I really, really want to open one but I'm unsure I'd be able to do so successfully. I'd need stock and the space to sell it in plus I'd want a play area for groups and preferably have a few small private rooms for rent for private sessions to play in. Anyone here ever run/work in one? How hard is it?
Local Game Store Thread
Henry Young
Zachary Ward
Please continue, I'm moving to Spokane in a few months and really want to know more about the gaming scene there.
Eli Walker
(cont.) Downtown - This shop is on the back-end of its heyday. Or maybe I'm just nostalgic. A couple employees are rude as fuck. But then again, this is downtown we're talking about. One employee is a passive-aggressive "doesn't-approve-of-your-leather-jacket" type.
>What's the strangest or most unique thing about the store?
North - It's clean and brightly lit. It's mostly happy and not full of fedoras and emo fags. Loads of reasonably attractive female gamers. They don't forget your special orders.
East - The whole store is really tricked out like the inside of a 40K Space Marine starship, what are those things called? Yeah, heavy space marine vibe. The gaming tables are SICK! Best wargaming tables I've ever seen. It's a real labor of love for the owner, you can tell.
Downtown - The 6 foot green dragon near the entrance. It's next door to a bar, as-in there is a literal door in a wall of the game shop where you can walk into the bar. Another larger entrance is between the store and the commons. For being around for 30+ years, the store itself has a strange habit of changing locations. A lot. The latest space is the biggest they've ever had, with literal rafters. Very cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Loads of space for CCGs. And the orange paper mache magikarp.
>What do you wish they had more of?
I wish all the locations had more stuff that I buy. Every single one of them is out of stock/special order, etc.
>What would you change about it (Not necessarily bad stuff)?
See above. I'm not a control-freak really, so I don't want to change anyone. I just vote with my wallet.
>Any other stories or things you'd like to share?
It's always fairly low-key whenever I show up.
Jayden Gray
What are the store names? I got "Hobbytown USA". I assume one is called Uncles right? I just found it on a google search but the other could be a toss up of some others I found.
Aiden Long
youtube.com
^ That was all filmed in Spokane. It's a lot like that too, only without the singing. @2:21 you can see across the street from the Saranac. The FLGS is called Merlyn's, but it's more ghetto than the rest. There's a frequent flyer that hangs out there who's a dead ringer for Jame Gumb from Silence of the Lambs. Creepy AF.
Robert Barnes
North = Hobbytown
East = Gamer's Haven
Downtown = Merlyn's
Christopher Kelly
This is the interior of Gamer's Haven, before they got the really good tables in (as-in it's annexed from the actual store!!!). All the girls are taken. Sorry.
Leo Foster
That cunts socks man.
Michael Powell
You sir are a gentleman and a scholar! May we face each other in honorable card and miniature wargame battles in the near future. Also D&D games or other RPGs.
Where I'll be living I'll be two stops on the bus from the Northtown Mall and I've been in the Comic Book Shop when I went up there a few years ago to visit my girlfriend's (now fiancee's) family.
Asher Allen
You moving for college? It's a real college town, so no shortage of gamers (all games). The nerd base has recently grown to the size where they can support real comic con, game cons, etc. They hosted a couple, actually. Stan Lee and William Shatner showed up to one. Kuronekocon is coming up in a couple weeks. We'll be knee-deep in Weeaboos. If you're going to Gonzaga, you're within walking distance of Merlyn's. But if you're going to Whitworth, you're closer to Hobbytown. Gamer's Haven is way out there @ the Pines I-90 exit.