Brick & Mortar Sales/Interest in the Game

[jbmacek]

In the Bomber Kickstarter thread Diamondback wrote:

James, Ares has had reservations about overuse of Kickstarter in the past with good reason--every time you get a direct-to-consumer sale, that's one less sale at Brick & Mortar or e-tail, which means less profits for them and less sale at the Distros, which in turn means less profits for them too. So they tend to react to manufacturers opening direct-sale channels, even limited ones like KS's, as if somebody was physically stealing from them and black-ball crowdfunded producers...

I don't recall if I mentioned this here before or not, but my FLGS is getting completely out of Wings of Glory. When I asked, the guy behind the counter said, "Because they don't sell."

At first I thought that a little odd, but upon further reflection, maybe not. Unless they had something that was missing from my collection, I rarely bought planes from them. And even though these guys are my FLGS, they aren't my nearest GS, which is the one where we have our Monday night game, and the one I'm most likely going to get the odd plane from.

So, while WoG seems to be thriving at the local (smaller) game store, it is going extinct at the larger FLGS.

Have any of you encountered anything similar?

[csadn]

Have any of you encountered anything similar?

To be perfectly blunt: The FLGS, qua FLGS, is Doomed -- and it was Doomed the moment someone figured out "Hey, I can sell [product] directly to consumers via Teh Intertoobz, and at a substantial discount while still making a profit". Most FLGS up here are closer to Victorian-era "social clubs" anymore; they have games on shelves, but most of their income is derived from selling snack items, and renting table-space for tournaments.

I should know -- I'm part of the problem. Give you an example: Recently I saw Chaosium's re-release of _Horror On The Orient Express_ in a FLGS. Price: $119.95. I hopped onto Amazon -- same game, price *$79.95, including shipping*. Which one do you think I went for? Same goes for _WoG_ minis -- FLGS is selling them for $17.99; online store is selling them for almost half that; even after shipping, I'm still ahead on the online buy (and if the order's big enough to nix shipping, hot s*** jubilee celebration time). Gaming's an expensive mistress; if I can cut down on expenses, I will, period, end of discussion, next case.

It's happened before -- one of the singularly sick ironies of my FLGS is: Most of their shelving and other furnishings came from the Beaverton Borders; when Borders went toes-up, the FLGS people walked into the store and said "We'd like that corner, thanks". Now it looks as tho' someone will be doing that to them.

Ain't Darwin a b****?

[Diamondback]

The other thing is, a lot of LGS's frequently forget the "F" and being Friendly--one shop around here where I started my WoW collection, and used to buy WK Pirates and the Axis & Allies lines, basically only has table space for the Warhammer and Flames of War crowds and if you ain't one or the other you ain't crap.

Another, friendlier, shop only makes table space for the various WOTC CCG's because of WOTC sponsorship and those, Pokemon and L5R being "all that sells."

The big question is, how does the LGS remain profitable enough to stay in business without ripping off the customers who need to keep it afloat? WK tried to support them, by requiring that all purchases used toward their Mail In Promos be bought at an LGS... but WK also squeezed off plenty of shots into their own Unmentionables, never mind foot, over the years. WOTC tried with Organized Play on Axis & Allies Miniatures, but soon discontinued it because it wasn't making THEM enough profit.

Do we have any current or former LGS owners among our membership who might chime in with thoughts about Enhancing the Survivability of Local Business in a Global Economy?

[jbmacek]

To be perfectly blunt: The FLGS, qua FLGS, is Doomed...

That may be, but the situation in the Baltimore-Washington indicates otherwise. Our area has more games stores today than it did in the golden age of gaming.

[Naharaht]

My local games shop is too small to have gaming tables but it survives. I still buy planes from it even though I can obtain them slightly cheaper off the internet because I feel it is good to keep the shop open. The owner recently reversed his decision not to stock 'Sails of Glory'.

[Lt. S.Kafloc]

To put a shot across the bows FLGS, LGS, GS could drop their prices and still make a hefty profit on anything they sell. You just have to know exactly how much they buy the item for and how much MORE they sell it for.

A non Ares games item for example, buying at £22 sells at a recommended retail price of £53! Work that one out. So when the seller tells you he'll knock off 10% for you being a regular customer he can still make a hefty profit on anything he sells.

Don't let them fool you.