadays it's online.

 

[Zhaleskra]

I would prefer to stay with Brick & Mortar, and right now I have to say I prefer to buy online. This is because the nearest game stores aren't all that close to where I live, and even when I'm in those areas, other factors such as parking and the store's location on the street affect my attitude toward shopping there. A good medium is a bookstore, and that has the drawback of limited selection. So I have pretty much lost the ability to talk in a game store about game purchases, leading me to shop online for games I would have fun playing and running.

 

[tangleknot]

From what I've seen Brick and Mortar shops are not terribly interested in carrying RPG material. Role players only need 1 set of books to play a game and we tend to be poor. Therefore most game shops I've been in carry just the core books and few new releases, otherwise they would rather save their inventory space for products that sell.
Also the retail price versus amazon can be 30% less not including tax, maybe if the government starts taxing online sales brick and mortar shops might have chance. Until then most of the floor space will probably continue to be used for warhammer and magic cards.

 

[timASW]

in a perfect world I would be able to go to my FLGS and browse a bunch of interesting books and grab the one that I like best. But in the real world my local store is poorly stocked, has rude people who act like you cut their hand off because you asked a question that took them away from their magic the gathering game and to top if off charges more then online.

So in the real world I havent actually bought a book from a brick and mortar store in about 4 years.

 

[vonhist]

It really does depend on availability and price. If price are close(ish) and I can get it I prefer to support local shops. Otherwise
I buy online.

 

[timASW]

It really does depend on availability and price. If price are close(ish) and I can get it I prefer to support local shops. Otherwise
I buy online.

To me the often terrible attitude of the people in the stores is more important then the price.