"Do You Have an FLGS?" Topic

Just curious. A recent post suggested to a member to go play different rules at a local shop to "see what you like." With the hue and cry about the demise of the FLGS, I'd like to suggest a TMP poll.

The criteria:

1) Has gaming space
2) Stocks more than Magic cards and clicks – even if all they carry is a little GW, AT-43 and a few other odds and ends
3) Is friendly (that's what the F stands for people!)
4) Is local (however you define it – close in Montana may be different than close in London)

Yea or nay on FLGS?

For me it is yes – the Krystal Keep in Dayton, OH.

I have one , its nice . But it is "mainstream" Reaper, GW, Warmachine , board games , Flames of war . If you want different gotta do the Mail order route

We'll, I'm in Montana and have one less than a quarter mile away. Next one's 200 miles or so in any direction though.

Pretty much mainstream stuff only, but they are friendly and efficient on the special orders.

Nay.

There is a store about an hour from me (for me, that's not "close" or "local") that offers gaming space, but nothing on the shelves interests me. No historical miniatures, no board wargames, not even any spaceships.

There are a few items I would have been interested in 20 years ago (25mm sci fi figures, RPG books) but nothing to catch my eye these days. Mostly just cards and clicky bases.

Nothing all that L for me… and the last one I was in was missing the F as well.

We are very fortunate to have a couple of great stores locally. The Griffon in South Bend, all of the criteria above,they have a great selection of everything, and the largest selection of reference books I've ever seen in a store. We also have Fantasy Games, they have lots of gaming area and fantasy/sci-fi stock.

The nearest FLGS is about 100 miles away from me (so I guess it's not really "L")

Jake goes to the same store that I go to. We are welcome, but we go less than once a month now. He is moving down the road, and I guess we might go back.
Our recruiting there is spotty at best.
It's a computer gaming venue, with DDR (Electronic River Dance…) and other Teen Stuff. Some minis, including a buyout of the WEG Star Wars linee. I hear they are doing Warmachine, and MIGHT get into Flames of War, but I'm not holding my breath.

However, there is a thriving FLGS, Dragonhead Distributors an hour away in Emmaus.
He has a ton of historical stuff, and quite a few tables.
Nice guy, too.
I get down there maybe every three months or so.

Two hours North, South, 3 hours West and 5 hours East. So, no.

I have one store, Discordia within 15 minutes of me and another one about 30 minutes away in the opposite direction called Game Matrix. Neither carry all of the things I want, but both are willing to special order and both have good size gaming areas with multiple tables.

No.

Living in a semi-boondocks area I would love a local games store, especially one that doesn't have Warhammer or FoW played there.

No, not really. 'My' game store closed in June after 25+ years of business, and it was never really 'friendly'. We tried some in-store gaming, but the local reps were spotty at best, and the owner wasn't terribly enthused about having people in his store playing games. Now, he liked the idea of tournaments where you had to buy a starter and booster of whatever, but he'd complain that that was all they'd buy. Nor did he want to shell out for 'store armies/decks/whatevers'. Now, there really isn't one that's 'local' – the nearest one is about 30+ minutes away on the highway, and as Murph will testify, if it isn't FoW, Warmachine or 40K, they're not interested. I don't go to game stores much at all anymore; my browsing and buying is all online.

Now that gas is a lot cheaper, maybe I'll get down to Ohio more and bother Extra Crispy.

40 minutes up the road….

Great Hall Games, Austin TX

greathallgames.com

Yep. Friendly and reasonably local (around 15 minutes away). Helgi holds things behind the counter if he thinks someone might be interested in it, so they get first dibs before it goes on the rack. He has gaming tables (although we don't game there), carries an interesting mix of stuff (although FoW is the only historical I see there, but I don't do historicals, so I may not notice) including board games, card games, and the usual assortment of fantasy/science fiction games. He'll special order and not require pre-payment (at least from Michael & me, maybe he does for folks he doesn't know). Heck, he even calls our house when he gets a new shipment in, to let us know what he has.

BTW, it took me three months of reading posts at TMP before I figured out that the "F" in "FLGS" stood for "Friendly".

Yes. Many.

Four FLGS within 30 miles.

Andy, We suspect what you thought it meant!

Like Extra Crispy, I'm fortunate to count the Krystal Keep in Kettering Ohio as my FLGS – even if its a 45 minute drive. We're even more fortunately in that we have more stores in the area – Yotta Quest and Acme Games and Mark's own Scale Creep in Cincinnati

Several, though I generally go to The Source.

Does "yes, but I never shop there because I use mail-order instead" count? Nice guys, but I'm not into what they sell.

