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I visited our local game shop. It is old.
- Cranberries
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The Source is a large place that is about 50/50 games and comics. They have a similar selection to what your pictures show, and aside from 2 or 3 one-day events per year, everything sells at MSRP. But you can buy a 10% discount card that is good for one year, for $10. There is a gaming area that might fit 50 to 75 gamers that is at least moderately busy on every night of the week. More than 95% of the gamers are dudes, and the average age is probably late 30s/early 40s.
The FFG Event Center (now Asmodee Event Center?) has a smaller retail area, but includes a variety of non-FFG/Asmodee games. They also have a vast gaming area, and another vast gaming area that they use during tournaments and events. They also serve a limited selection of food cooked on-site, and have a liquor license so they can sell some beer and wine. There is a seating area near the food counter, but it basically gets used as another gaming area. The bathrooms are clean and well-lit, which may be why there are so many women playing games here. The last time that I spent the day there, roughly 1/3 of the gamers were female, and there was even a group of five women playing Kingsburg with no dudes at the table. The average skews at least ten years younger than at the Source, and the average age of the women is even younger. I feel like I was born in the wrong century.
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- Michael Barnes
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When we did something like $15k of business at Dragon Con, a large percentage of that was clearance stuff. CCG boxes, accessories getting closed out, $50 games marked down to $15, that kind of thing. And because of that sale, I was able to restock our shelves with new and in-demand product. Or, I could have sat on a box of $20 pewter life counters for the next five years because I didn't want to budge on the margin for them.
I only go to two shops because that is all there is in what I consider reasonable driving distance. Challenges is fairly well-run, it offers comics, cosplay clothes, pop culture junk and some other stuff and they have a small but CURRENT line of board games, which I never buy. They are a GW "three rack" store but their paint selection (which is the main reason I go) is lacking. They at least carry all the base colors. I went to gaming there a couple of times...and it reminded me of why I don't game in public. BIG X-Wing scene there. None of them were interested in Armada at all.
I also go to the GW store, which is like visiting a Cadillac dealership. SUPER nice shop, lovely terrain tables and pretty much everything GW currently makes. Paint racks are always topped up. Expensive and no sales, but it's the place to go to play, talk about the games and at least LOOK at the stuff you are going to order from Doc's. Bought some paints there today as a matter of fact.
There is also Oxford Games and Comics, but it is horrible. They have got to be what the Comic Book Guy was based on. One time I complained that I was overcharged for a book and asked for the difference to be refunded so the owner took out a price gun and stickered over the price with the new, incorrect price. Right in front of me. Handed me the book back and said "we charged you correctly". I said "OK, then give me a full refund". I haven't been there in years, but they had ancient stuff. I bought Magic Realm there. In like, 2005.
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They have a very nice display area, and a few demo tables up front, an excellent variety in gaming, well thought out and organized and broken down into different game styles - I mean they are not labeled as such, but all the 2 player war games are in the same area, all the euros, the big box trashy ffg section. They are a little light on the minis/paints/xwing - and they do sell the MtG, and host a FNM and tourneys, but in no way does the shop scream MtG like so many shops do. Instead of MTG and a few games in the corner...it's a game store that also deals with the necessary evil of MtG. Behind the retail area they have a game room with multiple (5ish? maybe more) huge tables for tourneys / game demos / rpgs/ testing games. Oh yeah, they have a floor to ceiling shelving system in the hallway to the bathroom that has about 12 feet worth games to check out and test.
The staff is always helpful, friendly, and knowledgeable about most game systems I ask them about. They have a snacks for sale (candy/jerky/etc) and a beer and soda cooler.
5 stars. They are what every game shop should be.
/They are probably doing amazing business now that Jamaica Joes opened up a recreational dispensary upstairs above them.
//Because Pot Tourism is now a thing in Oregon
///If you thought Portland was weird, try Eugene....
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- Colorcrayons
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There is basically no reason to go there now that FFG has been occupying that area for the past decade now. The Source is a perfect example of being outclassed on many fronts and refusing to change. If it wasn't for customers that have been going there since childhood, the Source would have long been buried in history.
I may seem like I have an Axe to grind, but I have given that place many chances due to their stock, but they have consistently shown me, and three of my girl friends of long term relationships, that it is not a place to throw money at.
FFG has always been stellar, and I wish Dave still was in shop instead of behind the scenes. They know how to do it right even before they went through their growing pains.
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- san il defanso
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Game On is really more of a used video game store, including a lot of vintage stuff. But they have a passable board game selection, and they price everything at about 20% off MSRP. They are also the best place for paint, since they have a great selection of Citadel paints at like $3.30 a pot. They don't carry as much in the way of other supplies or minis however, which is a little strange to me. They also have the most professional vibe, which is sorely lacking.
Major Games is less than a mile away, and I think GW minis are really their bread and butter. They sell somewhat more of them than Game On, but their paint selection is both not as extensive, and not as cheap. They do have a much bigger board game selection however, and they do knock off a bit from MSRP as well. It's a much less put-together vibe inside though. It looks cramped and has perhaps too much room for tables with terrain and not enough to properly display the stock. I see the same 4-5 guys in there all the time too, which is not precisely encouraging. But the guys who run it are friendly enough, and they clearly are excited whenever someone comes in.
