While at a game shop on Free RPG day, I got into a friendly debate about Paizo. Long story short, the shop owner is angry with Paizo for making Pathfinder RPG, though I was not able to suss out exactly why. He contends that Paizo is only making it because they are mad at WotC for various reasons ranging from the magazines to Star Wars. I pointed out that if people at Paizo are angry with WotC for anything, they're being pretty professional about it: advertising 4e in their newsletters, not trashing it in their message boards, etc. He's telling me all this after I have told him that I'm a Paizo fanboy and I'm holding the Paizo freebie in my hand. He went on to complain that a lot of publishers are going to start publishing under PRPG rules because of the new GSL as though this were somehow Paizo's fault.
Needless to say, this confuses me to no end. Okay, so there will be a product that competes with 4e a little. It should all just be sales to him. Why should he really care if someone buys PRPG or 4e core books. Heck, a lot of people will buy both, which just means more money for him.
I've seen a lot of comments on the boards here about run-ins, friendly or otherwise, with angry shopkeepers trashing Paizo. Can anyone explain this to me?
|
Well you have the FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store) and then you have the LGS (Local Game Store).
You seem to have a Local Game Store. Notice how there is no Friendly involved. I have never understood how vendors can openly insult/degrade desired products of thier customers and expect return business.
But saddly this has been a trend that has been going on for years and will be so for some time. I hope that the other peole in the store are beeter sales persons that this individual, otherwise it won't be around long. To be a game salesperson you need to love games, not just love the time playing them. The lack of empathy given to you for your love of things "Pathfinder" shows me that this person doesn't have that sort of love.
If this person giving you the bad service is not the owner, bring up how you were serviced. He he can't fix it take your business elsewhere. I don't know what kind of ties you have to this store, maybe it is the only one you have, but if there are others, find which works best for you and stay with it. If you can't get that, take your business online.
Life is too short for you to fix someone else's business and you have games to play.
Dude, that sucks. With where we are, my wife and I drive 30 minutes to go to another game shop when there's one in town. Next time that your at your LGS and they start griping about Paizo, calmly hand them what you were going to buy and then tell them it's obvious then that they don't want you business. In this day and age where you can get stuff delivered to your door, you shouldn't have to listen to someone trash you for buying stuff that THEY sell. Remember there's alway the Paizo store.
I've seen a lot of comments on the boards here about run-ins, friendly or otherwise, with angry shopkeepers trashing Paizo. Can anyone explain this to me?
I've worked in one flgs, and shopped in many others. I've noticed that game stores are generally run by gamers rather than businessmen. This is great when their focus is on the games they like, but not-so-great when you have different interests. 'The customer is always right' concept is all too easily lost when personal opinions get invoved. Once the store owner has invested himself in a game, then 'If I'm right, you must be wrong' gets involved.
Or it could be he was having a bad day. It happens. And there is few things more irritating then having a customer know more about a product that the supplier, regardless of how nice the customer is about it. Since the store owner can't yell at his supplier, he can only get cranky with his customers.
I can see why a game store owner might be disappointed: now he has to stock a bunch of mutually incompatible products if he wants to serve the entire D&D demographic.
I'm sure my grocery store secretly wishes that they could get away with stocking just one brand of cereal, one brand of canned vegetables, one brand of pizza, etc. Things don't always work out that way, though.
I can see why a game store owner might be disappointed: now he has to stock a bunch of mutually incompatible products if he wants to serve the entire D&D demographic.
Certainly, but this does not give him any right to complain to customers and bad-mouth the product. In any case the answer is simple. Remind anyone with such behaviour that you are not going to buy from him anymore if he insists being a @#$%head.
Certainly, but this does not give him any right to complain to customers and bad-mouth the product. In any case the answer is simple. Remind anyone with such behaviour that you are not going to buy from him anymore if he insists being a @#$%head.
He probably has the right to complain (assuming he's not running a game store in North Korea or Turkmenistan). If his complaining drives away customers, then it's his own fault, naturally.
|
I go to Gaming Chest in Valley View Mall in Dallas, Tx,
and
Lone Star Comics; all sortsa stores all over the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area;
they're cool there; never had nobody tell me my game is whack or nothin.
