Mrs. SandWyrm and I were out and about today, so we stopped by the new GW Store up on the North West side of Indianapolis to have a look around on opening day.
Here's the location:
If you're coming down West 86th Street from the West side, it's in the shopping center that's just past Rock Bottom restaurant. If you see the hospital on your right you've gone too far.
The sign was kind of interesting:
What's up with the new, less-blocky font for the Games Workshop logo? If we compare it to the old one...
It looks a bit cheesy. Like a throwback to the 1980's or something. The designer in me is cringing at the ugly letter spacing. But hey, I didn't pay for it. :)
It's a bit small inside. I was reminded of the little GW store that was in the Sony Metreon mall in San Francisco back around '03. There's a bit more floor space, with 4 tables instead of 3; but there's a lot less product on the shelves.
The 4 tables all have 4'x4' playing surfaces on them, with a 2'x4' surface for books, drinks, and whatnot. There's also a lower shelf on each that can be used to hold terrain. I didn't see if they had any extra terrain that could be used to fill out proper 6'x4' tables. I'm betting not.
There's also a coffee-shop style window table for hobby-stuff by the window where everyone who walks by can see what you're working on. That's a smart feature for recruiting.
Turnout was good, with a large percentage of the local regulars from the Game Preserve North. As expected, there were also a number of young kids there taking part in the opening day modeling and painting events.
The One Man Store
The 3 staff, who displayed all of the trademark GW cheeriness, confirmed that after the grand opening, this is going to be a one-man store. Here's the schedule that I picked up:
Yep. They're closed Monday and Tuesday. The rest of the week they're only open from 1-8 pm, with a half-hour break for the Red Shirt at 4pm. They're obviously catering to the kids, but closing the store at 4pm is going to be a drag for any kid who comes by after school to play. While closing the store at 8pm is going to drive away anyone with a job.
So... I don't see myself spending much time here in the future. I might occasionally drop by on a Saturday if I don't have anything else going on and Games 2D4 is running a tourney. Or if I need a particular model. But they don't seem to be set up for proper-sized games of 40K at all.
And I just have to scratch my head at a retail store that's only going to be open
Nice to see the Flames of War stuff underneath the schedule there. lol
ReplyDeleteI would've been there had I remembered. Buuut sounds like I didn't miss much.
To be honest, it sounds more like a mini-museum or something than a retail store. I mean, back before my hours got cut, I worked more in a week than that place is going to be open, and I'm part-time...
waitaminitute... are those Pz4 sprues in the background? or the leavings of PzIII Sprues?
ReplyDeleteanyway. the lone gunman seemed like a nice guy. McCabe and I got in a quick 500pt throwdown. a Wraithlord at 500pts is mean.
then again, so is Crowe and purifiers
@TheneverThere - huh? 37.5 hours is PART-time in the US? Wow, your economy really is skewed... ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd he's a Black Shirt Sandwrym, not a Red Shirt. :p
@TheNeverThere
ReplyDeleteHeh, you noticed. :)
@Farmpunk
The PzIV's aren't here yet. I'm working on the last couple of PzIII's.
@TKE
Anything less than 40 hours is considered part-time in the US. I'm sure the black shirt is getting nothing in the way of benefits because of it.
Actually 30 hours is full time now. At least for my (main) company... and 35 is the new 40, on the whole.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes. Skewed is one word for it.
I would have stopped by had I not been working tonight... but... only 5 days a week, for maybe 8 hours with a break right in the middle? Don't think I have much reason to go there much of ever...
Another word (or words, in this case) is "up a shit creek without a paddle".
ReplyDeleteThat's insane! One guy to man the fort in a major population center? Your city has 30,000 more people than mine (Edmonton, AB) and we have two GWs with at least 2 redshirts each.
ReplyDeletethe benefit of a man store in a small venue is the ability to sell product quickly to people and not have that much overhead. the other bonus is that if it closes, you only lose one guy, and i am sure he is not paid buttloads of money. might i add though, Kevin the manager was a stand up guy and very knowledgable on all the games and armies. He knew his stuff. IMHO a good place to hang from time to time, but not a place to game at as well. It will be a place I only buy a model from when GP North doesn't have the model in stock.
ReplyDeleteIn Vic, Aus we have 7 GW stores in the state with an area of 237,000km (about 87,000 miles).
ReplyDeleteThat service about 3 million people.
What's the USA like?
No offense mate but I'm from Sydney, Australia, so the state above victoria for all you non-aussies, but 7 GW stores servicing 3 million people is a joke. There's no way those stores see 428,571 people each or thereabouts. There's not even that many people in all of Australia that play GW Games or that have walked by a shop and gone - hey lets look in there! So skewing the odds and stats is pretty stupid imho.
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