ABOVE: Analog Games Co-Owner Adam Klesch holds Settlers of Catan with other games to the left and right of him inside the future store’s space at 207 Downtown Plaza. While the retail space wont be selling items until April, the store itself will be open for people to play games and hang out from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday, Thursday, and Friday and noon to 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The space will also be available to rent for events starting in January.

FAIRMONT – While it will one day be a retail game/card shop called Analog Games, Adam and Holly Klesch are transforming the open space at 207 Downtown Plaza into a gathering place for people to hang out and play games.

Holly is a native of Fairmont, and the couple moved to the area 2.5 years ago after living in Seattle for eight years. Adam said having a business like this comes from his lifelong love of games.

“I’ve always had a dream to open a place to have people come together to play games,” he said. “The opportunity came up to rent this space, and we immediately got tables and chairs so we could fit a bunch of people in here to come in and hang out.”

The couple had been looking for a space for a while and considered several options, including the space where Visual Identity Vault recently closed its doors. Everything clicked into place when Adam and Holly Klesch walked downtown for the GLOWS parade festivities.

“I came in here maybe eight months ago saying, ‘Oh, I’m looking for a space in downtown Plaza to rent, to open up a little shop so people can come in and play games,'” Adam said. “At the GLOWS parade, I saw it was for rent. On Saturday, the next day, I came in and said, ‘I want to rent it.’ And they let me rent it.”

Right now, Adam said they are feeling out what people want to see.

“We plan on getting events together,” he said. “A chess tournament, a puzzle race, card tournaments, cribbage tournament, any kind of game.”

In addition to competition-themed events, Adam said they are also open to hosting events not centered around games.

“If someone has a birthday party they want to do, or they have kids that want to come in and play more games, they can bring it back here,” he said. “They can set up all their cake and pizza, whatever food they want in here. We’ll rent it out for events or meetings or whatever.”

This piece will become available in January, as they still need to be incorporated as an LLC for the business to properly take payments for event rentals.

The retail portion of the shop will not be opened until April. Adam said he has a few crucial steps he needs to take before items are available for sale.

“One of the main things is I do want to sell Pokémon cards and Magic: The Gathering cards and other card games,” he said. “To sell the sealed product, I need to have a distributor, and it takes a while to get all that stuff in the works.”

By having a “third space” where people can just come and hang out, Adam said it reminds him of where he enjoyed being as a kid.

“I know that when I was a kid, finding a spot to go hang out with my friends and be inside when it’s cold out,” he said. “Somewhere you can sit down, talk, be a kid and not have people judging you about it. I know what that’s like. I want to be a safe place for kids to hang out.”

Community and Business Development Specialist Celia Viesselman said when it comes to economic development, spaces like Analog Games are crucial.

“They provide spaces where people can grow ideas, share stories and make memories,” she said. “Those places where you were able to make friendships and build a community that thrives. Not only is Analog Games providing a service and a product that’s absent currently in our market, but it’s also providing critical added benefits to our community.”

By filling this gap, Viesselman said it has a chance to create momentum for the whole town.

“While it may have a small impact initially, maybe you’re providing spaces for people who use board games a lot, or are into Magic: The Gathering,” she said. “Once you start to see spaces like this exist, it snowballs into other community events, new businesses getting started, ideas flourishing.”

From his first night open Dec. 5, Adam said he has already seen the buzz developing.

“People are very excited,” he said. “I had a lot of people, multiple people want to talk about Dungeons and Dragons and playing role-playing games, which is awesome, too.”

Current tentative hours are 5 to 9 p.m. Monday, Thursday and Friday and noon to 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Adam said they won’t always be open at these times, but he plans to have the space open as much as possible.

For more information or questions, visit facebook.com/profile.php?id=61584155415259 or search “Analog Games Fairmont” on Facebook, or email Adam at adam@analoggamesmn.com