Are game stores going away?

[Flambeaux]

It's an educational field trip. Subjects to be included will be vocabulary, reading comprehension, history, martial arts, military history and tactics, economics, ecology, resource sustainability, politics, comparative religious studies, anthropology, geography, philosophy, psychology, math, multi-cultural interactivity, etiquette and sportsmanship.

Yep. And this is why gaming is an integral part of our homeschooling.

[TRP]

Oh, and how could I have forgotten, conflict resolution.

[Clangador]

This GaryCon will be my first out-of-state convention in 16-17 years. I haven't done much traveling since I got married and had kids. (Technically my wife had them.) With that said, I was tempted to take my eldest son (13 [almost 14]), but my wife wouldn't let me since he is in school at that time.

It's an educational field trip. Subjects to be included will be vocabulary, reading comprehension, history, martial arts, military history and tactics, economics, ecology, resource sustainability, politics, comparative religious studies, anthropology, geography, philosophy, psychology, math, multi-cultural interactivity, etiquette and sportsmanship.

As if my wife would believe that. She's got a Master's Degree in Psychology. I am nothing more than an item of study to her.

[TRP]

This GaryCon will be my first out-of-state convention in 16-17 years. I haven't done much traveling since I got married and had kids. (Technically my wife had them.) With that said, I was tempted to take my eldest son (13 [almost 14]), but my wife wouldn't let me since he is in school at that time.

It's an educational field trip. Subjects to be included will be vocabulary, reading comprehension, history, martial arts, military history and tactics, economics, ecology, resource sustainability, politics, comparative religious studies, anthropology, geography, philosophy, psychology, math, multi-cultural interactivity, etiquette and sportsmanship.

As if my wife would believe that. She's got a Master's Degree in Psychology. I am nothing more than an item of study to her.

Interesting. Do you think my advice to be insincere?

[Clangador]

No I don't. Watch for Clangador Jr. to be with me. The wify is letting him come now.

[Mythmere]

We tend to forget that in 1974 there were no game stores (other than possibly in areas with incredibly high population density). Games are an item for specialty shelves in specialty stores. In 1974 there were no game stores, there were hobby shops. The miniatures and games were in there with model rockets, snap-together tanks and planes, and oil-based paint. Or there were teacher-supply stores, again with the games off in one corner. Or they were one shelf in a head shop. Or they were in a novelty store with the adult gag-gifts, pet rocks, dippy-birds, and lava lamps.

The pure game store was a phenomenon that started in about 1979 and began retreating into a multi-product store again almost immediately with comics, computer games, or whatever other sort of mechandise (model rockets, teacher-supply, head shop, novelties) they thought would prop up the fact that a pure game store doesn't work as a business model unless (a) you have an incredibly high population density so that there are enough gamers in the neighborhood to support a store with weird merchandise, OR (b) gaming is the nation's biggest fad right then.

The pure game store, outside of New York or other high-population-density cities, won't survive IMO, but shops with varied weird inventory including games will probably exist forever. We just don't know what that other inventory will be, and it might differ wildly from city to city. A combination game/lotto/liquor store, for example.

[Flambeaux]

A combination game/lotto/liquor store, for example.

I seriously contemplated that when I was coming out of college. There were lots of stores that sold Bollywood videos, saris, and electronics in my neighborhood. I thought that if those could be combined, why not other pasttimes?

Alas, looking into the TABC regulations and all the other hoo-hah necessary to open such a place left me with the conclusion that I was doomed to an expensive failure if I did attempt such a venture.

[Geoffrey]

We tend to forget that in 1974 there were no game stores (other than possibly in areas with incredibly high population density). Games are an item for specialty shelves in specialty stores. In 1974 there were no game stores, there were hobby shops. The miniatures and games were in there with model rockets, snap-together tanks and planes, and oil-based paint.

That's right. In my town, there were three places to buy RPG stuff in the early 1980s:

1. a hobby shop (long since closed )
2. a magician's shop (long since closed )
3. a toy store (long since closed )

[Philotomy Jurament]

I've sometimes wondered if a "big box" game superstore could survive. A place like a Fry's or a Pet World, but for games. And I mean everything from board games to video games to computer games to miniature games to crossword puzzles to lawn darts (or whatever the modern-day pussified version is) to RPGs and books and magazines about games.

I have no idea if it would be viable, or not. It was just a thought I had when considering game stores and how they're usually dumpy little strip-mall stores that appear and disappear. They're in the same category as those "second-hand" clothes stores that pop in and out of existence in low-rent retail space. I wondered if the opposite approach (think BIG) would succeed where that "start small/modest" approach fails.

[Flight Commander Solitude]

Does anyone remember Chess & Games? They always seemed stuffy and desolate to me, like the matress section of a department store. But the one near-ish to me had RPGs and TRS-80 stuff in the back. I'm pretty certain that's where I got my Traveller box.

[francisca]

In 1974 there were no game stores, there were hobby shops. The miniatures and games were in there with model rockets, snap-together tanks and planes, and oil-based paint.

In 1981, the first RPG products I received (purchased by my Dad) were from an RC and Model Railroad shop. I believe they stocked a pretty good assortment of AH and SPI games as well.

EDIT: HOLY CRAP! They're still in business!

[northrundicandus]

My AD&D Holy Trinity Hardbacks were purchased from Sears!

Circus World, a long dead toy store chain, was where I bought Moldvay Basic, saw the White Box, and acquired a shitload of modules from.

I purchased miniatures and used Jack Vance books in a paperback swap-shop next to a laundromat.

I bought Chessix Dice, a battlemat, and Rolemaster from a Record Store. (They sold honest to goodness LPs...)

I didn't set foot into a "game store" until like 2001...

[thedungeondelver]

I am fortunate enough to have found a couple of 1st print (true 1st) AD&D hardbacks at a local used bookstore. One of them has a price-tag on the front that's still intact enough for me to read the name of the store. When I got the book home and googled the name of the store, I found not only was it still in business it's now a WotC "partner". It's somewhere in the Carolinas, don't recall. I'll try to sort it out later. But anyway, the point is, this store has adapted and survived.

ITT I have described my new FLGS and frankly I think that's a model that game stores can/should aspire to: have a "retail presence" that is a gaming space and a few things to support that, some stock to browse, and accessible terminals to "shop" on at internet discount prices. Shrink: virtually zero. Browser/fixture costs? Nil. All warehousing. And you're beating the other brick and mortar guys out by 25% and catering to the impulse shopper (like me) who wants a new set of dice and a couple bottles of paint.

[Silk Spectre]

I am getting less and less interested in going to my game store. I almost stopped by last night, but they really don't have any game books I want.

[thedungeondelver]

I am getting less and less interested in going to my game store. I almost stopped by last night, but they really don't have any game books I want.

I'm with you, and that's what makes my FLGS' model so great: I buy stuff online then go pick it up from them. No fooling around with browsing, no waiting four days for it to get here, yet I get the internet pricing.