Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath
borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how
abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at
it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know
not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your
gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment,
that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one
now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?
Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let
her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must
come; make her laugh at that.
It's been a tough time for hobby stores around here, and I've felt a bit like the Melancholy Dane, wandering around examining their remains.
Last week, during our House Hunting Trip to Barrie, I revisited some I knew. One was called The Dragoon, in a small village called Cookstown. A friend took me there in 2010. It was a in a small cottage, run by an older fellow, and it was full of nice stuff, a lot of larger scale pre-painted models from companies like King and Country and Forces of Valour. He had some nice dioramas, and a lot of model kits, ESCI and the like. It was a brilliant little place. Drove around Cookstown for ten minutes, couldn't see it. Finally found the building I thought it was in, and it was a business for people who want to learn to really communicate with their pets. The Dragoon still has a ghostly presence on Facebook, but it seems to have gone under around 2014. Here is the only tangible sign of it I have left, a fridge magnet.
Alas, poor Dragoon!
Mme. Padre was very kind about letting me search for The Dragoon, and allowed me to look for another store I remembered. Gamers' Lair was in a storefront in a small retail plaza at the south end of Barrie. I recalled it well because the last time I was there, also around 2010, I bought a few items and before I started my car to drive off, I realized that the owner had undercharged me. Went back in, paid the difference, and he very kindly gave me a box of micro dice as a sign of thanks. I always think of him as I use those dice. It was a pretty mainstream store, stocking GW, Flames of War, and the like, with a gaming space in the back of the shop. I wasn't expecting much, but I thought it would be a useful place to buy paint and such. Gone. Empty. Sign still there, but darkness and emptiness in the windows. Alas, poor Gamers Lair!
The next one isn't quite a skull scene, but it's close. My chum James announced last week that he was getting out of the miniatures business as well. J&M Miniatures was a joint venture between James and his friend Martin, and I've plugged it several times here in the past. J&M was a webstore and a mail-order business, but in a way it was also a storefront. James maintained the business' stock in his house, and it was not unknown for his friends to drop over and "fondle the toys". I have gone over to his place for a game several times with some money in my pocket, knowing that I would come home with something. James and Martin wanted to take the business in different directions, and so James graciously bowed out and let Martin, who had made the initial capital investment, take over. I wish Martin luck and will no doubt be a customer in future.
James and I have talked many times about the frustrations of running a wargaming hobby business. In North America the hobby market is dominated by one major distributor, and so there wasn't a lot of room or margin to make a go of things, even without a bricks and mortar and payroll costs to maintain. It was difficult to anticipate demand for new product launches, or to anticipate the trends that rapidly blow through the hobby. Would the WW2 market be sufficient to stock a lot of Plastic Soldier Co and Warlord stock? Would he have enough Perry Brothers product, and the right mix of that product, to satisfy the Napoleonics gamers? And what about stocking enough product to catch the latest trends? Pirates? Zombies? Wild West? Samurai? Laser cut MDF buildings? What happens when those trends have done and people have moved on to the next one? I didn't envy James and Martin having their money tied up in products that weren't moving as quickly as they needed it to move. James also remarked on the difficult customers, people who would demand discounts or home delivery of product since James lived a few towns over.
Perhaps the day of the bricks and mortar hobby store is done, like the video store. In nearby London, Ontario, a family-run model store is closing after decades in the business. McCormick's Hobbies stocked a wide variety of paints, particularly Vallejo, and mostly catered to larger scale modellers rather than wargames, but for years it was my paint shop of choice. I'm hoping that the one gaming store still operating in Barrie will carry paints, otherwise I'll have to order them online. Which, I suppose, is the reason that the hobby store seems to be dying, because of online ordering.
When I think about it, other than buying consumables like paint, flock, and the like, very few of my hobby purchases (other than the stuff I bought from James when visiting his house) have been from physically located stores. Almost all of my miniatures purchases (figures, rules, model buildings) have been made via online purchases direct from manufacturers. Very few of my miniatures purchases are spontaneous. I know what I want, I know who makes it, and the manufacturers all accept orders over the internet. Shipping prices to Canada are seldom cheap. since most of the manufacturers are in the UK, but I accept that as the cost of a hobby. Disposable income is disposable income, and I'm usually willing to pay the shipping to get what I want.
I can think of a few stores that will likely survive. When I lived in Alberta, Sentry Box West in Calgary was always worth a visit while in the big city. I recall the owner telling me that he owned the building free and clear, and that the bulk of the business from teen gamers (RPG, GW, and the like) underwrote a fine selection of historical miniatures and boardgames for people like me. Sentry Box was also in a large metropolitan market, and augments that market with sales over the internet. Even so, it's a small market, and being in an urban centre (Chicago) didn't save Emperor's Headquarters, which I recall fondly from one visit in the late 1990s. Alas, poor Emperor's Headquarters!
