#Seller Stories, #GAP, #Growth Acceleration Program, local game store, #Hobby Shop of the Year, inclusivity, community, LGS, Gamelandia, HSOY

The 2024 Hobby Shop of the Year: Meet Gamelandia

By Carling Berkhout •

March 19, 2025

Berry Hatfield, owner of Gamelandia, was raised in a small town in Colorado where the only semblance of a card shop was a sports cards store with no organized play. Though he played Risk with his father and Magic: The Gathering with his friends growing up, he lost the time for tabletop gaming when he moved to New York City to pursue a career in the film and television industry –– it was Scythe that reintroduced him to his love of playing games with a community of friends. Soon after, his wife Lisa, was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of Leukemia.

As part of Lisa’s treatment, they had to relocate from New York City to California to be close to a major research hospital. While getting settled out west, Berry was looking for a job that would provide health insurance, while also trying to find a new community of friends. He wanted to connect over games, however, couldn’t find an LGS nearby that matched the atmosphere he was looking for. His solution: open his own local game store in Palo Alto, CA.

Gamelandia's Commitment to Inclusivity
One of the primary motivators behind Berry’s decision to start an LGS was to build a community space; he wanted to create a welcoming environment for new players, casual players, kids, women, and queer people –– marginalized communities who historically aren’t comfortable visiting your typical clubhouse card store.

“I wanted a store that's different from other stores. I wanted a store that feels very welcoming to new players and casual players and kids and women and queer people and people that wouldn't feel welcome walking into a typical clubhouse card basement game store like I grew up with.” – Berry Hatfield

Having been raised in a rural town where he desperately wanted a hobby shop to play games with friends, it was his goal to provide that for children in Palo Alto. He knew that a big part of this mission would be to create a frictionless experience for parents –– Berry wanted the store to feel like a safe space for both the child and the family. Gamelandia is exactly that: they offer organized kids-only events and they treat the children like people; they don’t talk down to them and they make it clear they belong in the store just as much as the adult players.

“Gamelandia isn't just a store – it's where my kid found her community. As her first workplace, it's where she's grown from an enthusiastic young gamer into a confident team member contributing with her own ideas. The warmth and inclusivity of the staff have made it a second home for her, and as a parent, I couldn't ask for a better environment for her to learn and grow. Plus their carefully curated games have even transformed our family evenings into game nights we all look forward to –– Gamelandia is our to-go-to store to get gifts for friends and family, sharing the game wealth!” – Judith R.

Gamelandia is also passionate about supporting artists –– a local artist, Morgan Mural Studios, created a space-inspired mural in the game room, and Graham Yarrington, a Rochester, NY based artist, created a wrap-around spray paint mural for the store.

Bringing the Game to Everyone: Reaching Players Without an LGS
When it comes to selling on TCGplayer, Gamelandia prioritizes their local community first, and then sells excess inventory on the marketplace. Berry shares that what he values most about TCGplayer is that it makes the industry more accessible, by connecting players without a game store to local hobby shops all around the country.

“When we’re selling on TCGplayer, sometimes you look at the addresses and [see] that it’s in the middle of the country or it’s up in the woods … That person probably doesn’t have a game store. When I send a card to somebody on a military base or somebody in rural New Mexico or somewhere in Montana, it's like, yeah, I get it. Having that be a part of making the game more accessible to people I think is really important.” – Berry Hatfield

Hobby Shop of the Year
TCGplayer is excited to award Gamelandia as the 2024 Hobby Shop of the Year because of their commitment to inclusivity, their local community, and the trading card game industry as a whole. The Hobby Shop of the Year program is TCGplayer’s way of recognizing and rewarding local game stores that have gone above and beyond to support their customers and our industry.

“Gamelandia is the center of our family’s community. We are there three days a week because Berry and the team have created an environment that is as positive, welcoming, and inspirational to a 10 year old as to a 40 year old. Even the sweatiest RCQ has an “all for one” vibe. Berry’s background is in Hollywood - he and his team feel more like a group of creators putting on an experience that is ever changing. There’s no other game store like it!” – Rob Bland

Words of Wisdom
When asked what advice Berry would give to someone looking to start their own game store, his answer came quick:

Enroll in the Growth Acceleration Program, a free TCGplayer program dedicated to helping sellers grow their business. Gamelandia’s TCGplayer marketplace sales grew by over 850% after joining the Growth Acceleration Program.
Attend the GAMA Expo, the largest professional trade show event for tabletop games in the US, to talk to experienced individuals in the industry. This year, Berry participated in a fireside chat-style panel at GAMA to share his best practices.
Join the Wizards Play Network, a community of more than 6,000 game stores bringing Magic players together. To join the WPN, there are certain store expectations for enrollment (display cases, dedicated play spaces, etc.); these guidelines helped Berry as he was setting up Gamelandia, to ensure the store met all of the standards.

“The good trifecta. I mean, everything you need to know is in those three. That’s the handbook.” – Berry Hatfield

To no surprise, Berry also highlighted the importance of engaging with the community –– he encourages aspiring game stores to observe what other hobby shops are doing, and identify gaps that your store could fill.

For Gamelandia, they have filled a huge gap: they created one of the most inclusive community spaces in Palo Alto, where everyone is welcome to come together and share their love for games.

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