Bartertown.com

Alright a new gaming store has opened up in my little town. While I personally belive that this town is to small to support a LGS it is also like the only one in roughly an hour+ drive for much of the area I live ing.

They currently do not have lots of stock and are surviving off of Cards and Roleplaying, They want to move into mini's but are really hesitant to submit themselves to the will of GW. They asked us local 40k players what we knew of Warmachine, basically they can get it through the distributor and not dedicate themselves to rigorus selling demands.

I know of a few Warmachine players in my extended area, but do not know of any "outriders" (I have no idea what they are called) in the Southern Central Minnesota Area. I'd be, and so would the store, appreciative of any help tracking one of these people down.

Thanks

They're called Press Gangers. You should be able to track one or more down using the Privateer Press Forums here:

http://privateerpressforums.com/

Specifically in the "Official Demos and Events" subforum here:

http://www.privateerpressforums.com/ind ... owforum=11

Talk to Linrandir. He said he is a Privateer Press Ganger in this post: viewtopic.php?f=40&t=93504&p=183837#p183837

Thanks for the heads up. I played a few demo games several years ago, but I have no real idea about the game, except that it has changed since I last looked at it.

Why not start in with Clix and work up to the unpainted mini genre?

he didn't want to do clix, though he did get some of the Star Wars stuff in, I had also mentioned the WoW mini's that might bring in WoW people, if they can pry thier eyes away from that game.

He has had inquiries about Warhammer fantasy and 40k. He just doesn't have the floor space that is required by GW. He also set up in a small town (12,000 people) and it just opened, he doesn't want to buy into something such as GW right away before getting the store actually running. As such he is relying is distributors to stay somewhat flexible atm.

Basically the store is several tables, a counter with a few books shelves behind it with cards. A few racks with D&D, books, DVD's, and a handful of used video games. He has space set asside for minis, and he knows there is a slight demand for the unpainted, he just isn't sure about making the GW leap.

D&D CMG seems to be a big seller.
Even people who don't play the CMG game (and old fogies like me, who only play 2nd edition) find use for them.


Eric

He does not have to get Warhammer and 40k stuff from GW. Neal at the War Store sells wholesale to stores. Not as good a discount as buying from GW but to start out with just with a minimum of stuff this might be the way to go.

George

I entirely forgot about the warstore acting like a distributor, I ran that over to him and gave him the lowdown about that since the local distributor no longer carries alot of stuff (even though the catalogue says it does)

Do you know who his distributor is?

He can get a retail account with Alliance Game Distributors (http://www.alliance-games.com/). Phone #'s: East 1-800-669-4263 Midwest 1-800-444-3552

They offer pretty good discounts, including GW (and he can order any amount of GW he wants - if he wants one blister of something he can get that one blister).

They have a minimum order for free shipping but they have all kinds of gaming stuff (ever wanted a plush Holy Grail - they have them).

They carry most gaming systems including what he is already carrying (at least from what you have said) and he may be able to get a better discount. They discount does go up the more you spend with them - they evaluate your account every quarter to see if you qualify for an increase.

I used to work for a hobby store that carried some gaming stuff and I used to deal with them on a weekly basis, they are good about getting the orders out quickly and accurately and are all very friendly (at least the ones I talked to).

Thank you,

What % does alliance charge?

Eric

IIRC GW is up to 30 or 35% off retail.

Most everything else is up to 40 or 45% off retail.

There may have been a couple of other lines that had a not so hot discount but I don't remember what they might have been (out of the business for 2 years now).

We very rarely ordered GW from them since we could get it at a better discount directly from GW. Now if I needed one blister or something GW was out of stock on then yeah I would order from them and take a little bit of a hit.

Again depending on how much you spent in the prior quarter determined your discount.

Hope this helps.

Thank you,

Really?
That kinda blows.

I mean, Bit Kingdom gives a 42% (IIRC) discount to Inner Circle members. Sure, there's a $50 monthly fee and a $15 monthly limit... but it'll probably STILL be cheaper and he probably won't need much more than that a month to start, anyway.

Eric

Well that's what I remember any way.

If I remember correctly we only got a 40 or 45% discount direct from GW.

So figure if Alliance gets the same 40 to 45% discount they really aren't making all that much 'extra'.

Also figure Alliance has 4 warehouses throughout the country that if something is out of stock at the warehouse your rep orders from they can check the other 3 and see if it sitting there.

I am sure a lot has changed since I stopped working in the business.

One other piece of information - you need to have a brick and mortar store to get an Alliance account (sounds like that isn't a problem).

They are one of the larger gaming distributors in the US almost always at the top of retailers lists of 'good' guys.

Thank you,

He is going through Aladdin, a local distributor who used to carry GW stuff.
I did mention Alliance to him when I mentioned the warstore so that he could potentially compare things.
I drove by just about a 1/2 hour ago and the store was packed with magic players so it looks like he might be around for a little while at least.

From the research I did a while ago for making my own store a distributor isn't going to get you rich, but it will get you the product. 45% sounds about right.

Lets hope that I'm not forced to get into Warmachine If I want to expand my player base. Then again, if he does get into Warmachine I'll at least have my paint and modling supplies covered