Chamber welcomes High Plains Dice and Games to membership
Business offers games for all ages and a place to play with others
Whether it’s classic board games, card games, or tabletop role playing games, High Plains Dice and Games is sure to have something you’ll enjoy no matter what your age. While the store opened last year, Tuesday it celebrated a milestone as it was welcomed as the newest member of the Logan County Chamber of Commerce with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Located at 100 Broadway Street, Suite 3, in Sterling, High Plains Dice and Games is owned by Shelby and Alan Brandes, who happened to celebrate their 10-year wedding anniversary on Tuesday.
“All of the games here we either grew up loving or came to love in adulthood. I grew up with Dungeons and Dragons, science fiction; he grew up with Magic: The Gathering,” Shelby said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, their love of games grew as they provided something to do while they and their two daughters, Lila and Rosie, were stuck inside. However, by the end of 2021, they were still lacking a space to start meeting other people who also enjoy playing the same games and Shelby got tired of waiting, so she decided to create one of her own.
She reached out to Laurie Jones, Eastern Colorado consultant with the Small Business Development Center, who helped her make a business plan and recommended her to the Revolving Loan Fund, which provides loans that help small to mediumsized Colorado businesses negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Shelby was successful in securing a loan and after finding a location for their business they thought it would take two months before they were ready to open their doors, but thanks to help from some very dear friends it took them just two weeks and once they opened it didn’t take long to find customers.
“We grew much faster than anticipated. I never could have envi
sioned where we could be in a year; it has just happened so much faster than I anticipated,” Shelby said. “We were very bare bones when we opened and a lot of the things that we had were new to us, but not new and it has just been absolutely wild, wild ride and we have formed a really great community of people here in town.”
High Plains Dice and Games offers a variety of games for ages two and up. There are games geared toward education and games just for fun. At the store, you’ll find classics like checkers and Twister as well as popular role playing games such as Warhammer and trading card games including Magic: The Gathering.
In addition to selling games, the store also provides a space for people to meet up and play with others, offering regular board game nights as well as special events. When they first started, Shelby was adamant that she wanted to keep their tables free to play at and not charge a membership fee like many game stores do now.
“I really wanted to have a space where especially kids and high schoolers and people who maybe didn’t have the funds could still have a fun place to meet people and play. That was really important to me and thus far, we’re almost a year in, and we’ve still managed to be able to keep our tables free,” she said.
The business is doing so well, that Alan will soon be leaving his other full-time job to help run the shop.
“It’s happening a lot faster than we anticipated just because we’ve had a lot of support even amidst some of the most trying economic times that we’ve had in the last several years,” Shelby said. “We have a really wonderful group of dedicated regulars and we’re still getting new people.”
It’s not hard to understand why people are interested, because who doesn’t want to buy something fun?
“It’s not hard to sell fun games. Ultimately, at the end of the day, what we’re selling is really fun stuff and it’s not a hard sell,” Shelby said.
With two children, their shop is definitely a familyfriendly place. They get a lot of families who like to come in and their children will play with the Brandes’ children. Plus, they see many people who played something as a kid and now they’re getting back into it 10 or 20 years later, especially as games like “Magic: The Gathering” regain popularity with television series like “Stranger Things.”
“I think after COVID especially, people are just really looking for places to connect with other people. After having to spend a year, two years so confined and