"What is the status of Miniature Gaming Shops?" Topic

What is the current status of shops/stores that serve to the miniature gaming (wargame/role playing) hobby?

(a) Expanding – more shops to accommodate a growing number of gamers.
(b) Static – holding their own without much change in the past few years.
(c) Declining – shops are fewer and fewer as number of gamers goes down.
(d) _____________________

C

Alack and alas.

But it is not the number of gamers going down.

C. Unfortunately, shops were how I found and got into the hobby. I always enjoyed modeling and history but never knew about historical miniature gaming until I walked into a shop and saw the figures and saw a game going on.

Not quite sure how to characterize the situation here. We have gone from 2 mid sized stores twenty years ago to 4 stores at present. 1 is fairly large and the other three are small. 3 stores are within reasonable driving distance for me. The oldest and largest has seen a great decline in miniature gaming with most that remains being 40K. Naval, Starship combat, historic land miniatures, and SF are almost non existent. A large amount of the current gaming is card games and family boardgames. The 2 others which I visit are small and have some historic gaming and of course the usual 40K stuff. There is a chain called Air Traffic in the malls which used to have 40k but that is gone from their stores.

c Denver just lost Bonnie Bra Hobbies

If you are talking historical war gaming, then the answer is declining and declining hard. Successful gaming stores have branched into collectible cards, comics, board games, scifi/fantasy minis, or some combination of those.

C. From Western Australia. Only two left. One charges like a wounded bull but never seems to have the stock. The other has lots of stock at great prices ?????

C. I have two Comic shops (sister shops, one local and one 30 minutes away) that have a healthy W40k following, along with some MTG and other CCG's, but nothing in the way of historical miniatures. I have an opportunity to host a miniatures game, but I haven't been able to make the time as of yet.

There is another In Jacksonville (FLGS: Friendly Local Gaming Shop) that offers lots in the way of miniatures, but again, mostly W40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Star Wars, D&D, you get the idea. They too are heavily invested in comics and CCG's, but nothing in historical gaming.

I would have to say D.

It's not just wargaming shops, small specialty shops for just about anything you can name are in decline due for the most part to the power of the internet and web sales.

Manufacturers have less incentive to support the traditional distribution/retail method of delivering product when they can sell direct to the consumer via a website. Internet warehouse sellers like Amazon can beat brick and mortar store's prices. They have a much lower overhead than a traditional retail shop and often more purchasing power since they sell everywhere and not just to the town where their warehouse happens to be.

The number of gamers in a given market can have little or nothing to do with a local shop's ability to thrive in that market as bargain hunters look to the internet to get their toys.

The original question isn't really clear whether it means "street shops" or "people selling things".

There's plenty of gaming shops in my town and a lot of them have been around for a long time.
They're all multi-purpose geek shops.

Small outfits seem to pop up all over the internet as well.

DontFearDareaper has the correct answer. The Internet is killing off all specialty and small B&M stores. Not just game stores, but hobby stores in general (I don't mean the mega general purpose hobby stores like Hobby Lobby), PC game stores, book stores, etc., you name it.

Milwaukee has a couple of small game stores left, but they are totally into fantasy (Reaper plastics), card and board games, as well as a GW shop (small) that stocks little. Everything is special order and I can do that myself.

Madison lost the Last Square as a walk-in store and they are basically a special mail-order and internet site.

About the only real walk-in and introduce the hobby (SF, fantasy or historical) is now the conventions and friends.

Dan

D they follow the trend of small specialist shops everywhere, killed by rising costs relative to the internet, regardless of demand.

c Denver just lost Bonnie Bra Hobbies

Perhaps it just diversified into ladies underwear?

C hard to find one that has a range of items not just 40K/warhammer & FOW

Added one in the not too distant past but basically stable but sound.

If the service is good and the internet gives you access to stuff not sold in shops, (Baccus isn't the only one but the one that comes to mind fastest,) I am happy.

For me, most of the things I buy other than paints are not carried by the shops locally. The shops that carry my wants get my business (assuming they have what is on my shopping list in toto, no split ordering.)

We have a great hobby store in Malden Massachusetts, Hobby Bunker. Lines of figures in 15, 20 and 28mm, vehicles, board games, terrain, plastic kits.

4 to 6 games are being played every Saturday and a great Irish pub around the corner for bragging rights afterwards.

If you are ever in Massachusetts, you should stop in.

hobbybunker.com

C

The local shop is almost extinct in this country. Just a few big internet sites left it seems. It seems to be thriving in England however.

They pretty much went extinct years ago, apart from Games Workshop.

There are apparently a few still clinging on in Britain but they are very few and far between. That goes for all small, independent shops really. The average British High Street these days is full of banks, coffee shops, hairdressers/tanning/beauty places, and estate agents. Profit margins are much better if you are selling services rather than actual stuff!

Locally it's actually A- we had a one store relocate and another store open up in the town that was vacated. I do NOT think it's a national trend though. :)

I will definitely recommend Hobby Bunker though; AWESOME store.

-Will

My part of the UK there are model shops amongst the mobile phone and shoe shops that adds to the list that Cedic mentioned. They do sell a range of Games Workshop and FOW. But also a shop that sells 1/72 plastic figures I remember those and tanks and aircraft.

What was the miniature gaming shop in Gants Hill (Miniature Empires) is now an estate agents. Cerdic is right.

I think the future of these ventures revolves around providing a friendly atmosphere for people to meet and game. The problem is making this a viable profit-earning venture.

Clearly it is hugely challenging for any 'stockist' to maintain any meaningful stock when literally thousands of separate packages are necessary to be on hand. That's especially true of historical gaming. As others have mentioned, its so much easier to select and purchase these items on-line or even find special deals on e-bay.

Like so much else in the 21st Century, we are suffering from a loss of community.

I think the future of these ventures revolves around providing a friendly atmosphere for people to meet and game.

Shops in the UK are just not big enough for that.

I know showcase hobbies in swathmore , pa is doing well. BUt that is because he is a true business man.

He advertises, Run events, Uses the web to get the word out.
Has a site with all venues.

I have seen hobby shops close. Because they do not run it like a business. Yes it is nice to game but there are certain business requirements that must be met.

#1 track your competition .
2. Be aware of trends.
3#. above all have a business plan with controls in it.
4. Follow through with customer requests. No lagging.
5. RUN events! and post same! Use the web to your advantage. MOst people track what is going on their cell phones.
^. somebody has to be in charge. Can't be a gamer and not run it like a business.

old strategies are dead. What worked before no longer works today.

Look at Radio shack, Gimbles, Strawbridge and clothier, Allied Hobbies.

Failure to adapt and change will kill you.

The question is. Who runs it like a business will survive. Failure to keep controls and adapt will close stores.

Was C, for a number of years, but now it is B. We lost a few small stores and a few GW stores but here in Chicagoland it seems to have stabilized. within 40 miles there are at least 3 very well stocked and active wargame shops that have been around for 25, 7 and 2 years respectively and there are probably some I'm forgetting.

C & D – declining and shifting their inventory away from RPG's and tabletop gaming.