I read over the weekend that one of Australia’s main gaming venues, Realm of Legends closed its doors. This venture was originally set up as a shop around 2007-08 and sometime in 2009-10 expanded into a bricks and mortar operation in Croydon, Melbourne. In addition to its product offering it provided 50 gaming tables on-site and was used by local gamers and TOs for events.
I certainly don’t know the ins-and-outs of their decision to close but I do believe that it demonstrates just how difficult survivability is in the gaming retail sphere. As an outsider I suspect that one of the biggest hurdles that they would have faced was getting over the price disparity between onshore Australian prices and the price product can be sourced offshore. This isn’t just GW-specific but applies to other manufacturers as well.
Part of the problem is that a gaming retailer is no different from a bookseller or (in past days) a CD/DVD store. They are selling a commodity. There is no difference in a GW boxset regardless of where you purchase it from. It therefore comes down to questions of price, delivery and ancillary services – such as gaming space.
It seems that Realm of Legends were banking on the second two to overcome the serious disadvantage that they had versus offshore suppliers for the first. Rather than address the problem with the first, GW sought to erect the “Berlin Wall” which is really just papering over the cracks rather than solving the underlying issue. Other manufacturers seem to ignore it as well but their fanbois accept it because they are part of a crusade against the evil empire.
However, my impression is that gamers generally will think with their wallets and buy where they can get things cheapest. Unfortunately a lot of gamers will have no compunction at all, turning up to venues like Realm and use their tables as their local gaming facility while using models sourced from elsewhere.
If the business model doesn’t work in a city like Melbourne (population: 4 million), then there is definitely something wrong with that model – or parts of its inputs e.g. pricing.
It will be interesting to see whether other Australian retailers following the “battle bunker” model continue to survive against such headwinds.
Generally, I think that gamers will vote with their wallets. However, with the close of Realm of Legends, I posed a similar questions to a few gaming buddies. Go online or stick with a B&M store? It's an extremely tactile process; people like picking up the toy soldiers they are planning to buy. I know, from experience, that it's all about holding them in my hands rather than waiting for whatever unreliable delivery service is available.
ReplyDeleteOthers tell tales of back orders that are outstanding for a month, only ordering it online if it's available in stock, and pre-ordering models that haven't been delivered and are now available in stores. Maelstrom, Defiant Gaming etc. may be the best for saving money, but I still prefer to go in store to make sure they have the stock that I want, when I want it.
Part of the problem is that a lot of people will say things publicly but do the opposite privately. On WargamerAU there is almost a rabid "Buy Australian" camp that if they did what they profess would support many battle bunkers.
ReplyDeleteWhat annoys me is the hypocrisy of people who buy offshore and then expect to use the facilities. These people are the majority not the minority - buying the odd model or paint doesn't support a battle bunker - buying an army does.
Essentially it comes down to a choice -use the facilities and pay the "cost" or pay less for your army. That is why I think the battle bunker model is flawed - essentially the major are happy to try and have their cake and eat it too. And they are oblivious - or willing to ignore - the consequences of that stance.
This is a lesson in Economics 101 - choices have consequences - or put more simply, there is no free lunch.
Pretty much agree with everything you have said, its tough going for stores (particularly large ones with Battle Bunker type table facilities) and all GW's decisions just make things tougher and tougher. For me its pretty hard to support a store in the first place, as a long time gamer the GW stores don't really offer me much, and there aren't any other stores around where I can actually play games.
ReplyDeleteSlightly related to this, since you are Wellington based you may not have heard, but GW Sylvia Park in Auckland is moving back to Queen Street in the City. The suggestion is that the new venue is significantly larger than the current one (about twice the size I think), so there has been some speculation that some kind of gaming section/Battle Bunker might be appearing.
Vagabond in Taka on Tuesday night is generally good.
DeleteWargames Supply in Wellington is closing at the end of April.
ReplyDeleteSeriously? I hadn't heard that.
DeleteYeap, 20% off everything in stock at present
DeleteThanks. Just stocked up on GF9 buildings for tournaments :-)
DeleteAh, that was you. I noticed thier stock had a significant dent in it this afternoon.
DeleteAt the end of the day, in AU and NZ it is down to price.
ReplyDeleteWe are not talking about a 10-15% saving buying online, as is common in overseas markets, but in most cases a 50-60% saving.
I would love to fully support a local store, but when I can get a $64 kit for $34 from the US, or under $30 from the UK including the shipping, there is no way for local B&M to compete. The end result is I buy the odd new release and some paints from my local.
If I could get that $64 kit for $40 in NZ. Done deal. Simple. And at that price I would still be spending more than RRP in the UK
Unfortunatley, I cant see an independant B&M business model working in the current environment in NZ. Fewer and fewer new players are starting the hobby here, and there is still ready access to overseas pricing for many.
Interestingly one of the best 'bunker' type stores I know of is Maelstrom games in UK.
ReplyDeleteThey have a very large gaming area that is used for many large tournaments (up to 120 players) and there is 'some' event pretty much every weekend. It also has a bar and professional kitchen (making you jealous yet).
As far as I know even with all these benefits the 'gaming bunker' still does not make enough money to be self-sustaining as a business... fortunately I understand Maelstrom also do a bit of internet sales which can subsidise this.
I think must wargamers would love to run some kind of 'battle bunker' store.. the problem is making it a viable business is very, very difficult (and probably harder with the NZ/Oz pricing issues).
Probably it was a better proposition before GW put in place the RoW embargo. The internet sales they lost would have paid for a lot of battle bunker.
DeleteWould a better economic model for these battle bunker stores be to set themselves up like a snooker or pool hall where there main income stream comes from people paying to play on nice tables and not having to worry about scenery? Have often wondered whether that would be a more viable solution? What would people pay to play? You can always make extra money from providing food and drinks too.
ReplyDeleteBlair - Tauranga
ReplyDeleteWhere do the local gaming clubs fall in this? Does playing at Wargaming clubs mean that we are undermining the potential for a local store to have a Battle Bunker style model? If you have 2 stores and one club, do you pick one over the other? Or stay neutral?