I am sure it is different in smaller geographies, like the UK. A lot of the blog posts I see from visits to Salute, Triples, and the like seem to mention the shopping as much as the gaming. In a larger country, like Canada or the US, there are fewer shows and smaller customer bases. I don't attend many shows, but the one I attend regularly in my region, Hot Lead in Stratford, isn't really a shopping destination for me. For the last few years I've gone, the number of vendors seems to be shrinking and what's offered is very trendy, so if one isn't into Steampunk, for example ....
Perhaps the owner of The Dragoon didn't go out of business. He may have gotten sick, or decided he was too old and wanted to go on cruises instead of minding the store, but the fact that his Facebook feed ends abruptly doesn't sound like a planned exit. I once wanted to do something similar in retirement. I had a daydream of going to a tourist town somewhere, one popular with older couples, and set up a wargames/militaria store with a license to serve alcohol. Chaps could drop in for a pint and a look at the toy soldiers, even learn to war-game while their wives looked at antiques and yearn stores. However, that was just a fantasy. In real life, I couldn't think of anything more dangerous to do with my retirement nest egg. Betting it all on the horses would seem sane by comparison. I hope it's not premature to sound the death knell for the wargaming hobby store, but these days, it sure seems like it.
Blessings,
MP+
Too easy to order over the net. I try and visit wargame stores when I am overseas and generally will by something. It is rather nice to wander into a store and dribble over all that goodness!
ReplyDeleteI agree, it's always pleasant to view the wares. When my friend James had his stock in his house, it was not uncommon for people to drop by on gaming nights just to look at stuff and/or shop, which could be disruptive for those just there to game.
Deletebeing from a rural area in Nova Scotia, all my hobby stuff I bought either in Halifax, or have ordered online.
ReplyDeleteI never found the hobby stores in Halifax, other than one GW retail outlet, but I didn't really look for them. Whereabouts in rural NS are you?
DeleteWe have at least 8 stores in Ottawa but don't get too excited. Two are traditional hobby shops catering to model builders, model railroaders and RC enthusiasts. Good selection of Squadron Signal, paint, scenic materials and 1/72 plastics, with maybe a bit of FoW. Two are comic book stores who as a sideline deal in strategy board games, card games and RPGs with a bit of WarmaHordes. Good for dice mostly. One shop opened recently but their focus is on popular high volume games like X-Wing (a very pretty and tempting game), Magic and board games. There is a shop on the Gatineau/Hull side which I have not visited because it is more of the same, X-wing, WarmaHordes and Magic. Then of course there is the GW store. I drop in every once in a while to see what's new and usually stagger out the door with cardiac pain because of the pricing.
ReplyDeleteThen there is the granddaddy of Ottawa gaming stores Fandom II. I bought some of my first miniatures from here. It used to carry everything for RPGs and historical miniatures gaming. Now thanks to market pressure it is FoW, WarmaHordes, Magic, some board wargames and a good selection of Ospreys. The RPG section is pretty solid. They tend not to have sales or discount slow moving stock so if you want something like a copy of WRG 5th - there might well be one on the shelf. I have tried to send money their way but either they can't order what I am looking for like DBA (no distributor) or historical figures (minimum orders are prohibitive), or the younger staff don't know what I am talking about (what's an average dice they ask?).
(There is a 9th who deals in magazines and very nice 54mm plastic collector figures but with typical gallic disdain, the proprietor refuses to price anything or even acknowledge your presence).
I some ways it is a sad thing to see the decline and homogenization. However, what is available online is truly staggering. More selection in more periods and scales than I ever thought possible (e.g. Chaco Wars?!). Shipping can hurt but can also be offset by careful ordering. The king is dead, long live the king.
(And sorry for filling your blog with a wall o' text)
Walls o'text are not only welcome but highly encouraged!
DeleteYou're right I think to talk about the homogenization of the retail store and your examples (X-Wing, Warma) show the importance of trends.
Fandom II is an interesting place, and one I always enjoy visiting. I often wonder how the owner affords to stay in downtown Ottawa year after year, especially since he isn't known for his charm or grace.
