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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WayneLigon" data-source="post: 807012" data-attributes="member: 3649">Any of the big chains destroy local businesses, since no local business can take advantage of the bulk buying the chains can, or the ability to shift inventory based on region. Even normal chains see a loss in business when a discounter moves in.For example: we used to have three used book stores here, and two independent book stores (one of which carried games), and one outlet of Chain X. Then Books-A-Million moved in. Within the year, both indep book stores were out of business, one of the used books stores was gone, and Chain X saw a 25% drop in their sales. So, it's not just Wal-mart.As far as the gaming store promoting gaming? I patronized the bookstore/gaming store for many years. Several of us bought things there on a regular basis. The guy who ran the gaming section told us that, in fact, the gaming section paid for most of the rest of the store. We also went to the FLGS, and spent quite a bit there as well. Then the card game phenomenon happened. Now, a store only has so much cash to spread around. Both the FGLS and the bookstore decided to spend the majority of that on cards. They did a tremendous business, but only with the card people. The RPG people, who had built the business, found that we'd see only the largest of the releases from the big companies. Anything else, we'd have to special order.It's over 100 miles to the next nearest place to buy games. Both of those stores there converted almost entirely to card games; they'd have one small rack of D&D, Hero and the next biggest seller, and some backstock. Then the card game market began to contract. Suddenly, the FLGS found that many of their old customers were not around anymore. They would buy through the mail (those who would buy a release sight-unseen) or go to Atlanta, to Oxford (which itself eventually folded due to BAM and other factors). The bookstore went under due to BAM, but the game store section of it could have survived if they'd kept the old customers.Only in the last three-four years has the FLGS built back it's customer base, and that was only with a change of management. Only with the release of d20 has wall space moved away from Warhammer. So, the FLGS is not there to 'promote gaming', it's there to make cash the same as any other business, and will do what it needs to to make that cash (be that a good or bad decision). It'll 'promote' whatever facet of gaming happens to be the big seller.</blockquote>

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