June Update
I know it’s been a while since I’ve written to you guys (almost 6 months) but we are still alive and working hard. However, instead of working on my next project, which I have pretty much been putting off since we got the building, I decided to give you guys a much deserved update.
First of all, what we have accomplished … a lot. We have accomplished a lot. In retail, we have completed the graphic novel, RPG, cooperative and kids game sections. This has included getting everything moved to the Geekhouse, opened, organized and made pretty. We took into consideration everything from flow as you enter the Geekhouse, to moving around retail, to lighting, to how close product is to the ground. All around, we tried to make the retail look and feel like a place David and I would want to spend a lot of time browsing.
We have also been working on the party and filler games, dice, puzzles, etc. and the “all the other games” sections, but they aren’t quite finished yet. One block of shelves needs to be completely cleared off and resituated because someone (this was me, I was that someone) didn’t line it up straight before we secured it. It is very much so encroaching into the war game section. But that seemed like a lot of work so we have moved onto the Lounge for the time being.
David has been an absolute hero organizing the Game Library. I have no idea how many games we have in the library because I am still working on inputting them all into the system (I think I’m somewhere around 325 games input so far) but it is SOOOOOOOOO many more than we had at Madison. David just did a count and we have almost 3x the shelf space. It’s crazy.
Because of the sheer volume and the fear of the paralysis of choice, we needed a way to help our Members choose a game to play. So, David and I sat down and thought about how we choose games and the questions that Members asked us in the past. We took a lot of different factors like: player count, time to play, time to learn and teach, cooperative vs competitive, heft, etc. and came up with sections in the Geek Lounge to separate the different types of games.
Thus far, David has completely organized the light games (which is the bulk of the library) medium/heavy games and cooperatives. He is currently working on war games and once he’s done with that, he’ll have party, filler, thematic and retro games to finish. I’m still in the light games as far as inputting but you can check out my progress here.
I had a blast setting up the graphic novel library. I have all of the non-Marvel titles completed. The Marvel titles still need to be put in chronological reading order. Marvel can be a bit overwhelming if you don’t even know where books fall as far as timeline. Once I’m done situating them all, I’ll need to input these guys into the system as well.
As far as the actual building, we are down to just a couple big projects and a number of small, 30 minute projects. The two sets of stairs (this is the thing I am not working on right now), and the two display windows are the only big projects we have yet to do. The stairs are labor intensive and the displays are more brain work. The stairs to the loft are so close to being done. I have already removed the carpet, pulled out all of the nails and staples, scraped off all the carpet glue, sanded, stained, polyurethaned, primed and painted. And sweet baby Yoda do they look gorgeous. I now have to prime and paint the walls, fix a couple spots of paint on the railing, do some trim and transition pieces, then I am done!
The stairs to the basement, however, are barely started. I have finished the first step of removing the rubber tread sticker things on maybe half of the stairs. Once I’m done with that I will need to remove the staples and nails, strip the paint, sand, stain, polyurethane, prime then paint. And these stairs are wider, and the stair case is longer than the ones going up to the loft. But once I’m done with that, I can finish the trim and transition pieces. It’s hard, hot, stinky, and dirty work. The stairs will probably be the last thing I do before we open. Does anyone know the number of those elves who helped the shoemaker?
As far as small projects, we have a few pieces of trim to do here and there, some touch up paint (I have two specific spots in the ceiling under the loft where I misjudged the height and scraped it with something I was carrying), and paint the ceiling and wall over the stair case to the basement. Then it’s down to a lot of fun decorating everywhere.
Okay, so now that I’ve got that update out of the way, I’m going to address the question I know everyone has been wondering (mostly because I get texts, emails and messages all the time asking, you guys aren’t subtle), when are we going to be open?
The answer, although I know you hate it, is we are going to be open once we are done. I know you guys are chomping at the bit to get in here (just as much as we are to have you here) but these things just take time and we would much rather have everything how we want it than just slapped together. We know you will love it as much as we will.
So, we will definetly get you another update once we are done with everything but before the city inspections so you can know opening is imminent and then will also let everyone know when we have our opening date set in stone.
So stay tuned! It’s coming soon!