Geek Retreat

Disbanding the Culture Club

Geek Retreat is on a mission to rewrite the narrative around the geek culture space, taking its philosophy of accessible and inclusive fandom nationwide as it continues on its plans to open 60 stores in the UK this year alone. Here, ToyNews catches up with Geek Retreat CEO, Peter Dobson to find out more

If ever a business did exactly what it says on the tin, then Geek Retreat is it. Fast spreading itself across the UK, cascading downwards from the Glaswegian underground scene, with tendrils growing across high streets from Harrogate to

Portsmouth, Geek Retreat is more than a shop, but a philosophy, and a safe space for nerds, of any decree.

The plan has been seven years in the making. First opened in Glasgow in 2013, Geek

Retreat quickly set up a second destination in

Newcastle the following year. Since then, its growth has been one of significant rapidity, tapping into the now ubiquitous nature of pop and geek culture, to deliver a comic book and board gaming store experience that has made no secret of its plans to be operating across 60 locations in the UK by the end of the year.

And it’s working. At the time of writing, Geek Retreat is “motoring along”, opening up in Portsmouth and Oxford, with new spots in Lincoln and Bedford in the coming week, along the way sharing a philosophy of accessibility and inclusivity amid a marketplace that has for so long, carried with it an ‘exclusive members club vibe.’

“We are all about making this geek culture as accessible and as easy going and approachable to new customers as possible,” Peter Dobson, chief executive of Geek Retreat tells ToyNews. “There’s an image that a lot of people have of gaming stores, that they can be cliquey. If you’re not into a certain type of game, people say they can be a bit unwelcoming.

“But we are absolutely not about that. We are about making this pop culture - which is everywhere today - welcoming and accessible for everyone, no matter what they are into.”

The core value of Geek Retreat is, then, that it is a haven for the geek culture audience, no matter where they measure on the charts. A business built on the philosophy of broadening the audience as widely as possible, while fulfilling a childhood dream, Geek Retreat surely couldn’t have picked a better time to expand.

“There’s a lot of people - especially throughout the pandemic - who have reassessed their careers and their lives, and have concluded that maybe they want to do a bit more of the things that they love,” says Dobson, noting the rise in the audience numbers around the kidult market and the demand for board gaming and hobby shops.

“We have really kind of benefitted from that, but more than anything it’s been our approach that has fuelled our success. What Geek Retreat offers people is a place they can go to and feel like they belong. With the pandemic, people, regardless of their interests, haven’t really had that, and I think they are seeing how important it is to create places like this in their local communities.”

Traditionally, you would call Geek Retreat a local game store. It’s a business offering a combination of a place for fans to gather to play board games, trading card games, and wargaming titles, mixed with a comic book shop and geek culture retail. On top of this, however, Geek Retreat also boasts a very strong hospitality and food and beverage offering, with partnerships with Absolute Cafe across all of its stores to sell snacks, burgers, hot dogs, and an array of drinks to its board gaming customers.

“The reception from consumers and this gaming audience has been really strong,” says Dobson. “I don’t think we’ve had a store opening where we’ve failed to have a queue out of the door. I think there are people who are geeks, and people who love what they do, love gaming, love comics, and love to have a place to come and hang out.

“I think that’s what attracts people in store. We have a real focus on creating communities - not just customers who come in, buy stuff, and leave. We make sure people get to know our staff, get to know our franchises, and get to know each other.

“There’s definitely something I hear a lot, that people visit some of these older game store and the atmosphere is unwelcoming or cliquey. There’s an image of a bunch of guys playing their games, and it’s just not inclusive. I have certainly had that experience before and I know it’s something that a lot of our customers and franchises have had.

“We, however, really make sure that no matter who you are, or what games you’re into, you get a really warm welcome at a Geek Retreat. There’s no reason why you can’t have all the good parts of a comic shop, without those bad associations.”

It’s not difficult to join the dots between Dobson’s own experiences of the geek culture scene when he was growing up, and the business he has spearheaded as the direct antidote to them. He recalls the times spent painting Warhammer figures, for instance, with no knowledge of how to play the game, and little by way of access to a means of learning with likeminded and similarly aged people.

It’s a bit of a different scene today, and Geek Retreat is proud to stand among the brands changing the narrative for many young fans or gamers looking to break into the space themselves. And why wouldn’t they? It’s an endlessly fascinating and exciting landscape to be a part of right now.

“There is so much stuff going on in this scene right now,” says Dobson. “Obviously Games Workshop is the star of the stockmarket right now, with fantastically exciting stuff going on there, while with Pokémon - people are literally fighting in the aisles to get boxes of Pokémon Trading Cards, and paying insane amounts of money for cards.

“Dungeons & Dragons is riding the wave of resurgence, and that’s actually a great example. We can’t find enough Dungeon Masters to run games and teach all the people that want to learn about the game. Whenever we advertise ‘Learn how to play D&D’ it’s just oversubscribed.

“We are about to launch a programme of organised and structured Learn to Play so that fans can book a time to go in one of our stores, learn how to play Warhammer or Pokémon or whatever. We are really going to make sure there’s a constant push to bring new people into these hobbies, because, I remember as a kid, there were things I wanted to play but I didn’t know anyone else who was playing these games. This is all about making it accessible.”

With such an onus on community and helping others interact and connect around the geek culture medium, it stands to reason that Geek Retreat’s greatest focus is on the bricks and mortar business. Yes, the team - like most other retailer over the last 18 months - did invest in its online operations over the pandemic, but it readily admits this is ‘only an ancillary’ to its core high street presence.

“The online stuff kept us going over the pandemic, like so many others,” says Dobson. “But Geek Retreat’s heart and soul is in the actual store.”

It’s good news for brands and high streets across the country alike, then, that Geek Retreat won’t be shifting its focus from its core retailing space anytime soon. Instead, plans are still moving full steam ahead for the retailer-come-hang out space to hit its 60 operational stores across the UK by the end of the year. And that’s despite the additional headaches that the pandemic and its hangover have thrown at the retail landscape.

“The issues around shipping have been hitting the board gaming space a bit, but only a little bit,” says Dobson. “It’s not critical, but it is a bit of a background irritant. It all falls in that same space as Brexit - shipping issues and Brexit - and just adds an annoying amount of friction to the process.

“Obviously we ship a lot of stuff from Europe, and a bit from America, a bit from Japan - and the systems that used to work flawlessly and you didn’t have to worry about - are now just headaches.

“Things like Brexit, and UPS drivers not understanding and demanding the store pay £400 for customs clearance out of the safe. You have a Saturday part time staff member on who doesn’t know how to deal with that, and it’s all just frustrating more than anything.”

Frustrating, but by no means crippling to a firm who has found its plans relatively unhampered - bar the odd lockdown of the past year - by it all.

“Those plans are still going strong, We have such an amazing team and everybody believes in this mission to create places for people to feel welcome, and that’s what is driving us. Everyone we speak to and bring on board shares that passion.

“I really do feel that people need to have somewhere to belong, and we are creating that in our space for them.”