Why should I care about the FLGS?

[jeffh]

A case study

This is just a detailed look at one gamer's situation, and why most of his roleplaying purchases this callendar year have either been online, or confined to one special occasion when a B&M store actually competed on price with the online places.


There are two reasonably serious FLGS' in Winnipeg, both of which have been around for a long time and both of which have serious problems.

Pendragon's biggest problem is, quite simply, that the owner is a jerk. He's snarky and abusive to customers - not always, but far too often - and he takes the mere existence of other gaming stores in the city as a personal insult.

Their positive side is that everyone else who works there is really nice and reasonably knowledgable, they know their product lines, and they generally have a really good selection. They get products on their release dates and display them prominently, they display most products face-out and let you browse, and they're okay with special-ordering, if a little more hesitant than I'd like. I should also mention that the owner has been crucial to keeping a local convention and the local Magic tournament scene alive, so I'm glad he exists, I just really don't want to deal with him personally if I can avoid it.

I had sort of boycotted his store for about five years due to his behaviour, then I tried it again a few times and had more or less positive experiences, so I started buying stuff there more often. When I moved to somewhere only a few blocks from where the store was then located, I became a regular, $50-100 a month customer, ignoring the occasional minor run-in with the owner. Then he did something brutally rude to me that I really couldn't ignore, so I set down my would-be purchases that day, walked out and don't generally go back anymore.

That was late last year, and I've stuck to my renewed boycott except for one big run of purchases when he had to move the store recently and had a big sale. He actually has two locations now, but the main one is no longer convenient for me to get to. I've picked up a couple of magazines at the secondary one, which is still within walking distance of me, so I guess my resolve is weakening a bit boycott-wise.

Campaign Outfitters is a store that has gone way, way downhill. This once-great gaming store now rarely gets roleplaying products of any kind on time or in reasonable quantities, except for the core WotC books. Their product knowledge is pathetic; they tried to tell me Fields of Blood didn't exist, because it wasn't in the WotC catalog, and D20 means WotC, right? Nice kid, I thought to myself, but he's, I say, he's a few bricks short of a load.

Even special-ordering from them is a nightmare. Back in February or March, just after the above-mentioned conversation, I special-ordered Fields of Blood and another, non-D20 book. They told me they would definitely have FoB in three weeks, and would get back to me ASAP about the other book. Five weeks later, I hadn't heard a peep out of them, so I called them and they didn't know when they would have FoB. Oh, and by the way, the other book I'd special-ordered at the same time wouldn't be arriving at all.

By this time, Pendragon were having their aforementioned big sale, so that very day I bought Fields of Blood and several other products there at 20% off. The following week CampOut (as some local gamers call it) called to say they had finally gotten FoB. I told them what had happened. Then, just last week, they called AGAIN to say that it had finally arrived, did I still want it. Huh?

Why should I spend a dime at either of these places?

There is a new player in town, Game Knight. They have the strangest physical setup I've ever seen; they are located in the back of a store that sells wine-making stuff, which at least makes for a nice atmosphere, if a bit crowded. Apparently the two owners are really good friends or something. Their selection is small but the choices they've made are pretty solid - they have basically WotC stuff, some White Wolf, and a few of the best (or at least best-selling) third-party D20 lines, plus CCGs and a *LOT* of D&D Miniatures, which seems to be what they do most of their business in. They apparently have a big basement and will keep the store open anytime a group wants to play there, and they give a 10% discount off their stickered prices (which don't seem to be artificially marked up to compensate, as some have complained about) just for showing up. Their owner is EXTREMELY friendly and fairly knowledgable. I think that when possible, my brick-and-mortar purchases will tend to be from them, but if they would have to special-order something to get it for me, I might as well order it online myself.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I just looked it up online and it looks metro accessible (I am, alas, a poor grad student and therefore metro bound), but perhaps you could confirm that for me? I am dying of Shadowrun starvation and the stores I've been to have laughable selections. Though perhaps you're not an expert on that either. Ah, well, worth a shot...

They've got a decent selection. They get the new stuff in when it comes out, and order enough that I know I'm not the only one getting SR stuff. They don't have much older stuff, though I'm not sure if that'll be a problem for you. They do carry a lot of the smaller games, too, which is nice.

