OSWEGO – The City of Oswego has provided select businesses COVID-19 Revival Grants, including $5,000 to Convergence Gaming, which is finally seeing some semblance of normalcy as it brought back in-person events, such as Magic the Gathering.
Prior to the pandemic, Convergence Gaming’s owner KJ McCann hosted events each day, something that helped bring Oswego’s community of gamers together. Due to COVID-19, he did not see his regulars as frequently as before, which was as often as twice a week. McCann understood the issue, however, noting that people were only willing to go out for necessities until the City of Oswego gave them a nudge.
“Everyone was going to Walmart for necessities but not everyone was going shopping around for random stuff, so [Oswego’s Blizzard Bucks and other programs] gave people a reason to go back to the smaller businesses and help them out,” McCann said. “Thankfully I’ve been ok but there are some [businesses] that way worse.”
Convergence Gaming was in a better position to succeed than some other businesses due to the nature of the business. McCann continued to sell video game consoles, hot commodities in a time when people were forced to stay at home.
“My foot traffic went down. Overall we are okay,” McCann said. “People pick up video game consoles all the time because they’re staying at home, playing video games.”
Despite the ability to overcome the pandemic, all businesses struggled. McCann plans to jumpstart his storefront with a brand new inventory of games, something that is always updating in the industry.
“The main purpose of that is for inventory expansion; there are new games coming out everyday,” McCann said. “There is a new Digimon game that came out, Heroclix, Pokémon. There is always new stuff I can buy and people always want to get into the new stuff.”
These new games also offer McCann the opportunity to expand his gaming community, something that is very important to gamers. With a new inventory of new games, McCann can continue to expand his in-store events that are currently centered around Dungeons and Dragons and Magic The Gathering. These events are special to gamers who can find community in what they love.
“I [have] people every day … tell me how much they appreciate this space because they have nowhere else to go. Not everyone likes to go to bars, and some people want that sense of community and friendship,” McCann said. “Having a community that you can relate to is so important, especially these days everyone is sad and depressed.”
In addition to these events, McCann plans to improve the decor of the store to be “more inviting,” and while the store has not changed all that much, McCann is incredibly grateful for the chance to improve it.
“I just want everyone to know that everyone involved and everyone that has helped out and participates, it’s greatly appreciated,” McCann said. “None of this happens without the community, without the city.”
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