The Lower Shelves Are For the Common Folk

It's been awhile since Tabletop Inquirer nailed something as well as this piece of art, but it goes so much further.

@tabletopinquirer

As a fat, middle-aged dude, my knees are still in pretty good shape.  My eyes, however, have varied wildly since COVID, and since I've stabilized, the blue tint coating for computer monitors seems to attract every speck of dust and drop of perspiration onto the lenses.  Between the dealers hall at Cold Wars and visit to my mom last weekend that involved two game stores on the way home, if I don't spy a sale or discount sign, I'm just glancing down and moving on.  Blisters of miniatures at ankle level, and books I can't discern by the spine with a half step back are not worth my bother. 

This fuels my former retailer rant when I stepped into game stores last weekend.    I don't care if you stock the entire line or a few key books, you need to have more core rulebooks in inventory at all times than any other product.  

In my olden days, we'd always stock at least three copies of players handbook.  Why?  Because we would sell more copies of that in one year than in the lifespan of the hottest supplement.  So please, expand your RPG selection with two copies of the latest iteration of Vampire, but a giant gaping hole where the core rulebook should be?  Unacceptable.  Same goes for my near purchase of Monster of the Week, until I realized they stock three copies of the supplement with not a rulebook in sight!

Sure, a lot of players grab books off of Amazon and whatnot, but between convenience and a lot of stores actively taking cards/books in trade, those books will always move, unlike the ten copies of the special edition Spelljammer slipcase you ordered.  

So to each FLGS in the universe, keep your stock off the floor, unless it's discounted, and stock the rulebooks of the products you sell, so I (and my players) don't have to use Kickstarter, Amazon, or eBay to quench our thirsts. 

Happy Easter!