Wednesday 21 November 2012

Accidents waiting to happen

I went out to buy myself a new hobby knife on Saturday so I can finally base my Saxons for field duty.



Along the way I also picked up the new Dixit expansion and X-Wing, spreading my custom over the two FLGS that Leiden now has. Both have been on my radar for a while so I decided not to do too much handwringing before buying them.

I have my doubts whether this town is big enough to support two FLGS. There is a bit of product differentiation, but competition still revolves around GW products and mainstream boardgames. I hope they can both survive, but I feel that both the business cycles and structural trends are going against brick & mortar shops.

Both try to buck the conditions by closer cooperation with local gaming groups and online presence. But speaking for myself, I no longer have the time nor the wish to seek out strangers in a shop in the evening.

Good luck to both the Vliegershop and Tafelridder anyway

4 comments:

  1. Quite lucky having two shops close by, I don't even know where my closest gamimg shop is??

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    Replies
    1. Hmmmm. Yes, I guess this is kind of a first world problem ;-)

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  2. My order of buying gaming stuff is 1)Ye Olde More-than-one-brand Shoppe, 2)Brand shop (which basically means GW), 3) Online. I don't mind paying a few more euros in a type 1 shop. I am more inclined to skip a type 2 shop if online is cheaper.
    I've been to Tafelridder once and as going there in travel- and timecost is a bit cheaper than going to GW Den Haag, I'll likely be there once a month, maybe more. I'm spreading my money between them and Speldorado (Delft).

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    Replies
    1. Hi Erwin

      That's how I feel about it as well. I see advantages in having brick & mortar shops around and I am willing to pay a bit extra for the privilege.

      Now that you mention Speldorado, I've got to admit that I try to bring some custom there as well as the local games store for Murphy's Heroes. I'm not as often in Delft as I used to, so that makes it a bit harder.

      Spreading my money over three shops probably doesn't help none of them. But at least I have a clear conscience.

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