Warhammer — Attraction in Pasadena

I went there while I was working in Baltimore for a few months. I wanted to finally start painting and playing, when I was approached by the Manager, some older fellow, asked about what I was trying to get. I was the only one in the store except for some younger man painting. I told him I was planning to start a space marine successor chapter and wanted to get a few kits, after towing me around the store on demand trying to rudely sell me everything under the sun, and condescendingly explaining what each game was, the regular gent who was painting approached and rescued me. I got back to browsing trying to decide on the kits in my head, making notes when the manager not even three or four minutes later approached me and asked if I had decided yet. I said, I really don't know with some enthusiasm, explaining the huge amount of choices and he responds "Alright, bye then" and points to the door. I'm blown away and he's just staring at me with a stupid I'm in charge smile. Glancing between the shelf of space marines and the door. I end up getting the closest kit on the spot to not be rude feeling bad like I'd done something wrong and leaving. That kit was not what I wanted. The next day, I returned, trying to get a refund on the unopened box and he opened it to verify the contents and triple checks, making rude comments and gets me my refund while mumbling something about thieves and window shoppers. I didn't say a word and left. I decided out of spite and having such a horrible harassed first experience to buy some nice resin 3D printers with the money I set aside for the hobby and joined those telegram chats that share exact 1:1 of all Games Workshops Models and now have multiple thousands of dollars in miniatures that the games/local tournies I've played at, not a soul has noticed I 3D printed them (The custom bits don't hurt either) That man at this location single handedly lost Games Workshop what is probably $10,000+ in my business and everyone who I teach/show how to not drop tons money on shops like this one but instead, just print or buy aftermarket. I hope the store stays empty, that guy gave huge hobby killer, gate keeping cringe vibes. Terrible rep of the brand. Don't go...

Typical Warhammer store, as far as stock is concerned. Like other stores in the area, play space is next to nonexistent. The management here though…. Yikes. I play in a lot of tournaments, and I’m constantly adding units to my army to optimize my list. I had stopped by to bolster my roster with some of the new hotness and when I asked for them, I was given a long rant about how tournament players are ruining the hobby for everyone, before finally just saying they didn’t have any in stock. I also had some questions about pre-ordering a book, and wanted to know what day the pre-sales went up. It was like pulling teeth to get a time/day rather than snarky little comments about how “they always do pre orders a week after the announcements, which they always announce on a website that isn’t the generic landing page when you search for the game on Google.

GW stores are already overpriced, and the employees tend to have some limited or outdated knowledge of the rules. The stock is pretty embarrassing, considering that it’s a GW store and not some small LGS at the mercy of a GW rep, but this seems to be the norm for WH stores. That manager though… he ensured that I’ll never go to that particular store again. He seemed more interested in painting minis and talking trash about the way I enjoy the hobby...

Arrived at store to buy some ork Boyz and Sororitas for the wife I to add to our armies. She's new and I finally tricked her into painting some nice ladies. Made it exactly 1ft in the door before the older gentleman started in. He accused me of not being able to read because I didn't see the 2 inch tall "do not touch" sign at the back of the open air display case. Sure, fine. The two other Warhammer stores I've been in did not have those. I was unaware, Slaanesh blind me.

He then pushed about WHY I was there, and what do I do? Do I play? What else do I play? Do I play video games? And would not let off when I told him we just wanted to browse. It was intensely off-putting and rude. I left overwhelmed without my Ork Boyz or even the Sororitas. I literally didn't make it past the entry.

New to minis but a 20 year Warhammer Vet who planned a day trip to this store to make it my local game-store and was literally scared away by the man inside.

I highly recommend the Easton Warhammer store instead for all the other Ork Boyz and Sororitas out there.

The Emperor Protects, but stay away from this...