Another Point of Singularity

Northern VA Gamers (NOVAG) is holding their WINTER GAME DAY this weekend, on Saturday, 24 January 2008, from 10 to 5 EST. Please consider attending this one-- it's important.

Why?

The recent economic downturn has hurt many businesses, especially ones that have to do with leisure time. Even the Game Parlor, which we have been very fortunate to have in the Washington DC area for so many years, is hardly recession-proof. To quote from a recent NOVAG-gram from Tim Tilson:

He says that TGP went
thru a recession in '07 but survived and '08 looked fine until..... the crisis
last September. He says that spooked the banks and consumers. Bank bridge
loans for small business like TGP have dried up. And his creditors/suppliers
are not as acomodating as before either. Therefore he had to make these changes
which included firing some workers. If things get worse, he will have to lay off
more workers and probably charge for tables.

Specifically as to his choice on hours, the staff will be working four 10.5
hour days with 1 hour for lunch. He does not want to work the staff more than
40 hours. There were suggestions he move the opening time to 12:00 on some days
to allow for later evening hours. However that would require him to have the
staff "volunteer" to work a longer day and cut other staff hours. Additionally
the 10:00-11:00 a.m. period does twice the business as the 9:00-10:00 p.m.
period. At the Chantilly store, they do get a lunch hour rush.

If the economy improves he will consider returning to the longer hours. He,
himself will open the Woodbridge store at 10:00 for the NOVAG game day.

What can you do to help?

-Buy something at the store, even if just a water.

I will certainly do my part to continue purchasing games directly from TGP in the future, rather than through mail order (when it is feasible to do so).

In the meantime, I'm going to drop by on Saturday and help out a brick and mortar store owner that's been a friend of gaming in the DC area for the last decade or more.