Back to the Chicago Battle Bunker

So a lot has changed with this once fine store. The so called "flagship store" of GW's Midwest effort. First they gave up half the space they had and moved everything into the WORST half of their retail environment. Secondly they turned it into what is basically a bigger retail strip mall store instead of the GW mecca it once was.

The Battle Bunker is now half as big and without the custom build gaming tables. Now we are all pushed onto Realm of Battle boards (not a bad product per se but not what the older hand built tables were) and the entire store wreaks of sameness and being stale.

GW is not the keenest at making good business decisions. In fact some would say they have the worst business practices of any gaming company out there. This then is one in a long long string of serious flubs they have taken toward ruining the hobby. Bathrooms at the Bunker? Yeah those are gone too. Annoying sales people? Yeah you wont get through to the gaming space now and duck anyone. While they leave you be if you are a regular they have a business to run and if you are new get ready for the attack.

Business must have been really hurting to cut back on what was once this super large cool gaming place to visit and hold tournaments at. You had two separate rooms, a paint bar and good atmosphere and now we are reduced to a store front room and feeling like we are just weekend warriors as opposed to being in a gaming community. One big wall divides the store area (low on stock as well) from the gaming area.

Stock: low (out of paint that matters, no blisters with metal, low on box content)
Space: low (no real hobby areas and paint bar gone)
Sale staff: depleted

I will never understand how a company with so much to gain can make so many seriously bad business moves. That location was primed to be updated, remodeled and turned into a serious Midwestern mecca for gamers and not instead we get...shit.

On the plus side the coolest and longest term salesman is still there and Tim Lyson is back to being the manager. So at least that is going well.

Ah well. No one ever said you had to game there or even buy things there. That is why God invented the internet. I used to have a philosophy that if I gamed at the Bunker I would always buy at least one thing to support it. Not anymore. Give us a shithole then we will treat it like a shithole. Luckily this was a Saturday and it should die down as the weekend goes on. Saturdays always were the worst at the Bunker regardless.

Still...it feels good to be back :) This just me being myself. Take it with a grain of salt

You can find all my old Podcast and War Realm photos here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/banstick/sets/

At the FLICKR account I cannot sign into anymore...