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Blockbuster Boardgames?

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20 May 2019 09:02 - 20 May 2019 09:05 #297319 by Sagrilarus
I'm trying to predict the future and it's apparent I'm not very good at it. But something coasted through here last week that got me to thinking, so I'll pose the question: are we going to see the equivalent of a Blockbuster Video for board games?

Local game stores are starting to get a new footing and to some extent it reminds me of the days of movie rental shops run by small businessmen and women, often family owned. They got steamrolled by the likes of Blockbuster Video and in the time of Blockbuster's heyday it seemed to be the 300 pound gorilla that no one could stop. Things came to an abrupt end for Blockbuster, but that's because there was an alternative delivery method for their product that was much cheaper and much easier, and Blockbuster had so damaged their relationship with their customers that people actually wanted them to fail.

So last week a guy is whining about ordering 3000 copies of Wingspan for his stores, and Stonemaier not fulfilling the order. That debate has happened here already.

But back up -- this guy was ordering 3000 copies, indicating he was an umbrella for 22 companies. Sounds kind of franchise-ish to me. Best guess is he's not ordering 136 copies per store, so each company likely has multiple locations.

Here's the question -- is Blockbuster Boardgames coming to our towns? Are we going to get an "all stores carry the same core grouping of board game products" experience at some point in the next five years?
Last edit: 20 May 2019 09:05 by Sagrilarus.

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20 May 2019 09:55 #297325 by JonathanVolk
As someone who had to sit in a game store for two hours while they counted all the bullshit pieces of my copy of Caverna, I pity the minimum wage employee who’d have to do the same. Our “Rewind” button is a catastrophe of dull labor.

But wait—you aren’t suggesting a games rental chain, are you! And now I’m wishing it was possible, since so many of the games I buy only ever get played once, twice.

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20 May 2019 10:02 - 20 May 2019 10:03 #297327 by Sagrilarus
Replied by Sagrilarus on topic Blockbuster Boardgames?
Open to conjectures of all sort, but my bigger concern is that GameStop or Starbucks might be better comparators. As the hobby's commerce matures it may be that a couple of big players may rise to the top for what an "official" game store looks like.
Last edit: 20 May 2019 10:03 by Sagrilarus.
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20 May 2019 10:55 #297341 by Gary Sax
Replied by Gary Sax on topic Blockbuster Boardgames?
This is absolutely a possibility.

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20 May 2019 11:28 #297346 by Vysetron
Replied by Vysetron on topic Blockbuster Boardgames?
Gamestop's business model works in part because of how little space it needs to store a ton of product. Board games take up so much space. I've heard of stores offering used stuff in kind of a consignment model, but inventory concerns are very real when you remember that stores are often already hard pressed to keep the new hotness in stock.

All of that said I would like to see something like this. Buying used is less wasteful.
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20 May 2019 11:51 - 20 May 2019 11:55 #297350 by RobertB
Replied by RobertB on topic Blockbuster Boardgames?
I'm surprised that there are such things as FLGS's at all, much less that game store evolution will drive them to a common inventory.

A FOAF owns two game stores and an online game cafe*. When I asked how much that brought in for him, I was told, "He lives in a studio apartment, and has just about enough money to go to conventions and own a cat."

If I hit the lotto and wanted to run a board game store, I'd run it as a board game cafe instead. Maybe sell a few of the big hits and a few card games, and that's it.

ETA: I guess my point was that it seems like a bad way to get rich. Since this is more a labor of love than the way you'll make your first million, there isn't a particularly effective model to follow.

*They're really nice. Clean, friendly, good inventory; everything you'd want in your FLGS.
Last edit: 20 May 2019 11:55 by RobertB.

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20 May 2019 12:03 #297353 by RobertB
Replied by RobertB on topic Blockbuster Boardgames?

Sagrilarus wrote: Local game stores are starting to get a new footing and to some extent it reminds me of the days of movie rental shops run by small businessmen and women, often family owned. They got steamrolled by the likes of Blockbuster Video and in the time of Blockbuster's heyday it seemed to be the 300 pound gorilla that no one could stop. Things came to an abrupt end for Blockbuster, but that's because there was an alternative delivery method for their product that was much cheaper and much easier, and Blockbuster had so damaged their relationship with their customers that people actually wanted them to fail.


I thought that the death of Blockbuster was due to DVDs being priced to own, where VHS tapes weren't. If you could even find videos for sale, they were $89.99. The exception was kid videos, because your little kid didn't mind watching (and would in fact insist on) The Land Before Time IV fifty times in a row.

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20 May 2019 12:07 #297355 by Gary Sax
Replied by Gary Sax on topic Blockbuster Boardgames?
I lot depends if the growth in this space continues. The industry of the past could not support something like this, but *if* the industry continues to grow quickly for a long time, a big corporate chain like this (not convinced on the used part) makes sense.

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