I'm always pleasantly surprised that North Bay Hobbies seems to remain a going concern. Have you ever been to Maitland Toy Soldier's in Goderich? They were the source of much pleasure when I dabbled my toes in to 54mm toy soldiers at the turn of the century and on my one visit, their tiny little shop on the shore of Lake Huron was like a treasure hove.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear that FandomII is still going. Back in '81, being at a loss upon leaving HM's service, in a moment of weakness, I accepted an offer of partnership from John Mansfield and opened The Tin Soldier shop in Halifax. Those 18 months were a good life experience for me but bad financially for all of us. I still have the little stained glass tin soldier my sister commissioned to hang in my window.
I'm always pleasantly surprised that North Bay Hobbies seems to remain a going concern. Have you ever been to Maitland Toy Soldier's in Goderich? They were the source of much pleasure when I dabbled my toes in to 54mm toy soldiers at the turn of the century and on my one visit, their tiny little shop on the shore of Lake Huron was like a treasure hove.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear that FandomII is still going. Back in '81, being at a loss upon leaving HM's service, in a moment of weakness, I accepted an offer of partnership from John Mansfield and opened The Tin Soldier shop in Halifax. Those 18 months were a good life experience for me but bad financially for all of us. I still have the little stained glass tin soldier my sister commissioned to hang in my window.
Hi Ross:
DeleteNorth Bay Hobbies does survive and evidently thrive, though I haven't seen them make it down to Hot Lead in Stratford recently.
Maitland Toy Soldiers in Goderich likewise survives and it seems they have cleverly diversified so as to also be an antiques store with a strong mail order business in collectable painted large scale figures. It would be interesting to know how much of the miniatures market is in figures aimed at collection and display rather than figures intended to be painted and used on the tabletop.
I might have been tempted by an offer the one you got in '81. Perhaps a good thing you did it early in life so you could recover financially? I'd hate to be a bankrupt hobby entrepreneur in my sixties.
This makes depressing reading.
ReplyDeleteHowever, on reflection I wonder if it is all bad news. Yes, the day of the small businessman working out of a small shop have perhaps gone, but perhaps we now have more opportunities for micro-businesses working from home with less overheads and a larger catchment area due to the internet.
It does mean there are less opportunities to go and fondle toys or look at nice displays, but I wonder how welcome that was to the shop owners. I'm sure *you* wouldn't leave a shop without buying anything, but those people who spend ages in a shop but little money don't pay the rent.
Hi Edwin:
DeleteI think your business model for Diplomatist Books is ideal for a small business in the 21st century. Specialize in a certain market, have a dynamic and smart presence online, get to know your customers. Works for me. I also agree that just hanging around the shop without buying does the owner no favours, though I am guilty of it sometimes. Usually I will go into a hobby store hoping I'll see something I want, or willing to buy the right thing on impulse, but leaving disappointed.
I am loving the idea of a wargames store that serves alcohol. Count me in as a customer when you do start one up!
ReplyDeleteYou'll be the first person to know, Mr. Avery. Perhaps the pub sales could allow the wargames sales to carry on in the red.
DeleteWe change (He changeth not) and in so doing we now move from the quaintness of the shops to the shows for our model fondling, please pardon the phrase, and the advice of like-minded souls for hints and tips. Edwin is correct. To go to the shop was to visit a drop in centre for toy tall tail tellers with more time on their hands than cash in their wallets. As for the single drawback of the model hobby shop, the amount of stock, the internet, love it or loathe it, is an infinite stock room. I would do myself no psychiatric favours awaiting an order of more than two of any one thing. Not many shops would stock 15 Shermans for a project however well supplied. The internet micro business's in the war-game world surely benefit from this and the fact that shoplifting is a tad more difficult?
ReplyDeleteNice to see you here, SRD! Amen, he changeth not, but business does. The hobby stores I recall most fondly were places were you could here stories being told, even if they were ones (remote control plane and car guys have the best stories!) that I couldn't really relate to, but were still interesting. Such stores often had display cases were customers could show off their work ( a clever ly painted tank or model plane kit) for a while. It was also a place where customers could help one another. Several years ago I happened to be at the counter when a lady wanted to buy a balsa wood airplane kit for her young teen son. She had no idea what a hard job that would be, and so I helped her find a more suitable kit. While the internet offers an inexhaustible amount of stock, it can't deliver those human elements.
DeleteTrue, Padre, we lose the human touch at our peril. I still think we have a duty to blend the best of the old world values with the brave new world of the future. Another cross over principle from our true home of 'things unseen' is that we don't give up meeting together, nor of having all things in common. It may just be that the venue changes rather than the principle.
DeleteThis is sad news as the gaming store holds fond memories of my youth as I'm sure it does for everyone here but internet sales is much better financially for the sellers than the shops ever where.
ReplyDeleteVery true Robert. I sometimes that a sign of aging is the realization that the world has changed significantly from what we remember. A sign of ongoing youth is adapting to that change and embracing the best parts of it. I'm not sorry that we live in the Golden Age of Internet Wargaming Commerce, just aware that it's different.
