We have a "Board Game Group" in our area and they played at our lovely, HUGE, clean FLGS. No More after this month..
BUT- the wife of one of the guys owns a little Sewing botique- so he's going to open the sewing store for the gamers twice a month "after hours".... and we may meet at the library or local coffee shop. So it's not a total loss, just a loss and a change.
I think a 'gaming-cafe' would be a good solution- Games we can buy cheap on the internet- so the FLGS will be a thing of the past soon, I guess. But we all like to sit, play/talk and eat and can't buy that over the internet.....
--Kimberly
On 8/6/07, Chris Kice <me@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
It's the same story near me. Even the second-tier stores at the local malls (the ones with 50 versions of Monopoly and nearly as many collectible chess sets) have all closed. I did my best to support them when they were around, but the lack of service (I stopped going to the nearest one when the manager said I obviously didn't know anything about games) and prices just drove me to the 'net with everyone else.
I think the Friendly Local Game Store is nearly a thing of the past. (What someone needs to do is build a chain that can offer Internet pricing in store and put the "local" back in FLGS by connecting to the community. That is about the only way to ensure long-term success. I actually have the outline of a business plan to do just that, but unfortunately Phase I is "Win Lottery".)
Chris