Episode 06 - Link is Go - 9-24-13

Welcome back to the Link Adventures, where I chronicle the opening of my store, Gamers Link Chicago.  This episode ushers in Chapter 1, which is basically the beginning of the actual store.  Enjoy!



So, I had visited my business partner Eddie's store down in TN, and by the end of the trip, we knew this was happening as soon as possible.  I began looking for places online, but the very first place Ed looked at, he fell in love with, and he signed the lease shortly thereafter.  It is located next to an iconic record store in Chicago – Rolling Stones.  That was an awesome fact all by itself, and even though I thought it was extremely fast to open the store before getting everything in order, we are quite sure that we will be nothing but a gigantic success.  J

At the time, I was living in DeKalb, which is a hick / college town about an hour from the city.  It was where I grew up for most of my childhood, and it was an okay place at the time.  Nowadays, DeKalb is a bit different, mainly due to the convergence of crime from all the bigger cities around – Rockford and Chicago.  When the wife and I lost our condo, really DeKalb is the closest city to Chicago that is remotely affordable, and from what I understand, it is the first town West of Chicago that still allows Section 8 housing. 

There was a pretty palpable racial tension in the town, and to be honest there were really only a handful of black families in the neighborhood when I went to high school, judging from the kids I met in school, anyways.  Now, there are a lot more people from Chicago moving out here, so naturally more black people are around.  I lived in Chicago for about a decade, so I am used to the whole mixing pot of cultures and what not, but still the black kids parents wouldn’t let their kids play with Milo on the playground, etc. 

We did lose our house in the Rogers Park Chicago, which is the main reason we moved, but I was also getting pretty tired of the neighborhood that was slipping more into the seedy side of things.  It’s not even the crackheads that bug me, mainly just the presence of the inevitable "The Wire" style violence that comes with the baggage of people enjoying themselves with self destructive substances. 

My point is, DeKalb was in many ways going through the same problem as Rogers Park was.  For example, twice Amy or I have been hassled by DeKalb police because we didn’t want to get involved when we witnessed a heroin deal going down.  It’s like, “I used to play in a band.  I’ve seen a lot of junkies buy their junk, so you’ll have to be more specific.”  Hell no, we aren’t going to piss off guys with guns.  Also, snitches get stitches.  True story. 

When the idea came to move back to the city, there was not all that much keeping us in DeKalb when it came down to financial sense, because Amy still worked downtown for her good job that she is awesome at, which was a 2:30 hour commute both ways (5 total everyday) for a full time job.  Poor lady did that nonsense for a year and a half.

We decided we would move back to the city to open the store, and started to make the proper arrangements.  But I am sure you would rather here about the store, and not my stupid story, so let’s get to it! 

Rolling Stones is next door to us.  I can’t say a single bad thing about any place that is still hawking CDs and LPs, because I still buy them!  My Magic collection is garbage in my eyes compared to my music collection… in fact, I just turned to look at the bookshelf in my office overflowing with CDs and records, and smiled.  With that said, I prefer to buy used personally, but there is going to be many a dollar spent there, to be sure. 

There are a few empty stores next to us, and I think a store that I forget what is in there.  Next to them, though, is City Tap and Grill, a nice little bar / restaurant.  They have wicked good specials, like the $5 burgers on Tuesday, the 3 for $3 sliders on Wednesday, and the 50 cent wings on Sunday.  Oh man, that is what I did today, so good.

Actually, the City Tap and Grill is a good place to stop this entry, because it features prominently in the next part of the story – Whoa on the Woes!

Thanks for reading!