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Author Topic: Support Your FLGS  (Read 9953 times)

Zalman

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Re: Support Your FLGS
« Reply #60 on: January 18, 2021, 10:29:57 AM »
No FLGS anywhere near me; I sure do miss hanging out and browsing among the books and dice.
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Charon's Little Helper

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Re: Support Your FLGS
« Reply #61 on: January 18, 2021, 11:12:19 AM »
One guy ran a demo of a Conan board game and it was so neat that I bought a copy, and later I found out that he got in trouble because some of the stuff he was using was from a kickstart instead of from the store so he was told not to run demos any more if he couldn't follow the rules.

If true, this is probably one of the dumbest things I've heard of a store doing. Please, don't run games at our store that results in direct sales if you use something literally unattainable from the store itself.

Especially in combination with the fee to play.

I can understand the fee (though I think that varies by city - likely not viable in the cities where people are likely to have game space at home) but once you have the nerds paying to come hang out at your store, let nature take its course and they'll buy a decent chunk of stuff.

HappyDaze

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Re: Support Your FLGS
« Reply #62 on: January 18, 2021, 11:22:31 AM »
One guy ran a demo of a Conan board game and it was so neat that I bought a copy, and later I found out that he got in trouble because some of the stuff he was using was from a kickstart instead of from the store so he was told not to run demos any more if he couldn't follow the rules.

If true, this is probably one of the dumbest things I've heard of a store doing. Please, don't run games at our store that results in direct sales if you use something literally unattainable from the store itself.

Especially in combination with the fee to play.

I can understand the fee (though I think that varies by city - likely not viable in the cities where people are likely to have game space at home) but once you have the nerds paying to come hang out at your store, let nature take its course and they'll buy a decent chunk of stuff.
I've seen a place that had pay to play, but every purchase (books, minis, snacks, etc.) included credit toward this. If you wanted to play in store, regular buying habits made it essentially free. If you didn't,  it was a freebie you could ignore (it wasn't transferable though except on gift purchases, so use it or lose it). Worked well enough for that store for over 10 years.

David Johansen

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Re: Support Your FLGS
« Reply #63 on: January 18, 2021, 02:39:40 PM »
The biggest store around here has a $100 / year membership fee that you have to buy to get a 20% discount and free table use.
 Otherwise tables are $10.  Personally that only makes it worthwhile to the big spenders.
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Steven Mitchell

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Re: Support Your FLGS
« Reply #64 on: January 18, 2021, 03:50:07 PM »
I sometimes wonder if the money in it would be in a store not even catering to gamers in particular.  That is, instead selling access to comfortable meeting spaces of various sizes that would work for gaming but would also work for any other gathering of, say, 5 to 20 people.  Set up something like that, you'll get book clubs, crafters, etc.

I've looked into the option of running a "mini-con" at times.  Wouldn't be more than 30 people.  The problem I run into is that there is home size that I can handle--about 13-15 tops.  Then there are typical meeting spaces, which typically starts at around 50+ people size and is usually closer to the 75-150 range.  Those are for company Christmas parties, wedding receptions, etc., and also come with a lot of other services that really drive the costs up.

HappyDaze

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Re: Support Your FLGS
« Reply #65 on: January 18, 2021, 04:00:35 PM »
When I first moved to Florida,  I rented a "vacation house" in a community of the same. They had a clubhouse with four rooms that could be reserved by tenants (at minimal cost on weekdays and more on weekends)for things like parties. These were good for gaming, but the clubhouse locked up at 10pm, so we had to cut our games a little short (and couldn't start them earlier as people had to work during the day). It was a small benefit I reluctantly  gave up after I had a house built and left that community.

Charon's Little Helper

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Re: Support Your FLGS
« Reply #66 on: January 18, 2021, 08:46:11 PM »
The biggest store around here has a $100 / year membership fee that you have to buy to get a 20% discount and free table use.
 Otherwise tables are $10.  Personally that only makes it worthwhile to the big spenders.

Yeah, that seems REALLY high. Ignoring the table fee, you'd have to spend more than $500/yr to make that worthwhile, which is mostly just super hardcore MtG players and people building out a new high-end 40k army.

Might be worth it for one person in your gaming group to do and then have them purchase everything for the group and get reimbursed - but the store would then miss out on a bunch of impulse purchases from the rest of the friends.

I know that a place like Barnes & Nobles doesn't have a membership for the $20 it brings in NEARLY as much as the commitment it brings. It makes those members feel like they should be buying all of their books from B&N - when they otherwise likely would have spread their purchases around to different stores, and maybe even purchase more books. Basically it's just enough $ to make them feel committed to the store.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2021, 08:50:32 PM by Charon's Little Helper »

Panjumanju

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Re: Support Your FLGS
« Reply #67 on: January 24, 2021, 05:09:41 PM »
The FLGS' I have known have been both understocked and dusty. Even so, how do we expect to get new people into the hobby without brick and motor representation? YouTube videos? I say local stores need our support, not to be reminded they need to compete or die.

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Abraxus

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Re: Support Your FLGS
« Reply #68 on: January 24, 2021, 08:06:45 PM »
Having worked in the book industry for 15 years or so they do need to learn to compete or die.

