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Weekly Store Update: 14 April
Fortune and Folly just released, which is a single card pack expansion for Arkham Horror the Living Card Game. Have you seen these before? They are like story snippets and are inexpensive adventures that only require the base game to enjoy. Good stuff! We also have some new art to show you and a few other stories as well. Check us out!
INTRO
Welcome to our weekly newsletter! For our new readers I'm Eric, and Wendy and I run Stone Valley Games. This newsletter is our way to share both local and world-wide gaming news of interest that popped up last week. It also provides our subscribers, both local and remote, some information on the going's on around here so everyone feels like part of the action. At the bottom of this newsletter we show you the restocks, new items, and preorders added to the store last week. It's not too difficult to navigate, so let's get to it!
SWITCHING THINGS UP
When it comes to the game accessories we carry, we generally try to keep the basics on hand. We're too small to carry too many different kinds of any one accessory though. I mean, a quick search will show you thousands of different kinds of card sleeves alone. We could fill the entire store with just sleeves if we wanted to.
When we first started carrying sleeves, the initial concept was quite clear. There were three distinct tiers with budget (BCW), average (Dragon Shield), and best (KMC). We stuck with the standard sleeve colors to match Magic the Gathering mana colors and included clear as well. However, over the years we have had to add other brands. Mostly due to distribution and cost issues that impacted all of the gaming world over the same period.
Now we're actively focusing on narrowing that down to a few brands and ultimately will work things down to a single one. Right now, that manufacturer is turning out to be Gamegenic. They have a good variety of sleeves from budget to standard, and they carry them in both matte (our favorites for shuffling) and prime (super nice clarity). You'll see we added quite a few new packs of their sleeves last week.
As the other brands of sleeves sell out, we will let those fade away. Another lesson we've learned after all these years is that very, very few customers will spring for the expensive sleeves, and generally focus on the standard and budget packs anyway. We can get both of those thru Gamegenic. So, with our dual strategy of carrying gaming supply basics and trying to streamline our product line, it's a natural fit.
404
I don't know if you had seen our old 404 page or not, but it was something I'd wanted to change for a while. It wasn't horrible, but it just wasn't...right.
I really wanted something special for that page. I have seen a few out there that were quite good and have always appreciated the effort that some companies put into it. Anything to demonstrate you care as a company is a good thing - including the 404 page.
I wanted to incorporate our store Obelisk in a bit of a fantasy setting - to highlight our gaming focus. I also wanted to make it whimsical and fun. I talked thru my concept with a local artist, and they came up with the following piece.
I think the basic themes come through fairly well. Two adventurers with a document displaying an obelisk and obviously aren't grasping something as highlighted by the question marks. Then, unknown by them, the obelisk stands plainly right behind them with a dragon peaking around it.
I took the drawing, added some words, and placed the image just so to rebuild our 404 page. If you want to see what it looks like you can check it out here. What do you think?
TALE OF THE TAPE
It's crunch time now for taxes, and I know a slew of people were rushing to get it done. We had submitted our information in plenty of time, but it takes a while for our accountants to work through it all. At long last we have received our 2022 numbers and... it's not the best news, but it's not the worst either. In comparing our 2022 and 2021 numbers, overall sales were up quite nicely, but our expenses rose higher as well - resulting in kind of a wash.
So, not the marching bands and fireworks I was hoping for. However, we can hold what we have. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, this is a very difficult business to make money in. You know though, as long as we can hover near the black, we'll continue on. I'm going to keep on streamlining our offerings and encouraging more local participation. Other than that, I'm thinking it's business as usual.
TAKE ME HOME STONE VALLEY PANGEA
Over the last several months we have been highlighting each of the six Stone Valley Pangea regions. We've compilated them all and are showing them on our fantasy setting page right here.
While we've hinted at the Pangea in one of those pieces, we haven't really laid everything out. I wanted to add that next, and what you see below is a very rough draft of the general layout.
I've shared this with our artist who is working on a more detailed version. Once completed, I'll post it here and update our Stone Valley Pangea page as well. I might do a side-by-side so you can see how it had grown.
It may be odd for a game store to fiddle around with things like their own fantasy setting, but we really have a passion for this. We're into the gaming culture for far more than slinging games. We want to create fun environments and tell stories that bring as much joy as peeling the cellophane wrap off of a new board game. What a wonderful hobby!!!
THE WRAP UP
Okay, enough news for this week! Below are the Restocks, New Items, and Preorders added to the shop last week. You can click on the item to learn more, and many of the products have review and gameplay videos so you can see the game in action. If you're visiting our page and you'd like to keep up with our giveaways, sales, new products, and articles like this one just create an account here. Once created you will be subscribed to our newsletter and become enrolled in our loyalty system, instantly earning 50 Stones that you can use on your very first order. A Stone? One Stone is equivalent to One Cent. That doesn't sound like much, but you earn 2 Stones for every dollar spent and 5 for each product review, so though it may seem small, those savings add up fast! Redeem your Stones upon checkout, and they can save you up to 10% off your cart total. Loyalty Matters!
New Items
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Restocks
Preorders
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Love the 404 page! So creative
Thanks!