Lone Star people are often tryin to sell me stuff there, but they've slacked up on that lately. I've always been able to look around unhassled at Gaming Chest. They ask me if I need help, then leave me alone.
I appreciate all the supportive comments, but the guy really wasn't that rude about it. He was nice enough, just airing his concerns to me (though I did not really understand them.) He still vowed to carry Paizo products and said he would even be willing to help organize local Pathfinder society games if people expressed interest.
I can see why a game store owner might be disappointed: now he has to stock a bunch of mutually incompatible products if he wants to serve the entire D&D demographic.
I'm sure my grocery store secretly wishes that they could get away with stocking just one brand of cereal, one brand of canned vegetables, one brand of pizza, etc. Things don't always work out that way, though.
This is probably a pretty good explanation. His shop is about as big as my living room, if that, and my living room is not that big.
Certainly, but this does not give him any right to complain to customers and bad-mouth the product. In any case the answer is simple. Remind anyone with such behaviour that you are not going to buy from him anymore if he insists being a @#$%head.He probably has the right to complain (assuming he's not running a game store in North Korea or Turkmenistan). If his complaining drives away customers, then it's his own fault, naturally.
I am not sure he has the right to complain to customers. He can complain to his suppliers, to the publishers, his friends and family, his psychologist, his dog, etc. etc. etc. But a customer doesn't have to deal with this.
In any case I was not refering to his legal rights, such as freedom of speech. I meant that such behaviour is impolite and unprofessional. :)
I appreciate all the supportive comments, but the guy really wasn't that rude about it. He was nice enough, just airing his concerns to me (though I did not really understand them.) He still vowed to carry Paizo products and said he would even be willing to help organize local Pathfinder society games if people expressed interest.
I can see why a game store owner might be disappointed: now he has to stock a bunch of mutually incompatible products if he wants to serve the entire D&D demographic.
I'm sure my grocery store secretly wishes that they could get away with stocking just one brand of cereal, one brand of canned vegetables, one brand of pizza, etc. Things don't always work out that way, though.
This is probably a pretty good explanation. His shop is about as big as my living room, if that, and my living room is not that big.
That does change things a bit. I perceived your original post as saying that the guy was being annoying and rude. I cannot find any fault with his behaviour now.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
|
I am not sure he has the right to complain to customers. He can complain to his suppliers, to the publishers, his friends and family, his psychologist, his dog, etc. etc. etc. But a customer doesn't have to deal with this.
In any case I was not refering to his legal rights, such as freedom of speech. I meant that such behaviour is impolite and unprofessional. :)
Agreed but 'rights,' 'appropriateness,' and 'manners' are different. If we keep confusing the three, we'll lose each and every one of them.
I can see why a game store owner might be disappointed: now he has to stock a bunch of mutually incompatible products if he wants to serve the entire D&D demographic.
This is probably a pretty good explanation. His shop is about as big as my living room, if that, and my living room is not that big.
Thing is, this is better for him. Ask him how good were his D&D sales in the nearly 10 month period from the announcement of 4E to its release. Considering Wizards sales plummeted in that time, I'm sure his did as well. Now, what would that have been like if he had another system on the shelf that was current, supported, and appealed to the same customer base?
There's an old saying about all your eggs in one basket. ;)
|
Maybe he feels that Paizo is taking business away from him being they actually market directly to most of their fan base. I do not know aobut the rest of you (well I do not about many of you) but I get all my stuff direct (notice tags above) and rarely go into my local game store anymore. Now, I also do not go in there and say that but these days I usually buy it from Paizo, Amazon, Ebay, or another place on the internet.
