Entrepreneur sells nostalgia with new Munroe Falls video game store

Retro gaming hits Munroe Falls on Oct. 8 with the opening of a new retail store, Duck Duck Games.

The brainchild of 30-year-old entrepreneur Ethan Symonds, the new shop – located in the recently completed plaza on Munroe Falls Avenue – is seeking to meet the surge in demand for old-style computer and video games.

“Duck Duck Games is a video games store focusing on retro games, consoles and collectables,” said Symonds. “We will eventually carry a selection of current-generation games and accessories, and maybe even consoles, but our focus is on older systems from Sega, Nintendo and Atari.”

He said retro gaming exploded in popularity during the pandemic, with people forced to stay home and looking for things to do.

“The beauty of retro games is that I do not believe a game is ever obsolete,” he said. “It will always live on either in physical form or someone’s memory. Retro brings nostalgia and most people think of their childhood fondly, as they didn’t have to worry about the negatives of adult life.

“They look back on a time in their life they cherish. To pick up a Super Mario game you last played 20 or 30 years ago, that memory is still with us. The experience today may be different, but it brings back an experience that was tucked away.”

Retro gaming is appealing to both those who first played decades ago and the younger generations who are inspired by YouTubers introducing them to classics from the 1980s, ’90s and 2000s.

“The retro gaming market has absolutely boomed since the pandemic,” Symonds said. “Not only did the demand for takeaways and streaming movies surge, but people have been enjoying old games, as they had the time to relive them.

“We have seen prices of retro games soar. The cartridges are not getting any younger, and as they become more scarce and more people want to repurchase what they had as a child, the value has gone up.”

Duck Duck Games is Symonds’ first business after he decided he wanted to be his own boss.

“I have quite a diversified background,” he said. “My undergraduate degree is in jazz and orchestral trumpet, as I wanted to be a professional musician. I still freelance to this day but life took me in a different direction, into an entrepreneurial route so I had complete control and could fix problems as I came across them.

“I worked in a sales environment for many years, and I had the struggle of finding a problem but not having the power nor ability to solve it, and I didn’t like having concerns brushed aside by management. I would rather be my own boss so I can make sure things are done right and my employees always have a voice.”

He has already hired one person for the store and envisions three to five employees when it is fully up and running, with a move into console repairs likely in the future, which will require technicians.

The Stow-based entrepreneur says the Munroe Falls store is just the first, as he hopes to grow the business rapidly. He had considered various projects before settling on retro gaming.

“I looked into breweries, coffee shops and car washes as businesses you can get into easily when starting off, but I always had a passion for video games,” said Symonds. “There was a marked lack of small businesses in the sector, really just big chains, and I think people have grown tired of that corporate feel. I think people want to feel more connected to the store and welcomed in, and that is a big part of why I am doing this.

“I look at what video games did for me as a child. I grew up in an old neighborhood without a ton of friends around, and the best escape for me was going home and playing video games. It wasn’t just an escape from my troubles but an opportunity to allow my imagination to really take off.”

Symonds loves games that allow thinking and creation such as The Sims and dislikes the stereotype of games being for teenage boys.

“A lot of people just think of first-person shooter games,” he said. “There is a reason they are popular, but there is a video game out there for everybody. My grandmother until her deathbed in her 80s played Tetris on the original Gameboy and played it constantly and she was as sharp as a tack, and I attribute a lot of that to playing, helping cognitive function.

“You can have a terrible day at work and a game can be a way to relax, like going for a run or workout. It is a way to allow your mind and soul to heal for a moment.”

He forecasts the shop will look drastically different in just a few months’ time as he settles in and grows the business. He took inspiration from a Madison, Ohio-based business called Video Game Nirvana.

“I owe a lot of credit to the owner there, R.J. I was in awe of his store, how much stuff he had crammed into a small space,” Symonds said. “Even though it was over an hour away, I found myself wanting to go back and [become] his best patron. He piqued my curiosity.

“I discovered we had a similar background and I promised him I wouldn’t compete with him, as our markets are very different.”

Symonds had planned to open Duck Duck Games this past summer, but he had to push it back due to supply-chain issues for both construction materials and game inventory. Now, everything is in place for the doors to open at 11 a.m. Oct. 8. He plans to operate seven days a week from noon to 6 p.m., with an early opening at 11 a.m. on Saturdays.

Symonds said he picked Munroe Falls for his store because he had settled in the area and realized there was nothing like his concept nearby. The new plaza attracted him because it meant he could design his store the way he wanted it from day one.

“The support I have had from Munroe Falls has been wonderful,” he said. “With the fire and police departments reaching out and asking if we needed anything and the help from the city, Munroe Falls in my eyes wants to get this plaza up and running and offer better things for the community.”