Nostalgia and novelty abound at Retro Reload.
There are some new faces ready to greet you on High Street—Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Link, to name a few. You can find them and hundreds of other iconic video game characters at the newest hangout spot for gamers of all ages: Retro Reload at 228 High Street.
It’s not your average game store—Retro Reload operates on a time-based pay-to-play model. Choose from 35 different consoles and upwards of 600 games—yes, 600 games!—then pay $15 for an hour of gaming. Got a player 2? It’s $5 for an additional person. After your initial hour is up, pay $10 per hour to extend your gaming time.
The idea came to owner Danielle Ludwig one morning. She woke up and thought, “I’m going to open a video game store.” It wasn’t completely out of left field—Ludwig has been a longtime video game lover. If you were trick-or-treating downtown last Halloween and accepted candy from Princess Zelda and her faithful knight Link, that was Ludwig and her best friend, Susan Haynes, who can be found helping out around Retro Reload.
“Besides my love of gaming, I have three teenagers at home who have been bullied, and they all like to game. So I wanted to create a space where they could build community with people who like doing the same things that they do,” says Ludwig. “I’m hoping that this brings them community and friends and it just lets everybody enjoy the love of video games.”
If you have fond memories of playing Asteroids and Centipede but your Atari has long since been sold on Ebay, you can revisit that childhood magic at Retro Reload. Is there a new game you’ve been wanting to try, but you don’t want to buy a new $500 console just to play one game? Retro Reload has you covered. Maybe you want to host a game night with your friends but don’t have enough chairs or want to avoid noise complaints from your neighbors—well, you know where to go.
Those moments of indulging in nostalgia, trying something new, and spending time with friends new and old are what Retro Reload is all about, according to Ludwig. Despite the mind-blowing number of consoles and video games that the business currently offers, Ludwig has big plans for leveling up not just the business, but also the community surrounding it.
Video game tournaments like Super Smash Bros. and Mortal Kombat are in the cards, and so are card games like Pokemon Trading Card Game and Magic: The Gathering. Down the road, Ludwig hopes that proceeds from one day each month will support the local gaming community, like gaming clubs at West Virginia University.
If you want to help make the magic happen, Ludwig says the business is happy to consider donations of video games, consoles and their remotes, and televisions in working condition.
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