What is your local game store situation?

[DaveMage]

Back in the 80s, there was one a few blocks down from the campus on W. University and 8th or so. Fantastic little combo sci-fi/fantasy book/comic/gamestore. I spent probably 90% of my meager entertainment dollar there. The guy that ran the place was always really friendly and helpful, the place was clean and organized, the selection was fantastic. To this day it epitomizes what I want in a gaming store. Alas, when I returned a few years after graduation to see my brother at a college bowl match, it was gone, along with Skeeters and Lord Munchies and many other of my favorite places.

"Novel Ideas" was the first GS I ever went to when I came to Gainesville in 1988. The store had lots of gaming stuff and a whole slew of dirty magazines which (when I was 18 and before Internet) was amazing. I loved that place. Eventually the owner got rid of the dirty magazines (which, looking back on it now was no doubt a very good idea), closed that store and moved to a new location. The second location ultimately failed and then he joined with the bookstore he's with currently.

We had another store here that closed back in (I think) 2004 called the Travelling Mage. I liked that store and spent a lot of money there.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

"Novel Ideas" was the first GS I ever went to when I came to Gainesville in 1988. The store had lots of gaming stuff and a whole slew of dirty magazines which (when I was 18 and before Internet) was amazing. I loved that place. Eventually the owner got rid of the dirty magazines (which, looking back on it now was no doubt a very good idea), closed that store and moved to a new location. The second location ultimately failed and then he joined with the bookstore he's with currently.

We had another store here that closed back in (I think) 2004 called the Travelling Mage. I liked that store and spent a lot of money there.

Huh. I don't remember the porn, but I graduated summer of '89 and the last few months I was in Gainesville I was too busy to game (and most of my group were away that summer anyway). Maybe it wasn't that prominent initially or maybe I'm just getting old

If you ever see the guy, tell him someone remembers the place fondly, anyway.

 

[Glyfair]

Here are some statistics, based on this poll.

61% of those answering the poll who have a local game store visit it regularly.
69% of those with multiple game stores visit one regularly.
44% of those with one game store visit it regularly.

It's interesting how low the game store loyalty is among those with a single store. I can think of two possible reasons for this (and it's likely a combination).

First, it's probably more likely that areas with multiple gaming stores have a strong gaming community. That encourages someone to visit the store to keep in touch with it, and also probably helps the quality of the gaming stores since they get more feedback because of the community.

Secondly, those with multiple gaming stores have a choice. There have been a few comments about those who say they don't visit because they dislike the store, owner or clientèle. If you have multiple stores in your area you have choices. If you dislike one you might frequent the other. Plus, the competition means the stores need to serve the community to compete.

57% have multiple gaming stores in their area.
30% have only one.
13% don't have one at all (half of which had one, but it closed recently).

That's not too surprising, since a strong gaming community (which is needed to support multiple games stores) creates more gamers. Areas with no gaming stores aren't going to create many gamers.

 

[Kunimatyu]

I'm near SciFiGenre(www.scifigenre.com), and it's the best game store I've ever been in. It's big, clean, hosts lots of events, and best of all, they've got a warehouse connected to the building for their Internet discount sales, so they always have what I'm looking for. The coolest thing by far is that you can order via the website and get the Internet discount (15-20% off usually) and then swing by the store later in the week to pick your stuff up.

It's an absolutely stellar business model (that's working very well for them, I hear), and I'm going to miss the store quite a lot when I move out of NC in August.

 

[boerngrim]

There are two game stores within 30 minutes of my home. Both are within 10 minutes of where I work though. Neither carries a decent selection of RPG. They each have a bit of WoTC core product. They both do much more business in card games. They both have very nice gaming areas with multiple tables. Both also sell and support minis games mostly Star Wars minis.

Chautauqua Comics: I used to work here. The owner is very knowledgeable about comics, but not games. He does sell minis in both boosters and singles, but his singles ar marked up a bit too much IMO. Good business in CCGs. Big selection of singles. Carries all CCGs I've ever heard of, and some I haven't. I tried to give him my RPG purchase business, but after my orders were mishandled (oops forgot to order that! What do you mean that's not what you ordered?) a few times I gave up.

Games Revolution: This store is fairly new, been open less than a year. The owner is friendly and asks if he can order anything for you if he doesn't have it. Mostly does business in CCGs and Minis.

 

[ephemeron]

Borders was the closest thing to an LGS I had for over a year, then two new game stores appeared in the last few months.

 

[Cameron]

Not too sure of the situation, to be honest. I was there years ago to get my core books, but the quality of the employees at the WotC site convinced me that I should spend my money on non-WotC products. I have not spent a single cent on buying stuff that is made by them since. I get what I need through other methods.

 

[Nyeshet]

There are three in the local area, but two cater almost exclusively to comics and card games. I could find plenty of Magic the Gathering there if I wished, but any rpg book I wanted to buy would have to be ordered - which I could do just as easily myself. The third one is large and has a good selection (of rpg books, card games, anime, dice, miniatures - both for war games and for rpg games, and so forth), but it is far enough away that I can visit it only occasionally.

Thus, most of my purchases tend to be online - either through ENWorld's store, Amazon.com, or (for pdfs) often directly from the website of the publisher.

 

[Evilhalfling]

I have two that I visit in Denver.
Attactix has 1/2 the floor space dedicated to tables with one room for wargaming and a second for card tournaments magic.. pokeman .. whatever is hot (no idea really)
there are at least two RPG groups that I see there regularly and they seem to use whichever room is less occupied.

The other is Black & Read an independent bookstore with a huge wall dedicated to gaming, at least half used books in good condition. They sell new books at a discount of 20%, promote local cons, and have bulletin board. The only element lacking is table space.

Attactix is only 3 miles while B&R is in the opposite corner of the metro area. None of the other shops I have seen in Denver (1-3?) match either of these in selection.

I believe in supporting the FLGS so all my books come from those two, although I have purchased PDFs even when the physical book was available (Iron Heroes, MMS:WE, dretch to demonlord...)

 

[Dykstrav]

All Fun and Games is located in Apex/Cary on the corner of Hwy 64 and Lake Pine road. They definitely cater to the RPG crowd. Hell, the owner is in my gaming group. They have 3-5 RPG games held there per week.

I've heard of them but never gotten a chance to head out that way. Never gotten around to swinging by Lost Goblin Games either. Hence, while I knew of them, I didn't consider them for purposes of this poll...

Incidentally, the places I was talking about before are Hobby Masters (on the corner of Lynn and Creedmoor in Raleigh) and Cerebral Hobbies. Hobby Masters has always been cool to me and there are some real treasures in their bargain bins. I stopped going to Cerebral Hobbies a few years back because they always pressured me to either buy something or leave (not politely, either) whenever they had CCG things going on there. That, and Hobby Masters is closer to me anyway.