Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Peterson.
Hi Jessica, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My husband and his friend had also dreamt about opening a game store together. Neither of them were able to quit their jobs to make their dream come true. They came to me and ask what I thought. I was scared and nervous. It meant that I had to quit a job that I loved to make their dream come true. It took me a while to final work up enough courage to pull the trigger. I told my husband that if I was going to do this, the store was going to be clean, smell good and people were going to feel like family. They both agreed so, I quit my job and signed into the franchise. It took almost 2 years for the dream to come true after I quit my job, so many uncertainties and obstacles. From family with cancer to our building taking so long to be completed. But it all worked out in God’s perfect timing. Game Grid Spanish Fork has become home to a lot of people and we have created a new family with our regular customers.
We wanted to make sure that we didn’t start with any debt, which was challenging at the start because we didn’t have a ton cash on reserve. We have slowly built up to were we are today. We are currently in the process of figuring out a bigger building because of the amount of love and support the community has shown us.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The building that we are in was being built during Covid and due to this there were several bumps in the road. One of the biggest delays was getting power in the building. We had been told that we could expect to be operational in February 2022. However because of all the issues we weren’t able to officially open until July 31st, 2023.
There was also backlash from other local game stores, due to my husband and our partner Mike wanting to open a game store. They have been in the playing community for over 20 years. We have created a store like no other in our community. We now have players driving from out of state to attend different events that we hold.
For the family, it has been difficult for our kids to understand what it means that mom and dad own a game store. It has been challenging for them to understand that they do have to be with us at the store. There are a lot of days that they don’t want to come down but once everything is starting to take place they join in and play games with our customers and have lots of fun. It’s also hard for them to see things on the shelves and want to open it, but we explain that it has to be their for our customer’s first. That it costs us money and we don’t get things for free. It has been a great tool in teaching them the value of things that we do have.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I own Game Grid Spanish Fork, which is the most southern location in Utah. There are 12 other Game Grid’s in the franchise, including one in Idaho and one in Key West, Florida. Each store is owned separately, but we all fall under the same franchise. We all have our own specializations that make us unique.
For us at the Spanish Fork location, we are one of the only locations that support Yu-Gi-Oh! We have been blessed to work one on one with Konami and have made some great friendships with them. We have traveled with our local players around the country to different tournaments and events, supporting them. We love being able to host the larger events, but also our smaller local events. For our family this is a big one because my husband and boys all play Yu-Gi-Oh!. Traveling with our local players, I am now called the Yu-Gi-Oh! mom. They all know that if they need anything “mom” will do whatever I can to support them. Our players have said that my support has been one of the biggest reas0ns that they can focus and just play without having to worry about the small things.
Magic is another one of our larger communities that we support. A lot of our magic players feel that we are a safe place for them to be, we have become their second home. Several customer feel so safe that they will come in and just talk, because they need someone to listen, not necessarily to play a game. This was one of my biggest concern’s about leaving my previous job. I love to have people to listen too and give opinions when needed/wanted.
Star Wars Unlimited is our 3rd largest group that we support. We love that it has been a very family oriented game. We have families that all their children are involved in playing together. We have held several large scale events and it is great to see these families traveling together to attend our events. This is another community that we travel with often.
We also support a lot of other games, however these are our larger communities. From Union Arena to Disney’s Lorcana, and lots of games in between.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Hard work and attention to detail. Loving people who aren’t always shown love. Making people feel that they are in a safe environment.
I was raised in a large family. So when you have people, you have food. Almost all of our large events, I spend a lot of time preparing food for our players. This is one of our business practices that we are known for, even though it is not required. I think that this is one of the reasons we have seen a quick success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://gamegridspanishfork.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gamegridsf/
