Why I don't support my LGS

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Good for you. I dont feel compelled to shell out for pointless gamer charity.

Me neither. I can't fathom the idea that I should feel necessary to pay more for a product in order to subsudize someone elses buisness, especially in a fringe buisness like selling games. This isn't major industry that props up the local economy or anything. I always tell new gamers I meet they are much better off buying online.

 

[werk]

Well, my local store is great and I treasure it. Just in case any Torontonians are reading this it's WATCHER COMICS on Queen Street East. Friendly, knowledgable staff who will get you whatever you need.

Ooo ooo ooo, I want to plug my FLGS too! Misty Mountain

It's not the store I'd make, but I really don't have any genuine complaints. They stay open (a little) past closing for us all the time and despite fatbeards are still nice.

 

[MojoGM]

It's time for the rebirth of Paradox Books.

My wallet couldn't take the hit a second time

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Good for you. I dont feel compelled to shell out for pointless gamer charity.

That is a valid point. I'm not going to make it my mission to save a poorly-run store from themselves. I live three blocks from the location of a wondrous FLGS that died horrifically due to mismanagement. I feel like I should leave offerings of burnt M:tG cards to appease the spirit of the store.

But, personally, I don't typically buy my gaming stuff online. I like being able to browse a book before I purchase it, which is darn hard to do with Amazon. Also, because shopping is just as much about the experience of looking for the item as it is getting it, online purchase seems rather more like an admission of defeat than I'd prefer. But that's just me.

Brad

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I work in a restaurant/bar and I will let people know when we are closing because otherwise they forget. I will then remind them again about 10 minutes later because they get caught up in talking and forget to finish up their drinks so we can close before we have to go take their drinks away from them (there are times when we must legally do this).

In a busy/noisy/loud environment like a bar or restraunt, people that heard you give the "ten minutes till close call" are not necessarily the same people as heard the "five minutes to go" call. Its not badgering because you are letting a lot of people know the information in a chaos. In a FLGS with 2 or 3 people in the store you don't need to keep badgering people with 5 minute countdowns. Thats poor service.

DS

 

[Priest_Sidran]

Be thankful you have a gaming store at all. The nearest one to me is 90 miles away so while I can see being upset about a little bit of rushing. I say, learn to live with it, and don't expect a guy you don't know to go out of his way to let you browse the store a little longer.

I have very little sympathy for people who bad mouth the local game store, I don't have one anymore because people who shared your mentality didn't give a few extra bucks a month to keeping one around.

Lucky this is Enworld and not somewhere else, man. I say deal with a little rough handling, maybe the man just had a bad day.

And your logic about him giving you the heads up that his store is closing is flawed. He told you he was closing, your lack of respect at getting what you needed, and getting gone was more of a rude gesture. He told you the information you needed, as a customer you should have respected his Time to Close, as what it was, instead of thinking he was just there to sale something to you.

I had the same deal happen when we still had the game store here in town, the guy behind the counter had somewhere to go, and told us four or five times closing would be happening in 10, 5, 0 minutes. Dude just didn't tell us he shut the store down turned off the lights and jangled his keys with a Warhammer 40k game mid process. Of course he turned the lights back on for the guys to gather their pieces but he didn't let them stick around for the final round. You want a rude retail guy he was it, and no one bothered to curse him out, they had been told it was their fault, they knew it. A lack of respect for others leads to this sort of thing. Just because he works at a store that garners little money doesn't give people the right to make him lag past his store hours. Those owners, employee's who do often do so because they don't have other things to do, or don't care about the hours posted. He obviously did. You don't want to give him your cash, don't whine about it, just don't do it.

Sorry to come off as a bit miffed about your post but, when you don't have something it is more than you can bear when others don't appreciate having what you lack.

 

[frankthedm]

And your logic about him giving you the heads up that his store is closing is flawed. He told you he was closing, your lack of respect at getting what you needed, and getting gone was more of a rude gesture. He told you the information you needed, as a customer you should have respected his Time to Close, as what it was, instead of thinking he was just there to sale something to you.

Only the store owner decides if the the 'customer' or the 'time to close' gets higher priority.

I had the same deal happen when we still had the game store here in town, the guy behind the counter had somewhere to go, and told us four or five times closing would be happening in 10, 5, 0 minutes. Dude just didn't tell us he shut the store down turned off the lights and jangled his keys with a Warhammer 40k game mid process. Of course he turned the lights back on for the guys to gather their pieces but he didn't let them stick around for the final round. You want a rude retail guy he was it,

The only rude part was not putting the minis away at the 5 minute mark.

 

[BryonD]

Only the store owner decides if the the 'customer' or the 'time to close' gets higher priority.

Absolutely correct.
Though I am frequently boggled by people who choose a few minutes time over doing what it takes to finish a quality job (at whatever vocation) and then expect to have the same success as people who put quality first.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Ooo ooo ooo, I want to plug my FLGS too! Misty Mountain

Me Two!....er, I mean Misty Mountain Games Two over here in Burnsville MN

The store recently opened and provides me with a nearby game store place beside Swindler's...

They often run tournments and have no problem with my game going a little over time. Of course, two of my players kinda work the store and at least three of us make our monthly purchases during the game

In my opinion a game store needs to understand that their main product is not the paper sitting on the shelves, its providing a common ground place for gamers. A good store can instill a loyalty in the customers and bring in the $$ that would otherwise go to Amazon, and the best way to do that is to be a little more lenient to the customers schedules.
On the flip side, customers need to understand that a game store is not a charity...its a business. Sometimes that clerk has been the only one there for 10 hours and spent most of the day herding Pokeman Leagues... so give em a break!

Anyway...

 

[Vegepygmy]

He told you he was closing, your lack of respect at getting what you needed, and getting gone was more of a rude gesture. He told you the information you needed, as a customer you should have respected his Time to Close, as what it was, instead of thinking he was just there to sale something to you.

He is just there to sell something to customers. That's what a retail salesperson does.

I had the same deal happen when we still had the game store here in town...

No, you didn't. You had a bunch of slackers hanging out, playing a game...not looking for stuff to buy. That's not the same situation at all, and no one in their right mind would fault him for kicking the deadbeats out (though it never hurts to be as nice as possible about it).