Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Wizards of the Coast to Close all Stores!!!!

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I knew after the February 2003 stockholders meeting that WotC stores would cease operation and close after Xmas 2003 -- and I posted exactly that on the old WotC incarnation of the PokeGym.

And boy did the fans FLAME me (and oddly, Boozer, Gills, and Pat were quiet). It was pretty obvious Hasbro didn't know how to retail the items they made.

I saw the wheels of closure in motion after WotC expanded into Texas, opening a store in Fort Worth and Hurst -- but never following through with the store in Plano (abandoned in 1999). Then in 2001, the Fort Worth store sold the lease to their location to Victoria's Secret and chose not to relocate within the mall.
At 9pm, Sunday December 28, 2003 - the Hurst / North East Mall location closed.

I do not see this as a bad thing (but then I have asperations of opening a gaming location - so I'm bias about seeing an uncaring, money-grubbing retailer like WotC Stores going out of business).
 
Well.....

I will report that the local Seattle newspaper yesterday published my reaction to the WOTC store closings...
It gave a ..."disappointing jolt to some game hobbiests..."

They quoted me as saying, "It's really sad.....it's going to force a lot of people to fine a new place to have a league."

The article is found on the front page of Section C (Business) of yesterdays paper.... (Seattle has only two local papers)

See you around......
 
Unfortunately the ONLY Pokemon League located in the South Jersey/Phila area (that I know of) was held at the Wizards of the Cost store located at the Moorestown Mall.

I had been making an hour-and-a-half trek up to TimeWarp Comics and Games located at Cedar Grove in North Jersey, along with making a 2-hour trip up to the Pokemon Center in New York to get my Pokemon playing fix in.

Now, I have no idea where I nor my two sons will go to hang out at to play Pokemon on a regular basis.

Hopefully someone else will latch onto this idea and open up a new league nearby. With roughly 15 - 20 very active Pokemon playing members who battled at the Wizards along with MANY others who were playing Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic and Dragon Ball Z and several other card games there I'd hope that someone will realize that the demand for card games in general still exist around here, (along with the possibility of making money through the associated business venture).


- Tony
 
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Well, there's a gaming store (Gamer's Realm) on Rt 130 in Cinnaminson.
They don't currently sell Pokemon, but maybe if a few people approached them together, they could do the math and figure out that it would be worth starting up.
 
I found this article reading my local newspaper- The TImes Union of Albany, NY it was in the Business section on Tuesday December30th:


Guilderland - The Game Keeper, a Crossgates Mall store that sells board and rol-playing games will close at then end of February, an employee said.

The eight-employee store is one of 64 retail shops run by Wizards of the Coast Inc., a Renton, Wash.-based subsidary of Hasbro Inc. The company announced on Sunday that it will close the stores in an effort to concentrate on its core business of manufacturing role-playing and trading-card games.

Wizards' games, which include "Magic: The Gathering" and "Dungeons & Dragons," are among the biggest brands in the hobby game industry.

The Crossgates Mall store, which also specializes in chess sets, is taking 20 percent off of its prices, according to senior sales associate Ben Rejiester.

Wizards of the Coast has retained Gordon Brothers Group LLC of Boston to assist with the store closings, which are all expected to be completed in about 60 days.

The company was founded in Renton in 1990 and acquired by Hasbro in 1999. - Alan Weschler with The Associated Press.
Click to expand...

So this formally kills the Pokemon game in my area. This was the only store that still had league and sold product. All of the other gaming stores gave up in Pokemon about 2 years ago. Try finding product around here. I wish I could start up my own league but with work and family commitments I just cant.

The thing I cant understand that in the article is that "It (WOTC) will close the stores in an effort to concentrate on itscore business of manufacturing role-playing games and trading-card games." Tehy can concentrate and manufacture all they want. But if there are no outlets to play people will not play. Its such a sad day for me when I found this out.|
 
Hello all...
This is in response to JohnnyB's post primarily...
I am one of the many WotC employees that will be minus a job in the next month...everyone at the Game Keeper here in Albany is sad (and/or mad) about this announcement...
I am going to attempt to get another store in the mall to sponsor the league...if not, there is another store in the area that may be interested...we will figure something out...
Don't give hope yet ya'll...keep Pokemon alive...
TBK
 
Reading the article pops a lot of questons in my head :rolleyes: . What will become of WotC internationally? What will see next on WotC this February?

On a side note, it is a good thing that OP especially internationally is now on Nintendo for Pokemon or will be in a heap of trouble!!!!!

Also, does it got to do with settlement of WotC and the big N? Just a thought and nothing to sensationalize about.
 
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