There is something very depressing to me about the rise of game stores that are just undecorated little rooms with folding tables and which only sell trading cards. They feel like supervised injection sites for card game addicts
My buddy managed to open a warm and inviting card shop, but yes, that’s about 90% of gaming stores these days.
Basically
You can walk into one of those places and say “do you sell RPGs?” and get the most hurtful glares in response
As a young adult I visited my friend with his 4 RPG/MTG roommates.... All the male estrogen was suffocating - it completely changed my life path.
I'm quite close with a couple of LGS owners and it's basically the only way to keep up with overheads and Wizards insane release schedule with MTG. No budget to spend on anything but product. It's really rough to see
Man that sounds depressing. Speaking as a cardboard addict I'd still like some decor with my hit
Back in the day, video killed the radio star. Nowadays, digital killed the game store star.
If you're still in PT, try Versus Game Center, they have a nice cozy feel to it. versusgamecenter.pt
Tangentially related, im from near Nottingham and I think every gaming shop should mimic the warhammer world centre there, it's just extra and a good time, the main hall is a castle, I don't even play warhammer but it makes me want to buy figures!