Bartertown.com

I recently had a chat with my FLGS owner, while I was purchasing items, about trading for stuff on b-town. He got to the point where he had a *edit* attitude about the topic even though I bought items from him. He seems to think that by him owning the store hes doing a great service to me and others. Well if it wasn't for him having said store I wouldn't be playing 40k and have saved a ton of money. (not complaining, i love 40k) All he cares about is the money rolling in, and the lack of it coming from my trades. Maybe if I got store credit it would be different. Nevertheless he's still an elitist jerk. Enough about my crappy week, has this ever happened to anyone else at their FLGS?

Sounds like the same FLGS I've been going to down here of 25+ years.
He never gives a discount, except when he has special sales. Everything is sold at full retail. Comics are marked up the week after release.

At one point, they wanted to charge the 40k players to use the space and the terrain. The terrain was made and donated by previous players no longer in the area or still playing.

He was listed in WD. I don't know if he still is, but buys directly from GW.

The clix, MTG and Yu gyi oh players and even some pathfinder/d&d players are ok; sinc ehtey buy everything that comes out or pays to play in weekly tournaments.

Welcome to the greed of comics & gaming stores.

I play at a guy's furnature repair shop. Another old time gamer. He's disliked by the FLGS since he buys almost nothing at it.

You are not alone.

I know right! The biggest thing is that my group of friends play at one of our houses instead of the FLGS gaming tables. I've Only played in 1 tourney that was there and it's a nice change of pace meeting new 40k players. It's just a shame he's such an elitist jerk, because we would like to play there if it wasn't like being in school, being watched over like a hawk.

Visicous circle of greedy owners Nickle and diming customers.

The LGS hereabouts is similar. I very, very rarely go into the store and purchase something and only if I need a quick fix (usually a single Reaper model or a strip of green stuff), but I am made to feel so unwelcome that I feel angry by the time I leave. In the current environment we all live in, where we can get anything we want online for cheaper than retail, LGS's should be as welcoming as possible to get our cash.

My usual experience has been something like this:
Me: Do you have "X"?
LGS guy: No.
Me: Oookay. Can you get it?
LGS: Maybe. (Pauses, looks at me, sighs) I will ask my distributor when I call on Wednesday. I only do orders stuff on Wednesdays.
Me: How much would it cost?
LGS: Retail price.
Me: *thought bubble overhead* -so I can wait for a while, dealing with your ignorant arse, practically begging you to take my money and STILL be treated like crap OR I can go home, hop online, get it for at least 25% off retail, maybe more depending upon product, have it delivered in 2 days time, and get a "Thank you for your business" e-mail from the seller? Gee, which am I going to choose, you toadstool?

Unfortunately, I think some LGS owners have some sort of weird idea that they are "king of the nerds" and all patrons should bow and scrape at their awesomeness. I am far too old and onery to do such things. Nowadays, on the rare occassion I get to do any gaming type stuff, I just do it at home or a friends house. At least then the toilets are not covered in waste and the place doesn't smell like armpits and old burritos.

aurak_merc wrote: Unfortunately, I think some LGS owners have some sort of weird idea that they are "king of the nerds" and all patrons should bow and scrape at their awesomeness.

+9000 rep for that sir

You are so right.

In my neck of the woods, I've actually had people at the FLGS suggest bartertown or discount sites when I've balked at high prices on stuff: more reason for me to trust their shop, meaning, unless it's really that difficult to afford or rare, any of my actual purchases go to them.

.....

I always thought that the moniker FLGS stood for Friendly Local Gaming Store. From the sound of it, you have encountered the dread f*ing local gaming store. Be glad you are moving away soon in that case.

Lik Aurak_Merc, there are a few in his neck of the woods that are like that and one more in-between where he and I live - *cough*.

There is one here in the valley that I'll go to in order to buy card boxes for shipping and the occasional flock or textured card and a paint I desperately need. But outside of that, I have only met one other BTer there for a trade and never to play or paint. That said, I do think that if I gave them the chance, they could be more neutral about my online purchases as opposed to purchases of GW stuff from their store. It just never comes up.

Yet another LGS seems to have a little different feel as the impression that I get is that he caters to his small group only and it's hard to get any help or carry a conversation with the owner otherwise.

On the lighter side, I've heard that he offers a discount on GW based on the retail purchase at the time. I just refuse to pay the amounts for new stuff that brick-and-mortar establishments sell for when I can get things online for 20% off OR MORE. Although MUCH closer to my place, I visit maybe once a year or so.


Seems like the same story here overall though.

I have to speak out about my LGS.It has just opened and caters to gaming out of my interest.But I will still buy stuff from him just because he seems like a decent bloke and I had a nice conversation with him.Asked him if they ever did Historicals,he said no,but before I could even ask he offered the space and terrain should I want to host a game to see if there would be any interest.Now that is the way to run a store.Our hobby isn't in such a state that it can afford to turn away customers.But at the same time you have to realize that a Brick and Mortor can not compete with on-line dealers, the overhead is rediculous. When I do go to a great store,Brookhurst Hobbies in Cali(378 miles away) I spend as much as I can.
Lastly,if you run into a dude that pisses you off, tell them!! Then make your voice heard with where you spend your hard earned dollars. I would never leave a place mad without letting the owner or manager know about it.Your voice can effect change, but only when you make yourself heard.

