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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steel_Wind" data-source="post: 3621712" data-attributes="member: 20741">I have no doubt my perception of the FLGS is shaped by the city in which I live - Toronto. It's one of the largest metropolitan areas in North America. NY and LA are bigger and Chicago somewhat larger - but that's it.  And unlike those three cities, Toronto's FLGS's have been for the most part untouched by internet discounters because of shipping costs.  So we are still carrying on a tradition mostly unaffected by the Internet here.As a consequence, I would argue that the FLGS's here in my city are probably more healthy and numerous than anywhere else on the continent, relatively speaking. What we see here are not simply gaming stores in the ass end of town (though those are there too). We have the two of the largest shops in town a stones throw away from one another on Yonge St., a block north of Dundas. To put that in perspective, that would be a block north from Times Square, in terms of its retail positioning within NYC. (Yonge and Dundas being Canada's version of Times Square).The stores are in between a large university campus on block to the East and Uof T is five minutes to the West. They are both steps from the subway.One features lots of CCG's, Boardgames, minis and a complete D20 WotC inventory with 10 other RPGs stocked at prices that most US internet discounters have a hard time touching. (Complete Champion I bought a few days ago at 401 Games  for 26.99 CDN - so about $25 USD).  Looking at the prices online, that ain't bad.  It has large space upstairs for gaming and more tables downstairs used all the time for cards. In all seriousness, as FLGS's go, I would say 401 Games is the ideal retailer if you are WotC or Wizkids.  You could hardly ask for a better one.The other shop immediately downtown (HairyT) is more of a hole in the wall gamer dive, but it has some game space and a large inventory of RPG titles that you do not find at anything but the best stocked specialty shop.  It offers the kind of exposure to other brands and games that we used to take for granted in the business 10 years ago but which are rare these days south of the border.The story is repeated elsewhere in Toronto in nearly a dozen other middlin to large FLGS shops.  The retail model from 10 years ago never left here; it never died out.Doubtless I'm biased and I may be seeing things through rose colored glasses. But we have well supplied gaming shops in large Triple A and Double A tier shopping malls in this city too. (Admittedly, no gaming space in those stores). So being confined to the ass end of town never happened here.Given a choice between the internet, the traditional FLGS shops still very much a fixture of the market in Toronto and the B&N model you point to in the USA, I don't think there is any question as a hobby games mftr which one sells my product best and introduces it to new players the most effectively.</blockquote>

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