We were lucky to catch up with Gabrielle Mann recently and have shared our conversation below.
Gabrielle, appreciate you joining us today. Any thoughts about whether to ask friends and family to support your business. What’s okay in your view?
I feel like we are very lucky to have the friends and family that we do. My husband and I came into this business with a lot of support behind us. It could have never happened without our community. We were able to get our space for the business all due to some incredible mothers- my best friend’s mom, Suzanne Restle, Ryun’s mom, Shellie Lansang, and my mother, Gwen Mann. Suzanne has been living in downtown Golden for years, and was ready to move her business, she was looking for somebody to lease out her store front and gave us a chance, even though we were brand new entrepreneurs and were scraping by just to make it happen.
Shellie visited us constantly during the build out phase of our Guild. The hours she put in making the space look as welcoming and beautiful as it is with us, was out of this world. I’ll never be able to thank her enough for those long nights, slinging paint all over the walls and ceiling.
My mother, who has always supported me in all of my crazy pursuits, listened to our idea and gave us an initial investment to get our feet in the door. I feel like she did it because she believed in us, but I also know it was a huge act of love. I wish she could see how far we have come in the past two years. Gwen, my mother, passed away the beginning of last year and didn’t really get the chance to see what a difference our little store has made, not only in my life but in the lives of so many others. I know she would be proud, and I know she would’ve been glad to be a part of this incredible journey.
As a sort of “mom-and-pop” store, I think part of what makes our store great is the family aspect. So much love went into creating this space. All of the staff here, have known each other or have become friends as well, which I believe brings some ease, and fun into our game-store. Not to mention, we are all fairly outgoing, so the chances are once you visit us- you’ll become a member of our little Guild family as well.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Ryun and myself are college sweethearts who moved to Manhattan after school on a whim. We grew up here in Colorado, but both of us have always had a taste for adventure. I pursued acting while over in New York, Ryun managed a fabulous game store in the Upper West Side. We both fell in love with the idea of one day being able to create our own little space for people to come play games and enjoy time with each other. Cut to- COVID early 2020, and we moved back here to Colorado. We were ready to get back to our home state and start something new. We ended up living with family and friends, all the while planning what could be. The universe was looking out for us, because suddenly things started falling into place. The dream was actually coming true. In early 2021, the opportunities presented themselves that we could open up our own game store in downtown Golden. It was so much work. Turning the space into what The Guild is today, took time, effort, and a lot of hands (thank you friends and family).
Our store features a retail section of hundreds of boardgames, trading card games, and role playing games up front, but where you really find the heart of The Guild is in the game-play library. We house over 600 games for anyone to come and play for a small admission. Game-play time is unlimited, and our library grows weekly with more games to choose from so there will always be something new!
We also host a ton of events. Anything from Friday Night Magic: The Gathering, to One-Shot Wednesday role playing nights, to After-School Dungeons and Dragons Club. There’s never a dull moment here at The Guild.
And just in case you needed one extra addition to bring you on by, we also serve a vast selection of craft beers, ciders, and meads. Cause after all every good story begins with “They walked into a tavern. . . ”
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The lesson I have to unlearn is something that is still an ongoing struggle for me. I am one of those people who has to be in control of everything. I have to know what’s going on, I have to complete all of the tasks, and I have to know every detail about the situations I find myself in. Since starting this business, that has lead to a lot of anxiety. As any small business owner knows, there are A LOT of moving parts that go into the machine. I have found that I need to learn how to prioritize the important things, and sometimes that means I can’t be in control and in charge of EVERYTHING. For my whole life, I thought the fact that I had such a strict work ethic was such a good thing. I could do anything, “just leave it to Gabby, she’ll handle it.” And I would. But putting that amount of pressure on myself, I have come to find isn’t healthy, and wildly enough- not necessary.
A small business is a team effort. You know the saying “it takes a village-” well that’s how growing a business is too. I care so much about my little baby business, and handing parts of it’s life over to other people is scary. But, my partner, my team, and my customers all love The Guild. As much as I do even! I know I can feel safe handing over some of the tasks to others. It’s a hard lesson for a control freak to learn.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I think our customers, here in Golden, are a main component to what has helped build our reputation. Our store, from the beginning, has always had a focus on community. We want to be a home away from home, a safe and fun place for anyone and everyone. Our customers are the ones who help us to foster this environment. One of my favorite things is running the store on a weekend, and having a regular customer bring in friends or family from out of town to show them The Guild. Everyone is always so excited to show it off, because this place is “their place”. I love that. I love that we have built something that our community can call “theirs”. Because it is. The heart of this store keeps a little piece of each and everyone of the people who call it their game store, and that’s what makes it so very special.
Contact Info:
- Website: goldengameguild.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/goldengameguild
- Facebook: facebook.com/GoldenGameGuild
- Other: Golden Game Guild Server on Discord