Explain gaming space to me

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Post originally by nemarsde at 2004-02-11 10:56:32
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Alright, so I'm ignorant about gaming space.

I live in the UK, I've lived in two major cities in the North and the Midlands. I've lived in the capital with my ex. I've visited a lot of hobby shops in the UK, or what a lot of you call gaming stores, and I'm struck by the differences there seem to be between the UK and the US marketplace.

Apart from Weyland's Forge in Birmingham, and Leisure Games in London, and excluding Games Workshop, I don't think I've ever seen a dedicated gaming store in the UK.

Weyland's Forge was the only one with gaming space, and that was just an empty room upstairs with a table and chairs in it (and no windows IIRC). Definitely not where I'd want to spend a weekend afternoon gaming!

What I define as a "hobby shop" are usually retail outlets that sell all kinds of pop and counter-culture merchandise, incl. comics and magazines, miniatures, figurines, memorabilia, novels, printed T-shirts, and imported and second-hand video games. And of course, RPGs and other tabletop games. I'm sure you know what I mean.

Anyway, for one thing, these shops generally tend to have a broad range of customer, a very brisk trade and fairly changeable prices.

Now I've never been to the States, possibly never will, but either way I find it hard to imagine a gaming store without thinking of Games Workshop. That's just what most of your descriptions remind me of.

But although Games Workshop was founded in the UK, it's without doubt one of the most unsuccessful high street retailers I've ever seen in the UK. (Note: Though this is just relating my personal experience.)

Not only do they rent out what /must/ be expensive high street premises, but even during a weekend the shop floor is deserted except for a few boys in their early teens who can't possibly have the disposable income to spend and cover the overheads. Is Games Workshop different in the US, and have any Britons had different experiences here in the UK?

Glancing in through the shop front, I've sometimes noticed customers crowded around a table and assumed they were playing games. But for me personally, this looks very off-putting. You have these funny-looking, middle-aged dishevelled staff, foaming at the mouth in heated debate with gangs of spotty adolescents.

It can't be good for business.

Is this what you get in gaming stores in the US? Is this what is meant by gaming space? Space to game on the shop floor? Is it good for business?

And about these upstairs and basement gaming spaces. Are you honestly telling me that serious customers use this gaming space?

I'd just like to understand more about gaming stores and how they work (or don't).

And please, try to ignore my own small-minded generalisation there about Games Workshop. I'm sure that wasn't a fair comment and would probably upset some people. Apology tendered in advance.

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Post originally by Tadeusz at 2004-02-11 22:15:52
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I know GW has a shop in Nashville's Opry Mill's Mall which is probably the biggest mall in the Tennessee River Valley (which covers large parts of multiple states). It might be the biggest outside of Florida or Texas in the South.

And a game store has a spot in this very top drawer establishment. Weird. Either they are playing by different rules than most game stores, or they are cruising for a bruising.

Tadeusz

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Post originally by The Bad Elf at 2004-02-12 08:36:59
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That's a really interesting question / point; I've never really thought about what game stores in other countries might be like or how someone from overseas might view the American type store. I've been to a fair number of game / hobby stores in the states I've lived in (Georgia mostly, Texas while in the Army, Florida for the last six months, and I'd say that there's a lot of variety.

Some stores are along the lines of what you talk about as a hobby shop. My current favorite (TBS Comics in Fort Walton Beach, FL) is a lot like this - in fact, I could almost cut and paste your description. They don't carry novels, though, and they have several gaming tables and a bunch of terrain for miniatures games. The tables are in a corner of the main store, and definately get use from serious customers - mostly by Warhammer 40K players on the weekends, and by kids playing Yu-Gi-O and Clix games on Friday nights. They also sponsor tournaments for sports video games.

Other stores aren't as broadly based. They can range from The War Room (miniatures, military toys and models, and a huge room of gaming tables that gets very heavy use) to The Source of Magic (basically a gameroom with a sales counter) to any number of comic book shops that carry games to some extent or other (usually some combination of D&D/D20, White Wolf, Games Workshop, and WizKids). Almost all of the smaller ones I've been to have at least a table or two set up, usually for card games but often used for miniatures as well.