It is walkable from White Flint Metro, though it's uphill both ways. They'll have directions on their website, though you really wind up making a left after you go out of the Metro stop, cross and turn right at the intersection, and then turn left without crossing at the next intersection. Go down that road (literally), past the Chinese restaurant and Wendy's, and it's in the cluster of shops past the furniture store, under the lighting store and next to a framing store.

Brad

If/when you go, they're open later on Wednesdays-Saturdays, and it's best if you go on a nice day, as it's a mean walk if it's particularly hot or cold out.

 

[Funksaw]

I don't know about this one, so many "f"LGS that I have had to deal with over the years have been kind of snobbish if they didn't know you "personally" or you weren't there to buy the newest ccg. The one in college would give their valued customers (read friends) a 10-20% discount and then mark everything else up accordingly so that you were often paying *more* than listed price. The one here in Austin is nice enough but they have never attempted to engage me in conversation other than to say "can i get something for you?" or "going to be buying that?" and that isn't what I think of as friendly. The game store I grew up with would actually *talk* to you if you stopped in more than once a month. He made sure he knew your name if you stopped in more than twice a month. I get tired of all this "save the flgs" ranting I hear sometimes. A store is a store is a store, the people are what make it special. If you have someone local who cares about you and values you then buy there, if not get it wherever you can.

my two cents

1) Kaleon: I'm also in Austin, and I'd be interested in gaming. Give me an email: funksaw@linuxmail.org.

2) As for Dragon's Lair, (which is what I'm assuming you're referring to, other than Thor's Hammer and King's Hobby) I've not found this to be the case. Yeah, it took a while before the guys there could remember my name, but they do now. I have good conversations, they listen to my suggestions, and they're always, always courteous, even when they didn't "know" me.

If you're having trouble getting them to remember you, feel free to strike up a conversation when they're not too busy and you're browsing. Talk about your preferences in RPGs and why - they can usually reccomend stuff and engage in conversation. The one thing I've noticed about Dlair is that their staff knows more about the collectable games and the comics than anything else - so they're more than willing to listen to customers who can tell them what game new game X is about, and why they would prefer it to game Y. They don't tend to follow the online boards, so they're usually finding out about stuff when it comes out in Game Trade Magazine. Give Dlair another try.

 

[shock the monkey]

To me, the best gaming store only exists in the past. It was on the lower level of Marina Pacifica, in Long Beach, in Alamitos Bay. You could take a sailboat there, hitch on the lower level, play video games at the arcade, grab a dog, and wander through the new gaming store that had cases of pewter figures, recently pressed copies of Tomb of Horrors, and nearly everything associated with this strange new hobby that had captured everyone's imagination. I bought all my 1e stuff there. It is permanently etched in my memory.

Fast forward twenty five years; now gaming stores smell and they look worse than those old English pubs with architecture from the 15th century. The people who hang out inside these stores scare me somewhat.

Sure, I'm pining for the past, but I never expected the present to look like this.

I like amazon, I like eBay. Give me the 32% discount any day of the week. I trust my own instincts.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Hmm...

[rant]

As far as selfish captialism goes, there's a reason you might want to shop locally...to help keep your local economy healthy. I don't know about you, but I don't enjoy living in those suburb areas in which the only shops around are the enormous big box stores that cluster near the highways.

I live in Montreal, and one of the best things about living here is that the local economy still exists. There are many small shops around that have many unique and interesting products and services for sale. I don't have to go halfway across town to get my shoe fixed or my keys cut, because there's a place in my neighbourhood to do it in. They add character and convenience to my neighbourhood.

And the money I spend at these shops goes back into the community. Instead of buying something at Wal-mart, who will take the money and send it off to head office, I buy it at the local hardware store, or the local furniture store, or the local whatever store. The local shops generally have better quality stuff, because they're not trying to sell for as low as they possibly can (Wal-mart and other big chains tend to choose bottom-of-the-barrel products in order to increase their profit margin). And the money I spend goes into the pockets of the people in my community.

If some big chain stores moved in (and they are threatening to), and everyone abandoned the local shops for the big stores, the people who now make a decent living running their own shops would be driven out of business. And while they might be able to get jobs at the chain stores, they'd probably be making minimum wage. So the income level of my neighbourhood would go down. Lower incomes means more social problems, especially when people previously had more money. So the quality of life in my neighbourhood goes down. And I suffer, because I didn't shop locally.

