10/14/2021
“Together with my business partner and my partners up in Birmingham, we built something that I hope is unique, at least in our area, because I want to have a space where anyone can come to find a community, make a community, be a part of something bigger than themselves, or a place where they can feel at home. That’s what I hope Gear Gaming is. One of our community members was robbed at gunpoint. He lives in a different city but regularly comes here and plays. He messaged the Discord and let us know that he wasn’t able to play anymore because his car was stolen and all his models were in his car. Everyone was like “no no, we got you.” People in our store community started rallying together: people started bringing in models, money, and they started an account for him, so he could rebuy everything he lost. Some people even helped build and paint some of the models that he lost and gave it to him. That’s what it’s about. It’s not a necessity, it's a luxury. It’s an afterthought from your everyday stuff, but we all know the joy it brings with the games we sell and that's why we do it. When something happens to one of us, it happens to all of us. We’re going to take care of our own -- always. If you walk into those doors and you play a game with us, you are part of our community. Whether you’ve grown up never playing a game -- not even Monopoly -- to the guy who has played games since he was six years old because his mom and dad were dungeon masters. Those guys and those guys are part of the same community here.”
(Interviewed by Garrett Martinez and Lauren Bistritz, Fall 2021)