WotC stores: dead?

[Bards R Us]

On the gamingreport website, someone is saying that WotC will close all their Wizards of the Coast stores as well as The Game Keeper stores as well.

Here's the link:
http://www.gamingreport.com/article.php?sid=11286&mode=thread&order=0

Thoughts?

Most of the stuff they sold were family oriented board and card games, so it doesn't seem like it will affect DnD or even M:tg much.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Well, since I have never seen a WoTC store, and the Game Keepers all closed around here years ago, I don't think it will have any impact whatsoever.

 

[Wombat]

Haven't shopped at either of these type of stores in years.

The local WotC store was always a joke; the last time I saw a Game Keeper it was in Santa Barbara, and they primarily sold jigsaw puzzles, with a few Magic cards and one copy of the old 2e rules hiding in the back in a rather embarassed manner...

I shop quite happily at Games Unlimited

 

[Endur]

The Game Keeper stores in my area were profitable, but the WOTC stores had huge losses.

I'm not surprised that the stores are being shut down. Typical corporate mismanagement.

If you are going to shut down a retail chain, post-Christmas would be the right time to do it. Most of the money a retail store makes is during the Christmas season.

 

[Davelozzi]

I think this is pretty much a good thing. The stores were never run that well and got continually worse. I think it's better that Wizards lets the local games stores handle the retail side of the business, it was obviously never their strong suit.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Our Game Keeper IS the WotC store here...it does great, and I'm really surprised it would be closing. I'm dropping by there tommorrow anyway, and I think I'll have to ask the guy there about this...

 

[Gizzard]

It looks like its true; I just saw Hasbro explained it in a press release. 64 stores, within 60 days. Eeek. Here is a link to the release on a stock website:

http://finance.lycos.com/qc/news/story.aspx?symbols=NYSE:HAS&story=200312292002_APO_V9334

 

[KenM]

I never went to one of those stores, as there were none near me. But from what I read on here, they always got the new WOTC stuff later then other stores and the employees did not know much about the products.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

And some people said thier reorganization of the focus of the stores 6-12 months ago wasn't a corporate plot to get them to fail so they could legitamately close down a sector they had no interest in.

 

[Kanegrundar]

While I never like to see people lose their jobs, I can't say that I'll one bit sad to see the WotC stores go the way of the do-do. I was in one in the Seattle-area a couple years ago and wasn't one bit impressed. The RPG selection was abysmal and the staff wasn't helpful in the best cases and down right rude in the worst cases. Most of the people that worked there didn't seem like they cared for their jobs or the product. It struck me as strange since many of the gaming shops I've been to have been manned by those that generally enjoy gaming in one form or another.

Kane