DeleteThanks for the post, Mike. It’s a sad story, and in many ways this is the other side of coin from the “golden age of hobbying” that we can read about online. I remember a couple of wargaming shops in the UK from years gone by, and almost all of them now seem to have closed, or have moved from a physical location to a solely online presence. Look down any highstreet – where’s the record/ tape/ DVD shop? Where’s the video cassette shop? And, by gosh, where’s the bookshop?!? Wargaming isn’t that different as a retail model
ReplyDeleteThe UK gaming stores which have survived seem to have been successful at building a community around them, as well as offering online retailing services. And partly I think there’s also the factor that wargaming, as a pastime in the 2010s, doesn’t ideally fit a physically located retail store model that well. There’s a great deal which is often done alone – painting, researching, terrain building. Friends are great to do those things with - but they're not essential. By contrast, look at euro-boardgaming. It seems to be predominantly a social pastime. You can't play "Settlers of Catan" solo (at least, I'd hate to try).
I’ve heard of coffee shops combining coffee and boardgaming (or card playing), and they seem to do well. But I would expect its coffee and the social aspect first, and boardgaming as a (possibly strong) second.
Could you do that with a wargaming coffee shop? Possibly (and I'd love to see that). But just as good a route, surely, is having an outbuilding at the Peterson ranch, where you can sit on the porch when retired, with an open door and coffee brewing (and other beverages), welcoming your wargaming chums. I think that sounds less risky, and without the business rates!
Sidney, it's a delight to see you here! Thank you for your comments.
DeleteYour comment about gaming stores based on Euro Games and card games is interesting. There is one where I live currently, and it is based around a coffee shop with some food items. The clientele appear to be young adults, either students or people 5-10 years out of university but not yet parents. The games appear to be "Cataan-ish", the type that can be learned quickly and played in a couple of hours. Our hobby doesn't lend itself well to that mode, since as you say, there is a lot of prep time involved that is essentially solitary.
As for the decline of the book, music and hobby store, they are one of the reasons I find many urban areas increasingly uninteresting. What retail remains is dominated largely by chain stores and is increasingly homogenous. While we were in a small holiday town called Orillia, about 2 hours north of Toronto, last week, I did find a charming independent bookstore that seems to be making a go of it, and the owner told me there is nothing like his store for many miles around. Success to him, though I think the future belongs to booksellers like Edwin King/Diplomatist Books, who can be knowledgeable about a certain set of books and market dynamically online.
There will be a wargaming outbuilding at the Peterson ranch once I retire, hopefully in a scenic part of Canada, and you will always be welcome there.
People lead the way with their wallets in this hobby. When prices over the internet are so much less than one has to pay in a typical brick and mortar store, (And you can get away with no sales tax in most cases.) then most hobbyist's disposable income goes a lot further.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that gaming stores will disappear like video stores (I used to work in one when I first moved to the States!) outside of the ones that cater to model railway enthusiasts or remote control models. Much like the video game arcades of my childhood though, I think in ten years time at the very least, they'll eventually be a good memory also.
Hello Dai:
DeleteThe other day I was in a retail plaza where a storefront had been a Blockbuster Video store. The ghostly lettering was still above the window and the there were some store fixtures being carried out by workmen as they got ready for the next occupant. It reminded me of reading somewhere that there will be a day when we tell our grandchildren that we used to drive in cars (no doubt cars that we drove ourselves) to return a plastic box that had a movie inside it, and if we didn't return it by a certain date, then we were charged. That story already sounds quaint, almost hilarious.
Model railroad stores are interesting. There is one just west of Toronto, Credit Valley Railroad, that serves a huge market, consisting mainly of surly, chubby, bearded middle aged men, as they are the ones I see working and shopping there. Why it has survived I'm not sure, but it has some amazing layouts and knowledgeable (if oddly grumpy) staff and perhaps that hobby needs that degree of support.
I will always support an actual shop if I can find one but in London (England) now, a city of eight million people, I can only think of three and one of those is mainly boardgames and RPG. Perhaps the sheer range of figures and periods available today makes it impossible to stock a representative selection.these days. The last thing you want is to invest in stock that just sits there so all three shops make most of their money by internet sales...
ReplyDeleteThanks, LH, I quite agree with you. It's rather surprising that there's only one decent shop in London, but I think living in the UK, with so many manufacturers, it's easier to get what you want on your doorstep the next day or to buy it at a show than it is to make your way across half of London in the off chance a store may have what you want. Good to see you here.
ReplyDelete