Many Fantasy and Science Fiction series are no longer available in print and only in E-book. David Drake Lord of the Isles series out of print. I think the Crystal Singer series by Anne Mccaffrey also the same. Sad to say with the discounts online they need to either change, adapt or die as Amazon is killing the brick and mortar stores. Simply existing and being a LGS is unfortunately not enough anymore. So they either carry only profitable rpgs. Switch over to order in store or switch over to more profitable source of revenue of like Magic the Gathering.

One could see it in the section that carried magazines. Slowly yet at first 25% of stock went over to online only distribution. When I was let go it was 50%. It's no longer a matter of choice more a changing book and print industry. As much a I want oi support my FLGS I can't justify spending the 50+$ a core book and even a sourcebook  costs anymore.

KingCheops

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Re: Support Your FLGS
« Reply #69 on: January 24, 2021, 08:12:59 PM »
As much a I want oi support my FLGS I can't justify spending the 50+$ a core book and even a sourcebook  costs anymore.

Some of that is changing consumer preferences.  We've had threads about this and it's mostly crusty old bastards on here but the general public is not cool with black and white, 2-3 column, poorly typeset, cheaply printed rulebooks anymore.  Customers are demanding big beautiful full color glossy artistically illuminated texts.  Maybe that's gotten to the point where things will change because wages haven't kept up with production costs on those but that's probably part of the pains the industry's going through right now.

Thondor

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Re: Support Your FLGS
« Reply #70 on: January 25, 2021, 02:26:15 PM »
The FLGS' I have known have been both understocked and dusty. Even so, how do we expect to get new people into the hobby without brick and motor representation? YouTube videos? I say local stores need our support, not to be reminded they need to compete or die.

//Panjumanju

I'm glad this thread has generated so much discussion. Not every game store is going to be an RPG game store. But I am certainly encouraging FLGS in Canada to carry more books, and many seem eager to do so.


As much a I want oi support my FLGS I can't justify spending the 50+$ a core book and even a sourcebook  costs anymore.

Some of that is changing consumer preferences.  We've had threads about this and it's mostly crusty old bastards on here but the general public is not cool with black and white, 2-3 column, poorly typeset, cheaply printed rulebooks anymore.  Customers are demanding big beautiful full color glossy artistically illuminated texts.  Maybe that's gotten to the point where things will change because wages haven't kept up with production costs on those but that's probably part of the pains the industry's going through right now.

I'm not entirely convinced on this. I think good mechanics and solid reputation matter a lot. Black and white interior books are among my best sellers (both direct and to FLGS.) Mind you that doesn't necessarily mean they are "poorly laid out," . . . my own Simple Superheros #0 layout isn't all that great though.

 
 

Thondor

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Re: Support Your FLGS
« Reply #71 on: January 25, 2021, 02:32:06 PM »
I figured I should add that there is just 1 week left in the CDG Marketplace's support your FLGS initiative.

I have been doing some "unboxing" videos of the titles from our publishers. Sharing the latest and the playlist below. This is a new thing for us, so feedback appreciated. We'll keep improving as we go I am sure (auto-focus seems to be an issue in the latest one).



Unboxing RPGs Playlist


« Last Edit: January 25, 2021, 02:35:41 PM by Thondor »

Abraxus

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Re: Support Your FLGS
« Reply #72 on: January 25, 2021, 07:05:48 PM »
Some of that is changing consumer preferences.  We've had threads about this and it's mostly crusty old bastards on here but the general public is not cool with black and white, 2-3 column, poorly typeset, cheaply printed rulebooks anymore.  Customers are demanding big beautiful full color glossy artistically illuminated texts.  Maybe that's gotten to the point where things will change because wages haven't kept up with production costs on those but that's probably part of the pains the industry's going through right now.

I have bought my share of full colour hardcover with good production values. I just can't personally justify spending that kind of money anymore. I'm getting married and the apartment rent I am moving into is almost double than the one I am in now. Somewhat of a necessity as the current one I am in living in works well for single buy not a couple. Made worse that the Canadian dollar is just not as strong as the US dollar. If it's a choice between 20$ PDF or 15-20$ savings on Amazon vs the local FLGS its the first rather than the second.

B&W rpgs can sell though they have to have some decent production values. Not something along the lines of Palladium products much better. 
« Last Edit: January 25, 2021, 07:07:20 PM by sureshot »

KingCheops

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Re: Support Your FLGS
« Reply #73 on: January 25, 2021, 08:51:44 PM »
Made worse that the Canadian dollar is just not as strong as the US dollar.

Ugh quoted for truth.  One of my favorite parts of SDCC 2011 was being able to buy at US sticker price and get a discount on top of that.

Thondor

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Re: Support Your FLGS
« Reply #74 on: January 25, 2021, 10:03:39 PM »
Made worse that the Canadian dollar is just not as strong as the US dollar.

Ugh quoted for truth.  One of my favorite parts of SDCC 2011 was being able to buy at US sticker price and get a discount on top of that.

A good number of our titles are priced as if $CAD = $USD, so that is something to consider. Our cut is low enough that a good number of our publishers pass on savings this way.