I've said it before and I'll say it again here. Small LGS are the customers to manufacturers like Asmodee. Big titles like Ticket to Ride and Pandemic can and will be sold anywhere, being discounted on Amazon and overloaded in Target/Walmart. They want the LGS to sell hundreds of chapter packs and expansions that will sit on shelves.

Distributors and manufacturers fawn over these brick and mortar stores that don't have any money, are dirty and no customer service. Stores enforce this notion by crying every time they see an item on Amazon cheaper than full retail, claiming it's why they're going out of business (SRP of board games are very generous btw, retailers pay half off retail)

I think a lot of board game designers and employees got their starts in small hobby shops in the 90s playing magic and have warm fuzzies for the small LGS, but the reality is that board games don't have a place in most LGS. Most are dark and gross and geared torwards magic, or comics or yugioh. There are a few good board game stores in existence, but not nearly enough to justify this brick and mortar only, 1 distributor business model.