What is your local game store situation?

[Jeysie]

There is one in my area. However, it's 45 minutes away by bus in the middle of a residental and mom & pop area, has a fairly small selection, and their scheduled games tend to be all Magic, DDM, and other wargaming (none of which interest me) instead of table-top.

Since there's comic and mini shops at the major shopping centers, and the bookstores in the same area have a decent spread of RP books, I tend to go there instead when I have a geek yen. Especially since it takes only a little more time on the bus to get there, and I can do other errands at the same time (whereas there's pretty much nothing else of interest around the LGS).

Peace & Luv, Liz

 

[Glyfair]

What exactly does "local" mean in this case?

Whatever you think it means. Basically, whatever distance you consider reasonable to visit any gaming store.

It likely varies by area. Non-metropolitan Alaska probably has a wider local area than mid-Atlantic Coast, for example.

In my case one of the stores I visit regularly (The Days of Knights) is less than a 5 mile trip, the other (Between Books) is slightly over a 20 mile trip.

We had a third that lasted about a year. It had a huge gaming area, an internet cafe (supposedly the center of the business) & costume shop. It used to be a ballroom and one ballroom was the gaming area, and an area next to it was supposed to be not used (from what I hear) by LARPers used to use it (the "bash each other with fake swords" type) and the noise was supposed to be distracting.

However, they were silly enough to open across the street from one of the existing gaming stores. Both stores have been around the area since 1981 or earlier, so large number of gamers avoided it. It also hurt that they catered to a crowd that tended to hang out and not buy much (or so I've heard). It didn't end well (one owner showed up and loaded up a truck one day and started loading stuff up so he'd get something out of it).

 

[VictorC]

There is a fairly decent one in my area, I would shop there more if the owner that also runs the place wasn't a total nutsack.

 

[Eryndur]

I know of two in Manhattan, that are short subway rides away: The Compleat Strategist and Neutral Ground.

The Strat I love, if only because it's packed to the rafters with gaming bliss. The staff are helpful when needed, but don't get in your way. On the downside, it is CRAMPED as all get-out, and therefore I'm always vaguely uncomfortable browsing, as I'm constantly getting out of someone's way. Also, I've never noticed any big sales. But if I gotta have something right this instant, I can count on the Strat having a copy.

Neutral Ground -- the less said about it the better. Much larger space, most of which is taken up by miniature and CCG gaming tables. There's a LAN area, and a surprisingly decent RPG selection, with mostly Wotc and WW represented. All the major NYC CCG events take place here, so the level of shrill adolescent voices tends to irritate. They have one RPG dedicated table that is out of the way, which is nice, but it's hard to book a slot to your liking. A few years ago, I used to play in a weekly game out in the open arena, and the constant hovering of CCG players was unbearable, especially when they started espousing the virtues of their own characters...

It surprises me that there aren't more gaming stores in the NYC metro area, but maybe I just don't know about them. Anybody know of any other subway-accessible stores?

 

[Arkhandus]

Hmm. I still dunno how to vote. "Local" is such a vague term. There is currently 1 LGS that I would consider to be 'nearb'y' my house in Glendale, AZ, and a few that are kinda-local, out at the far edges IIRC of Phoenix and, err, some other town around here (can't remember if the Borders or the wargaming store are technically at the edge of Glendale, or the edge of Scottsdale or something else).

There's Manawerx about a 30-minute bike ride from my house, which is about 5-10 minutes away by car (on the rare occasion I can bum a ride off somebody). It's kinda-FLGS, mainly focused on Magic: The Gathering, and many of the regular crowd there are annoyingly elitist for no good reason, but the employees are alright and there's lots of tables. They have a few RPG books for now, but generally only special-order them if someone asks. I run a D20 Modern/Future campaign there lately, after the previous DM's D&D game kinda fell apart from players' schedule changes and such. At some point we'll resume D&D, but for now I just started an early-Saturday-evening 'Mecha Crusade' campaign.


There used to be a Beyond Gaming nearby, about a 5-10 minute bike ride away, but they closed in January or February IIRC.

Only other LGSes I know of besides that are one store about 2-3 hours' bus ride away (counting the walking I have to do, and the 30-60 minute waiting periods for busses going that way) (20-25 minutes away by car), which mainly sells wargaming stuff and just a bit of CCGs and RPGs, and another 2 stores about 1 hour's bus ride away, at Metrocenter (15-20 minutes away by car); Atomic Comics and Game Nightz or somesuch. Oh, and there's a Waldenbooks at Metrocenter that has a few RPG books near its Fantasy novels section. And a Borders in the opposite direction, about 2 hours' bus ride away (20 minutes away by car), that also has a few RPG books.


Sucks. Back in Michigan I lived near 2 game stores and was aware of a few others in the neighboring townships (none of this half-dozen-cities-crammed-together-around Phoenix-and-indistinguishable-from-one-another crud). The Fun Factory was a 5-10 minute bike ride away, and Hocus Pocus was another 5 minutes away from there. And they had a friendlier atmosphere (also, TFF has a few arcade games, which Dave switches out every so often).

 

[Old Gumphrey]

The nearest gaming specific store is over 30 minutes from me (all the ones they put near my area wither and die within a year or two). I usually head to Borders or Barnes & Noble to read new books that come out, then I buy them on Amazon. I've heard people talk about supporting your local game store and stuff, but what good does it really do when you have 30% off books with free shipping a mouse click away? I don't think I'll ever buy anything but dice at a gaming store again.

 

[Roadkill101]

I know of one in my area for certain, it's maybe a ten minute drive at best from my home. There was a second maybe 30-45 minutes drive from my home, but I'm not sure it's still in business (I checked it out once, not long after it opened). I don't count the chain retail book stores (Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc.) of which I probably have a good ten or so to choose from.
I rarely visit the LGS, unless I want a new set of dice or a new mini (the pewter variety, no plastic crap for me).

 

[Rothe]

Four I consider local, but two have such horrendous parking situations (not their fault) and traffic situations I can never justify the time to get to them. The other two have nice staff but are really focused on GW miniatures and card games. Oddly enough, one of the coolest local board game selections can be found at a nursery (the plant variety) in their kids toy section. many cool games from Germany.

 

[Riley]

I'm a bad boy. I have a couple in town but I haven't visited them in ages. I have been buying more PDFs, for one thing, and I haven't been on a WotC shopping spree in a good long time. I also buy online.

That makes me a little sad (not that you are a bad boy, but that I'm not in Madison anymore, and there's no game store to speak of in my new hometown of Northfield, MN.) I make a point of stopping by Pegasus Games every time I pass through Madison. Been going there (in some location or another) for about 25 years now. Used to annoy the clerks as a 12 year old by spending hours drooling over miniatures and books that I couldn't afford to buy.

I'll have to check out a couple of the stores mcrow is recommending in the Twin Cities.

 

[Bloosquig]

I have one nearby that I found while looking for a place to do miniature wargaming. Seems like a nice enough place and they rotate what games get the tables so there is a day for rpgs. I've never been down there for anything other then warhammer though since my experiences with meeting new people to play any rpg's with are crummy.