culture@dailylobo.com
On July 26, during a storm Albuquerque mayor Richard Berry called a “Category 1 hurricane,” Jon Sakura and Buckley Johnson chose to stay inside their shared West Side store after closing, rather than drive home. Sakura, owner of Gamers Anonymous, and Johnson, owner of MetaLogic, and their employees began to grab and salvage merchandise when the roof started leaking.
“We took our shirts off and just moved product because it was literally raining in there. As I was grabbing Jon’s computer, a ceiling tile broke where I was,” Johnson said.
The damage from the storm cost more than $80,000, destroying more than half of both stores’ inventory. Johnson and Sakura turned to online crowdsourcing site Indiegogo and asked for donations to cover the repair costs.
Three days into the 45-day campaign, they met their $15,000 goal.
Sakura said the two owners started the donation campaign to get their stores running and their employees back to work as soon as possible.
“We have people in elements of the store who live paycheck by paycheck, week by week,” he said.
Sakura said while both stores have insurance, the donations from the campaign will speed up the store’s repair.
The two owners said they hope to be back in business by Sept. 1. There are no plans yet to move to another location, but they said the idea has crossed their minds.
“We’re always looking for a better opportunity for us and the consumers, whether it’s more space or a better location,” Sakura said.
Johnson and Sakura said their business is focused on the community gaming experience, and this focus is what drove their success in their campaign.
“Without the community, we’re nothing. It is because of the community we have here we exist,” Sakura said.
Kelly Lanahan is a frequent visitor to the West Side store.
“I don’t just consider it a store, those are some of my best friends ever,” she said.
Lanahan and Dawn Meade met at a gaming event at the store. After that, the two started the Geek and Gamer Girls Facebook page.
When the Indiegogo campaign was launched, the girls shared the campaign on their page. Meade said the group wanted to see the store up and running soon, and wanted to help out Sakura and Johnson.
“They’re really great guys, they’re part of the backbone of the gaming community in Albuquerque,” Meade said.
Sakura said their Indiegogo campaign spread quickly and received donations from people in other countries.
“People we’ve never met, people we’ve never talked to before in our lives (donated) just so our little store in Nowhere, New Mexico can exist,” he said.
Despite the loss, both Johnson and Sakura said they are staying positive.
“We look at this opportunity as something like from the ashes rise the phoenix,” Sakura said. “While obviously it’s a big detriment to our business, Buckley and I looked at it and said ‘What can we do better, what can we do now, what opportunity is there for us to bring more to our customers?’”
