Erik Bigglestone and Games of Berkeley are the focus of this week's episode of the Manaverse Podcast. Erik shares his experience as part of a gaming family and the story of how he came to be the owning manager of Games of Berkeley, one of the oldest friendly local game stores in California. 35 years of history actually.
Games of Berkeley: The Story
Erik talks about how he turned the perception of the store around after becoming the owner. After several years of being owned by a corporation, Games of Berkeley acquired a reputation for "having everything you might want, but being the last place to check out." Erik describes how he overcame the store's reputation and established Games of Berkeley as the premier game store it is today.
A big topic we cover with this show is customer experience and how the subtle interactions between a business and it's customers can deeply affect how successful the business can be. Erik talks about how to identify the small details that can add up to push your customers away and how to fix them.
In addition to all that, we explore some of the philosophical finer points of life as an entrepreneur (my favourite part) as well as branding, marketing, advertising, conventions, and growing and evolving a business.
If you're like me and like to visit local game stores while traveling and you're passing through Berkeley, make sure to stop by and check them out. You may be able to tell from the gallery but Games of Berkeley is an incredible place that is doing a lot of the right things.
If you can't make it to California, check them out online:
If you like this episode, you should check out my interview with Travis Severance from Millennium Games or Michael McKinney from 95 Game Center.