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I visited the old game store on Clark St in Chicago and counted 41 copies of Settlers of Catan on the shelf
Went back to my old neighborhood in Chicago last month and stopped in the game store on Clark St where I used to kill Saturday afternoons in the late 90s. The owner finally retired and his nephew runs it now, and the whole back wall that used to be war games and Avalon Hill stuff is now just wall to wall Catan. I counted 41 copies of the base game plus every expansion, and maybe 6 actual hex and counter war games left in a dusty corner. Back then you could walk in and find three guys mid game of Advanced Squad Leader on a folding table, and last month the tables were full of people playing Catan and Wingspan. The part that got me was the guy behind the counter did not even know what Squad Leader was when I asked. Not saying new stuff is bad, I play Catan with my kids, but it feels like the shelf space tells a whole story about where the hobby went. Anybody else have a local shop that flipped over to mostly modern stuff like that?
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jadeprice8d ago
The shelf space tells a whole story" hits hard, and I saw the same thing at a shop near me that went from rows of hex and counter games to mostly party and family stuff over about ten years. What worked for me was just asking the owner to special order the old stuff instead of hoping it showed up used, and he was happy to do it since it was easy money for him. The hobby didn't die, it just moved to the back corner and you have to dig for it now.
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