I'm not sure what the norm is for stores in England, but I was somewhat underwhelmed by the store considering its a flagship store in the heart of London. There was a cool display table at the front of the store (which is in the White Dwarf), but otherwise I'd call it a regular shop. The stock was the same as you'd see anywhere, and there weren't a lot of armies on display. Definitely not as many as are in the GW's near me. I probably would have enjoyed a independent retailer better since they would have at least had some other stock that I'm not familiar with.
I figured I had to pick up a souvenir, and since the new Eldar stuff was just announced I picked up the plastic Farseer to paint up as well as some 32mm bases.
What makes a store a flagship?
ReplyDeleteBecause that's just a normal store as far as i am concerned... If you are talking about the new 'warhammer' re branding, most if not all new stores open now under the warhammer name, my local, Newcastle, is almost exactly the same.
DeleteIts what they called it when I went there. Its also on their facebook page (Feb 3rd announcement)
Deletei'll be damned...
DeleteIt sounds like they missed an opportunity to make it a genuine 'flagship' by giving it something unique - Forge World products would have been enough perhaps? A small area dedicated to classroom style teaching sessions like the demo pods at their events?
ReplyDeleteNow they have that at newcastle
Deleteteaching session areas that is...
DeleteAll stores have a teaching area it's compulsory, at least here in the UK it is
Deletethough as much
DeleteTo be fair TCR is not a flagship store but has a very high footfall count so will be one of the top grossing stores.
ReplyDeleteIf you want the flagship store with all the extra cool features such as ForgeWorld and a fully licensed dwarven brewery then you need the Warhammer World store in Nottingham
Unfortunately I wasn't able to make to trek to Nottingham and Bugman's. That would have been fun, but I think its still under renovation, so maybe next time.
DeleteBeen a few years since I last got home to blighty but I remember my lunch time ambles down Holborn to modelzone,Forbidden Planet and GW down Oxford Street on the upper floor of the shopping arcade.Name escapes me now.. Modelzone gone of course.Hamleys twice the price of everywhere else..
ReplyDeleteWe now have a GW shop here in Warsaw..painting courses and 2 smallish tables but very enthusiastic staff working hard to get me to buy SMAUG before Cang..
It's a shame your visit was so underwhelming. you should have gone to Dark Sphere in Waterloo.
ReplyDeleteIt's a proper independant with a ton of different ranges and you probably have got the Eldar for 20% cheaper!
And it's located under a railway arch. nothing says London more then shopping under a railway arch ;0)
you should have gone to Dark Sphere. Now thats what a gaming store should look like...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.darksphere.co.uk/index.php
You wouldn't have been far from Orc's Nest either, excellent RPG retailer if ever I saw one. But yeah - come sarf of the rivvah next time. Dark Sphere has only one 'drawback' for the GW gamer - no Finecast blisters on the shelves.
ReplyDelete