Geek Out

What Products or Services does your business provide?

Selling and providing a place to play various scopes of nerd and geek culture to include, but not limited to, novels, comics, table top games and RPGs, trading card games, board games, miniature war games, and model kits.

What types of advertising are you currently doing, and what types of advertising have been most successful for you in the past?

Social media, a van that is covered in our logo, and IndoorMedia. We’ve tried (unsuccessfully) local print media. IndoorMedia, the van, and social media channels have proven to be quite effective.

Are there any certifications, awards, or media recognition that your business has received?

We hold a 4.6 star rating on Google reviews with over 400 reviews. We are a Yu-Gi-Oh! official tournament store. We are located in the heart of the Old Town Burleson area and are recognized regularly as a tourist destination for the town.

Tell us about your employees.

We have 12 paid employees and a small army of volunteers. We have multiple disabled veterans on our team, and have a diverse group of employees representing various demographics.

What is the story behind your business?

The previous owner, Blake Ovard, opened Geek Out in 2017 after having a long and storied life in comic sales, writing, and creation. His wife, Kim, suffered from a type of early onset dementia and in order to better care for her and spend time with her he decided to close Geek Out. Enter Gerhard Hallgren, our current owner/operator, who had been a customer since Geek Out opened and did not want to see his (and Burleson’s) favorite gaming place disappear, so he bought it. Gerhard retained Blake’s protege Charles (the current GM) and built a team and business that thrived through the pandemic and grew exponentially following the reopening of society. People wanted a place to play and socialize, Gerhard gave that to them while maintaining strict safety protocols to protect everyone’s health. Gerhard is a Burleson local and the child of 2 doctors, to which his mother had her own practice. Prior to owning Geek Out he had a few jobs, spending a large portion of his time tending to his family farm and obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in art and business.

Were there any specific challenges they faced in opening or keeping the business open?

Prior to the pandemic there was a significant period of learning how to balance the various lines of product and what risks to take. Just before the Pandemic shut down the world, a storm ripped the roof off of our building, destroying 85% of our inventory. We thought we were done for sure, then the Pandemic stopped repairs on the building, with most of our inventory gone, our shop in ruins, and a pandemic keeping us from rebuilding either, we had almost given up completely. But, State Farm came through for us, we were able to renovate our store and rebuild our inventory. When Covid restrictions began to loosen, people were eager for a place to socialize and play all the games they learned during the boredom of the lockdown. Our customer base grew, our reputation grew as well, people started traveling from hours away just to play in our space. Before we knew it we had to expand the team from 4, to 8, to the current 12 just to keep up with the traffic.

Tell a story about a great customer experience.

Honestly, there are too many to pick just one. Our GM has an extensive background in leadership training and retail management. He instills in every employee that service equals sales, period. We will almost always do everything in our power to ensure a guest has a great experience with us. His saying of “if a customer complains about their chicken sandwich from Target, you figure out how to make them happy about it” gives an understanding of always putting the customer first. On the rare occasions there are complaints, Charles personally reaches out to the customer to do anything in his power to make it right. We have had countless accounts where we’ve stayed open late to accommodate players and buyers, hunted down rare items for customers, shipped products to deployed troops in Iraq, and various other things outside of the realm of basic retail just to make a customer happy.

Explain why a customer should consider your business instead of going to a competitor.

We offer the best customer service around and a diverse employee team so that regardless of the type of geek you are or want to be, someone is an expert in that and we will make you feel welcome to the community whether you are a novice or expert.

What extra services do you offer that people might not know about?

We have one of the largest free to play areas in the region, we offer DM/GMs store credit for running their games in our shop. We have one of the largest in store selections of TTRPG minis and books available anywhere. We have learn to play classes and demos for a variety of games regularly.