Yep. Game Parlor, Chantilly.

Maybe 5 minutes drive away from me.

Yes! Games Plus in Mt. Prospect Illinois (Chicago area) is about 15 minutes away. Great people & great selection.

Tabletop Game and Hobby. Carries FOW, Warmachine/Hordes, all the Reaper stuff, Wings of War, Uncharted Seas, the usual mass of GW stuff, a fistfull of the pre-painted stuff. And they have a large stock of carrying cases of various flavors, foam packing, flock, paints, some terrain pieces. Board games and Euro games of all stripes, a ton of role-playing stuff, some Copplestone figures, some Star Trek boxed sets.

And the usual clicky things.

Oh, and a game room with a large walk-in storage closet full of 25mm terrain, a bathroom, soda machine. There's a long painting table at the back where folks get together just to paint and compare techniques. And about eight 4'x6' playing tables with chairs. Lots of military prints on the walls too.

I'd consider moving elsewhere but only if the new location sported a game center like this one and supported a gaming community as large as this one.

Yes but except for some FOW miniatures, the FLGS has little else that interests me.

My FLGS is the Sentry Box in Calgary – it has been supporting me with RPG and miniature gaming needs for about three decades now. When I moved away, it was still F even when it wasn't L!

Great Hall Games here in Austin.

1. Dedicated gaming room.
2. Plenty of historicals (Plus lots of boardgames)
3. I've only been in there a couple times, but the staff seemed friendly and attentive enough for me.
4. Its about 20 minutes from me, or 5 minutes from school.

I just came from mine-- had a great evening playing Monsterpocalypse with the owner and one of the main gamers who frequents the store. Most Thursdays are Historical night, and we play Check Your Six, Arc of Fire, FoW, or any number of other games depending on who wants to run what. There are super weekend gaming events as well as all the card gamer type stuff. Apart from being a bit messy (and most game stores ARE) the place is almost a gamer's paradise.

There is Pigmented Miniatures in Cody WY, the owner is a great guy and he stocks all the games I'm interested in and ther eis plenty of gaming space. I'm alittle biased though :)

Yes. Wargames, Inc., is about 20-30 minutes away. TMP advertisers, local HMGS headquarters, great people, great stock. Wish I had more money to spend there, and more time to be there during the club meetings.

I also like Philips Toy Mart as a source for games and stuff, but they don't have gaming space.

The Game Keep is farther away (about an hour or so), but it's good too. Wish it were closer and in a less rundown shopping center, but the later is a nit-pick on my part.

Yotta Quest is nearby.

Thanks,

John

Mine is RIW Hobbies in Livonia, MI. My club frequents there quite a bit.

It has gaming rooms, and stocks 40k, Warmachine, FoW, Dark Age, Urban War, Rezolution, Federation Commander, B5 ACTA, Check Your Six as well as Clix, Monsterpocalypse, and Star Wars minis. Also stocks a lot of boardgames and card games.

Yes for me. Tactics is it's name and it gets ticks in all Crispys checklist.

Used to have an FLGS, and a LGS. Now we are down to the LGS.
You'd have thought it would work the other way.

Ed and Ivan, Great Hall is the kind of store I wish I had local. Reminds me of the game shops back in the day. Historical minis, boardgames and Go. And the folks were nice. I'm trying to plot another trip to Austin just to visit there again ;)

Lucky here in Ft Wayne, got 3 or maybe up to 5 in town.
Books, Comics & Things has 2 locations. Great place and ownership thats been around 20+ years.

Top Self Games. Fairly good selection and employees are ok.

Atomic Games. Last I checked though they had a sign on there door saying they had moved. Need to find out were they went since I liked the people that worked there.

The Keep. Closed there doors last month. I think they may have moved to a new location, but since I realy did not like there ownership not going to bother to find out.

"1) Has gaming space"

Of the (very few) game shops left in the UK, none of them have or ever have had "gaming space". It just doesn't work like that here. The only shops I have ever seen here with "gaming space" are those owned by the Evil Empire.

The nearest game shop to me is Orcs Nest in London, but it's pretty useless when it comes to historical gaming.

The Gamers Guild in Redhill, Surrey has some gaming space in their basement.

I pop in occasionally when I'm passing through at work: they carry a lot of fantasy stuff and GW but also have some historical ranges although these have been declining recently in favour of a broader range of toys and puzzles. Probably sensible to diversify in the current climate but a bit of a shame nonetheless.

I think most of the gaming that goes on is high school kids form Redhill/Reigate and is mostly GW but the owner is keen to offer space for historical gaming too. I thnk they also run painting classes etc.

