Even in 2025, there’s a place in Whitewater the place you should buy video games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii.
Co-owned by Mike Sersich and Bronson Thatcher, Retroville Games is an all-inclusive recreation retailer that opened up in early September. The retailer makes a speciality of online game trade-ins, disc resurfacing and the sale of buying and selling playing cards and board video games.
Though the shop is comparatively new to town, it has already discovered a brand new location that will appeal to extra neighborhood members, now positioned within the busy restaurant part of Whitewater close to Qdoba and McDonald’s.
The transfer to a brand new location was strategic, as the unique retailer was tucked away and straightforward to overlook.
“We’re in a primetime spot where it’s visible,” Thatcher mentioned. “Our last spot was behind some buildings where most people couldn’t even accidentally walk by us, whereas this spot is very visible in the food center of the town.”
Another giant issue that contributed to the proprietor’s option to relocate was the necessity for more room. The retailer sees between 60 and 100 online game titles traded in each week, and the scale of the unique retailer was not sufficient to carry every part that was coming in as the unique constructing was 1 / 4 of the scale of the brand new location.
The new location has been open for per week and a half, however Sersich and Thatcher had been promoting video video games at yard gross sales for 3 or 4 years earlier than deciding to open a retailer.
“I amassed so many games that Mike would come over and say ‘what game do you want to play,’ and I would be like ‘just pick one,” Thatcher mentioned. “He was like, ‘You have too many games, you need to open up a game store.’”
Originally a retro online game retailer, Retroville Games has rapidly expanded their product lineup, together with Pokémon memorabilia, comedian books and board video games. The final recreation retailer in Whitewater, Level Up Games, closed over half a decade in the past. Sersich and Thatcher observed Whitewater’s void within the online game market and determined to fill it.
“The area kind of needs this,” Sersich mentioned. “We’re filling a gap, and people are starting to see it.”
An important a part of Retroville Games’ model is the affordability of every part bought within the retailer. The retailer gives a “Retroville guarantee,” which guarantees compensation to those that buy a product that doesn’t work or turns into unusable. Additionally, relying on the standard and relevance of the sport, a recreation bought at Retroville Games could be purchased for nearly half the worth it’s being bought for by on-line retailers.
“We don’t try to hit the top dollar with our games,” Sersich says. “We want it to be played. That’s really the whole point of it. We want it to be owned by somebody who wants it, so we’re not going to sell something at $150 when it should be sold at $80.”
The retailer has had a heavy social media presence since opening up, posting each day on Facebook and YouTube. Some of the commonest social media content material from Retroville Games entails unboxing trade-ins, which the house owners say has drawn loads of engagement from people who find themselves enthusiastic about buying the product. The social media exercise has additionally been an intentional transfer to succeed in out to individuals who might not have the means to get out and see the sport retailer in individual.
Though it might seem to be a distinct segment neighborhood, the marketplace for retro gaming and card accumulating has turn into widespread over the previous few many years, which the house owners attribute to nostalgia and folks’s needs to maneuver away from solely buying video video games digitally.
“Having a physical copy of a game is definitely something that I think is more desirable,” Sersich mentioned. “We’ve seen generations of consoles that have stopped supporting online games, and sometimes they take away stuff that you already bought.”
Aside from promoting video games, the house owners say some enjoyable occasions will likely be taking place sooner or later. Though nothing is at present set in stone, Sersich mentioned he and Thatcher hope that gaming tournaments and weekly Dungeons & Dragons classes will attract much more engagement from the Whitewater neighborhood.
Retroville Games’ new constructing is positioned at 1132 W Main St. Find extra details about the shop on Retroville Games’ Facebook web page.