Hello everyone,
We have some news to share. COVID has created an environment that is we feel is unsafe for a board game cafe to operate in, and we don't foresee things getting better anytime soon. We have chosen to temporarily downsize the store given the increasing COVID risk and the impact it has had on our business and the community. In order to be fully transparent with you all, I'm going to outline the changes as best we can here.
Here is the 'bad' news:
1) We have put board game rentals on hiatus. Our collection is being held in storage for the time being. To put it bluntly, organizing people into groups indoors to play board games is an incredibly difficult challenge in the current landscape and we don't feel comfortable doing it for a long time. This is a long term change for the store - we don't expect to have board games for rent in the shop again for at least another 12 months.
2) We are no longer serving food or drinks. This one really sucks, as we loved being able to serve up some great drinks and snacks, but again the business model of having groups indoors right now is something that we want to avoid at all costs. Like the board game rentals, this is another long term change. We don't expect to be back in the food or drink business until at least the end of next year.
3) We will no longer be operating in the main storefront. For those of you that have been to our shop, we had two units in the building - the storefront unit and the playroom in the back where tournaments were held and additional seating was provided. We are now operating the store out of that back room. The new entrance to the store can be seen in the image of this post. We will have new signage up ASAP.
4) We are temporarily suspending in-store play (again). We tried for a few weeks to get commander tournaments running in the store and we ran a few Zendikar Prerelease events, but with the recent rise in cases we are going to sit back and wait for more information before moving forward with in-store play again.
All of that being said, there is a silver lining here:
1) We are expanding our retail presence. We have been working tirelessly to get as much inventory as possible online for everyone - now that we are focused entirely on retail you should expect to see a lot more product depth, new product lines, and features on our website in the coming months. In addition, there are some other media projects that we are excited to get to work on that will be announced in the future.
2) We are working to reduce the time you need to spend at the shop. The online store is a fantastic tool to ensure that your order gets processed ahead of time. This also includes buylists! By using the online store for your shopping needs and choosing to pick up locally, you help minimize the risk of COVID exposure for yourself and our staff, and we greatly appreciate those who are already using the website for their local orders. As much as we want to see you all right now, it's not the right time to be hanging out indoors if it can be avoided.
We can't say enough how important your support has been over these trying months. In uncertain times like this having the Waypoint community stay involved and supporting us with your purchases has been a bright spot on a dark year.
Again, this is just a temporary change. We aren't going anywhere - this is simply us adapting to the current climate. We look forward to when we can see you all in-store again. Until then, stay safe and stay tuned in to what we have in store!