When minis first started coming out I would go to her store and buy two cases. Now I buy them way cheaper and usually get them sooner on the internet. I can buy three cases for what they cost me in her store for two. And I like the convenience of doing while I am reading the message boards.
|
I'm sorry, but I can't relate at all. Next week will be one year since my FLGS closed it doors for good. Part of the problem was that as the years went by and the store brought more people on board as partners and such it went from FLGS to LGS for many people. I always felt welcome and was always welcome to express my opinions, but I was friends with the original owner and his first partner. However, I can relate because there was a period where even I felt shut out after he brought on a new partner that had owned a local book store that went down hill. It is ultimately my dream to reopen the store under a new name and stock 4th edition and Pathfinder, along with any other Paizo products. I will most likely steer away from other 3pp unless it is something I really believe in like Dungeon Crawl Classics, because when the old store shut down after 8 years in buisness they had shelves full of 3pp from as far back as when the store first opened.
The keeper of my local RPG shop was quite open to the idea of Pathfinder, even though he's a 4e loyalist. They stocked the first Adventure Path after I told them about it, but the books haven't moved very well. The retail price point is just a bit too high for the books to do well in a store environment, I think, which is why most people order them direct and take the subscriber discount.
The store still gets the cheaper Pathfinder modules, though. They had Flight of the Red Raven in last weekend.
Many retailers resent it when a company tries to "bypass" them by offering direct subscriptions to consumers. Comic book stores are the same way.
Game-store owners are stuck in a hard position - in order to keep up with the trends, they have to stock tons of stuff, some of which never really sells. 3e had tons of 3rd party products that sat and sat and eventually wondup in the 'Bargain Bin' (I LOVE that bin!)
The owner of one of my LGS's - a good friend of mine - got rid of his entire Privateer Press line of minis while they were at the hieght of their popularity, simply because he could not afford to carry the new stuff that was coming out for the expansion. He was forced to make a choice between them and the WH stuff, and given WH's staying power in the market, he went with them.
3e may have been a godsend for us, but it was terrible for the store owners because of the glut of products it created. Back in the day, D&D occupied about 90% of the RPG 'shelf space', and the 'also rans' the other 10%. After 3e, it was about 50-50. When you're a small business owner, stocking all of that means thousands of dollars just sitting around collecting dust - thousands most of them can't afford.
I'm sure with 4e, they thought the 'unification' in the market place would help lessen their burden, and to some Paizo's efforts appear to be a threat to that supposed 'lessening'.
That being said, when I asked my friend (the store owner) if he heard the news about 4e D&D (last year), he responded with "You mean WotC's latest Cash-grab?"
It all depends on te store owner. He has made quite a bit of money stocking and selling large amounts of WotC's 3e books since then, because people have been 'going nuts' buying up products that they knew would soon be out-of-print (A lot of us hold off forever when deciding weather we really need to make a purchase or not, and this 'panic' shook all those 'fence sitters' off their perch). So, in retrospect, I'm sure he is glad they decided to go with 4e, because he made at least twice the money in the past 9 months off his 3e RPG products.
Lastly, I used to play in another LGS when I was 16, and although the store owner allowed any game to be played at his tables, he would come over and belittle and poke fun at the D&D players (he himself was a Napoleonic-miniatures player). He did HIGHLY recommend one particular set of rules, though, and got me in with the group that played it every weekend at his store (a group of 20!). When that game was being played, he was very supportive and even recommended all the supplements to go with it (while still trashing TSR/D&D).
It took me about 2 months to find out that the system we were using was owned by HIM - he had his own game company (FGU), and the store was really his game company's headquarters!
The system - Chivalry & Sorcery - was excellent and detailed, but it was so complicated that it took a genius to DM (and we were fortunate enough to have one of those 'god-like' GM's). Anyway, my point is that when talking with game-store owners, make sure you realize that they are far from impartial (especially the ones that play Warhammer).
|
|
Truth is David, opening a brick and mortar game shop is a very risky buisness. Unless you're serving a prime market, it's stores like this with a marginal clientele which are the first to shut down in hard times like the ones coming. Even Compleat Strategist has gone down from 4 stores in the NYC metro area to one.
Our local store's biggest problem was that they opened their doors to everyone, regardless of anything. One kid stole $60 worth of Magi Nation cards and once his parents paid for them he was allowed to return to the store unsupervised. They also allowed the Yu-gi-Oh league to meet at the store even though they never bought even snacks from the store. Several of the employees also scared off many of the customers. There are more than a few who would shop at the store under a different name and different ownership. Also I am hoping to get a new higher paying job that would allow me to run the store as a labor of love rather than trying to make a job of it.
