WotC stores: dead?

[Buttercup]

I've been hearing rumors to this effect since mid 2001 if not earlier.

No suprise it would finally happen, I thought it already had.

Yeah, same here. Not that it matters to me, personally. I've never seen a WotC store, nore a Gamekeepers store.

[ hijack ]Besides, I just found out that my not so F LGS will probably be improving astronomically. They just hired our very own Steve Creech! You had better believe that I'll be popping in regularly. Imagine them actually having someone knowledgable about d20 on the payroll! [/hijack]

 

[satori01]

I actually find this a little sad, though of little impact from a role playing perspective since WOTC and game keeper stores had gone out of that buisness a long time ago.

I have fond memories of buying modules from game keeper as a kid along w/ Shogun, Diplomacy, and numerous WW1 and WW2 board games, most of which I still have or have lent to friends,(my copy of Shogun has been w/ the same friend for about 10 years now )

The closing of the Game Keepers stores really signals that board games is a dying market, and entering the hobby/niche retail market segement.
I guess this is ineveitable given the rise of computer games, but something seems sad when the mall Game Keeper cant even sell enough copies of Cranium or Taboo to stay open at all, regardless of no selection of RPG products.

 

[robaustin]

The closing of the Game Keepers stores really signals that board games is a dying market, and entering the hobby/niche retail market segement.
I guess this is ineveitable given the rise of computer games, but something seems sad when the mall Game Keeper cant even sell enough copies of Cranium or Taboo to stay open at all, regardless of no selection of RPG products.

Not really. This is more a function of the market as it is. Toys R Us is the place for folks to get mainstream board games like Taboo and Cranium. Your average Joe might walk into a Game Keeper - see the full price on most board games, see the "geeky" card games and RPG stuff, and walk out. Then they go to TRU where the game they want is discounted.

Board games is NOT a dying market, it's just the board games GAMERS play are a niche market. Most families play Monopoly, Sorry, Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble and other mainstream games with their kids, and are just peachy keen happy about it. Heck we just bought my nephew Stratego for Christmas. Never mind I'd rather play

--*Rob

 

[Luddite]

First off, Gaming stores are not that high on the profitablity scale of retail. It takes a lot of Love and good Business to run one well.

Gaming stores need to realy rely on customer service. WotC and Gamekeeper stores most likely hired generic sales people. Not realy worried about the employee's konwledge of the industry, they just wanted someone to take the money and would show up on time.

It is not enough just to sell games, but gamers now want placed to play/demo and be around other gamers. So that takes a lot of space not dedicated to retail items. The WotC and GameKeeper stores around me all were in very high priced Malls. One of the Wizards store was a huge corner slot next to the movie theaters. Prime location in a very nice Mall. Lots of rent for that. So you have to move a lot of items to cover costs.

I am surprised that Hasbro isn't going to take over the stores, but then they may already belive that it is not worth doing end-point retail. Leave it to the Toy'R'Us and and Kay-Bee toys to sell.

-The Luddite

 

[diaglo]

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...

where do you shop?

the WotC store in the Gwinnett Mall sucked.

the Game Keepers at Town Center at Cobb in Kennesaw, Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville, and North Point in Alpharetta didn't carry any D&D stuff when i visited.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

where do you shop?

the WotC store in the Gwinnett Mall sucked.

the Game Keepers at Town Center at Cobb in Kennesaw, Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville, and North Point in Alpharetta didn't carry any D&D stuff when i visited.

Ack...forgot about that one in Gwinnett. I usually go to the Game Keeper at Town Center. They've always had one wall full of d20 stuff...and surprisingly enough, the guys there KNEW about upcoming books and such.

Though truthfully, I get most of my D&D stuff at Media Play.

 

[Ysgarran]

Does anyone know where those 64 stores are?

Ysgarran.

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

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Does anyone know where those 64 stores are?

Ysgarran.

Not sure, actually...and couldn't find any where that said...so I'm assuming 64 may be ALL of them.

 

[diaglo]

Though truthfully, I get most of my D&D stuff at Media Play.

titan comics, best buy, the war room, waldenbooks, borders, barnes&noble, book nook, and the internet for me.

 

[Turjan]

Our WotC shop here in Mesa is a mixed bag.

I regularly buy some board games there. They have games you can't get anywhere else, and usually they know quite a lot about them. You can have a look at the games before you buy them. If you're into Magic the Gathering, you can go to their frequent tournaments. I think, one of the guys who works there doesn't do anything else than dealing with that game .

On the other hand, they threw out all d20 products quite a while ago. When Dungeon went monthly, they didn't have a clue. And finally, as far as D&D stuff goes, they hardly ever had a discount on anything. Regarding RPG's there's a much better shop up the road in Tempe .