A remarkable outcome of starting this game store has been establishing a central location for the gaming community. It was always my intent, but I never could have imagined that it would take off so quickly. I feel like a broken record on repeat, but it is true. The community is what makes this store so successful, and the continued support and participation is what will keep the store operating at such capacity. We are thriving! Not only are we thriving, but there are also individuals in each games community that are directly impacting each games success.
The methodology that I have instilled in the identity of the store is giving the events to the community. I picked people from the community to represent each respective game and plan the events for their game. This proved to be a very smart move. I noticed that when communities feel like they are a part of their local game store, then they are much more likely to participate in planned events. The events that the community collectively helped schedule. Involving all of these people built out a schedule that supports every game in the store with weekly events! This is a crazy endeavor, and the schedule continues to expand. Speaking of expanding! The store will be open now on Mondays starting next week, 10 Oct 2022.
The next identity that I believe for the store is support. I have heard so many times people say, "I will get this here to support the store", or something to that effect. This in itself is great but it is not the mentality that I want the community to have. It is a mentality bred from the historic knowledge that most of the time, local game stores don't make it in the long run. The store is here to support the community! I strongly believe this. I want to support people's hobbies and help grow these hobbies to whereby supporting you, in turn the store is supported.
Everything that I do with the store is to try and support you, the gaming community. It is also why you will continue to see that I have the best prices and I will never sell anything over the manufacturer's suggested retail price. And hell, I sell things for under that price. The community should not be expected to pay more because they bought it from a game store. The concept doesn't even make sense to me. I will also continue to order you the things you want that I don't currently have in the store. Obviously, I can't get everything due to a number of reasons, but I will always try.
There are a few more highlights that I would like to make in this week's post. The store has welcomed 4 new employees that you have most likely already seen in the store. I hire from within the community, and I also hire mostly veterans or service members. Everyone that I hire is directly involved in their games community and have impressed me enough with their involvement that I offered them a job. And I will be honest here, none of them ever asked me for a job. They were passionate about their own community succeeding in the store, so I brought them on to be a paid representative of the store and their community. I want to officially welcome Alystra, Tristan, John and Angius. Be sure to welcome them as you are in the store because they have the same mentality for the store and community as I do.
Now I want to talk about Mondays. The store hours for Mondays are 11am to 8pm. There are currently no events on Mondays, but I am looking at some options. One option is hosting a time for home schooled kids to come and play games. Possibly making it another Pokemon Gym Leader Challenge event. If you have any suggestions for events, please let me know in the comments or in the store. I want another event that will help support the community in a way that the store may not be supporting the community yet. All suggestions are absolutely welcome but please don't be upset if your suggestion is not used.
This week we begin our Warhammer Kill Team events. This week is an introduction. If you are interested in Warhammer at all, this event is definitely for you. We want to start the community off with a smaller format, so you don't feel overwhelmed by having to put together a huge army. This is more so for the part of the community that is interested in Warhammer but have not started yet or have just started Warhammer. Kill Team only requires a small unit to play and has simpler rules the Warhammer 40k. Veteran players are definitely welcome if that point wasn't clear. I just wanted to highlight Kill Team for those thinking about getting into the game so we can continue to grow the community.
Lastly, standard format Pokemon Tournaments are coming. So, all of those cool Pokemon V cards you get will be put to good use. The standard format is different than the gym leader challenge. All ages are welcome to participate in Pokemon Standard Tournaments, but it is a highly competitive scene. If you have kiddos that want to play this, I caution it because kiddos take losing much harder than adults....most of the time. lol. Start getting your decks ready. I will be announcing tournament dates next week.
We, the store and the community, have built something special in Richmond Hill. Don't ever forget that. Community matters.