Diversified Games in Chehalis Still Strong After Latest Economic Slump

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Brian Guenther has experienced more than his fair share of economic upheavals during his 23 years as a business owner.

It started while co-owning his first comic book store, Pendragon’s Comics in Centralia in the mid-90s, right as an enormous bubble was forming due to the sports card strike that coincided with the MLB players’ strike in 1994. It drove tons of customers into the comic and game industry. Guenther went from 400-500 lines of inventory per month to over 5,000 in the span of a year.

“It was kind of like Pokémon was around 2000,” Guenther said. “The money was easy and plentiful if you could get it. It was just absurd.”

As soon as the sports card strike ended, all those people went back to sports cards, leaving a comic and game industry that had ballooned to 10 times the size it was before. Readership suddenly dried up and a comic distributor war went on, pinching stores in the middle of it all. Guenther estimates 80 percent of comic book stores closed during that period. Guenther and his business partner dissolved the business in 1996, about two months before the big flood that year that hammered the store with two feet of water.

“We saw the writing on the wall at the time and pulled the plug,” Guenther said. 

The following year, in 1997, Guenther bought a video store from his friend that he was working at in Salkum at the time, Diversified Video. He operated it for two and a half years before realizing the video rental industry was also changing.

The early 2000s saw the growth of broadband internet, which allowed media providers to transition from selling physical VHS or DVDs to offering digital formats. So he moved his business to Chehalis, switched from video rental to selling comics, board games and hobby supplies, and named it Diversified Gaming. He’s been there ever since.

The store just celebrated its 21-year anniversary on Aug. 23 after opening the Monday after the Southwest Washington Fair closed for the year in 1999. 

Since then, his business has lived through and survived the dot-com bust of the early 2000s, the 2007 flood, the Great Recession of 2008, 9/11 and now the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’ve been exceptionally lucky,” Guenther said. “We’ve been through a lot of things over the years. Floods and terrorist attacks and everything else. But nothing like this, or even close.”

The store was forced to shut down for 10 weeks when the state closed all non-essential businesses in mid-March. When some restrictions were loosened, Guenther was able to offer curbside pickup before finally reopening to have customers in-store. Since then, business has been phenomenal, Guenther said.

“Honestly, I was afraid,” Guenther said. “Consumers are creatures of habit. We all are. When you take that away, I was afraid it would be like starting over as a new business 20 years ago. It’s really not. We’ve actually come back stronger.”

Not in every way, however. Due to state guidelines for places of entertainment, Diversified Games is not allowed to have its usual schedule of events and tournaments, such as Dungeons and Dragons groups.

Space-wise, tournaments and events take up about a quarter or third of the store. A typical Friday night would have anywhere from 15-40 people in attendance, which is more revenue with product and drinks sales. Guenther likened the lack of tourneys to having one hand tied behind one’s back.

“It’s a hit, both financially but also emotionally,” Guenther said. “You get used to seeing the guys every week and they get used to seeing you, and it’s what they look forward to each week and now they can’t. We’re just waiting on that.”

Some of his colleagues in the industry are saying they don’t plan to re-open tournaments until next year and Guenther has no timeline set for his as it’s all dependent on which phase of the state’s ‘Safe Start’ plan Lewis County is in.

For now, Guenther is just appreciative of the community support and customer base that has helped keep his store afloat through all the economic turmoil over the years.

“Super thankful for our customers and Lewis County in general,” Guenther said. “They’ve been great supporting us through all this. We saw a similar thing after 9/11. The community became more tight-knit. So it’s really a neat thing to see when Lewis County tightens their belt and buckles down for each other.” 

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Reporter Eric Trent can be reached at etrent@chronline.com. Visit chronline.com/business for more coverage of local businesses.