Games Workshop stores are pretty much unique. They get prime mall space, have a more limited selection than a more broadly based store (since they only sell GW products), and tend to cater to the young kids more than to the veteran gamers. That said, it seems to work for them and I shop there occasionally if I happen to be near one.

As far as how they work goes - I'd imagine a retailler will pop up to give you a better answer than I could.

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Post originally by Orlando Furioso at 2004-02-12 16:05:04
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GW tried to open a store here in Northern VA, and it didn't last long. The few times I walked by the store was mostly empty. I thought a store that only sold one kind of game from only one company was sort of a strange retail concept. Even the chain of stores here (Gamekeeper) owned by WOTC sold games from other companies.

This greater suburban area of Washington DC has approximately 4 million people, and is blessed with 5 largish game stores. (There is a 6th, but I don't count them because their owners are extremely rude, and apparently are not interested in actually selling anything.) By "game store" I mean someplace that sells primarily RPGs, CCGs, miniatures, board games, etc. There are also a few stores primarily oriented towards comic books, which also sell the most popular CCGs and have some tables for that.

But out of these 5 stores, all of them have at least 1/3 of the store area devoted to tables, etc. My local game store, Game Parlor (North), is approx 1/2 tables, including a glass windowed room you can reserve, and an area with a huge flat green table for miniatures.
I would say there are 10 tables in all.

Generally you can just come in with your friends and grab a table, about half of the time there is a table or two available. You can also reserve tables for demos or leagues or whatever.

Most of the players are CCG (Magic mostly when there isn't a league night), but I also see board games, miniatures, and less often RPGs.
More than half of the players are in their 20s or older I would say, there are plenty of kids but they are usually outnumbered by older folks. I've never had any issues with body odour of other folks in the room or other similar issues.

Game Parlor (North) is somewhat unusual in its size, but I imagine the table area probably works out well for them sales-wise. People come in to play and often end up buying stuff. You're playing in a CCG league, lose all three games, and buy some boosters to make yourself feel better! Anytime or -way you can get folks in the store, that is usually a good thing for your bottom line. Plus it helps if players can find other players for the cool stuff they want to buy.

I'm not sure what GPN would do with the extra space anyways, the rest of the store is huge and pretty well stocked. I guess there is always more D20 stuff...

Anyways if you ever come to the Washington DC area to do the "been there done that" touristy thing or whatever, I recommend checking out the Game Parlor in Chantilly VA (very close to Dulles Airport). It has spoiled me.

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Post originally by shadowonce at 2004-11-13 03:27:48
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It would make sense that therewould be difference in the stores on either sid of the atlantic. The culture of gameing was the subject of a witch hunt in the US which seems to have brought gamers together. I know that in the midwest, where most of my neighbors think "dunjons and draagons is a theeng of the Devile" and a couple of schools actually told students not to bring "devil worship" cards to school, that sense of cultural identity is very prevalent, even now.

I have met several people who avoid stores wihout gamming areas, because they feel the stores are forgeting the heritage of gammer culture (although they don't say it that way).

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Post originally by thausgt at 2004-11-14 22:17:56
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The differences between game stores boils down to the individuality of the proprietor(s). Until the rise of a world-wide "Game-In-A-Box" corporation, which will sell a predetermined assortment of product in a location with all the individuality of a McDonald's, no two game stores will ever be exactly alike. And thank goodness for that; most of the gamers in my experience got into the hobby precisely because it wasn't the same thing that everyone else was doing.

When a game store manager decides to set up dedicated gaming space, s/he is choosing to let customers 'try out' the products, rather than using the space for displaying a wider selection of wares. It can work out to everyone's advantage when the people playing the games at the tables can stop and answer questions from onlookers without losing the thread of the game. Consider how you feel when presented with some new game with a quirky name and a funny-looking box just sitting on the display shelf, as opposed to how you feel when you're watching a group of folk sitting around a table playing that game, bantering with each other and obviously having a good time. Quite a lot of game companies, especially CCG-oriented ones, set up tournaments and leagues, for this very reason.

Still, the decision not to have game space isn't necessarily wrong, especially when the store in question doesn't have a lot of total floorspace to spare for that sort of thing.

Are there any retailers out there who can tell a tale about the effects on customer base and the bottom line for a store without game space to acquire it, or for a store with game space to drop it?