Jumping the Shelf

Our Games Workshop section jumped the miniatures section bookshelf, marking it's onward march towards the front of the store. It's mostly a symbolic move, but one that allows me to envision our miniatures outside of their designated space. It's the most compacted area of the store and the most profitable, so perhaps the toy department will shrink a bit to some day make room for tin and plastic.

Our Warhammer 40K section will be complete by mid-Summer, meaning we'll have every model offered in the line. We're pretty close now, but we need to shift some inventory around before we can afford to finish. It doesn't help that the hot 40K sellers need to be stocked in such depth. It's good, because it means we're selling stuff, but it takes away from breadth. These are the problems you want to have! We have become the local GW store and as for 40K, it seems we can do no wrong (queue warning sirens). Warhammer Fantasy is a top game now as well, but there are certain items that don't sell, while everything for 40K is selling.

The Flames of War section compacted a bit and our army boxes are on clearance starting at below cost on eBay. We won't be carrying army boxes again, except for special orders. I don't want to say I'm giving up on this game, because sales are erratic but still not horrible, but the product line is simply too wide and the game isn't dynamic enough to encourage people to play obscure models and one-off armies. Only a historical gamer at heart would choose lesser equipment options or less involved nationalities. It's also a game that has failed to capture many new players over the last year, and new players move "back list" stock, while new "late war" releases have failed to energize the existing players. Flames of War is the one miniature game that hasn't blossomed with the addition of a game center. I suppose they can't all be winners.