I don't work in the shop, except to fill in on occasion, and I used to say that I had a 'proper' job and didn't play games for a living. It was after my very first stint of filling in that I realised just how difficult a job it is.
So anyway, after 6 years on Hope Street, we have decided we need more space and so we are moving! The new shop is three times the size of the current shop so we are quite excited about the propect of maybe having some permanent gaming space and an on-site games library.
We been busy decorating for the last couple of weeks, in the evenings and bits of the afternoon when Nick can spare time away from Hope Street.
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| Shire Games, Parliament Row, Hanley, 2011 - |
When we first opened the shop, we knew that we could probably make more money by just selling on-line but we felt very strongly that what we really wanted to do was to introduce, or maybe re-introduce, people to boardgames.
Our own collection started when we first came to live in the UK in 2001 when I bought The Lord of the Rings boardgame for Nick for Christmas and we played it to death! Wanting to know more, Nick found Boardgame Geek on the Internet and a whole new world opened up for us. We found a small shop not too far away and very quickly our collection grew.
We didn't have a lot of money and even fewer friends so we bought games that worked well with two players. Every evening would be spent sitting at the dining room table challenging each other as we let our competitive natures take over.
We loved it when the few friends we had would come over and we could introduce them to delights such as Ticket to Ride or Carcassonne or any other of the old classics we had in our collection. Incredibly social, loads of fun and even educational, we always seemed to have a good time.
We often talked about how great it would be to open a game shop of our own and when things weren't going particularly well with Nick's job, we decided to take the plunge.
We had a real desire to get folks hooked on boardgames that weren't the old roll and move type of games. Few people know that there are probably 5 or 6 new games published every week, kind of like video games. And like books, people have their favourite game designers and find they must have everything he or she puts out there. We felt that if we sold exclusively on-line we would only be selling to people who already knew about the thousands of boardgames out there and what we wanted to do was snag the people who didn't know how great the hobby is. It's so gratifying someone walks in for the first time with a look of astonishment on his face when he sees the massive assortment of boxes on the shelves. It's even better when he or she walks out with their first purchase and I can't tell you how great it feels when they come back a week or two later full of tales of how much fun they've been having and asking for another recommendation. That to us, is success!
Moving to a new location is a bit scary, not to mention costly but it's a risk we feel we need to take if the shop is going grow and being in a busier part of town, hopefully means more opportunities for new converts!
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| Shire Games, Hope Street, Hanley, 2005 - 2011 |
