Quote from: RPGPundit;677777There are some gaming stores that are really good and well run, but at the end of the day they still ended up working against the mainstreaming of RPGs.

RPGPundit

Okay, how did they accomplish that without being insular or elitist?

Quote from: flyerfan1991;677779Okay, how did they accomplish that without being insular or elitist?

Because having a separate store for rpgs is in and of itself inherently insular.  It inevitably generates a subculture.

Quote from: RPGPundit;678464Because having a separate store for rpgs is in and of itself inherently insular.  It inevitably generates a subculture.

Perhaps, but unless your company is named Amazon, all stores have to set a limit on what games they want to sell.  What tends to happen in those scenarios is the Budweiser Effect:  the least offensive --and potentially the largest selling-- games are put on the shelves.  Hence the proliferation of Monopoly clones at the discount stores.

If you want a store to sell something other than D&D and maybe Pathfinder or Warhammer, they have to either sacrifice shelf space from something that might move more units or specialize by focusing less on some products (clothes, LEGOs, Barbies, iPads) and more on games.  Well, there is the third option, which is grow as big as Amazon and sell EVERYTHING, but most people don't have millions of dollars of seed money.

It's like buying cigars or beers; if you want to get the good stuff, you go to a tobacconist or a beer and wine store.  Just because game stores follow the same model doesn't make them insular by design, the insularity comes from the owner and the clientele.

Quote from: RPGPundit;678464Because having a separate store for rpgs is in and of itself inherently insular.  It inevitably generates a subculture.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a pure RPG store, even back in the brick-and-mortar store heyday.

Back then they sold RPGs plus Avalon Hill type wargames and boardgames. These days they're almost all RPGs + boardgames + comics.

I'd be surprised if a place could stay in business selling only RPGs, except maybe in the first half of the 80s.

Quote from: Dimitrios;678505I'm not sure I've ever seen a pure RPG store, even back in the brick-and-mortar store heyday.

Back then they sold RPGs plus Avalon Hill type wargames and boardgames. These days they're almost all RPGs + boardgames + comics.

Yep, that and minis.

During the heyday of the hobby, the big place to get D&D stuff in Albany was a gigantic toy store (ah, Duane's Toyland, how we miss thee).  I don't ever remember seeing an rpg-only store anywhere.

Even the cruddy little hole Dragon's Den in the late 80s/early 90s in Saratoga did a lot of minis and wargames.

Quote from: Dimitrios;678505I'm not sure I've ever seen a pure RPG store, even back in the brick-and-mortar store heyday.

Back then they sold RPGs plus Avalon Hill type wargames and boardgames. These days they're almost all RPGs + boardgames + comics.

I'd be surprised if a place could stay in business selling only RPGs, except maybe in the first half of the 80s.

Back to my original question, is 5% enough to call yourself part of the 'hobby'?  Isn't that really just a card-flipping location (CCGs made up 27% or something) that has incidentally related hobbies/games?

(I'm not saying Zombie Planet is or isn't; just using the numbers as a baseline.  Mr Vasillikos can sell whatever he wants and call his store anything he pleases, I am not interested in that argument)

Well it's as much of the hobby as sugary caffeinated beverages at this point (possibly even less). Taken for granted perhaps, but remove them and the place just isn't the same. However the riot over removing the drinks would be far larger...

Quote from: Opaopajr;678693Well it's as much of the hobby as sugary caffeinated beverages at this point (possibly even less). Taken for granted perhaps, but remove them and the place just isn't the same. However the riot over removing the drinks would be far larger...

Good points.  

Quote from: deadDMwalking;676714Hope you have the time to continue the discussion on theocracy we were having.

This sounds very familiar.  Refresh my memory... ?

Quote from: Dirk Remmecke;675860Two weeks ago I was in London, at Forbidden Planet. I noticed a decline of the RPG section over the last 3 years. This year the section was moved to the back of the shop, and the selection was abysmally bad. (Regarding the size of the store the RPG section can't possibly generate more than 0,3% of sales.)

If that trend continues the section will be gone next year...

Why go to Forbidden Planet at all when Orc's Nest is just around the corner and has a pretty good RPG + board game selection?

Quote from: Naburimannu;684452Why go to Forbidden Planet at all when Orc's Nest is just around the corner and has a pretty good RPG + board game selection?

They are still in business?  That's awesome!  I remember the ads in Dragon magazine back in the 80s.