Ready, Set, Game!

Up and coming gaming store brings hope to small town

Story by Jen Dunkerley
Photos courtesy of Jiggawatts

As soon as you walk in, you see them, huddled around computers and wide-eyed at television screens. They could be saving a princess from an evil wizard, defending whole villages from blood sucking-zombies, or even going for the winning touchdown. There are many who have embarked on the pastime of playing video games, but none so much as the true gamer.

Jiggawatts is a gaming store in Glens Falls, which, according to its owners, is dedicated to the evolution of the video game store. Jack and Tony Haze and their dad, Jack Sr., opened the store over Memorial Day weekend of 2009. 

Building the store from the ground up was a project that the brothers worked towards because of their gaming love. “In all honesty, the feeling you get from that experience is unmatched. Every little detail of this store we put our heart and soul into,” Jack Jr. says. “We wanted to design something that changed the view of gaming stores and truly changed the expectations of a retail store.” 

Jack, a financial banker, said that the store came together perfectly because, along with him, Tony had marketing, gaming and retail knowledge, and Jack Sr. was an electronics general manager/ commercial builder in the past.  With all these qualities, they agreed starting a store “just made sense.”

"Every little detail of this store we put our heart and soul into.”

So what makes Jiggawatts so special?  Compared to arcades and corporate gaming stores, Jiggawatts is run by people who actually play the games and know the merchandise. “Arcades are dead. Console gaming surpassed arcades in the 1990’s, and due to better pricing and selection, console gaming took over. The one thing that was lost was the social aspect of gaming that arcades use to bring to this hobby,” says Jack Jr.

Haze continues to say that the casual gaming world has started to increase because of its popularity on TV shows and in commercials. “The only fear of casual gaming is that in this type of market, you see a large influx of quality games but not a large assortment,” Jack Jr. says. He didn’t want that for Jiggawatts and made sure that their games were hand picked in order to ensure that there would be a variety of games for any type of gamer, along with all the current video gaming systems.

The team decided to bring the updated version of console gaming and the social unity together. “We may not be in a strip mall or have the largest selection of games, but we know your name when you come in. We know what games you like,” Tony says.  Growing up, Tony worked in corporate gaming stores and didn’t like the way the customers were treated. “We wanted to bring back what a business should be in this country,” Tony says. It is important to both Jack and Tony that their customers are happy, and because the guys know the merchandise so well, they are determined to make that happen.

After three years of designing and planning for the store, Jack and Tony wanted to make sure that the store was something that would pave the way for this market. “The store itself is entirely unique to what the customers request and care about,” Tony says.

The store consists of two 60inch flat-screen TVs equipped with black leather recliners for gamers to sit back and enjoy the ultimate gaming experience, along with rows of computers for people to play PC games online or ones that the store provides. For first time customers, kids can come in and enjoy gaming for a free hour by registering a user name, and if they’re under 18 and want to play more mature games, parental permission is needed on the registration.

“We may not be in a strip mall or have the largest selection of games, but we know your name when you come in, we know what games you like,”

“A true gamer is someone who games because they love it, not because it’s popular or “the thing” to do,” Jack Jr. says.

“Gaming is a hobby just like any other,” says Justin Pollock, an employee of Jiggawatts and friend of the Hazes’. He has been gaming for a while. “Its my release. Our generation has the ability of actually interacting with our stories and be the hero where our decisions matter. This is why gaming is so strong among people today,” Pollock says.  To Pollock, a true gamer is someone who has stuck by gaming even when it wasn’t socially acceptable. He says that although many people doubted Jiggawatts’ success in the beginning, it is that much better that the store is doing as well as it is. “Just having a parent walk in and tell us that they love what we have created makes all the hard work worth it,” Pollock says.

The store holds gaming tournaments, leagues, trips to conventions and more. It’s a store where Jack and Tony want customers to be comfortable and have fun. With a great customer inflow completely based on word of mouth, Jiggawatts may become another step into gaming future.  

There are a lot of ideas for right now, but nothing is set in stone. Getting the word out there about the store is the main goal for Tony and Jack because they want for the store whatever the customers want. Pollack believes that Jiggawatts has been a great addition to the Glens Falls area because of the knowledge the employees have for the products they sell, and he believes that the store will go far. “I am a gamer and I have the greatest job for a gamer, end of story.”

Do you consider yourself a gamer?