Totalwargamer.com - Utterly Incompetent

[razcalking]

The folks who advocate internet buying will never understand the "benefits" of buying from the LFGS, because the only benefits they value are benefits to themselves, i.e. saving some money.

They will likely never understand the benefits of supporting a friendly local business because they really couldn't care less about the dreams of others or about creating a community. They just aren't wired that way. If they were, they'd already want to support local businesses.

[wittdooley]

The folks who advocate internet buying will never understand the "benefits" of buying from the LFGS, because the only benefits they value are benefits to themselves, i.e. saving some money.

They will likely never understand the benefits of supporting a friendly local business because they really couldn't care less about the dreams of others or about creating a community. They just aren't wired that way. If they were, they'd already want to support local businesses.

This is fallacious.

My wife and I buy TONS of local products, from coffee, to ice cream, to even vodka. In the spring we only buy our vegetables from farmer's markets.

I buy most of my gaming stuff online for a few reasons:

1) The FLGS in the area carries very little stock in store. I've discussed with him how much of my wargaming dollars he loses because I can't make impulse purchases. He even offers 20% off. I can get a better percentage off online, but if he has what I want, I'll buy from him. However, he very rarely does.

2.) The LGS that carries the most in terms of wargames and boardgames will not, under any circumstances, provide any discounts. Futher, he can be a bit abrasive and it's clear that his prime audience is the CCG Crowd (and that's fine, as Magic is a license for printing money). However, the abrasiveness rubs me the wrong way.

3.) I play most of my games at my home, or at the home of my buddies anyway. We can drink. We can avoid the crowds of people that we don't want to be around (let's not kid ourselves...gamer funk is very real) and we can make our own hours for it.

With all that being said, I still buy plenty from local stores, but I'm still interested in saving money. I buy nearly all of my GW stuff from my FLGS/Comic Book shop. He gives me 20% off. Don't care if I can get it cheaper, as he makes the effort to stay competetive. Addtionally, I'll even buy stuff from the abrasive guy as long as I wouldn't be saving more than $10 online. Anything hovering around $30 I'll buy from him.

So, I fully understand the benefits. However, just because a shop is local doesn't mean they shouldn't have to compete for my gaming dollars.

[Lemt]

The folks who advocate internet buying will never understand the "benefits" of buying from the LFGS, because the only benefits they value are benefits to themselves, i.e. saving some money.

They will likely never understand the benefits of supporting a friendly local business because they really couldn't care less about the dreams of others or about creating a community. They just aren't wired that way. If they were, they'd already want to support local businesses.

I was going to answer with a long reply, but since wittdooley already has I'll make it short.

My local shop is owned by a guy that doesn't give a damn about the shop. He won't order anything, and only sells from what he has in stock at the moment. Then he replaces what he sold with whatever he wants, regardless of what people want to buy. As an example, quite a few of us around here play Magic: the Gathering, spending over a grand a month between all of us, sometimes more. He hasn't restocked his supply of cards in over 5 months, so we have to look elsewhere to buy product. The same is true for comics, RPGs, and whatnot.


Be happy you have a friendly local business to support. Some of us don't.

[MC Tic Tac]

Ironically I can get cheaper stuff from my Local GS than any web store including weyland games.

Shop around guys!

[Farseer Uthiliesh]

The folks who advocate internet buying will never understand the "benefits" of buying from the LFGS, because the only benefits they value are benefits to themselves, i.e. saving some money.

They will likely never understand the benefits of supporting a friendly local business because they really couldn't care less about the dreams of others or about creating a community. They just aren't wired that way. If they were, they'd already want to support local businesses.

Why should I throw away money for someone else's community? I don't game with strangers - just my network of friends. Local stores need to be competitive, and I guess that they have overheads which means that they can't give huge discounts, but when we're talking about a hobby that costs so much to assemble an army I'd rather go online than waste money. I'm happy with my own little gamer community, thank you.

[Asimodeus]

The folks who advocate internet buying will never understand the "benefits" of buying from the LFGS, because the only benefits they value are benefits to themselves, i.e. saving some money.

They will likely never understand the benefits of supporting a friendly local business because they really couldn't care less about the dreams of others or about creating a community. They just aren't wired that way. If they were, they'd already want to support local businesses.

Do you have any idea how much of an *** you sound

You do realise that some people dont have a FLGS anywhere near

In my case the only "FLGS" is GW and it aint been to frendly since an asshat of a new manager arrived

be under no illusion that i dont understand the "benifits" I do and would happily purchase from them if there was one nearby however there is only GW and they are going to get a cut of the profits regardless plus Wayland is far friendlier.

[Lockark]

The folks who advocate internet buying will never understand the "benefits" of buying from the LFGS, because the only benefits they value are benefits to themselves, i.e. saving some money.

They will likely never understand the benefits of supporting a friendly local business because they really couldn't care less about the dreams of others or about creating a community. They just aren't wired that way. If they were, they'd already want to support local businesses.

Erm.... My motto is always:" If you play at the store, you should buy from the store." I respect anyone like Asimodeus who posted above me. If you don't like the story and it's community, or are not a part of it's community. Then there really is no reason to support it, is there?

I also kinda find it funny when people go on about the "saveings" of online retailers. Unless your making a large order the savings are not that great. You get are basically paying the same after the shipping anyway. (As in people like me who only buy one or two boxes a month. If your buying $100+ of stuff then yah. It makes more sense.)
=U

I only used online retailers when I lived in a area were there was no LGS. As soon as there was one, I started buying from them.

My FLGS offers no discounts, but that doesn't matter to me. As I already said. Any saving I would get from a online store get eaten up by the shipping anyway half the time. I'm only paying a little bit more but I'm not having to wait, and I'm supporting my local store.

If I ever order stuff online, it's hobby supplies and model ranges the FLGS is not able to order in them selves.

[razcalking]

My comment was a bit broad. Of course if you don't have a local gaming store, then you have to order from the internet. And if you do have a local gaming store but they create an unfriendly environment, then they don't deserve your patronage.

But there are plenty of people on this board and others that would throw a friendly, local store under the bus to save 10%. And those are the people that my original comment was intend to reflect on.

Sorry that my original post painted too broad of a stroke.

[Brettila]

I agree. We gamers tend to suffer a bit too heavily from instant gratification issues. "The store doesn't have it/it costs more so I'll go online..." It is OK to wait a bit longer to buy something to support where you play. I just recently lost the 3rd store that was my gaming 'home'. Yea verily doth it suck. They all closed in different decades, but for the same reason; lack of profit.

[Sister Rosette Soulknyt]

You know i agree here, my LGS well he just does'nt care to highly of his patrons, unless you play magic, are his friend. Otherwise he hardly ever even agknowledges you when you walk in his store.
As for prices well i find them slightly higher than GW prices, something like +5% i think.
I go to a store 40km away to buy my 40k miniatures as they are always 20% off GW prices, freindly, have a great laugh to joke with, and always greet you.
And funny thing is they stock and ship to said LGS and others all over Victoria.

Why should i buy from a guy who is unfreindly?? I go to play games at his store, thankfully he isnt there on weekends, but i don't buy from him.