I'm sorry, what is a FLGS? I can only infer from posts that it is a brick-and-mortar RPG store. Is it a chain? Does this stand for something literal - like a chain, or something general?

//Panjumanju

Quote from: flyerfan1991;753367I never set foot in a FLGS until the late 80s --I got most of my RPG stuff from either a local discount store or a bookstore-- and I'm 100% certain that those FLGS never had the majority of their sales come from RPGs.

Never.

The 80's, while also a time of big RPG expansion, were also the time of the MB Gamesmaster series (Axis and Allies and their ilk) as well as other board games. Based on shelf space alone, those games outsold RPGs. The first FLGS I went to had sand table toy soldiers as their primary sales engine, with board games and RPGs distant second and third products. Even then, I'm not completely sure that their line of model rockets didn't outsell RPGs and board games, and their selection of each was very damned good for an era dominated by Avalon Hill and TSR.

Therefore, the original question involves an invalid premise.

Yep. In the boom years of D&D in the early 80s, it was sold mainly in book stores and in hobby and craft shops, behind the cross-stitching and airplane models. I'd like to know when these halcyon days of stores devoted mainly to RPGs happened.

I'm just not a big fan of gaming stores for two reasons, well, three.

1. The nearest game store from me is 40 miles. Gas isn't $1.50/gallon any more.

2. MSRP. Amazon, baby!!!

3. I'm loathe to bring up catpissman again, but I've seen it.

Quote from: gonster;753198This is just a post I am putting up to prove a point.  As far as RPGS are concerned, the FLGS died back in 2006.  This was the bust of the incredible boom cycle of d20, and the final saturation of the internet into the market place.

As far as the industry is concerned, the FLGS concept is over, and any mentioning of it is just a marketing ploy.

Discuss.

We have several thriving FLGS in our area. Many have adapted to the internet, incorporating it into how they do business. Stores hold regular events ranging from tournaments, games, guest speakers, etc. It has certainly changed a lot in the past twenty years but saying they're dead doesn't match what I see near Boston and the surrounding area.

Someone forgot to tell the owner of my FLGS, the Sentry Box, that his business is dead.

Over 13,000 square feet of retail and gaming space. Absolutely packed on weekends with 50-100 people playing games or shopping. Stocks every RPG book, CCG, euro game, and wargame, in print in the english language. Also has a stock of thousands and thousands of OOP items. Name any RPG book published in the last 15 years and there's  good chance they have it on the shelf right now.

Quote from: Opaopajr;753378We're just another metro of 8 million people. What on earth did Games Workshop do to you guys? Shouldn't such a globally important city keep up?

I think one of the issues is that traditionally business rents on high-street stores has been absolutely extortionate over here. Most non-chain shops (regardless of what they sell) seem to only last a few months on average before they fold.

The last dedicated game store I used moved over to operating out of the owners garage and only selling over the internet as it increased profit margins considerably.

All my favorite game stores here died out long ago.
What replaced them were cleaner, brighter, more cheerful places... with owners who didn't really seem particularly interested beyond what sells. Better businesses, worse destinations. No serendipity shopping there, not places to 'hang out'.
I seldom go to them... when I do they're full of CCG and 40K people. Only one of them that I know of has much in the way of RPGs... and few surprises among them. Some host game nights through Meetup but only one I know of (far across town) has in-store RPG play, occasionally.
The comic book stores here seem to be doing well. I was at a couple of them the other day and both had a good number of customers coming and going and buying. A friend of mine had a zombie art show in one last month. They're vibrant places.
One of them has a small bit of gaming stuff in it... not much beyond Pathfinder and some FFG games. The other one has a sign in the front window that they do not carry CCGs, RPGs or boardgames (!).

Really, for any of the games I actively interested in my only choice is online... and none of those games are going to be played in stores either. So the FLGS is pretty much dead to me, personally.

But you play DCC and ACKS as your main games so color me not surprised.

Quote from: Marleycat;753308That's the one! I knew Gabby when her and Patrick worked in the South Sound Mall at Olympic Comics. She is the best!!!!! I spent whole days in there and spent hundreds of dollars a month at that Nirvana.

I was one of many that said to her "You stock it and we'll stop going to Seattle and Tacoma to buy it".

It really is a superb store!

Quote from: Baron;753421"Dead?" I don't think so. It was always a niche business. Friends of mine lost their shirts trying to start one as a viable business.

Oh, and that was in the 80s.

Sure, online purchases are convenient and cheap. But it's also very nice to visit a store and browse, socialize and game. A good place to meet local gamers. And a good place to try out new products you otherwise wouldn't have been exposed to.

And let us not forget, a good place for non-gamers to check the hobby out, and for parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles to find presents.

Very true. Most of the stores in my area are pretty diverse. The two largest ones do more than RPGs, namely The Hobby Bunker doing militaria, historicals and model kits and Pandemonium Books & Games doing used books and CCGs.
The shop I usually patronize, Toys N Things, does mostly Magic and Yugioh. It has a Warhammer section which one owner insists "is selling" but really isn't. The two reasons I don't get a lot of my RPG purchase fix from him is because (1.) he won't actually order it and (2.) I don't have much money to buy regularly anyways.

QuoteThe Compleat Strategist in NY was my first game store; still there. Went to Rider's when I was away at school in Michigan; still there. Hung out at Game Master in NJ for years; still there. My local store is now Aero Hobbies in the Los Angeles area; opened 60 years ago, still here -- also the "home of the Thief" class.

They're not dead as long as you patronize them.

That's cool! I occasionally go to the Compleat Strategist in Boston when I can. It's been there for decades and, in spite of a move, is still going. Dunno how strongly but I try to support them when I can.

Quote from: Marleycat;753502But you play DCC and ACKS as your main games so color me not surprised.

What do those acronyms stand for, anyways?

Adventurer Conqueror King System and Dungeon Crawl Classics.

I think "pure RPGs" FLGS are dead indeed, but weren't they kind of since the very beginning, except the brief bubble of novelty?

FLGS with board games, RPGs, miniatures, card games - the whole tabletop hobby lot - are well and thriving, even in shitty Polish economy. The ones I've seen fall were those who decided to specialise in their owner's particular interest.

According to the Wizards Play Network - Store and Event locator there are thirty game stores within 30 miles of downtown Minneapolis/Saint Paul. I have been to most of the stores on the list and, as I recall, many of them do have a decent if not exhaustive selection of RPGs. Expanding the search to include outlying areas like: Saint Cloud, Mankato, and Rochester (90 miles from downtown) brings the FLGS count to just shy of fifty!

Quote from: Marleycat;753522Adventurer Conqueror King System and Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Thank you!

Quote from: S'mon;753399That's a good description of the situation here, yup. I didn't mention Forbidden Planet as it's now just a couple shelves in a huge comics shop.

That's about what we have in Aberdeen, except with fewer shelves and a smaller comic shop.

Oh, wait, no! Our Forbidden Planet had a few dice polysets, last time I was there.

(A few years ago, I actually went to every RPG shop in Scotland - there aren't many! They all seemed quite nice. A man gave me a d10!)