3e may have been a godsend for us, but it was terrible for the store owners because of the glut of products it created. Back in the day, D&D occupied about 90% of the RPG 'shelf space', and the 'also rans' the other 10%. After 3e, it was about 50-50. When you're a small business owner, stocking all of that means thousands of dollars just sitting around collecting dust - thousands most of them can't afford.
I'm sure with 4e, they thought the 'unification' in the market place would help lessen their burden, and to some Paizo's efforts appear to be a threat to that supposed 'lessening'.
That's an excellent point I hadn't thought of. I can see how increased diversity of product makes it harder for brick and mortar stores. They can't compete with the internet's price or selection and it probably makes them kind of bitter.
I was thinking of the fact that increased product diversity increases sales (it does), but the increased sales don't keep up with the increased cost of stocking all that diversity, especially when added to the cost of stocking things that don't sell.
My favourite FLGS (I am blessed enough to have 2 FLGS out of the 4 in town) has started carrying Paizo's adventure paths. At first they had tons just sitting on the shelf just below the WotC books. I noticed at Free RPG Day that the stock was much, much less (they still had the newest AP in stock as well as issue 3-6 of the previous one). The owner said about 6 or so weeks ago sales just shot up on the Paizo stuff.
Wouldn't that have coincided with an Aplha PF release? :)
I'm not sure if that is the case but at least not all FLGS owners are hatin' on Paizo. Played right they should capture both the 3E and 4E crowd with little difficulty! (just make sure the 3E & 4E game nights are not the same day - it'd be like matter and anti matter colliding!)
|
|
Last time I was in my FLGS, they had Pathfinder on the "Highly Recommended" rack, alongside a bunch of other Paizo products. When checking out, the owner was interested in my impression of the series and was gearing up to run Rise of the Runelords himself. So yes, Pathfinder is getting some love out there in Brick and Mortar establishments.
Last time I was in my FLGS, they had Pathfinder on the "Highly Recommended" rack, alongside a bunch of other Paizo products. When checking out, the owner was interested in my impression of the series and was gearing up to run Rise of the Runelords himself. So yes, Pathfinder is getting some love out there in Brick and Mortar establishments.
The same is taking place in my FLGS. Pathfinder has its own rack at eye level for browsers in the RPG section. The manager even told me that he waited patiently for several months until there were enough Pathfinder items to fill the rack.
There are alot of people who have come to these boards and posted their reasons why they don't play Paizo.
I can only imagine them being a very small % of the people who actually won't play it (for whatever reason).
Unfortunately, as has been said, most store owners are gamers first and business people second. As such some of that opinion will tend to bleed over, even by folks who plan to stock the game.
Really good gaming stores are extremely hard to come by. They have narrow profit margins and tend to be run by people who aren't exactly saavy business folk. If the current shop is giving you a hard time I'd strongly suggest hunting elsewhere. I myself still drive nearly 2 hours to visit my old gaming store from before I moved, out of lack of finding a decent one here.
(is hard to go from a gaming shop that's literally the floor of a warehouse, to one that has fewer D&D products than I do at home..)
Hunt hard and you'll find the golden egg eventually =)
|
|
We've got 2 LGS in the area, Dr. No's and Hobbytown USA. Dr. No's loves Paizo and carry alot of product. I picked up Hangman's Noose and The Pathfinder Gazeteer there. They also were very informed and even recommended(pushed) a few Gamemastery products. Hobbytown is more of a Warhammer store with RPG's on the side. We used to have 2 or 3 more stores, but they've since gone under. There isn't a very cohesive gamer community in the metro Atlanta area and frankly a good portion of it is frightening. i think that that hinders the growth of the industry in and around the area.
|
|
MY LGS, can't say FLGS anymore, has been pulling that stuff too. They have repeatedly bad mouthed Paizo products as obviously inferior to WOTC and "if it ain't WOTC it's crap." Third party sales make up less than 10% of their RPG sales.
