It's Time to Celebrate!
In May of this year, we moved to a bigger storefront in Downtown Arcata. August marks our 6th year in business. We are celebrating these important milestones with a Grand Opening Celebration this Saturday, August 30! We will have a storewide sale and complimentary seats in our game space all day, from 10am - 8pm. Thanks to the Arcata Chamber of Commerce, we will be marking this momentous occasion with a ribbon cutting at 1pm, followed by some homemade treats. We would love to see you on this very special day.
Baby Dandar’s on Giuntoli Ln. So much hope. So little stock.
Getting here has been a wild mix of careful, considered planning, creative problem solving, and terrifying leaps of faith. Back in the “before times” of 2019, when we were innocent of the idea of a global pandemic and economic shutdown, we committed to a plan for opening a game and book store. We decided to give it our all for 5 years. If it didn’t work out, at least we tried, and we’d have the best boardgame and book collection in the county! While that was some consolation, we really, really wanted the business to work. As it turns out, so did you. We stayed focused on our vision of creating a welcoming, inclusive friendly local game shop. You kept showing up for us. Our first holiday season was a success, and sales continued to trend upward for a very exciting (and encouraging) first eight months.
Our very first giveaway was a Pandemic game. Maybe we should have picked Splendor instead.
And then…March of 2020. I think it was a Friday when the official pandemic shelter in place was announced. I remember Dan and I looking at each other that day, speechless and afraid. And then we sold more boardgames and books than any other day in our brief history! We happened to fill a niche that abruptly became high demand. Still, we had to adapt (hello, curbside) just like everyone else. Obviously we came through the other side (moment of silence for those who didn’t). When it’s hard to keep faith, keep your commitments. Dan did everything he could to continue to serve our community with compassion and consideration, committed to our vision while I kept the home fires burning.
That year was so unprecedented, we decided it didn’t count towards our make it or break it deadline. As we recovered, we were cautiously optimistic about lasting another year. Then we were growing again. We added or removed products in response to your input until our first location was overflowing with all the niftiest, newest, most fun nerdy things. We tried things that didn’t work (RIP Game Club). We tried things that did (Yay Paint Day!) which we still offer. A few more years went by and we realized, this thing is really going to work.
New storefront on H St. Soooo Muuuch Spaaaaace!
We must have rolled a karmic nat 20 to find our new location available at the time we needed it. It’s big and bright and warm and welcoming. We’re nestled in with long standing Arcata icons like Northtown Books, Tincan Mailman, Don’s Donuts and The Minor Theater. We are able to positively add to the experience of living in or visiting Arcata. We have enough space to comfortably offer all our products and host free activities like Saturday Paint Day, Star Wars Unlimited Tuesday, and Friday Night Magic. Our most exciting improvement is our Game Space with quality tables and a Game Library which we can offer for $5 per person per day.
We are so excited for the future! I can’t wait to get to know the groups who will choose to make us their go-to game night location. Our community is diverse, our space safe. You are welcome to show up as your authentic self here. I’m Dar, the book nerd trying to bring all kinds of science fiction and fantasy stories to our community, so you can see yourself in the heroes, no matter your race, ethnicity, gender, or orientation. Dan’s the man running the joint, boardgame geek extraordinaire. We built it together and are very proud of what we’ve created: Dandar’s Boardgames and Books. Welcome!
