In this issue of Old School Gamer, we are profiling two stores that we love for different reasons. The first, which you will read about elsewhere in this issue, is a smaller sole proprietorship. Jason took his passion and built a store that caters to like-minded gamers who
come into his Florida store every day. The second one is run by a number of people who share a similar passion for gaming, headed by a management team that loves the industry. The difference is that they sell an insane amount of games to gamers and businesses through their online store and their mega-location just outside Washington DC. This story starts with the president of that store, eStarland, Chris Kong.
Chris came to the United States in 1987. “I was working at construction and there were other chances to go to school,” he explains. “So, I had to work really hard to save money to start my own mail order video game exchange club…not giving up, and also trying to do it in a unique way. It was worth it – coming up with a new way of thinking. That’s one reason we’re still here and we’ll be doing better in the future, and will not stop the innovation.”
At one point in the 1990s, he had up to 30 stores with 8 stores just in the DC area. However, he didn’t see the stores moving in the direction he wanted them to go, so he started focusing his efforts on the site we visited earlier this summer in Chantilly, Virginia. It’s a single location of over 12,000 square feet, with 3,000 of it for showroom and the rest being warehouse and offices.
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