N1SB Labs: 500th Warhammer Store field report

[N1SB]

+++ Thought of the Day: Blessed are the server keepers, for theirs is a difficult and unending task, we thank you all. +++


Hi Fraters, most of the time I write these N1SB Labs reports regarding painting, but this is a special memorandum for the 500th Warhammer Store. It happened to be located in Hong Kong, where Brother D3L, others and I live. I was there on opening day, here're my observations.


+++ The Store Itself +++

...is a good size for our region, where the rent is ridiculously high. Though small, this may possibly be the optimal size for Asian cities. Addendum - it is roughly 15 feet x 20 feet. It is the 3rd store in this city of 7 million people.

The store stretches from basically behind that glass door from the left to the right of the photo; the width of the image basically encapsulates the entire length of the store. It has enough for a 6' x 4' table (actually a bit larger, good table), a painting table for 2 persons and a demo table, both 2' x 4'.

You actually see the whole staff working with customers here. The cardboard boxes are NOT stuff they hadn't shelved yet; they're replenishing stock throughout the day as things were going fast, and the reason was because of things like:


+++ Founder's Dice +++


So these "Citadel Store Founding Dice" are apparently only sold during new store openings. They cost like US$20! They are black with gold markings, including a circle designs and skulls, as shown. Haven't opened yet, bought for a friend:

+++ Special Sales Promotion +++


Another reason why they were selling so fast was there was a promotion: buy £70 or £140 worth of products, get a single box/SKU worth up to the amount you bought. Basically a complicated Buy 1 Get 1 Free. The stipulation: you paint it up for the Global 500th Celebration next week.

There was an annoying thing where, to manage stock levels, our free item had to be mail ordered in. Mine arrived just a few days ago, got it now.

Here's what I got and it was an insanely good deal:



I got the aforementioned Founder's Dice, a Reaver Titan for Adeptus Titanicus and an exclusive Space Marine Heroes Series 2. That was enough to get me 2 Armiger Helverins free. Considering I was buying the Founder's Dice for a friend, I actually spent less than the free Armigers cost.

I have done an unboxing of Space Marine Heroes Series 2 in this separate thread.


+++ Location, Location, Location +++


When I 1st read the address to find this 500th Warhammer Store, it seemed unremarkable. Then I walked around and it was genius.

Hong Kong is a series of Hive Cities. We've got apartment complexes built alongside office towers with multi-floor malls as its base, often interconnected to other Hives by bridges and/or a subway system. We can live, work, play full and fruitful days without ever seeing the sky.

This Warhammer Store is on the 2nd floor above ground of such a Hive City. But then I took a stroll to see other shops around it.

There were a dozen after-school programs for children to teenagers all around it, all intersecting at this one spot.

Additional extra-curricular courses are a huge industry here, so much so that the BBC just wrote an article about it yesterday. Alongside Singapore, Japan, South Korea, we spend more on human capital in education than other countries. So a few miniatures here and there are a drop in the bucket.

And it is reflected here. On the left of that picture is a video game store. Behind the Warhammer Store is a model shop specialising in collector edition Gundams. Then there's other video game stores, model stores, toy stores, kid's clothing stores, all on this floor. This is an exceptional location.

In marketing, we call this network planning. McDonald's is amazing at it, but this is the best example I've seen, going after a new generation of Hobbyists. I'm going to compliment GW's head of this city when I next see him, I'm so impressed.


+++ Conclusion +++


The thing that impressed me most was the location. Its positioning, both literally/physically and metaphorically/marketing-wise, is very strategic; it's not just another store. They're bringing in new Hobbyists not just in product, but in placement. I grew up when Games Workshops were Big Brother clubs, where if my parents couldn't find me they just look there. This particular shop really returns to those roots.

Very pleased by this indication of GW having thought their strategy through, it's not just about introducing Young Adult novels, they're actually reaching out to young adults.

For the limited edition Primaris Lieutenant coming soon, I'm very interested in the inside of the Mk X helmet. Just hearsay, though.


+++ Addendum: The Road to the 500th Store Celebration +++


The 500th Store has been insanely active, they've actually had longer operating hours than normal since it opened, but the official ceremony of its celebration is happening within 12 hours from now. In that time, the following has happened.

A commemorative shirt was revealed, available at all Hong Kong stores. It is a "free" gift if you spend about £130.