The store owner told me 4E is the first time he has been excited about D&D in 20 years.
The store clerk said he "would never even look at the Pathfinder RPG."
When at RPG day I was standing at the counter and a guy asked me what is Pathfinder. The clerk didn't say a word so I took it upon myself to tell him. I took him to the small quantity of Paizo products and showed him RotRL and explained a little about it. I explained about the PfRPG and he became real excited (even while holding his newly purchased core 4E books) that there would be support for 3.x
When I was done I told him I hoped to run a PfRPG demo using RotRl in August after the Beta comes out. He said he would love to play.
My hope is that I can manage to get demo time at the store, that they are not too hostile to the idea. Not holding my breath, but hoping.
Ted, who runs one of Oahu's FLGS, immediately started ordering Pathfinder when Paizo announced it. Granted that's because he knew what a good job they do with their products and the back when Paizo had the license, all of the Dungeon that he had ordered would be sold out within a week of release.
On the note of the price. Yes those of us that want to support the gaming store we've been going to end up paying more.... And not getting perks like a free pdf of the product. (Honestly, the second bugs me more than the first).
|
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
|
My FLGS -- which I will drive across town to give my money to -- has said from the beginning that they will stock all the adventure paths because they recognize it as a very high quality product with lots of support. They've also said they'll order in anything I request from Paizo.
My LGS -- which I will pass by to get to my FLGS -- was quite dismissive about Paizo earlier this year but I notice that they are making more and more room on their shelves for Paizo now and are being a bit less snotty. In fact, I will now dub them my fLGS (with a lowercase 'f') in appreciation of their attempt at basic courtesy.
His Royal Highness,
King Tarren.
Director of Brand Strategy
|
The problem I've been having at my LGS's isn't so much that they don't offer Paizo products--they actually stock a lot--it's that I as a consumer haven't felt like they have any concern for what I'm looking for in a store. One of the two is being perpetually taken over by young card and video game players, and the staff is catering to this demographic. Their knowledge is almost entirely about Magic, Vs. system, Heroclix, Yu-gi-oh, Pokemon, and so on. Their mini-painting supplies are next to none, and finding anything by a 3pp is unlikely. The other store (Compleat Strategist, mentioned above several times) has a great selection, and I've rarely had difficulty finding something there I was seeking except item cards, critical decks, etc right after release. The problem is that the employees are very disgruntled. There's never a sense of fun when I'm there, and they know where I can find stuff (as in what shelf) but not what I might want to play if I choose (as I often do) to expand my horizons. The store has a an "old boys club" feel, with a closed off back room where they look at you funny if you attempt to get in on whatever game they have going at any given time, and it's usually mini games, not RPGs. I've never found it so hard to find a store that I really liked in any other niche market, and I wonder why the gaming market is so different than the rest.
|
|
I have attempted to get my LGS to order the Harrow deck since it came out. They have not yet ordered it for me. Since I don't actually NEED it at the moment I am content to see if they ever will order a Paizo product for me. They say that the Harrow deck is sold out and no more are coming. I notice Paizo has them for sale, but I am curious how long they will carry this on for.
|
|
I am having a hard time finding a good LGS in my area. Can anyone recommend a FLGS or good LGS in the East Bay area of California? Preferably within walking distance of the BART?
In the east bay you've got Endgame in oakland which is ok. Not big on RPG stock but they're friendly and will order you anything you need. They seem to get a big stiffy over indy stuff but I guess that's what you expect being next door to Berkeley. It's within walking distance of BART.
If you can go farther east you've got Black Diamond in Concord. It's ok. They're friendly enough and have good stock. Also close to BART I believe.
Hope that helps. I hit game stores for fun. This Friday I did Gator Games in San Mateo and I wasn't impressed. Cryx? What's Cryx? Ya..... ahem.
Btw if you're morbidly curious GameKastle in Santa Clara is the best store in the bay area. But it's way down there south. I drive an hour each way a month to pick up some stuff there.
