We were lucky to catch up with Matthew Woods recently and have shared our conversation below.

Matthew, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?

In my opinion it isn’t really what your parents have done right. It revolves more around what your parents have done at all and how you are able to learn from the positive and negative that surrounded your upbringing. It is very important when you are coming of age, that you begin to see your parents as human so that you can understand what you need to copy and what you need to change. Your parents shouldn’t have to do everything right in order for you to become successful.

Matthew, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Matthew Woods. My wife Kari and I have created a gathering place for a growing community of likeminded people in Natchez, MS. What started out as a trading card and tabletop gaming store, quickly turned into a community of people who previously did not have a place to gather and enjoy their hobbies. We have put customer service and care above all else to ensure that everyone feels welcome and comfortable and to provide the peace that comes with knowing you are amongst friends. Our store is different from a lot of other hobby stores because we don’t focus on the retail side of the business as much as we focus on the experience. We host trivia, karaoke, jam sessions, and adventure camps. We try and provide activities and entertainment daily to keep people engaged and coming back. Bards and Cards is more than a place to pop in and grab what you need for your D&D game at home. We provide a space to play all of your tabletop, board, and card games. We provide a space to play video games or watch TV. We provide a place to sit with your friends and chat. We are the premier hang out spot in the Miss-Lou area. We are a family.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

When my wife Kari had the idea for a hobby store in our area I was not on board at first. I am very critical of the economy locally and I didn’t share her hopeful outlook regarding our success. I began to research the number of people within a radius that spanned from my area to the next nearest hobby store. The population of that area was greater than I had assumed and that triggered the need to start the leg work on measuring interest. I chose to proceed with creating a social media presence for our potential business. I brainstormed branding ideas and business names and then created some graphics for our newborn idea. Once I had a Facebook page created it was just a matter of creating some hype. I posted some teaser graphics and asked for engagement. I chose to spend a little bit on some ad placements just to see what the reaction would be. I chose the audience closest to my local and spent less than $100 to send out some ads. The response was immediate and encouraging. My advice from my experience would be to prepare to spend $500 or more to get your initial social media audience built quickly. If you don’t have the ability to spend the money on ad placements then be prepared to post daily and beg everyone you know to SHARE SHARE SHARE.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Our store was set to have its grand opening on October 15th of 2025. We had been working hard to get the store front ready and get distributors in place to stock our shelves. As the opening date loomed ever closer, we couldn’t get any distributors for trading cards locked in. We knew that if we didn’t get the major TCG on our shelf, that our clientele would be very unhappy come opening day. When we realized that we weren’t going to be able to get a distributor in time, we began searching for some other option. We had previously made contact with another game store that was almost an hour away, and they were kind enough to try to help us out of a bind. We worked with them to purchase some of their inventory and have some things on our shelf for opening day. They continued to help over the coming weeks until we finally got a distributor locked down. To this day we maintain a wonderful relationship with them and we are forever grateful. We kept our heads down and kept pushing forward until we found and answer and I think that is what makes a success story.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://BardsandCards.shop
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bardsandcardsla/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579070536632
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bards.and.cards