Triple Helix Wargames's Hall closing

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[MortiS-the-Lost]

This is of course a HUGE blow for alternative wargaming in my local area - my friends who live and game locally are rather pissed off at this development (and rightly so)

A FaceBook group is being put together for those who are going have nowhere to game in future due to this. Maybe if enough of us all pull together we can see about organizing a replacement venue

You can find the FB group here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/323967724375057/
please join and give what support you can

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Having had some time to think this over, I think the worst thing about all this is that it could be the beginning of the end for Triple Helix. While I'm aware that discount sales via the website and listing second hand 40k products on eBay form the core the of the business, it's local customers are drawn in by the combination of shop and gaming hall. How often have you gone to THW for a game with friends and bought something in the store while you were there? Almost every time I'd bet! What's more is that THW is not in a town on the high street, you don't just pop in there, you have to make a special trip and without the gaming hall there is less reason to make that trip. While I'd quite happily travel to THW to play a game and while I'm there pick up some paints I need or impulse buy a box of miniatures - it's not worth me making the same journey just on the off chance I might buy something, especially when I can buy products so easily online. Which brings me to loyalty, while you may have thought I meant buying from THW's web store when I mentioned buying online just now, I might not have - why would you choose THW's web store over any other? Certainly not to support your local gaming venue that you regularly attend any more - thus THW becomes one of many, near identical web stores selling the same products at the same discounts. What does THW have to offer that's special any more? People coming to the store for one thing and then doing another while they are there; is a market THW have now lost. A further discount for in-store pick up is all well and good, but once again that comes back to why bother travelling all the way to the store just for that.

[jogar_t_hutt]

very true

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[MortiS-the-Lost]

Lumberjack wrote

the Hall and shop are the smallest part of the business so with the extra hours we will be working the more profitable side of the business as part of the streamlining

While I understand how the business works as a structure, the point is that the combination of gaming hall and shop is very much the public image of the shop locally (to people outside the area it's just page on eBay or a website) ... think about it, how did you used to describe THW to people? I can guarantee you didn't start with the eBay sales

It needs to be said that the Gaming Hall was what made THW what is was and closing it was never going to be a popular move.

 

[General Biakal]

i have visited this place once and was very impressed. It seemed to have everything covered: a cafe/kitchen, large gaming hall and a shop area. Its collection of terrain was huge and it had a small lounge area and chill zone.

it really felt like it was a place for gamers by gamers, and it felt like i was in a "place" not just a shop.

my regular gaming place is Warhammer world in lenton, and in many ways both were similar.

I am VERY saddened by this, as my memories of a great (if allergy ridden) weekend are in many ways tied to this place, as well as it being where i met Peter, who is a friend of mine now as we live quite close.

this seems to me, without all the information obviously, to be a very silly move.

1. the infrastructure of the gaming hall and cafe was in place already
2. rates and rent are being paid for the whole building, and that empty workshop is now losing money, not generating it
3. mortis has said- much lower retail potential.

when i was there summer 2011 there was even talk of a mezzanine and LAN gaming area.

dismayed, dissapointed, feel sad for my friends who all were so welcoming and friendly that weekend. in a way the "spiritual home" of this forum and its good people has been lost.