No Pathfinder at Brick and Mortar stores?

[jedipotter]

So over the past couple weeks one of my groups switched to Pathfinder from 3.5 D&D. Now I have the physical core books, but not too much else.

So over the week end I drive past the deserted shells of buildings where B. Daltons and Borders used to be and past the strip malls with the empty storefronts that were once comic shops/gaming stores. I stop at Wal mat, were oddly I got all my other Pathfinder books, go figure, but they have nothing. I get to the only book store left around here, Books-A-Million. They only have one ''role play'' shelf, and it's mostly 5E and 4E and some other random graphic novels. They do have the Pathfinder core book...but nothing else.

My last stop is Half Price Books. They have a whole role playing nook. They have the old Ravenloft boxed set, that I bought for $15, all shrink wrapped and marked at $80 and it says ''missing maps and other stuff''. They have no 5E or 4E D&D stuff. A bunch of random 3.5E stuff, like five Players Handbooks. But they don't have a single Pathfinder book anywhere. And back in the day Half Price Books was my Go To place. With just $20 I could walk out of there with two or three ''almost new'' d20 books, every two weeks. But now nothing...

I never made it over to Spaced Invaders....one of our last game shops. But I don't like that place, they shrink wrap everything (even the comics) so you can't flip through them and read them. And they are just as bad as Radio Shack when it comes to stalking their customers.

So is finding any physical Pathfinder stuff normally so hard? Is it that rare? Do i need to break down and buy them online?

[Extra Anchovies]

I've only been able to find the CRB and adventure path books. Other than that, the local game stores seem to only have 5e.

I have never encountered a Pathfinder book at Half Price Books; I think that's because it's still a "live" (i.e. developer-supported and updated) system, so it has more sustained value. Granted, I haven't been there to look for RPG stuff for a while, but I still haven't seen any PF there.

[Kudaku]

Never been a problem for me. The RPG stores in my hometown typically carry 50% Pathfinder and 50% other RPG systems - it might just be your local area not being particularly into PF.

Paizo price the hardcover book PDFs at 9.99 while the store price is typically ~$50 for each hardcover, so if you have access to a tablet and don't mind using an E-reader you can save a lot of money by picking the books up in PDF format on their website.

It might help to write what area you're looking to shop in, maybe some other posters can point you in the right direction?

[Svata]

The comics/hobby shop near me has the CRB, Bestiary 2 & 3, ARG, and ACG. And they can and will order things people ask for.

[Knaight]

Pathfinder, D&D, and the occasional White Wolf product are about all that can be found at brick and mortar stores where I am, though there are occasional exceptions (I got Shadowrun at a brick and mortar store). The internet is probably a better source for Pathfinder, but there's major variability by location.

[Palanan]

Where I am, the only remaining bookstore options are two Barnes & Nobles. One of these has a lackluster selection of RPGs, just a few Pathfinder books and modules on an endcap, plus the new 5E material.

The other B&N, fortunately, has two or three solid shelves of RPG books, including what looks like the entire selection of Pathfinder supplements. This second location is in a thriving mall, and that probably has something to do with the better availability of gaming books.

Oddly enough, there's another B&N in a larger mall about thirty minutes away, and their RPG selection is also on the pathetical end of things. I suspect nargles demographics.

Also fortunately, my local library system has apparently received enough requests for Pathfinder material that they've ordered multiple copies of the major supplements. Demographics again, since they also have a fair number of 4E books, plus Exalted and Warhammer, and even a few very battered 3.5 supplements.

[oxybe]

Our FLGS has a second location in a larger city so they share stock. On more then one occasion the owner drives over to drop off stuff and pick some up, usually stuff customers have asked for that's in one store but not the other.

In our location, we have 2 TTRPG shelves: one shelf is primarily 4th ed leftovers, some pathfinder splatbooks, the new star wars and some old 3rd ed stuff that's been there since before 4th was announced, along with some pre-3rd books on the bottom-most. 5th ed stuff is on top of the shelves facing the center of the store since it's the newest "big name" system. He did the same for 4th, pathfinder & the newest star wars game.

The second shelf is really just a "anything else we get in" either some overstock from the 2nd store in stuff like whitewolf or gurps, or miscellaneous books they got in a "I found these books in my closet/my son's closet and they haven't been used in 15 years" sale, probably alongside some old magic cards (which is why he would have bought the whole parcel).

As in, did you know there was a The Slayers d20 TTRGP? or a Big Eyes, Small Mouth version? I didn't. But now I do. Some weird stuff in there. Never gonna see play at our table tough, so it sits on the shelf.