Why I refuse to support my FLGS

[Sebastian Francis]

So I wanted to buy the game Attack! and checked out my FLGS. They had it for $39.99 (US funds).

Then I went to Toys R Us. They also had Attack!. For $13.99.

FLGS, piss off.

***
Side rant: What's all this nonsense about "supporting" our FLGS, anyway? What are they, charities? Support, my ass. If I want to give "support" to something it will be my family, my friends, my church, my co-workers, or my local charities. Dear FLGS, you're a *business*, for frick's sake. Support *yourself* and stop whining. And while you're at it, stop jacking up the price of Attack! and other games.

 

[the black knight]

Any support for a FLGS goes way beyond keeping the business afloat.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

My refusal to support the nearest FLGS to me isn't economic by any stretch. It's because the owner is a d***head and I impatiently wait to spit on the ruins of his store when he goes under.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

That's how they're supporting themselves.

Small Business Owner A orders 20 lots of Attack! for 25$ a pop.

Toys-R-Us Co. orders 2,000 lots of Attack! for 12$, or even 15$ a pop. Attack! doesn't sell ... it sits on the shelf at FLGS for ages, collecting dust. It sits on the shelves at Toys-R-Us #778 until more product comes in that could use that space, where they sell it at a small loss just to get it gone. Playing the averages for TRUCo., but a big blow to FLGS.

People say "Support Your Local Gaming Store" because those stores stock the niche products that we, the niche consumer, are interested in purchasing. These products don't sell in large numbers, so it's a pretty chancey proposition for the LGS. With Amazon and EBay you can get stuff like that online whenever you want for less money.

The Local Gaming Store is sort of a dying market. The internet is a better model for selling niche products. This is why about 2/3 of stores that sell gaming material keep scaling it back monthly to make room for more CCGs and mini games ... those have high volume return customers and decent turnover.

But I'm still frustrated that I can no longer just walk into a store and check out the selection of books.

--fje

 

[Venport]

I love my FLGS however I have found that you only support them so far, if it is a economic issue don't buy there however if it is the same price at FLGS and some chain i will go with the FLGS every time, For so many reasons

1: i don't think this market will last with out them

2: they are fun with fun people (sometimes)

3: some (including mine) have a place to play games witch span from stupid yu-giho (SP) to miniature battle games to RPG's

4: I can blow my pay check on miniatures instantly (is that a good thing or a bad thing?)



things i hate of FLGS

1: the stupid kids that play yugiho (sp) and try and sell the magic land cards for $5.00 each (dumb a$$es)

2: some times they just cost more

3: they are not open 24-7 (but you can't expect them to)





Just my thoughts

 

[Belen]

So I wanted to buy the game Attack! and checked out my FLGS. They had it for $39.99 (US funds).

Then I went to Toys R Us. They also had Attack!. For $13.99.

FLGS, piss off.

***
Side rant: What's all this nonsense about "supporting" our FLGS, anyway? What are they, charities? Support, my ass. If I want to give "support" to something it will be my family, my friends, my church, my co-workers, or my local charities. Dear FLGS, you're a *business*, for frick's sake. Support *yourself* and stop whining. And while you're at it, stop jacking up the price of Attack! and other games.

You do not have a clue. Attack! probably cost the FLGS $35.00 because they cannot order in bulk. The toy store chain probably bought 20,000 copies and decided to sell it below cost in order to get people to visit them rather than store like the FLGS.

This is why you could get the D&D Basic Game at Walmart for $16.00 when it retailed for $25.00. Walmart paid $16.50 for them, the sold them at a lower price in order to shut down their competition.

Let's not even discuss the fact that as more gamestores die, so does our hobby. WOTC acknowledges that the PRIMARY factor for recruiting new gamers are FLGS.

 

[lgburton]

So I wanted to buy the game Attack! and checked out my FLGS. They had it for $39.99 (US funds).

Then I went to Toys R Us. They also had Attack!. For $13.99.

FLGS, piss off.

***
Side rant: What's all this nonsense about "supporting" our FLGS, anyway? What are they, charities? Support, my ass. If I want to give "support" to something it will be my family, my friends, my church, my co-workers, or my local charities. Dear FLGS, you're a *business*, for frick's sake. Support *yourself* and stop whining. And while you're at it, stop jacking up the price of Attack! and other games.

sounds like you have a FLGS that i wouldn't support - however, i support my FLGS by buying things there rather than hastings or toys'r'us, when the prices are within a few dollars. why do i support the local store, even though i disagree with many of its game-room policies? because, it's better than putting money into a corporation chain store, imho.

if i were going to buy something and i saw that i could purchase it for signifigantly less (more than 10-15$ cheaper) at a chain, i would.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

So I wanted to buy the game Attack! and checked out my FLGS. They had it for $39.99 (US funds).

Then I went to Toys R Us. They also had Attack!. For $13.99.

FLGS, piss off.

***
Side rant: What's all this nonsense about "supporting" our FLGS, anyway? What are they, charities? Support, my ass. If I want to give "support" to something it will be my family, my friends, my church, my co-workers, or my local charities. Dear FLGS, you're a *business*, for frick's sake. Support *yourself* and stop whining. And while you're at it, stop jacking up the price of Attack! and other games.

I assume you game at home, rather than in-store?

As a gamer who exclusively does the latter, I support my FLGS with about 50-60% of my purchases, considering any markup I may pay rent for the free use of their facilities, free access to other games, free or very cheap access to tournaments for mini and card games, and free browsing of product that I would otherwise have to buy before I tried.

As a designer, I save about $40 a month by merely browsing prospective markets rather than having to buy the product just to get a feel for it.

If general services of this sort are worth less than the markup you pay relative to other stores (most of my purchases would not be available in Toys'R'Us, anyway) or, more likely, online, then you shouldn't support your FLGS.

If general services are worth more (as they certainly are to me - I get about $500 worth of general services out of my FLGS each month!), you should look at more than the per item price tags.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I've found that many FLGS' that want to compete are doing things like scaling back the in-store items to only the most popular brands but still special ordering any items that a customer may want, starting a discount program for people that pay a nominal membership to the store, generally being more knowledgable about future releases in the line they carry, generally being nicer to the customer regardless. Granted, I've never had a problem with the last point, but I've read about many posters here that have. My FLGS offers a 10% discount on new items for the month after they are released, plus if you're a member of the store, you get an additional 5% discount on top of that. That has kept me coming bac to them for all of my print and boardgame purchases. That 15% beats most online retailers especially when you factor in shipping costs.

Kane

 

[smootrk]

If the game store is within a few bucks of other offerings I will buy from them. But, sadly, typically they are way, way, way off of what can be found elsewhere. The game store becomes for me just a simple dice supplier, unless they have a particular sale of a product that I have been looking for.