Personally I haven't used it for gaming as I have a perfectly good club locally [ish] at Guildford but I guess it might be of interest to people that want to arrange the odd evening/weekend game locally. I think the culture in the UK is very different with local clubs providing most if not [nearly] all the gaming venues.

thegamersguild.co.uk

No local gaming store here near me (between 1 large city and 1 small one).

As Mike says there are very few FLGS in the UK now. Eveyrthing seems to be done mail order. My friends and I's dream is to open a FLGS with gaming space etc, but its pretty much a fantasy.

Yes – Inner Sanctum Collectibles here in Cambridge in the UK. So Analysis to the OP's criteria….

1) It has a number of tables for gaming on, usually 2 laid out with painting on but you could probably get half a dozen games of various types going on without any difficulty. Toilet, drinks and snack vending machines on site. They run regular game sessions.

2) CCGs, Clicks are present – Flames of War, Urban summatorother, Warmachine and Hordes are the stock wargaming items, painting and modelling gear, GF9 accessories, RPGs of various sorts, a STACK of boardgames about 10ft x8ft double sided and terrain from various places as well. Oh and they'll try and order pretty much anything you ask for.

3) Friendly – yes – the owners without fail WILL make contact with you when you walk in if the staff don't. You can have conversations with them, but they won't let that feel affect business so if you want to dash in grab and go you will also get service. Put your name down on a "call me when it arrives list" and you get a call…

4) Local – ok its not perfect as its 5 miles from where I live, its not right in the city centre but its near the station and there is parking within an acceptable (for me) distance. For me its more than local enough.

"The Gamers Guild in Redhill, Surrey has some gaming space in their basement."
"Yes – Inner Sanctum Collectibles here in Cambridge in the UK."

Well, blow me down! You learn something new every day. And both on the south east too …

Acme Games in Bangor has gaming space. It's a first floor shop which never opens betfore 10:30 and is difficult to find if you're not in the know.

But it has a lot of GW, some board games and FoW. Which for a town of under 20,000 people isn't bad.

And Alex the owner is friendly too!

Defining 'local' as 'within an hour's drive', I can get
to five, I think. SciFi Genre (Durham), Hypermind
(Burlington), The Game Connection (Knightdale/East
Raleigh), All Fun 'N Games (Apex), Hobbymasters (Raleigh).

There was/is a sixth, but I think he's closed (Apocalypse
Now, Raleigh).

Of those, SFG is mostly GW, t-shirts, comix, posters and
has gaming tables. H'mind is mostly fantasy. AFnG is
GW-oriented, with game tables. H'masters is a LARGE
general Hobby shop, runs some FoW and WHFB; for the gamer
it stocks paints, magazines/rules, some FoW/WHFB items, a
few 'other' Fantasy, and general terraining materials,
along with balsa/basswood, brass, etc. HM is the local
R/C and RR HQ.

The Game Connection is the most diverse of the group.
He has family games and puzzles, books, magazines, rules,
Fantasy figures, Historical figures (in several eras),
RPG materials, paints, terraining items – in short, a
*very* complete array of items for the general gaming
community. Also tables for gaming, and an 'every night'
gaming schedule, split among WHFB, WH, Historicals, BG's,
and RPG's. Very friendly shop, especially where kids are
concerned.

Yep, I have one here. And they try to stock a lot of different product (at least as long as it actually sells and is available).

However, they have had to drop their gaming space lately due to the rent increments that the landlord required. Might be a new one in future.

Griefbringer

2 hours away :(

Only GW's within reasonable range for me.

In Baltimore we have no fewer than five FLGSs within a half hour drive or so and several others a bit further a field.

Here in INDY there is a "Game Preserve" on the south side mostly fantasy so not my cup of coffee, but it meets the bill. Also a "Hobby Town" that is friendly and local but no gaming on site, also more models than metal figures but they will order if asked (it is why they are friendly).

Krystal Keep in Kettering Ohio as well. Great place, lotsa tables and a large group of gamers. I spend waaaaayy too much there. I'm sure they see me as an easy mark. I buy stuff that I don't even play.

I havn't seen you in there Mark. The next time I do one of my pulp extravaganzas I'll make sure you get a personal invitation.

P.S. you too Garbee, or anybody else here for that matter.

I am not really familiar with the concept, though it is constantly mentioned on TMP. Round here what we have are Model Shops that occasionally have a tiny corner with Osprey books, Foundry and GW stuff.

Though we do now have a Games Workshop since earlier this year. The chap in there sold me his secret stash of discontinued "Bronzed Flesh" that he had out the back. That was pretty friendly of him, so does that count?