The holiday season is fully upon us and in several ways it feels better than it has in years. Oddly enough, we may have the lousy economy to thank for it. Certainly my family has done less Christmas shopping this year than in any previous year I can remember. One by one it seems various friends and family members have sheepishly contacted us and asked if we could forgo any gift exchanging this year. The still struggling economy is certainly not a blessing, but one nice side benefit is that it might force us to focus on the holiday season as a time to be thankful for what we do have, rather than a mad shopping spree to acquire more than we really need.
In truth, there is a lot to be thankful about around Ground Zero. First off, we’re still open. That’s no mean feat in today’s slack economy, especially when so many other genre stores have been forced to close. Second, the gaming community at Ground Zero is the best it has ever been. Friday nights you can usually find one to two dozen players at Friday Night Magic, plus another solid group playing board games at Ground Zero. Our Innistrad Pre-Release had 44 players and other Saturday events have been well attended. Sundays now
alternate between Yu Gi Oh tournament and HeroClix, with both growing seemingly every week.
Alan Cleaver has been a huge blessing for the store, judging events, helping me manage card singles and and generally being an asset to anything we’ve had going. When we’ve needed a high level judge, Craig Foulke has generously pitched in and made events like the Grand Prix Qualifier tournaments possible. While I hated to see Alan’s in Longview close, I’ve been thrilled that some of the Longview players have started making the drive up here. They’ve really invigorated our player base. I was skeptical that there was any need for Yu Gi Oh events at the store, but Jarad McClanahan not only convinced me to try them, but also did all the work in getting them going. And while we don’t see Professor Birch in Tyler as much as we’d like, when he’s able to schedule a Pokemon event, it is always professionally run and fun for everyone involved.
And it’s not just gaming that has been positive this past year. When Michael first suggested we hold a Midnight Release Party for the first issue of Justice League and the launch of DCs New 52, I thought he was crazy. “No one will show up,” I said. I was wrong. Not only did more than two dozen people show up, when midnight came and we could officially hand out both Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1, the store got quiet as most of the people grabbed their books and started reading. That kind of enthusiasm has been missing from the comics scene around here and it made for a great night. I’ve slowly learned to keep my cynicism to myself when Michael comes up with these ideas. He’s worked hard to get HeroClix going again and keep the board game group alive. His next project for 2012 is a consistent D&D group, and he’s going to start by running D&D Encounters on Wednesday nights.
There are a few things that haven’t gone as well for us here, but this isn’t the time for that. For right now, we have a lot to be thankful for. To the people I’ve already mentioned: thank you. I hope the players in East Texas realize how much Alan, Craig, Jared, Michael and Professor Birch have done to keep gaming alive in this area.
And thank you to both the players who have attended our events and everyone who has bought their comics from us. You’ve not only kept us open, you’ve made things fun again here at Ground Zero. I hope each of you has as much to be thankful for this holiday season as I do.