The maker of a popular hobby game featuring futuristic space adventure between mini-figurines has opened a store for enthusiasts in Sioux Falls.
Games Workshop, the United Kingdom-based maker of the Warhammer world of tabletop and video games recently opened a store location at 2701 W. 41st St. The store is located between Cost Cutters and Original Pancake House.
“Our stores are designed for new people – that’s actually one of the main purposes of the store is to introduce people to the hobby and help support them,” as well as experienced hobbyists, said James Bell, North American marketing coordinator for Games Workshop.
The company has 150 stores in the UK. But despite being popular in the United States it has only just begun to open stores here. The US has obvious “massive growth potential,” Bell said. And Sioux Falls seemed like the right place for a South Dakota store.
“We’ve never had a location there. We’re in a massive expansion growth period here, so Sioux falls was a great place, a very booming city there in South Dakota, so we decided to put a store there,” he said. “If we’re going to put a store in South Dakota, might as well be in in the best place, right?”
Bell emphasized the Warhammer stores are designed for both beginners and experienced hobbyists.
Every person that comes in – our stores are there for recruitment, a family friendly environment – and every single person, for free, they’ll get a free miniature, a painting lesson, they’ll get introduced to the hobby,” Bell said. “Doesn’t matter if they’re 8 to 80.”
Bell also said the company sponsors a school club program, so teachers or librarians can set up a school club for the hobby to teach things like social growth and interpersonal skills – things best taught away from a screen.
“It’s a hands-on, tactile hobby, so we want parents to know there’s a school club that they can take part in,” he said.
