Joe and James Gerbic grew up always playing trading card games, but it wasn’t until 2020 that Joe Gerbic decided to make a career out of selling them and approached his brother about the business venture.
“We’ve been playing card games since we were little kids, so I’m coming up on 30 years of playing Magic,” James Gerbic said. “We’d go to tournaments and conventions, we’d always not do well, and we’d end up just trading and buying, selling cards.”
The duo realized their business aspirations required a brick-and-mortar store, after its rapid growth. This led Gold and Glory to open its doors at its first location, 7991 Broadview Road in the Broadview Village shopping plaza, on July 30, 2022.
For four years, the Broadview Heights location served as a hub for all things gaming with products ranging from board, card and role-playing games. However, Gold and Glory quickly outgrew its home base.
“We were very much at capacity at our old location, because not only do we sell board games and card games and role-playing games, but we also play games as well,” store manager Ian Bailey said. “We needed more space to host more events for people to come up and play.”
Bailey joined the duo about two or three years ago, helping with social media and running events, before joining the team full time a year ago.
As store manager, he has seen crowds of 20-60 people come to the store each night, participating in 14 different card tournaments depending on the evening. A few of the card games tournaments the store hosts include Pokémon, Magic and One Piece.
Because of their need for space, the Gerbics moved their operations to 5520 Wallings Road, situated between the Blue Monkey Brewery and Discount Drug Market.
“It’s close enough to our old location, where it’s not that much of a detriment to our existing customer base,” Joe Gerbic said.
Because the building was previously Drug Mart’s storage unit, the brothers brought in a contractor to construct a kitchen and back offices where the warehouse was. In addition to that, they added an emergency exit in the back as well as bathrooms, built walls and replaced the ceilings and lights.
“This was also a blank slate. It was completely empty and open, so we were kind of able to work with the contractors to build exactly what we wanted,” James Gerbic said.
Because the renovations took four months, the brother didn’t want to delay store operations any further and launched a soft opening on September 8.
“It’s really nice to see people come in and their whole face just lights up, especially people who were at the old location,” Bailey said. “They walk in and they’re just kind of blown away with the space.”
In addition to those reactions, people have enjoyed attending tournaments in the new space, noting that they aren’t on top of other customers waiting in line.
Looking ahead, Gold and Glory is working on expanding its board and role-playing game selections as well as bringing in new Pokémon merchandise into the store. The brothers anticipate starting an Adventures League in the upcoming months for Dungeons & Dragons players.
Understanding how taking part in these types of games helps people stay off their screens, Bailey hopes more people will stop in the store to learn more.
“It’s a good form of entertainment. People look to escape reality for a little bit and come and have some fun” he said. “That’s all we do up here is just try to have fun and promote different games.”
By ADRIANA GASIEWSKI
Reporter
Photo caption: During the recent grand opening of Gold and Glory Gaming, Mayor Paul Marnecheck poses alongside the store’s team for a ribbon-cutting picture. Photo courtesy of the City of North Royalton.
