Paige Gance, co-owner of Just Games in Lexington, VA, spoke to the News-Gazette about the effect she expected the upcoming tariffs on goods from China would have on her business. “Every time we go to restock now on games we haven’t been able to stock before, we’ve had to absorb a much higher cost,” she said. “On the order of 5% to 20% sometimes. Some are completely eating the tariffs. Some are passing the full amount on to us. Most are somewhere in between.” Gance and co-owner Zander Tallman, who is also her husband, are doing their best to keep prices table. “We’ve tried as much as possible to avoid raising prices,” she said, “and one of the ways we’ve been able to do that is by stocking up much more than normal in advance of announced price increases from our publishers.” That strategy has a downside, though: “We basically drew down most of our cash to stock up as much as possible,” she said. “Cash that we would normally be doing other things with.” The couple expect to have enough stock to carry them through the holiday season, but the long-term outlook is bleaker, Gance said: “The manufacturing capability of China, especially for tabletop games, is unbeatable,” she said. “It cannot move overnight to the United States. If this continues, publishers will go out of business — some already have — and the hobby will decline.”
A smash-and-grab thief stole a number of items, including 11 graded comics, from Comics & More in Madison Heights, MI, on August 2, Fox2 reports. “We are incredibly disappointed to think anyone in our community could have committed such a hurtful act!” owner Chris Brown posted on the store Facebook. “It was mostly graded books, none of the new ones, so we are going to catch these people. Please keep your eyes and ears open.” The graded comics were
- All-Star Squadron 47 CGC 9.6
- All-New Ultimate Comics Spider-Man 1 Pichelli variant CGC 9.6
- Amazing Spider-Man 101 CGC 6.5
- Deadworld 10 CGC 7.5
- FCBD Encanto Signature Series 9.8
- Twilight Zone Four Color 1173 CGC
- Twilight Zone Four Color 1288 CGC
- Twilight Zone 01-860-207 CGC
- Twilight Zone 12-860-210 CGC
- Twilight Zone 1 CGC
- Twilight Zone 2 CGC
All the Twilight Zone comics were graded 8.0 or above, Brown added. A few days later, he posted that the store will close for good on September 27, 2025. “There are a number of reasons, but tops among them is that I just can’t do it anymore,” he posted, adding that he will continue to sell at conventions.
Get Ready Comics, in Rochester, UK, was hit by arsonists early on the morning of August 26, and the fire destroyed much of the store’s high-end inventory, according to Kent Online. The shop had been recently refurbished, but owner Paul Blakeborough said he didn’t have an estimate for damages yet. “To be honest, loss of trade is more impactful,” he said. “The end of the school holiday is a critical hit for us. We like to think we have brought a lot of positivity to the community here, and then something like this happens.” A CCTV camera caught a youth setting fire to the floral arch in the store’s façade. “I’m just thankful nobody was hurt,” Blakeborough said, “especially when you consider the elderly occupants, some of them NHS workers, who live in the flats above. One lady was awoken by a fireman leaning through her window about 5 am this morning.” The shop was also targeted by vandals who smashed one of the front windows about two weeks previously. A GoFundMe has been set up to assist with recovery.
Former software engineer Jack Lawson has opened a new store, White Rabbit Emporium, in the location that formerly housed All About Games in Belfast, ME, the Midcoast Villager reports. “I wanted to do real things for real people,” Lawson said in the article. “I saw the opportunity and I thought, ‘Maybe it’s time for a career change, to do something really enjoyable.’ I’ve been playing board games my entire life; I’ve been playing D&D forever.” His aim is twofold, to provide a community gaming hub and to support the work of indy game developers. And he’s having no trouble finding help: “I’ve had 12 applications in two weeks from people that used to come here, work here, shop here and say, ‘I really want to make this place happen,’ which really has reinforced the fact that people are looking for these kinds of things,” he said.
Source: ICv2
