Aug. 14, 2024

Longtime game shop Game Chest soon will have a new owner.

Owner Amanda Maguire announced in a video posted to Facebook on Tuesday that she plans to transition the business to new ownership.

Maguire founded the business seven years ago. It has been in several locations and for the past two years has been at 2115 S. Minnesota Ave.

For the majority of the past couple of years, Maguire has gone “through a lot personally, and I really doubled down on my mental health as a part of that process,” she shared in her post.

“As I’ve taken more time to understand myself … being the owner of Game Chest hasn’t been for me. And that’s really hard to admit and really hard to come to … because I work really hard at this, and I love this community and I love this business so much, and I’ve tried everything in my hat that I can to make it work.”

She has an informal agreement with new ownership and plans to share details once it’s formalized.

In the meantime, her manager is going back to a role in teaching after this week, while other key team members plan to stay on. Maguire plans to manage the store a few days a week.

She said she is preparing to hand off the store to new owners “with full enthusiasm they will uphold the values that we’ve worked so hard to build and achieve here,” she said. “They see the value in the community. They see the value in creating safe space. They see the importance of family-friendly games.”

Game Chest sells and rents games in addition to offering space for game play, which she said will continue.

“They have beautiful vision for where we can go from here, and I will be there as a supporting person as the matriarch of this business,” Maguire said.

“This is my baby. I have raised it from birth to seven, and it’s not just easy to hand it off to someone else. So it’s not just anybody. It’s people who will care.”

Maguire didn’t put a firm timeline on the transition but told customers it will take some time.

“I refuse to let this transition be sloppy or bad or chaotic … but I just really want it to be as smooth as possible for you because you have given me so much,” she said. “I want to give that back and make sure you feel secure and safe with this decision just like I do.”