How Was Star City Games Started?

How does one start a local business? Better yet, how does one open a game store? Pete provides us the origins of Star City Games and how he originally didn't have any intention of carrying Magic: The Gathering in the early days.
Background:
In episode 12 of The Match Slip podcast, we talk with store owner, Pete Hoefling, of Star City Games in Roanoke, Virginia.
Having entered the industry with a love of comic books, Pete's journey in the business started 30 years ago and has been based in the same town since its inception. As someone who enjoyed attending one-day comic conventions as a kid, Pete would soon find himself vending at these events on the weekends while he was in high school.
Later in life, he would run the largest single-day comic book conventions in 7-8 cities at a time throughout the United States. However, an early interaction with four kids visiting his store would change the trajectory of his business forever. With continued requests for Magic: The Gathering products, Pete would eventually budge and purchase products he had never sold initially. Doing so became a great decision as more and more people would show up to his story looking for Magic: The Gathering products where Pete would make the transition and turn Star City Games into a full-blown game store.
With 130-140 total employees across the entire business (6-8 employees in the brick-and-mortar store), Star City Games is probably best known for its big events such as the SCG Tour of years past to current, SCG Con. Today, about 10 SCG Conventions are held a year in the United States with a focus on promoting the store's website.
Follow Star City Games:
X (Twitter:) / starcitygames
Facebook: / starcitygames
Instagram: / starcitygames
TH-cam: / starcitygamesvideo
Discord: / discord

[@corriedebeer799]

I have been a fan of SCG for 15 years.

[@thematchslip]

Wow! That's a long time. Have you been to SCG Con before? Those are a lot of fun. I went this past September.