03/22/2024
Well, there are always some posts that are never fun to write, and this will be one of them. We’ve been putting this off as long as we could, but it is time.
With very heavy hearts, we have decided to close our brick and mortar store at Westroads Mall. Our last open day here will be Saturday March 30th. Most of our retail store is now discounted to sell down product before we close. Items related to our online store are not currently discounted as we will continue our online store for the time being. We are also running reduced hours on weekdays, opening at 4pm each day. Weekend hours remain normal mall hours.
If you’d like to view Myles’s video announcement of our closure, you can find it here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2091918210
We started this journey because we loved a card game. We played Universal Fighting System so much, and loved doing it, that we always wanted to share the game with everyone and had soon accumulated so many cards that we had a small store. We started selling cards in display cases at other game stores on consignment, but that led to many issues. This led to the creation of our online store opening in July of 2014. For several years, the local Omaha players bounced between local games stores. We were always on the move because not many local game stores would support a smaller card game that wasn’t one of the ‘Big 3’. UFS needed a home in Omaha, and Myles has always wanted to have a gaming space where anyone, regardless of who they are or where they came from, could have a safe space to play games.
In the fall of 2017, plans came together to open a brick and mortar location in Oak View Mall and on December 1st, UFS having a home in Omaha became a reality. The years after that were fruitful and not only did the local UFS community grow and sprout National and World champions, but other communities started and grew too. These were the best of times and we have so many wonderful memories from these years.
Everyone hopes for things to be in the ‘best of times’, but the other side of that coin, the ‘worst of times’ does exist. In March of 2020, the world had to adapt and learn to deal with living in a pandemic. Coming to a game store to sit with 20-30 other people and play games was not high on nearly anyone’s list. We had to close our doors for an unknown amount of time and try to adapt our new model back to an online model. After several months, we were able to re-open, with strict policies in place to keep people safe. During this time though, our customers adapted too. They changed to other hobbies, learned how to do their hobbies at home and the pandemic was the first turning point that leads to today.
We tried for several years to rebound, but the pandemic had killed off so many other stores at the mall we were in, the foot traffic on a daily basis was next to nothing. We probably tried to stay there too long, but when the rent is the right price, it’s hard to spend money to move and relocate. We also had hoped that the mall would bounce back. It did not. Things were at a pretty difficult place and we could have closed the store then, but we didn’t want to walk away from the communities we had built and thought that if we could just get to a better location, we could make things work ‘like they used to’.
Last March, we closed for a few weeks to move across town to Westroads Mall. We moved into a space that is perfect for what we do and gave us tons of room to host tournaments and re-grow all of the communities that had once flourished. We spent the last of our ‘rainy day’ funds on this move and hoped for the best. There have been many highlights and good memories had at the new location, but being in a mall with different competitors and up in a hallway that isn’t well traveled hasn’t served us well. We have spent the last few months trying to negotiate better deals or a better location in the mall and nothing has worked out.
Running a retail business post-pandemic has been stressful. Trying to make things work out, always being on our back foot with our rainy day fund gone has made our options slim. We’ve spent the better part of the last 6 or so months trying to decide what to do when our lease is up at Westroads. Unfortunately, the right decision is to close. While it leaves the communities we’ve fostered without a home, this is ultimately the best decision for our mental health and will give us some time to regroup and figure out what the future holds. Our online store will remain running for now, but its ultimate future is undecided.
To all of the customers and visitors we’ve had at the store over the years, we appreciate each and every one of you. None of this would have been possible without you. We’re so thankful for the memories we have and the good times that were shared. We will miss you all.
To all of our employees, both past and current, thank you for all of your hard work. We know that things weren’t easy at times and it’s tough to get people to play games when there aren’t any customers to demo to. There will never be a way for us to show how appreciative we are of you helping us create and grow wholesome gaming communities.
As we close down the store, we’ll be taking a break from gaming for awhile. These decisions and the mental toll they have taken leave us needing time to recoup and find our fire again. Although we’re not sure what the future holds, there’s one thing you can be certain of: We’ll keep working so that our lives, and those we meet along the way, go from ordinary to Legendary.��
Legendary Wolf out
