The initial buildout projects are nearly complete thanks to the super human speed, efficiency and focus of Nick, Jensen and Dominic. And not a moment too soon with Wednesday’s big Lounge preview event just around the corner. An important note about Wednesday’s event – it does NOT require an invite and IS totally open to the public. The private, invite-only founders party advertised as part of our Kickstarter backer rewards will be happening in September when we’ll have all the pledge rewards ready to go – stay tuned.

And just when we thought things were as busy as they could get, this upcoming week we triple the stakes! In addition to continuing to develop the lounge (upgrading the lighting, installing the sound system, establishing new vendor relationships, forwarding the licensing process, etc), we’ll be hosting FIVE special pre-opening PAX events (some open to the public, some not- stop by and ask if you’re not sure). AND we’ll be building and running our amazing Gamma Ray Games booth inside PAX itself (located in glorious room 305/306 this year- stop by and say hi!).

I will be bouncing between all three locations (store, lounge, PAX) from about 10:30am until around 10:30pm every day for the next 10 days or so, keeping everything moving and trying not to get in the way. If you have any questions feel free to flag me down or ask one of the team. Just know that if it’s me, both the question and the answer will need to be short and I’ll probably be walking or working while we talk. Heck, some of the last people that stopped by to chat with me wound up helping unload a trailer full of benches with a lawyer and a Pentecostal pastor. You just never what’s going to happen around here. Which is why, for the next ten days or so, I’m going to be around a LOT.

See you soon,

-Eric

I’ve promised to make the lounge development as transparent a process as possible so for those of you who don’t walk past the new lounge space as part of your daily commute, here’s a quick visual guide to what’s going on.

We’ve completed the floor treatment.

And the custom 4’ x 6’ tabletops.

Our native craftsmen, Nick and Jensen, are over on Vashon cutting all of the pieces for our custom countertops for assembly back here in 48 hours.

While Dominic and Andrew (no, not that one, the other one) finish and base the custom tops.

Behind the scenes, I’ve been meeting with the designers at Zone Four and Danial Webster about branding and clothing manufacturing and talking with J3 Concepts about the possibility of collaborating on our Wall of Awesome while new Store Manager Jake takes over for former Store Manager Dominic behind the counter as Dominic prepares for his move to San Diego.

Coming up, we’ll be collecting our table backers logo files and taking them over to for laser etching into the tops before their final coating, assembling our counters and benches, bringing in chairs and smaller tables, establishing food and beverage supply chains and acquiring all of the necessary permits for our upcoming events.

Questions? Post them here or just come by the shop or lounge anytime. We’re happy to talk with you and the chances are very good that one of us will be here. As long as you don’t mind that we’ll be working while we’re talking. After all, we’ve got a long ways to go and a short time to get there and we’re going to do what they say can’t be done.

See you soon,

-Eric