HOOOOOWDY folks! my name is Alex, I was around 10 years old when my Zia (aunt) took me to my first Games Workshop experience in Canada Vancouver when I was visiting her from England. After a brief introduction from their helpful sales assistants my Zia purchased me a box of Tyranid termagants, some paints and brushes. Back then of course I used them to play in the traditional sense, making stories in my head and placing them around my room to fight each other like toy soldiers. 

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Sadly my visit ended and after an emotional goodbye I went back to my broken home where personal space, loving and caring parents and siblings that I could share activities with was nothing but a dream, along with clubs and shops in my hometown that a young hobbyist like myself could escape too.

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Due to this I would never be able to enjoy the hobbies I so desperately wanted to play. But luckily as I grew older I would make friends with like minded people and learn games like Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokémon and of course, Warhammer. I was finally able to enjoy the games that I loved! however one problem still remained, there was still no space to play. So we had to get creative, often playing in libraries, fast-food restaurants, cafes etc as these games often require tables and chairs and a lack of wind so that the cards or miniatures didn't blow away (we lived next to the sea). there were 2 glaring negative aspects to this however. The judgemental stares and comments from strangers (these hobbies were more niche back then) and the feeling we were never welcome from staff at these establishments (yes we would still buy food).

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As I reached my late teens however I became more independent, and I began to travel more outside my hometown, at this point I found a local tabletop game store in a town 90 minutes away by bus. By this point however I was homeless, losing a lot of my collection and lost contact with most of the friends I grew up with that shared a passion for tabletop gaming which meant I wasn't always able to stay consistent with my hobbies. Thankfully I still had a lot of love around me by plenty of new and old friends that I still have contact with to this day and I also had plenty of friends couches to sleep on to store any future hobbies, but not every friend will share all your interests. So here I was at this newly found game store to hopefully make new friends that shared my passion for tabletop gaming.

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As I arrived on their dedicated Warhammer day however no one was around to help me fit in and after multiple attempts by myself to join in with the local groups that were there I was refused each time as they were already busy with their current friend group. I spent the next six hours by myself until I gave up and took the next bus back to my hometown.

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This was the day I decided to work towards owning my own local game store.

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I wouldn't just be an owner, I would be friend, host, chaperone, guide and teacher. you would always be welcome by me, no matter your story.