Minor rant

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

Just need to get this off my chest.

 

moved from the Midwest to New England. 
went from having the nearest game shop being 35 minutes away most of that being interstate, but the few stores in the vicinity all had solid selection of kits.

 

now I have 6+ stores within 20minutes away and the selection at all of them is absolutely tiny.

guard? Cadian shock troopers kits, castellan, FOB, and minka lesk are all of the kits.

 

marines? Similarly small selection, similarly basic.

 

im in an area with a higher population density how are the options so much more restricted?

 

ok, sorry rant over.  Just needed to complain and yell into the void a bit.

[Jolemai]

Have you considered doing a blog on the B&C? Only this sort of post would work better in a blog format than as a discussion post imo. Maybe give it a try?

[Emperor Ming]

Here in the 21st century we buy things online

[phandaal]

23 minutes ago, Emperor Ming said:

Here in the 21st century we buy things online

 

The future is now, old man!

[crimsondave]

Just buy online.  There’s a good amount around where I live but they all charge straight retail.  Kinda hard to just eat it when you can get up to 20% off when you pre order.  I buy paint at a couple of the stores but that’s it.

[Orion]

Trying to support my local GW is hard. The majority of stuff I've wanted to buy I have to order in store, which is neither cheap nor convenient than just getting it delivered to my house. It's like 2 hours of travel time to go there and back twice, just to place and fulfill an online order anyway.

 

And now I only buy Forge World stuff, which they can't get anyway for some reason.

[Cenobite Terminator]

I’m sure you’ll find a place that scratches your itch.

[Special Officer Doofy]

I just get everything online now. Can often get 15% off and free shipping. Don't even need to get off the couch.

[Grotsmasha]

If you want to support your local vs. buying online, it's quite likely they'll order specific items for you, as they'll have access to GWs entire catalogue. The only downside is additional wait time.

[Kastor Krieg]

6 hours ago, JayJapanB said:

Trying to support my local GW is hard.

Your local GW doesn't need support. Your FLGS might.

[Antarius]

I sympathise with your predicament - I went from having a couple of local stores to only having one (which is local in the sense that it's close to where I work), which is a bit scattershot with its selection and charge retail for GW stuff anyway, so the obvious thing seems to be to just buy other things like comics and hobby supplies there to support them and order GW stuff online.

Honestly, even the stuff I do buy there, I could probably get delivered to my home cheaper, but I absolutely think any local store (GW or not) "deserves" support for having an actual physical location, providing space for gaming etc., so I'll go out of my way to go there and buy something every once in a while.

[Dont-Be-Haten]

FLGS product is based off investment. The more money the store pumps into GW product the more options and stock they are going to have.

 

There's one store here that consistently holds over $20,000-$30,000.00, in GW product at all times. The store has more and better instore options than the actual GW store.

 

The local stores don't have much stock, don't invest in it enough for GW to make preparations for them to receive current product lines etc. They will order things for you, but often times the wait on those products can take weeks to months to get certain orders in.

 

It's based on commitment. The GW distributors prioritize on investment first. It's all based off some weird archaic model that GW has been operating under for decades.

 

For example, if you want to start up your own hobby store, and invest in GW, they won't let you just invest in 40k. You also have to invest in their other systems as a bundle order.

 

Smaller businesses don't want to do that so they end up getting the short draw, and less product options in store.

[Bung]

7 hours ago, JayJapanB said:

Trying to support my local GW is hard. The majority of stuff I've wanted to buy I have to order in store, which is neither cheap nor convenient than just getting it delivered to my house. It's like 2 hours of travel time to go there and back twice, just to place and fulfill an online order anyway.

 

And now I only buy Forge World stuff, which they can't get anyway for some reason.

 

They can get FW but the thing is a Store doesnt get a Retailer Discount from FW, they pay the same price as you.

So if a Store offers its a service as they dont earn any Money with that stuff if you still pay the FW price.

[sitnam]

3 hours ago, Kastor Krieg said:

Your local GW doesn't need support. Your FLGS might.