Big chains like Wal-mart and others (but Wal-mart is the paradigm case) have been sucking the economy out of small towns across America for years now. Empirically, we know how the system will play itself out. They eventually drain all the money out of a community because they aren't paying the money back into the pockets of the people there, which would be the case with small business. Eventually, the amount they skim off the top (and that's a pretty large amount) gets shuffled off to corporate headquarters, and isn't returned to the area. So the local economy shrinks over time.

This is not such a large problem in a large city, where a big box store may feed the economy in other ways (eg. local head offices providing management jobs). However, for a niche market like RPGs, it's probably very important to make sure you're giving people an incentive to carry the products you want.

[/rant]

 

[ShinHakkaider]

I don't...

My FLGS is about 2 blocks away from where I work, the only reason that I would buy anything from there is that I don't feel like waiting for an online order to come in.

But the amount of money that I save at places like Amazon some times with that extra money I could make a purchase that I normally would not have been able to make at my LGS. My LGS offers NO discount + NYC sales tax. Amazons low prices some times 20% - 30% off cover pices + free shipping and no tax and sometimes I get my books in a day or two after I place the order.

Amazon wins almost everytime. Occaisonally I'll buy dice or a box of minis from my LGS, bt when I see pre-orders for things like Giants of Legend for $15.00 a box and locally I get hit with $20.00 + tax, I'm more likely to do my shopping online.

People can pretty much shop wherever they like, but I find it pretty offensive to be told who I should be supportting with MY hard earned cash.

 

[Hida Bukkorosu]

i support my local FLGS cause i like to have a place to play L5R tournaments

 

[GSHamster]

Maybe it's just a Canadian thing, but all the LGS around here do a decent job matching on price.

For example, I ordered Eberron from Amazon.ca. Total came to $45 CDN. It would have taken about a week for the book to arrive. I went to a LGS and saw it there for a total of $50 CDN. So I cancelled my Amazon order, and picked it up from the LGS. Sure it's slightly more expensive at the LGS, but I got it immediately, and if there was a problem (crazy printing error) it would be a heck of a lot easier for me to return the book.

Personally, I find that all the LGS around here are reasonably competitive on price. They're also reasonably knowledgeable, and will gladly order stuff for you. The prices aren't absolutely as low as on the internet, but they aren't significantly higher.

 

[moticon]

I've purchased from both sources, but have generally had better luck (in terms of availability) with my FLGS. I like to go in, look things over, and see what I'm buying before I buy it. Plus, I like to be able to get things quickly when I'm ready to purchase (not necessarily prudent, but there you are). However, sometimes the owner and his staff were rude and defensive, and offered poor advice. Although I'd still shop there, it was mainly driven by convienence over having to wait. When I was in no hurry and knew exactly what I wanted, I might still purchase online.

From this you can see that there is a value offered by the FLGS that the online store doesn't have, the ability to browse, select personally, and have right away (speed).

Which brings me to my main point -- If the FLGS wants to stay in business they need to offer some value to the customer for the extra money they charge. This means some local marketing and outreach to the targeted community, personal attention, truly *freindly* environment, or whatever it is that you (the customer) would like to have but probably won't get with an online location.

If they don't offer some extra value, they will compete on price and this will be their downfall. Mine offered some value but offset that with some poor shopping experiences. On balance I still go there, but it wouldnt' take much to push me out the door, just as it wouldn't take much to lock in my loyalty.

Moticon

 

[AIM-54]

They've got a decent selection. They get the new stuff in when it comes out, and order enough that I know I'm not the only one getting SR stuff. They don't have much older stuff, though I'm not sure if that'll be a problem for you. They do carry a lot of the smaller games, too, which is nice.

It is walkable from White Flint Metro, though it's uphill both ways. They'll have directions on their website, though you really wind up making a left after you go out of the Metro stop, cross and turn right at the intersection, and then turn left without crossing at the next intersection. Go down that road (literally), past the Chinese restaurant and Wendy's, and it's in the cluster of shops past the furniture store, under the lighting store and next to a framing store.

Brad

If/when you go, they're open later on Wednesdays-Saturdays, and it's best if you go on a nice day, as it's a mean walk if it's particularly hot or cold out.

Thanks for the info! I'll definitely check it out.

Also thanks to Vocenoctum for the website.

J