Season two of The Open House kicks off with Sarah and Chris of Event Horizon Hobbies, the Midland game store built on a simple idea: everyone is a nerd about something.

Their first store, in Toronto, closed. They moved back to Penetang and spent years at Waypoint, the banks and a property management company. Then a backyard barbecue during COVID turned into a plan to try again. This time they studied why so many hobby shops close within a few years and built the opposite: a store that has to be "first dateable," aisles that get nerdier the deeper you go, and staff trained to cheerlead whatever you're into, even if they've never heard of it.

We get into:

- Building a third space

- A corporate team building night where everyone tried to take out their boss

- How to start D&D when you have no idea what you're doing

- The tavern-style D&D room coming to the store

- Raising three boys in a toy store

- Why they'll never sell video games

Plus a summer catch-up: Ben's trip to Portugal with a two-year-old, a 56K finish line, and almost $1,800 raised for Campfire Circle. And some news of our own: we've moved into a shared office at Route 93 in downtown Midland.

D&D drop-in is Thursdays at 6:30. Find Event Horizon Hobbies at eventhorizonhobbies.com

Know someone who should be on the show? Send us their name.

Chapters

00:00 Intro

00:32 Season two kickoff and summer catch-up

03:08 Meet Sarah and Chris from Event Horizon Hobbies

04:56 "We should be doing more": filtering the noise as a business owner

10:08 Penetang, Toronto, and their first store

15:34 COVID, a backyard barbecue, and starting again

17:33 Why so many hobby shops fail

20:35 Training staff to cheerlead your choices

24:15 Building a third place

29:10 Is it first dateable? How the store is laid out

34:39 Events, birthday parties and corporate team building

37:39 D&D for complete beginners

49:48 Thursday drop-ins and a tavern-themed D&D room

51:25 Growing up in a game store

56:09 The bunker question: one game for the apocalypse

58:07 Why they'll never sell video games

1:01:48 "So you are a gamer": sharing games with your kids

1:04:45 Keeping competition friendly

1:08:12 The real win in business

1:10:37 Our new office at Route 93