Oh and just for the record of the five stores I've been to lately all had Pathfinder and Pazio stuff. Hooray bay area.
I picked up the Curse AP, a Seoni mini (hotness)and Gygax's Samarkand solution.
I discovered Pathfinder thanks to my FLGS. Normally I tend toward comic purchases, but I usually wander through the RPG section. After rummaging through the wondrous bargain bin where I stumbled upon The Golden Khan of Ethengar Gazetteer, I happened to notice the first entry in the Rise of the Runelords on the shelf. I cracked the cover to flip through the artwork, and two clerks descended on me, rambling about how popular the series was. Keep in mind, I normally browse in this store for a half hour, buy twenty bucks in comics, and slip away with no more than a courteous head nod. I'm not a people person. Suddenly, I was the single audience of two clerks passionately describing the wonders of this new line of products. I picked it up and I have been enthralled ever since....
|
I used to pick up all my Paizo products at my FLGS, but it just took too long for them to receive their products, so I decided to start ordering my products directly from Paizo.
Clearly, they weren't too keen on keeping Pathfinder or GameMastery Modules in stock at first, but now they seem to be piling up a good collection. I still go there to get things like Item Cards and Critical Hit/Fumble decks.
So, not anti-Paizo, just not that interested. But it seems like sales are picking up! I've spoken to a few customers at the store who were also picking up Pathfinder APs or Modules.
|
|
I am having a hard time finding a good LGS in my area. Can anyone recommend a FLGS or good LGS in the East Bay area of California? Preferably within walking distance of the BART?
If you are by BART, why not take a trip into the City and visit the most F of LGS's I have been to ever-Gamescape.
I used to go to the San Rafael store all the time and they have one on Divisadero. I believe there's one in Palo Alto as well.
Yes the staff is friendly; yes they stock a lot of RPGs; and yes there is a monthly RPG event that rocks. They just started it right after I left SF so i haven't been but WOW does it look great---
I have been in Southern California for a few years and still haven't found a truly F-LGS...
yeah,I buy most of my stuff online or at conventions
|
Chief Technical Officer
|
I have attempted to get my LGS to order the Harrow deck since it came out. They have not yet ordered it for me. Since I don't actually NEED it at the moment I am content to see if they ever will order a Paizo product for me. They say that the Harrow deck is sold out and no more are coming. I notice Paizo has them for sale, but I am curious how long they will carry this on for.
Sigh. We have plenty. Your store's distributor(s) should have plenty. (I can understand stores not wanting to speculate on something a little bit out of the ordinary, but when you've got a customer with cash in hand... sigh.)
|
Chief Technical Officer
|
I can see why a game store owner might be disappointed: now he has to stock a bunch of mutually incompatible products if he wants to serve the entire D&D demographic.
Sigh. We'd like retailers to realize that the Pathfinder RPG is their gateway to actually selling some of the 3.5 inventory *they already own* in the years to come.
Also, while the road has definitely forked, there are two ways to view how that happened: some might choose to look at it as Paizo branching off in a different direction from Wizards, but many folks see it as Wizards branching off in a different direction from 3.5.
|
|
I am having a hard time finding a good LGS in my area. Can anyone recommend a FLGS or good LGS in the East Bay area of California? Preferably within walking distance of the BART?If you are by BART, why not take a trip into the City and visit the most F of LGS's I have been to ever-Gamescape.
I used to go to the San Rafael store all the time and they have one on Divisadero. I believe there's one in Palo Alto as well.
Yes the staff is friendly; yes they stock a lot of RPGs; and yes there is a monthly RPG event that rocks. They just started it right after I left SF so i haven't been but WOW does it look great---
I have been in Southern California for a few years and still haven't found a truly F-LGS...
yeah,I buy most of my stuff online or at conventions
SoCal? What about Brookhurst Hobbies in Garden Grove? The owner is a great guy. I played rpgs there for over a decade.
Or there's always GameCastle in Fullerton across from CSUF. Excellent selection of rpgs.Gamescape is next on my list. I'll have to try them next month.
|
|
I am having a hard time finding a good LGS in my area. Can anyone recommend a FLGS or good LGS in the East Bay area of California? Preferably within walking distance of the BART?If you are by BART, why not take a trip into the City and visit the most F of LGS's I have been to ever-Gamescape.
