WOTC closing retail stores

[Spiderman]

From today's Gamespy newsletter:

WotC Retail Stores Closed - Prophet
Wizards of the Coast will be closing its chain of retail stores, including Wizards of the Coast stores and the affiliated The Game Keeper stores in the United States, according to a press release issued by the company today. The company hopes the process will be completed within 60 days. Wizards says that the move will enable a deeper focus on Wizards' core business of game design.

While in general I don't care too much, there's only one Gamekeeper in the mall near us which is the only "general" gaming store, with other types of games besides Magic. This could mean I could pick up some when they have their sale (hopefully), but one less store I can visit in the mall to kill time

 

[train]

Don't worry spidey - when you need to kill time in the mall... I'll might try running tourneys on the mall floor...

if the mall allows...

 

[Nightstalkers]

Nothing wrong with bringing in a few tables and running a T1 tourney...


When the mall manager comes up to you, stuff a wad of 100s into his lapel and tell him that you'll be reserving the spot for the next few years.

—Nightstalker Exterra

 

[orgg]

This made me quite sad...

I use to frequent a Gamekeeper in Georgia after NG: Atlanta closed down its doors. I won most Type 1.5 tournaments there with Pox. I saw Ransac there a good big, and Prince RXI. I got my Plush Cthulu there, and some really old packs of Magic...

...and it smelled the best of any gamestore I have ever visited. Hardwood floors and lemony-scented floor polish, with a tang of games and dice.

 

[Notepad]

What the hell happened with Neutral Ground, anyway???

They used to be the top dudes in NYC, and now they're like this fuzzy "I remember the day" stuff ala the Dojo. They closed their Atlanta shop. Hell, even NG San Francisco reverted back to its old name of Match Play. Did they just lose a ton of money or what???

As for WizCo's own stores: Good riddance. I hope the whole company fails and then White Wolf can buy the gaming properties and turn them into something good for once. Imagine Magic with a White Wolf edge.

 

[Spiderman]

Well, I visited the Gamekeeper near me a couple of days ago and everything (except WOTC stuff, I presume) was only 30% off. The guys working didn't know when the store would definitely close, but guessed around the end of the month. Hopefully the sales would be more by then

 

[Notepad]

Only 30% off? What a ripoff!

This store in my area sells *all* gaming products at 30% off on his "gaming day Sundays" and he's not anywhere near going out of business.

 

[Nightstalkers]

lol, in a Game Keeper store I visited a while back they were having a half off - half off sale


Magi Nation packs going for just dollar, stupid kiddie games going for around $5, and DBZ for about 50 cents a pack.

Now buy out everything and sell it for 3-5 times what you bought it somewhere else, and you've got yourself some profit.


—Nightstalker Habuki

 

[Notepad]

You missed one thing, Nightstalkers:

All those kiddie games are cold trash! Only one you can make money off of is Yugioh, and even that is hard to get cards for. Belive me. I murdered a dealer for his ygo cards and before hand, he wanted to charge me $500 to do so, just because he owns a Ginzo. So I paid him the money, went CHOP, and took the cards and my money back. Then I proceeded to urinate on the cards.

Hey, and any of you saying I don't have ethics--this was not be copying GTA3, this was me delivering gaming justice from the Magic world to a scum-of-the-earth-ygo-loving-30-something-year-old-turd!!!

 

[Spiderman]

Hey, Gamekeeper is finally discounting their Magic packs a whopping 10%... while everything else is 40-70%

 

[train]

tHEY STILL SOUND CHEAPER AT pOWER gAMER SPIDEY...

 

[Spiderman]

I know - although the retail price at Gamekeeper is still $3.29, 10% puts it in Power Gamer's price range anyway... I'm wondering what will be left, if any, if it goes down further though

 

[MagicMan]

Originally posted by SeFRo
As for WizCo's own stores: Good riddance. I hope the whole company fails and then White Wolf can buy the gaming properties and turn them into something good for once. Imagine Magic with a White Wolf edge.

You should be shot for saying this....*picks up his M16A2 and...just kidding!!

Anyways, why would you want WotC to go out? If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have this drug we all are addicted to. As for the shops closing, it is sad to hear but hopefully, a new rebirth of Magic will happen in their place. Maybe a new and better store?

 

[Notepad]

I meant that half in jest and half seriously. The joking bit you can get, hoping the company sinks.

However, I would like Magic to take a different direction than WotC is taking it. They treat it like a tournament cocaine habit or something. White Wolf at least treats their games like art forms. That's where I'd like to see Magic go, so if WotC ever died, I'd hope White Wolf picked up a lot of the game licences.

Tough luck ever seeing WotC go under, though.