Co-owner of Heroic Realms Jared Mecham said when the stay at home order went into effect in Montana it hit their business hard.
"I wouldn't say we made any money though. I think, I can count on two hands the number of sales we made game sales during those five or six weeks," said Mecham.
Heroic realms has been in business for twenty years selling board games, hosting gaming nights and creating a community for gamers.
Mecham said, coronavirus changed all of that.
Popular gaming nights were canceled to adhere to the stay at home order.
"The opportunity to get with your buddies and play, you know, we ran some role playing games from this kind of medium, Zoom or whatever is was and it just wasn't fun," Mecham said.
He said, these events are crucial for their business.
"When we run an event, you know, your sales go up with you," said Mecham."Because people are buying the things they need to play in the event in the game."
Mecham said the business opened a brand new cafe last year. Unfortunately, costs and health requirements forced it to close.
"We tried to put together the rules for the health county and the health commissioners together and it didn't work out," said Mecham. "So, we're actually not going to continue that cafe."
With the state in phase 2 of re-opening, Mecham said business is slowly picking up at their brand new location.
Game nights have started again and Mecham is glad to have the community back together with appropriate sanitation and social distancing.
"For a lot of these guys and gals it's a lifestyle. Every Wednesday we have a board game night and we have the same people show up as a core group," said Mecham. "Those guys miss that, I've talked to them and I miss seeing them."
Normal business hours have resumed to weekdays from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday from noon to eight.