I used to go to the San Rafael store all the time and they have one on Divisadero. I believe there's one in Palo Alto as well.
Yes the staff is friendly; yes they stock a lot of RPGs; and yes there is a monthly RPG event that rocks. They just started it right after I left SF so i haven't been but WOW does it look great---
I have been in Southern California for a few years and still haven't found a truly F-LGS...
yeah,I buy most of my stuff online or at conventions
SoCal? What about Brookhurst Hobbies in Garden Grove? The owner is a great guy. I played rpgs there for over a decade.
Or there's always GameCastle in Fullerton across from CSUF. Excellent selection of rpgs.Gamescape is next on my list. I'll have to try them next month.
I would recommend the War House in Long Beach. A lot of the founders of AEG used to play in the Friday night D&D game we used to have there.
|
|
I would recommend the War House in Long Beach. A lot of the founders of AEG used to play in the Friday night D&D game we used to have there.I am having a hard time finding a good LGS in my area. Can anyone recommend a FLGS or good LGS in the East Bay area of California? Preferably within walking distance of the BART?If you are by BART, why not take a trip into the City and visit the most F of LGS's I have been to ever-Gamescape.
I used to go to the San Rafael store all the time and they have one on Divisadero. I believe there's one in Palo Alto as well.
Yes the staff is friendly; yes they stock a lot of RPGs; and yes there is a monthly RPG event that rocks. They just started it right after I left SF so i haven't been but WOW does it look great---
I have been in Southern California for a few years and still haven't found a truly F-LGS...
yeah,I buy most of my stuff online or at conventions
SoCal? What about Brookhurst Hobbies in Garden Grove? The owner is a great guy. I played rpgs there for over a decade.
Or there's always GameCastle in Fullerton across from CSUF. Excellent selection of rpgs.Gamescape is next on my list. I'll have to try them next month.
Ya I'll second that. I was only there once though. I generally avoided L.A. like the plague.
I wish I had a FLGS's at my city... heck, I wish I had a LGS at all...
I'm all about loyalty and support and if I had a LGS I would definitely buy Paizo's stuff there, and no wonder why retailers aren't too happy at Paizo for selling directly to customers, its difficult to compete against online stores. Yet I think that LGSs offer its not only on products, but also (and mainly) in service. Since nowadays you can get lots of stuff through the web, many stores now function as "window-shopping" to see the actual product in your hands. I used to do this back when I had LGS and ordered the books from Amazon... Cheap shot but the customer service was quite lousy and I was not going to support a store who wouldn't care for its customers. SO in the end I think its all about customer service. Your LGS will handle its business as they see profitable, but they still have to see to their customer service as one of the top priorities. If the store is "friendly" then they might get away with a little complaining from behind the counter without getting a "bad service" image, if not so friendly, they better keep quite not to scare customers away.
Support your local game store! There are people who wish they had one... even a lousy one. Thank gosh for the online shopping!
Or there's always GameCastle in Fullerton across from CSUF. Excellent selection of rpgs.
Sadly, after being in business for over twenty years, GameCastle closed it's doors earlier this year.
|
|
My local FLGS is mostly Friendly.
I go to the Guard Tower in Columbus. Its got a good selection of stuff
and they are nice enough at the register,
but when you walk in, you don't get them talkin trash about your purchase.
You are lucky if you can get them to talk to you at all before the purchase. They are usually playing a game of their own or too intent on their computer screen (I hope its the internet and they aren't just staring at the cash screen that intently).
But they have a use Paizo selection
and its nice to see the stuff in person
without waiting for a convention
Javert
|
|
Or there's always GameCastle in Fullerton across from CSUF. Excellent selection of rpgs.Sadly, after being in business for over twenty years, GameCastle closed it's doors earlier this year.
That is sad. I got bit by the miniature bug there. They always had excellent display cases.
Now I've got that song line, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot stuck in my head.