Felt like I had to chime into this conversation, because I love love love my FLGS.

Yes, he sells everything at retail. By everything, I mean everything. I've bought out of print games that happened to be left over at retail, and resold them for a profit, but I've also bought hundreds of dollars of Magic, GW, PIP, what have you, at retail, knowing that the would likely depreciate in value.

I think there's an attitude problem among gamers, and this might make me unpopular to say this, but here we go. Your FLGS can only exist if you support it. You want to play there, have the courtesy to buy something from time to time. You make an occasional purchase, don't ask for a discount. (On the other hand, you blow $200 a week, feel free to see if they would be willing to discount it from time to time.) If you get to play your games for free on a table where the store maintains space for you, and terrain for you, be courteous enough to put the terrain away when the game is over, and clean up the area you played in.

My FLGS is surrounded by food places, and they allow people to bring food and drink in, but a lot of those people then leave their garbage everywhere.

I am a gamer, but dang it to hell if gamers don't frequently piss me off with a sense of entitlement, and the belief that minimum wage game store employees should just be happy that they have something to do, so they can clean up my garbage.

I'm lucky as hell, after years of playing in some mediocre stores I've found a great FLGS with great customers and a great community. It's well lit, bright, and clean. I was discussing pricing with an employee at said store and when I mentioned that I should probably wait on an RPG, since I could get it cheaper online, he told me to buy it online, and explained they have this belief in retail pricing for everything. They don't mark it up, and it only gets marked down if it goes on their discount rack. Retail pricing is that for a reason, it allows a store to pay overhead, pay for product, give you a place to play.

Give me a great store, a great environment, and a great place to play, and I'm happy to pay retail. That's an opinion that more gamers need to share. We take for granted that hanging out in these stores is our right, but I live in an area where three of them closed since November. Support them or lose them, and the world will be a sadder place when we only have online stores.

Nicely said DZ. While I agree wholeheartedly with your comments, I think there needs to be a change in attitude of some reatil stores also.I've been to stores that the employees fall over themselves to see if there is anything they can do to help you. I've also been to shops that its a major pain in the a$$ to get help. Our hobby population is a microcosm of our society as a whole. There are great shopkeeps and there are jerk shopkeeps, the same goes for gamers, and human beings. Why some people can't pick up their garbage I will never understand. I was a 7 year old in 1961 on vacation at Bryce Canyon Utah. At a veiwpoint some douche walked up to the rail, snapped a pic from his polaroid, then dumped the backing paper on the ground.I walked over picked it up and threw it away.There was a trash can not 5 feet away. People are probably picking up trash that this creeps kids leave around. As is said, it takes all kinds, unfortunately.But, there are stores that deserve the rep they recieve, and stores that deserve to go out of business. Find a good one and support it to the fullest of your ability.

If I'm going to get crappy service when I buy stuff, then I'd be better off going online form it @20% off. If I have old minis and want to get rid of them I use btown, not like I get store credit.

I wholeheartedly agree.Crappy service does not deserve repeat business. No matter what kind of business it is. I also think that if you get crappy service you should say so. That is why I praise stores like Last Square, Grandiosity, The War Store(Neal is great), and my personal favorite Brookhurst. I go to Brookhurst when I'm in Cali. I buy from all the stores I mentioned on-line. Like I said earlier, there is one small store in my area, and they don't carry what I game. But I will still make a purchase from them now and again just to help support them. But were I to get bad service from them that would end it, and I would certainly let them know about it.

The local LGS has basiccly said, play where ever you want. Which is what 99% of the RPG's do. There is only 1 or 2 Rpg groups that meet at the store. 1 meets every week, 1 every other week.
The clix play 1x-2x per week. The CCG's 3x-4x per week. 40k/GW/WHFB 1x per week. 1 night is no gaming since it's new comic day, when new comics come in and it's to busy to have gamers.

They want to run tournaments. Let me rephrase that. The will let tournaments be run at the store, and the prizes be delivered to the store & distributed from the store, IF SOMEONE ELSE does all the work. Not a store employee.

It's really sad that it's like that.

I think my biggest issue is that I like the 'not' popular games, like Vor, SST/BEvo, Rackhams, B5, Kings of War (and the like) and they don't seem too interested in helping a brother out finding new players. OH but they sure as heck walk me over to the rack to sell me their stuff at full retail cuz that's what they play (and what i should be playing). I've only met one employee at BF's Saloon that was actually interested in trying out and playing KoW.
Of course, the other biggie is proxying...why its such a big deal when we're nowhere near the game MFR is beyond me. Someone tried to get me to play Hordes and I asked about proxying; NOPE not here, so I said maybe later. He walks over later to our table and says "hey, you're already playing Trollbloods!" and I said, "No, I'm playing Growlers-about 5 years pre WM/H."
I don't mind supporting a store, and if it came down to it, I'd pay to play on tables if it kept them open but don't expect me to support your lively hood if I find better deals elsewhere, like B-town. You took the risk to sell stuff that now a days, can be bought anywhere and if you think its more about your bottom line than the gamers in your store, you're in the wrong business.