Business Will Offer Video Games Sales, A Place to Hang Out

Tony Haze moved to Glens Falls two-and-a-half years ago with a vision.

The Troy, Mich., native wanted to build a video game store that put family and friends first and moved away from what he sees as flaws in larger chain stores.

After years of dreaming, Haze will see his vision come to fruition when he and his family open Jiggawatts Gaming on Lawrence Street in Glens Falls at the end of July.

"I moved here to build a video game store for this town," Haze said as his staff busily prepared the store on Tuesday. "We wanted to build a store for the customer."

Jiggawatts will sell traditional games for current consoles like Sony's PlayStation 3 or Microsoft's Xbox 360, but will also offer rentals and sales on classic games from as far back as the Atari-era of gaming. Haze bills the store as a "full retail and gaming lounge" that will offer local gamers a place to congregate and play games together.

The store will feature 12 gaming computers that customers will be able to rent time on. The computers will be loaded with more than 80 games ranging from massively-multiplayer online games to popular first-person shooters. If players don't want to limit themselves to the titles that Jiggawatts offers, they can bring in their own games to play on the store's systems.

Jiggawatts will also feature several gaming lounges -- small, enclosed areas where players can relax in home theater seating as they play games on high-definition screens. A projector in a separate area of the store will provide a 73-inch screen that Haze envisions games like "Rock Band" and "Wii Bowling" will be popular on. The store will also be equipped with high-speed Internet access for multiplayer gaming and for casual Web browsing.

Customers will be able to rent play time on the computers and in the lounges, but Haze welcomes people who come just to hang out. The store will also sell snacks and beverages for players and offer private party hosting. Haze believes Jiggawatts will appeal to a younger demographic in the community that he feels has no where else to go.

"We want to make this open to everyone," he said. "People who come to this store will be treated like family."

To help bring kids into the store, Haze will open Jiggawatts up to schools interested in creating video gaming leagues. Team members will be required to show up for practices before matches, and there will be both junior varsity and varsity leagues.

"There are a lot of kids who can't play sports but are awesome at games," Haze said. "We're hoping that by offering tournaments, we can create rivalries between towns."

While he acknowledges that the store won't be able to compete directly with chain stores in terms of merchandise on the shelves, Haze hopes a program that allows gamers to consign games called Fusion will keep their shelves stocked and drive foot traffic. Haze believes that the program offers a fairer system for trading games than national chains provide.

"We'll charge people just a few dollars to have their games on our wall for sale at their price," Haze said. "The Fusion program is for gamers to trade with each other. It's not for us to make money."

Justin Pollock, a member of the staff at the store, said he wants Jiggawatts to change people's perceptions about video game players.

"We just have to change the viewpoint on gaming culture," he said. "There's nothing wrong with being a geek. We have style, and we're smart."

Haze credited the support of the Glens Falls City Council in helping the store get off the ground.

"They knew that kids need a place to go," Haze said. "There aren't a whole lot of options for them."

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