Changing, Morphing, Growing

Your support means the world to us! One of the things I strive to provide you is accessibility. You have front row seats to not only products and sales announcements, but to how things run. Not everyone is interested in that, which is perfectly fine, but for those who’d like to know about our planned store changes for the New Year, please click the link and we’ll give you the rundown.

A Little Background

While Wendy and I own the store, I, Eric, am the primary blogger. The last few months I’ve changed this space to discuss product updates, sales announcements, giveaways, and the like. So, I’m going to bring back some of the “life” of our business in these blogs. That way you can get a glimpse behind the curtain. We don’t want to be that faceless giant internet site, we really are striving to be your Friendly Distant Game Store. More value than just lower product prices, but somewhere that provides intrinsic value. Where you feel free to ask questions or make suggestions, someplace you feel welcome; like a brick and mortar local game store, just separated by a little more tundra. Along those lines I am going to start up a Facebook Group as well. While many of the other groups I participate in are focused on one aspect of gaming, our group will encompass a myriad of different topics. You’ll see more on that relatively soon.

Extending our Reach

I’m discovering very quickly that it takes a lot of effort to be heard in the cacophony that is the gaming market. We have our own unique niche, we just need more exposure. I have already collaborated and partnered up with several fine organizations since we initially launched the store. In 2020 I want to solidify those relationships and continue to extend into the digital places that make sense. We are eclectic in our products and focus, so I know there will be a lot of good opportunities.

On the physical front we are going to participate in local Cons this year. We will bring a good selection of games, as well as our own unique gaming accessories. We will participate with one or more of our partners so they can drum up their business as well. Hopefully we’ll see you there!

We will also produce at least three new original mid to high end products this year. On top of that, we are going to start branching into game storage solutions, primarily for the games we sell. These storage solutions, to include some gaming products, will be inexpensive. That way those without 3D printers have the convenience of picking it up here without breaking the bank.

We are going to develop outreach in the form of games to our deployed Military. You already know we strongly support our deployed Armed Forces, their families and contractors overseas doing the difficult job every day. One more way we’re going to demonstrate that in 2020 is by providing games to them. I have some general ideas about how to do that now, but it’s going to take some time for me to fully characterize how that will work. Stay tuned!

It Takes a Village

I am going to make a space on our website to highlight our partnerships. I want to proudly display all of our distributors, small businesses, content creators, and possibly even individuals that help bring our store, brand, and content to life. One thing about small businesses, we are stronger when we band together and develop synergies to help each other out. I am also going to discuss the tools and methods we use to run the store in future blogs. Everything from our Magic the Gathering processes (which are completely home-grown), shipping/receiving, website design, video/photo processing, product design to include development, pricing, etc. Not to monetize anything, but to give others ideas so they can better realize their own dreams. After all, I’m in a good position to help through lessons I’ve already learned.

Name and Logo Update

You may have noticed our shortened name on Facebook. Our legal name will remain Stone Valley Hobby & Games LLC. However, we will start to call ourselves simply Stone Valley Games. We will also begin working the letters SVG into more of our marketing. I think the obelisk we initially designed works really well as a visual marker. The only change I’m going to do there is modify the jewel in the middle from a gem shape to more of a pearl shape. I’ve already modified it on our YouTube channel if you want to see what the new version looks like. We will retain our tagline, because we really do take your leisure seriously. Then I’ll tie all of those changes into our new logo. Actually, I’m going to design a few different logos – but color and theme will all be similar. The goal: when someone sees that obelisk on its v-shaped base they think of Stone Valley Games.

Wrapping It Up

Well, thanks for hanging on. I want to reiterate that we really appreciate your support! If you see an invite to like us on Facebook, please do. You can also register for our newsletter via our website; there’s a convenient prominent link toward the bottom of the homepage. If you’re happy with us and share that news with your friends and family, it helps spread the word. That’s our kind of marketing! Take care, and we hope you have a fantastic 2020! We look forward to serving you in the year and years ahead.