Until very recently, my local GW was the only gaming store not focused around Magic the Gathering. And none of the FLGS around here offer any sort of discount either

[Orion]

3 hours ago, Kastor Krieg said:

Your local GW doesn't need support. Your FLGS might.

 

What's with the attitude, mate?
It's still my local community for 40k. 

 

2 hours ago, Bung said:

 

They can get FW but the thing is a Store doesnt get a Retailer Discount from FW, they pay the same price as you.

So if a Store offers its a service as they dont earn any Money with that stuff if you still pay the FW price.

 

I dunno if it varies store to store, or if they just don't see the point in offering the service if it makes no margins for them. Either way I don't think they do it.
The staff seem to like FW stuff though. Some really cool Sisters hover tanks in the window.

[DemonGSides]

38 minutes ago, JayJapanB said:

 

What's with the attitude, mate?
It's still my local community for 40k.

 

 

GW stores have a massive corporation backing them.  Your local game store is usually mom and pop run.  That's enough of a reason for a lot of people.

[Kastor Krieg]

 

Quote

It's still my local community for 40k. 

You don't need to buy there to play with the community. And if you do - see above.

Edited September 28, 2023 by Lord_Ikka

[Jolemai]

Is this seriously the direction you want the thread to go in? Knock it off folks

[Warhead01]

3 hours ago, sitnam said:

Until very recently, my local GW was the only gaming store not focused around Magic the Gathering. And none of the FLGS around here offer any sort of discount either

 The FLGS I would frequent a few times a year never had any models I was looking for.  Best I could do was buy snacks, paint and brushes if I could find them.  
 

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

15 hours ago, Emperor Ming said:

Here in the 21st century we buy things online

Bah!

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

9 hours ago, Grotsmasha said:

If you want to support your local vs. buying online, it's quite likely they'll order specific items for you, as they'll have access to GWs entire catalogue. The only downside is additional wait time.

Tried with the nearest store and it was such a hassle, might as well order it online.

[Xenith]

A blog is definitely the place to have your rants immortalised! 

16 hours ago, Inquisitor_Lensoven said:

im in an area with a higher population density how are the options so much more restricted?

 

 

Higher pop density = land is more expensive = higher rent for footage = smaller stores = less stock on shelves. 

[Indy Techwisp]

We talking store stocking complaints?

The local GW to me has  more Shelf Space for Space Marines than the entire AoS, Imperial Guard, Mechanicus, Sisters of Battle and Chaos Space Marines sections combined.

And yet I've not seen anyone actually buying Loyalist Marines in the shop, ever.

[LameBeard]

I’ve often wondered if it would pay for an independent shop to have a greater range for fewer systems or factions. Like maybe they could get a critical mass going in their area, rather than trying to please everyone and failing. It would be like going into the store and seeing “oh, this is the Tau vs. Chaos 40k and Blood Bowl store -I guess that’s what we’ll play round here”, but they have *everything* in that range.

 

I realise the shops typically don’t get to choose quite like this, they are locked in to some core products and the release cycle, but it’s a model that GW could think about if they really cared about nurturing the games, rather than selling to the impulse buy. 

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

13 minutes ago, LameBeard said:

I’ve often wondered if it would pay for an independent shop to have a greater range for fewer systems or factions. Like maybe they could get a critical mass going in their area, rather than trying to please everyone and failing. It would be like going into the store and seeing “oh, this is the Tau vs. Chaos 40k and Blood Bowl store -I guess that’s what we’ll play round here”, but they have *everything* in that range.

 

I realise the shops typically don’t get to choose quite like this, they are locked in to some core products and the release cycle, but it’s a model that GW could think about if they really cared about nurturing the games, rather than selling to the impulse buy. 

The one I used to go to was more or less like that.

they were a comic/game shop, they had some boxed board games on one wall, they but they had more GW than all the other competitors combined.

it was nice.

2 hours ago, Xenith said:

A blog is definitely the place to have your rants immortalised! 

 

Higher pop density = land is more expensive = higher rent for footage = smaller stores = less stock on shelves. 

The store isn’t actually that much smaller than what I’m used to, it’s just like 80% packed with random boxed board games no one has ever heard of.