I think I might be seeing the end of the RPG shop concept in this area?

[xmanii]

Damn, why can't RPGs fail like that around here!!

What he said.

 

[Tomovasky]

A little off the subject but I am only a little north of you Teflon… So thanks for some of list of stores… New place to go look at.. I guess that was not that off subject.

 

[XO]

Marginal

Hmmmmmm, are we feeling a little down on our rather narrow, underpopulated hobby?

Given North American + European populations, and how few people are really into "our thing", even with WoW, EQ, and other suchgames, we are a strange bunch!

Accept it !

Embrace it !

 

[Psychic Warrior]

Is this really surprising that brick and mortar stores are getting out of RPGs. A lot of people are ordering their RPGs from online sources now so most b&m stores see little business in RPGs. Keep saving that 30%!

 

[Buttercup]

I hope this is a cyclical problem and that rpgs will rise again. I'd really hate to see our hobby die because, well, because I want to keep playing!

I do believe that fear of 4E is causing many people to keep their money firmly in their wallets. I am not sure if I agree with the pantsless Hal that 4E will completely kill D&D because it will fragment the player base irretrievably, but I think it's a fair possibility.

I guess I need to buy what I want while it's still available. That's a pretty short list, given what I already own, but it does have about 20 titles on it. Hmm. I get paid three times in December....

Edit: Also, I'm not sure we can say yet if we're seeing the death throes of the hobby or the birth pangs of the future standard retail model.

 

[Herobizkit]

This makes my desire to move to B.C. a little stronger...

 

[SWBaxter]

Imperial Hobbies in Richmond: Tons of WoD, Savage Worlds and D20 on for like 5 bucks each

I've never quite understood how these guys operate. It's obvious they make most of their money from CCGs, minis, and comic books, but most of their shelf space is RPGs, wargames, and models (at least last time I was there). Have they cut down on the space dedicated to RPGs recently? That I think will be the real indicator that things have gone south for them.

ABC Book and Comic Emporium: 50% off all hardcovers...atop already discounted prices.

The Comic Shop: too many discounts to list. Most in the 5-15 dollar range.

These two I could see leaving the RPG market pretty quick, particularly Comic Shop since it's so close to Drexoll's.

Edit - oh yeah, speaking of Drexoll's they opened a second location in Port Coquitlam recently, that tends to argue against the death of the FLGS in the Vancouver area.

 

[Nadaka]

wow, 6 local stores.

I used to have two local stores. 120 miles away. Then Gamescience shut down.

Then there are store that are actually local. There is the "if it isn't warhammer you are not allowed to ask for it here" store, and there is the "37 flavors of pokemon and we have Magic the Gathering too" store. But a new store has actually opened recently, while it does pander to the wargamer, it does have a small rack of RPG material as well. While the selection is too narrow to fill my needs, it might be a place to actually meet other gamers.

 

[LostWorldsMike]

I have six...I only made it to three of them

I'd be willing to bet that's part of the problem. Too many stores, so the RPG pie is being divided into many tiny pieces.

 

[SWBaxter]

I'd be willing to bet that's part of the problem. Too many stores, so the RPG pie is being divided into many tiny pieces.

Well, that depends entirely on how big the pie is. Vancouver's relatively affluent and seems to have lots of gamers, so the pie is a pretty decent size. And there's actually a lot more than six - a local gaming website has 16 local shops listed (that's for as far away as Langley, about an hour's drive from Vancouver proper), and that's not counting any of the big chain bookstores that carry some RPG products. I dunno how they're all doing, but there's definitely room for some contraction while still leaving a healthy market presence, if necessary.

It's also worth noting that AFAIK none of the FLGSes in this area are primarily RPG shops, they all draw their main traffic with other products and some segment of those customers also buy RPGs. Probably the more important pies are comics, CCGs, CMGs, and in a few cases books and board games.