As per the aforementioned Special Sales Promotion, we got free large models based on a commitment to present the completed model by the 500th Store Celebration event. I fulfilled that requirement with the Armiger Helverins I received. I had 1 and a half weeks to convert and paint them. Building off my Armies On Parade-winning Patient Zero project (a themed army where a Guardsman unwittingly spreading Nurgle's Rot across the galaxy), I converted them into Plaguemiger Hellvermins:

They're Plaguebearers in Armiger form, with their cyclopean eyes and horn and malnourished-looking frame, a lesser Daemon in a lesser Knight. I'll do a full N1SB Labs on these Plaguemiger Hellvermins later, but I brought to them to the store today, on the eve of the celebration. They were strutting their stuff when they ran into this big dastard:

It was a full-scale Knight possessed by a Great Unclean One. Awfully great work from this Brother. And there were many more like it:

This is a preview of what you may possibly see in Warhammer Community. In addition to the free models we received and committed to bring back to the store for display on the 500th Store Celebration, we also took some of our signature masterpieces. For example, I also brought the Nurgling-operating Wyvern tank. By the time I left the store, there were about 70 monsters & warmachines, and I think we were only aiming for 100 by tomorrow, the actual event.

Now, this was just preparation for the 500th Store Celebration itself, taking on the night before. It's the dress rehearsal, the 11th hour preparations. But to me this was the highlight. Ever felt your Warhammer Store or FLGS was just a really niche sitcom? This night had a running gag.

Everyone came into the store with some sort of carrying case/box/bag for their large model, then paused. It's not simply out of reverence, it's more like they're assessing the situation, figuring out their next step. If they were Chinese, they crossed the threshold as if walking into a martial arts temple, and declared respectfully:

"交功課"

...which means, "I'm handing in my homework." Every single one of us performed this ritual spontaneously without prompting. It was surreal.

Now the words were mundane, but the tone was the same as "Only In Death Does Our Duty End"...because none of us slept the night earlier and we were all walking zombies. We were committed to fulfilling our obligations as to avoid bringing shame to our ancestors or something. It was like being back in school and finishing our final project.

We were knackered, but most of us hung out nonetheless to check out each other's great works. I was in awe. A person showed me Predators converted into remote control cars operated by their cell phones. One guy stuck LEDs into every model he can, and told us "well, your model's cab space could fit in an LED right...here." One dude is such a precise painter he doesn't like using inks or drybrushing because they're too inexact for him, and paints everything traditionally including peacock spots on his Lord of Change's wings. The store manager is a legendary painter in our meta who happens to be a great retail veteran, who has painting disciples. He taught me a very effective way of photographing miniatures just as a matter of course that makes all models look more epic and prevents shakey cam.

We show off our miniatures at Warhammer Stores regularly, but it's usually just whatever we're playing/painting at the moment. This was a masterpiece showcase, like Armies On Parade where there's no prize except learning, so everyone's a winner.

Really great time. Really grateful to the 500th Store, but I might not even go to the actual event, 12 hours as of this writing. And just as I finished updating this field report with the above addendums, the shop just posted this on its Facebook:

[BadgersinHills]

Nice little write up here. The placement is a good thing to hear about, drawing new people into the hobby is never bad.  That promotion is very fine, is it only for the HK store? 

[N1SB]

Only that 1 store, only that 1 day.  Definitely a measured move, to incentivise people who aren't the kids that go to the dozen after-school programmes around it, to find out where it is.  There is a well-respected FLGS 2 subway stops from it (that's how we measure distance, not by miles or kilometers, but by subway stops), but it doesn't open Sundays.  Fills in that gap.

[Gederas]

+++ Location, Location, Location +++

 

When I 1st read the address to find this 500th Warhammer Store, it seemed unremarkable.  Then I walked around and it was genius.

 

Hong Kong is a series of Hive Cities.  We've got apartment complexes built alongside office towers with multi-floor malls as its base, often interconnected to other Hives by bridges and/or a subway system.  We can live, work, play full and fruitful days without ever seeing the sky.

 

This Warhammer Store is on the 2nd floor above ground of such a Hive City.  But then I took a stroll to see other shops around it.

 

There were a dozen after-school programs for children to teenagers all around it, all intersecting at this one spot.

 

Additional extra-curricular courses are a huge industry here, so much so that the BBC just wrote an article about it yesterday ( Alongside Singapore, Japan, South Korea, we spend more on human capital in education than other countries.

