Rough year for gaming

[Nightshade]

I finally got to read the update for the week, and I was wondering what game companies were the ones that shut down. As someone who pretty much only buys HERO products, I feel a little out of the loop.

Can someone clue me in?

Nightshade

[Supreme Serpent]

On the FLGS front, our area experienced a spike, then it all washed away.

Briefly, not counting Hungates outlets (which I don't), we had four stores going at once. One closed down last year, but another opened this year. So, steady at four. Two in this town (Greensboro), two in the next city over (Winston-Salem).

Then this summer, one in Winston (Hobbytown) closed. OK, no big deal, should just give the other one more business. Then the other Winston store closed beginning of December. Then one in Greensboro (the longest-running one in the area) announces it's going to close by January. Lastly, the new hole-in-the-wall shop in Greensboro announces a week later that it's closing at the end of December.

So, at the moment, nothin'. On the bright side, the guy who ran Hobbytown in Winston closed mainly b/c he didn't want to renew the franchise & lease in Winston. He lives in Greensboro, owns some land he wants to build a store on, and was planning on opening an independent store this year or next. Perhaps the downfall of his potential competition may make him step up his plans.

[Rapier]

The problem with a great many of the FLGSs is their business plan (and coincidentally its the same problem with comic shops). You see a normal everyday person isn't going to open an FLGS (or comic shop...and going forward I'll roll comic shops into FLGS land for discussion purposes). I mean, those people are weird, neh?

So who does open one? Why we do of course. Fanboys (for lack of a better term). I can't tell you the number of people with NO business experience at all but avid RPG fans have opened stores. Its good to do something you love and all but you need some ability...and you HAVE to have a plan.

You average FLGS is pretty full isn't it? Chances are there are bunch of games and supplements on the shelves by companies that no longer exist, neh? There is also a fairly good chance that the owner's favourite passion (eg WarHammer, HeroClix, Hero System) also has a larger percentage of shelf space. Who can blame the guy though?

Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon problem. You have to keep stock in the store to bring people in. But what to stock? How many copies of 5eR can a single outlet expect to sell? Most of us also only play one system or maybe two. So now all the rest of the shelf space is pretty useless to you.

This is the life of the specialty shop. Doesn't matter if it comic books, rpgs, knitting, candlemaking, soccer supplies or gift baskets. Specialty shops have a small demographic of clientelle and have to stock an amount of material even though the usual shopper will only choose something from 10% of the stock...its a different 10% as the last person. Specialty shops are always operating at very close to the red...mostly because of the amount of money that has to be tied up in warehousing stock.

How do you get around it? Keep a few things in stock and order the rest on demand. Not real great for customer service and you would be competing pretty heavily with internet vendors. That's not a perfect solution either.

I almost think a super-store idea would be best. Books, Comics, RPGs, Model Airplanes, RC, etc. Shrug.

[Old Man]

I almost think a super-store idea would be best. Books, Comics, RPGs, Model Airplanes, RC, etc. Shrug.

That's probably the way to go--an all-encompassing hobby store for all the hobbyists; RPGers, CCGers, RC, airsoft/paintball, GW, SCA, comics/anime, console/computer gaming. That last one ought to be enough to carry the whole store.

Locally I've lost two FLGSs in the past few months, as I pointed out in another thread somewhere. One got razed to make way for a Nordstroms and I don't know what happened to the other. It probably just folded; it was mostly a comic shop and with the Marines on deployment I don't know who can afford to buy comics at $3 a pop.

[BlackSword]

I almost think a super-store idea would be best. Books, Comics, RPGs, Model Airplanes, RC, etc. Shrug.

The local chain game store around here (The Fantasy Shop) is not quite as all inclusive, but works on the diversity model. They carry, comics (as well as comic statues, posters and shirts), RPGs, CCGs, Warhammer, game sets (chess, backgammon, poker, Go, checkers), and a few board games. The main store (near me) is very large, maybe 2000 - 2500 sq ft of retail space. Half of that is divided off and filled with open gaming tables and tables set up for Warhammer. They have weekly events such as a 750 pt Warhammer tournament, lots of Magic tournaments, etc.

