Springfield game store looking to expand to second location

A popular Springfield game store may be expanding to a second location soon.

Game Cycle, located at 1300 St. Paris Rd., is well known among game enthusiasts in the area for both its retro and modern offerings, as well as its arcade. Since coming under new management in 2016, the store has expanded to house over 90 cabinets in its arcade, owner Eric Beason said.

Beason said the more popular games in the arcade tend to be the pinball machines. As of now, the store has 13 different games to play, but he plans on trying to acquire more very soon. He said space is the primary reason he is looking to expand north, possibly to the Piqua or Sidney area.

“It’s starting to get really crowded,” he said.

Beason said he gets a lot of visitors from those areas because the Springfield location is the closest place people can find an arcade as big as the one he offers. Local visitors are also fans of the party room expansion, which offers big screen televisions and modern consoles.

But the store has more than just an extensive arcade game library. Beason said the store also has a wide assortment of video games and consoles, dating back as far as the Atari, released in 1976, and includes rare finds like the ColecoVision, which released in 1982.

“We’ve pretty much got every console ever made,” he said.

Beason said since he started his new advertising campaign, traffic has been steadily increasing to the store.

“We’re busy from open to close, especially on the weekends,” he said.

Beason said he’s looking to open his new location within the next six months, providing he finds the right space. He said he would like to situate the new store somewhere off I-75 to provide easy access to customers.

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