 

And it is reflected here.  On the left of that picture is a video game store.  Behind the Warhammer Store is a model shop specialising in collector edition Gundams.  Then there's other video game stores, model stores, toy stores, kid's clothing stores, all on this floor.  This is an exceptional location.

 

In marketing, we call this network planning.  McDonald's is amazing at it, but this is the best example I've seen, going after a new generation of Hobbyists.  I'm going to compliment GW's head of this city when I next see him, I'm so impressed.

 

Clever location planning.

 

Also, I love how the store in the area with the biggest premiums for building size looks about twice the width of my local Warhammer store :lol:

[N1SB]

Ya I totally share this in case it starts becoming a common practice, since a number of trends in and outside of GW suggests there will be a strong push towards opening shops, especially in North America.  It might not be Warhammer Stores, but more FLGS or something.  It's many, many factors.

 

Clever location planning.

 

Also, I love how the store in the area with the biggest premiums for building size looks about twice the width of my local Warhammer store

 

Thanks for sharing this.  Because I did not know that and am honestly surprised.  You corrected my thinking.

 

There's a ratio I've seen people use, it's Rent-to-Revenue.  Like you compare how much rent costs a month to how much money you can just sell goods or services a month.  In the U.S., if rent costs more than 10% of how much you make, that's a bad deal, it's like a rule of thumb.  Here in Hong Kong and other Asian cities, 50% is actually acceptable, to show how crazy it is.

 

Welp, just goes to show the rent is too damn high everywhere.

 

Thanks for the write-up. Sounds exciting and glad fraters got a local GW. That deal is crazy and I’m definitely gonna try to get to an opening in the states if there’s ever another one!

 

This is exactly it.  They might repeat this style of promotion in the future...if this goes well.

 

I don't know what's up, but it's like the GW regional manager (he oversees Hong Kong and Southern China) has a Plan.  He's conscious of the fact it's the 500th store, as you can see from that 500 symbol.  Maybe he's got a special one-off marketing budget to erect some fancy display or balloons.  I've had these, it's like a lump sum of a few thousand US bucks.

 

But instead of spending it on some cutouts or one-day-one-use display...he just said we'll give it to customers, so they create displays for us, in the form of miniatures.  It's much more meaningful in terms of marketing (they're showing off what they sell, from customers, it's like a customer testimonial thing), but also for customer satisfaction (free miniatures, like big ones).

 

I always wanted to do something like this.  But what inevitably happens is we end up hiring local celebrities and the money goes to their agents instead.  This is smarter.

[Gederas]

Clever location planning.

 

Also, I love how the store in the area with the biggest premiums for building size looks about twice the width of my local Warhammer store

 

Thanks for sharing this.  Because I did not know that and am honestly surprised.  You corrected my thinking.

 

There's a ratio I've seen people use, it's Rent-to-Revenue.  Like you compare how much rent costs a month to how much money you can just sell goods or services a month.  In the U.S., if rent costs more than 10% of how much you make, that's a bad deal, it's like a rule of thumb.  Here in Hong Kong and other Asian cities, 50% is actually acceptable, to show how crazy it is.

 

Welp, just goes to show the rent is too damn high everywhere.

Yeah, rent sucks everywhere.

 

But to explain, the picture you posted?

 

The door-way ALONE is about 2/3rds the width of my local Warhammer store. Though, now that I'm taking the time to look at the way the store is set up, I think the Hong Kong one may be about the same size, but set up differently? Like, the one over here is about..... I'd say a 10'x20' area or so?

[N1SB]

Update: it looks like we're getting commemorative T-shirts as well.

I guess this Halloween I'm going dressed as a Warhammer Store manager.

[Ishagu]

Lol

[N1SB]

Back from 500th Store after delivering the free Armiger Helverins, assembled, converted, painted, as per our commitment.  Great time.

 

I've addendum'd the original post to include this new information, plus to review previous questions, like:

 

 

The door-way ALONE is about 2/3rds the width of my local Warhammer store. Though, now that I'm taking the time to look at the way the store is set up, I think the Hong Kong one may be about the same size, but set up differently? Like, the one over here is about..... I'd say a 10'x20' area or so?

 

 

You were nearly spot on!  Good eye!  It was about 15' x 20', but some of that is hidden storage space.