One thing they do fairly well is that they have two TV set up in the store. They play a recent movie and then surround the TV with stuff based on the movie. For instance on one TV they have the Star Wars Clone Wars playing, and they have various Star Wars Graphic Novels, mock light sabres, Star Wars RPG items etc set up around the TV.

[Peregrine]

What any store needs is recurring sales. RPGs don't have enough product flow (per customer) to sustain a store, so you have to branch out. Comics usually do the trick, but not recently, it seems. The d20 glut was the last of the 'flash-in-the-pan' product flows that was really exemplified by CCGs back in the 90s. The abovementioned 'superstores', I think, might suffer from 'more of the same' - the need for greater on-hand stock across multiple product lines, coupled with inconsistent sales to your repeat customers.

And let us not forget the distributors, whose hammerlock on the supply chain for FLGSs has historically made it difficult for some stores to even get requested product.

Also, not to veer too strongly into NGD territory, you cannot forget the effects of government regulation on small businesses of all kinds. Add to this increasing liability issues (I'm talking mainly, though probably not exclusively, in the U.S.) and the need to mitigate the associated risks, and the cost of operating a small business continues to increase. Increasing costs and flat or decreasing sales revenues is a recipe for companies going out of business - no profit, no business; no goods or services.

It is noteworthy that as FLGSs have folded, online sales have increased. The gaming industry is on the verge of finding print-on-demand (PoD) affordable (in fact, I know of one game company that produces wargames and RPGs who invested in a PoD setup in 2004 or 2005), and that, coupled with online sales, will not only cause a great shift in the distribution of gaming product, but will make a significant difference in the quantity and variety of product available, as PoD means that a product that would not have sold enough to justify a 'normal' print run could be economically (electronically) produced and printed as copies are sold, coupling some of the advantages currently enjoyed by PDF products (no initial print run investment or physical inventory maintenance) with the advantages of printed product (less pirating of product).

[pinecone]

I have to say I too think that print on demand is a perfect fit for gamming...I actually explored trying that myself for Hero before Hoj cane along and saved it....a good thing too as I'd likely be out of business by now, not having Steves inhuman writting powers...

[Ura-Maru]

And keep in mind most, (bordering on all) game companies sell their products online at a big discount. It’s a wonder most FLGSs last as long as they do, all things considered. Their entire stock is available online at 20% off, or more.

Of course, without games stores, gamers are much less likely to pick up new games, and new groups are much less likely to form, so everyone loses out in the end. Ah, well.

Ours (Modern Myths) is doing the games/comics/board games thing, and seems to be doing well . . . it’s even managed to keep it’s share of the ‘otherwise normal’ manga crowd, which has been drifting away from comics shops and into Boarders and Waldenbooks. But then, the Northampton/Amherst area has a lot of students, a good number of geeks, and a high tolerance for general weirdness.

---
Unfortunately, the other three within easy driving distance have all gone away within the last two years . . .

[incrdbil]

The often common operation model for FLGS I've seen in smaller markets is to stock just the top sellers, special order everything else. Sadly, that operational mode is almost destined to fail against competiton by mail order or internet, especially if somethign goes amiss and you miss a trend, or invest in somethign that doesn't become a trend. If the store isnt committed to having frequent orders and quickly getting that special order in, there's no reason to special order from a shop if it takes them weeks as opposed to going online. Especially for RPG's, where you now fight amazon, much less the internet gaming retailers. The huge advantage of a B&M setup is the impulse buy, the wow aqnd get it now. When you yield that advantage, just what do you have left?

Add in incidental factors--d20 glut, the slide in once certain moneymakers (GW sales anyone?), and the near tradition of bad buisness practices by store owners who are gamers first, buisnessmen distant third, you start to wonder how some of them stayed open so long.

Print on Demand; if I was a local shop owner, I'd be cheering this on every day.

[Blue]

One of my FLGS is the one I bought my very first RPG in, about 26 years ago, when it was actually about a mile from where it is now. The other I can remember shopping in as long as 18 years ago, when it was about 4 miles form where it is now.

So while no new game stores pop up, these seem fine. Even talked to the manager of one of them and he talked about how his store is probably good to go for another couple of years at least.

[Peregrine]

Print on Demand; if I was a local shop owner, I'd be cheering this on every day.

The thing is, Print on Demand cuts the local shop out of the loop, as a game company can do PoD online sales and make more revenue than by distributing the PoD electronically to the local shop to be printed there.

