Photo by Malia Riggs
Dillon Fiore, co-owner of Gear Gaming, in the store located at 1929 Hoover Ct.
Q: You’ve got such a wide variety of products here, from paint and games to even gaming tables in the back. Tell us more about what you carry and how you choose the items for the shop?
A: We’re a gaming store that encompasses all things gaming, so we offer video games, tabletop games, RPGs, card games, miniature wargaming — just any kind of board or tabletop gaming. If you can think of it, we probably carry it.
Q: What kind of games do you currently have in stock?
A: Obviously, we have Magic: The Gathering, which is one of the biggest card games out there. One Piece is a really big card game for us. Gundam has also done really well for us. Then you have the miniature wargaming, which I think is probably the one that people are least familiar with, I guess — with Warhammer 40k being the biggest of the miniature games. Warhammer Age of Sigmar being like the fantasy side of that. These are miniature games where you buy your models, put them together and paint them. There’s a hobby aspect to it — people really enjoy painting and customizing their models. And then you play a game with another person. So it’s a good community — and it’s a community-driven game where people get together, hang out and play games all day.
Q: How did you specifically get into the industry?
A: I’ve been a nerd my whole life, grew up playing video games and got into Magic: The Gathering. From there, I kind of explored all of it and just really enjoyed the community and the people that were involved with it.
Q: How has the community grown since opening Gear Gaming?
A: We just have people that are really open and inviting and they just want to have more people involved in their hobby and enjoy it too — whether it’s card games, miniature games or something else entirely. Having a place for the gaming community is a big part of what we do and making sure people know we’re here, you are welcome. And making sure people know that we’re inviting — and people of all races, sexes and genders are welcome. We just want everyone to know that they’re welcome to come enjoy this.
Q: For someone new to this kind of gaming, what would you tell them?
A: Again, we just want to make sure people know that we’re inviting — and people of all races, sexes and genders are welcome. We don’t just cater to men. We just want everyone to know that they’re welcome to come enjoy this.
Q: What exactly is your event space with the gaming tables?
A: We’re a retail store — that’s how we stay in business — but part of what we do too is event space. We have places for people to come in and play the games that they buy from us and then we run events on the weekends and during the week. Each game kind of has its own night that we do — and like tonight, on Wednesday nights, we do our Commander night so players come in throughout the day and evening to play Commander.
Q: How can people make an appointment for the gaming event space or find you if they have questions?
A: We have a Facebook page — Gear Gaming Birmingham on Facebook. We also have a Discord channel with hundreds of people who are constantly talking about gaming. When someone new joins, you’ll see a lot of people saying hey to them when they join. And then, when they post like, hey, I’m new to whatever game they might be interested in — they’ll usually get responses from people saying, well, come in on this day and I’ll show you how to play. I’ll bring something for you to play with. Again, it goes back to that community — we really are a big community here at Gear Gaming.