If I feel like driving to Bay City there's Dreams of Conquest, which must be really new because it barely even has a store front. You need to be looking for it to find it. The inside also has a distinctly 1970s rec room vibe, and not in a good way. It's not super well-lit, and it looks really slapdash. They also have the most limited stock of board games, but the biggest one off GW products. No discount off of MSRP, but they have by far the most active community of the three stores that I've observed. Part of that is because the community is clearly a priority for the management, who are all friendly and willing to engage with new gamers. The other part is that they have a LOT of space for playing games, with big tables that can accommodate pretty much whatever people like. That's the one part DoC does really well.
I think all three do a good job at rotating stock. I've never seen anything moldering on the shelves from like 2011 in any of them.
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- Legomancer
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My old store in Illinois was generally awful. Same thing with ancient stuff still on the shelves at MSRP. Someone once made fun of the fact that the guy had a box of Fallen Empires Magic boosters in his front display case for full price, long after there was any interest in Fallen Empires because everyone had gotten far more than all of it they could ever want. His reply: "Eventually everywhere else will sell out and I'll be the only place you can get them." Dude literally went to his grave (RIP Ted) before that day came.
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- Legomancer
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Msample wrote: Legomancer, its a bit farther away, but The Portal in Manchester CT has a pretty decent selection and a good sized play area. Last time I was in it was MSRP, not sure if it has any sort of loyalty program or not. Worth stopping by if you're in the area .
Yeah, I've heard of it. I just don't see any reason not to buy online. Great selection, great prices, delivered to my door.
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The place in town has the pleasure of this crazy libertarian guy who owns it giving you fake economic facts and political commentary when you buy games, whether you want it or not. Then when I went in to see if I could preorder something (Pathfinder packs maybe?) once the other guy hassled me about it like I was speaking a foreign language and being crazy. At some point during the conversation I just threw up my hands and told him he could have his stupid store. Never going back. Staffing is such a tremendous problem at FLGS. And with maybe one exception every fucking store I've been in has had this problem, along with being subtly creepy to bringing my wife in.
Other than that, their stock is solid and lots of tables. It's just filled with grossish gamer types and I just can't deal with that either. Snooty, yes, but when I see black t shirts with geek stuff on them I'm out. I get that this is a me problem but I am a serious self hating gamer with respect to the "nerd" crowd that likes non euros.
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I guess this embarrassment of riches has spoiled me somewhat when I go check out other places when I travel. My wife and I went to one place a couple of times in a large metro area that I guess I will forebear naming. The first time was just to browse. They had a lot of stuff--and I mean, like, what seemed to me a crazy amount of inventory, all of it piled up everywhere. That sounds like a good thing, I suppose, but it just seemed silly to have so many copies of the same thing for sale, as well as stuff you knew probably hadn't and wasn't going to move. The place also needed a serious dusting (although, I gathered from our second visit, that they were planning on moving, so maybe there's that.) A big turnoff for me, besides the dust, was how much stock that had been sunbleached from sitting in the front window. Despite being a little put off, I ended up going there on the aforementioned quest for Scythe because I'd seen in a Facebook post that they'd gotten some in the day before. We went right when they opened the next day, and they did have one copy, and there weren't any other customers in there. While my wife and I were still browsing, they apparently sold that copy to someone over the phone. They didn't do anything wrong, but it was still a little irritating. Guess I should've struck and held on to the one copy, but if I had I wouldn't have gotten the collector's edition for a good price.
We just got back from a trip to Florida (I was there for work), and we had time before we headed to the airport to go to one of the three stores in the city we were in. I passed up a trip to one of the Coolstuff branches to try a "local" place. It was alright? Typical? They had a modest amount of board games, but they were arranged in no discernible order (other than the Catan and Munchkin games being together). There appeared to be a lot of small expansions for base games that they seemed not to have in stock. They also had some kind of ongoing used-game consignment. The only one I looked at was a copy of Legend of Drizzt that was $45 and advertised itself as having several missing components. On the plus side, they did have mini painting stations (which my wife was quite taken with) and tables with terrain of various sorts for miniatures games--and they had a crapton of Warhammer, which I'm sure is of interest to someone. They also had a freezer with chimichangas in it.
My favorite "out-of-town" experience has been going to Compleat Strategist in Manhattan, which I've done I think three times. (My organization's home office used to be on 63rd and Broadway, and I used to have to go up there sometimes for weekend work that often ended early Saturday afternoon, so I'd often take a loooong walk down to 33rd and spend an hour or so at the store on Saturdays. I think it's probably the only store of its kind in Manhattan, owing to the rents and all, but it's a genuine floor-to-ceiling paradise.
I gotta ask, though, as long as we're on the subject: Is it really cost-effective for so many of these places to have such substantial gaming spaces? I mean, it sounds logical and all that, but it also seems like spending a lot to run a clubhouse for other people. I get that the money, such as it is, is in cards and minis, and those are the folks who are up for organized play and all, but ... yeah, I guess this is one reason why I'm not in retail.
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- Cranberries
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I remember while at a conference taking the train in Chicago across town to visit some venerable old game shop that was full of old games, RPGs and expansions, and buying a copy of Through the Desert.
I'm going to Portland, Oregon in March for a conference, but don't know if I'll stop by any game stores, because what is the point?
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