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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jeffh" data-source="post: 1624521" data-attributes="member: 2642">A case studyThis 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? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f621.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":mad:" title="Mad    :mad:"  data-smilie="4"data-shortname=":mad:" />  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.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f615.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":confused:" title="Confused    :confused:"  data-smilie="5"data-shortname=":confused:" />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.</blockquote>

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