[Rapier]

And I have to wonder about the industry in general.

Consider, it seems that people still have less disposable income now than we did 5 years ago. So we are being a lot more careful with our spending dollars.

At a B&M you might be walking past and sucked into some cover art and purchase another product that you normally wouldn't buy. Maybe a nifty little figurine or a building or maybe just a book with skimpily clad elves (hubba hubba!). That is pretty much not going to happen on the internet.

So we would continue to support just our current favourites or the very few that reach us by word of mouth. The declines the industry and we end up sacrificing it anyway. Could it be there are less RPers than there used to be? Have the proto-RPers (the being we all were before we discovered what was most likely Dungeons & Dragons) been shunted into console and computer games instead? I know a rather large contingent of MUDders and Online RPGers and even console RPGers that consider themselves RPGers that none of us would consider anything but hack-and-slash Doom freaks.

I suppose it comes back to the old standby. Hook em early. Shrug.

I think I depressed myself!

[incrdbil]

The thing is, Print on Demand cuts the local shop out of the loop, as a game company can do PoD online sales and make more revenue than by distributing the PoD electronically to the local shop to be printed there.

but then you are back to the wait for it or get it now dilemma--Print on Demand from a company still, to the customer is pay, then wait.

POD at the store is Pay now, Walk out with product right now. no credit card, no computer, cash in hand, product in bag.

It seems that any POD sales effort would figure one-print displays of a lot of products, or at least cover sheets--widely show that you really do have the product there at the customers fingertips. But certainly POD won't make the game makers unhappy either.

Distributors however.....

[Jhamin]

In my neck of the woods (St Paul/Minneapolis area) there is one giant FLGS that dominates the cities, 2-3 smaller stores that have been around for a while, a chain with a dozen locations that stocks games, and many small "neighborhood" stores.

The giant store (The Source) sells RPGs, CCGs, Warhammer, Historical Minis, Comics, Anime, Geek Plushes, Boardgames, and just about anything else you could imagine. They advertise on TV, have expanded several times in recent years, and project a thriving image.

The 2-3 established smaller stores all sell RPGs and something else (one sells alot of Warhammer, one sells alot of Comics, etc). They have dedicated customer bases, are in unique neighborhoods, and seem to wax and wane but always hold on.

The chain store (Shinders) sells comics, newspapers, books, RPGs, CCGs, Sportscards, and Magazines. They are either downtown or at major malls and pitch themselves as an oldschool neighborhood newsseller with geeky overtones. Some locations seem to make as much off of guys in $500 suits buying Forbes and the New York Times as they do off of geeks buying RPGs or kids buying Cartoon CCGs. But they do carry them all, and apparently get a weird synergy out of it.

The rest of the neighborhoods stores seem to come and go with the kind of regularity that other people on this thread are describing.

Now, the Twin Cities is a large market and undoubtedly can support a fair number of FLGSs (13th largest urban area in America according to our newspapers), but it seems to me that there are a couple of buisnesses that continue to do well year in and year out while others come and go. I'm guessing that Rapiers comments about the buisness acumen of the owners is probably on the mark.

[Old Man]

but then you are back to the wait for it or get it now dilemma--Print on Demand from a company still, to the customer is pay, then wait.

POD at the store is Pay now, Walk out with product right now. no credit card, no computer, cash in hand, product in bag.

Well, my game shopping could easily go the way of my xmas shopping, which is 90% online. To me it's not a question of wait now or wait later, it's a question of spending five minutes surfing Amazon or driving down to the store in traffic to see if maybe they have the book I want. To be brutally honest I have so little free time nowadays that I probably couldn't read the book the day I bought it anyway.

It seems that any POD sales effort would figure one-print displays of a lot of products, or at least cover sheets--widely show that you really do have the product there at the customers fingertips. But certainly POD won't make the game makers unhappy either.

Distributors however.....

The entire game/comic channel arrangement has always seemed odd to me. Especially games. If a computer manufacturer went into direct competition with its own distributors, at discounts they couldn't possibly match, the distributors would very quickly drop that manufacturer because they couldn't compete. This is ultimately disadvantageous to the mfr because they lose all that presence. I've never understood why a game store would bother stocking hardcopy that is available direct for less.