Our Story So Far: Building a Tabletop Games Store in Winchester
Can you believe Mythic Tabletop Games is six months old?
If you haven’t met us yet, we’re Blake and Jen, a Winchester-based couple and co-founders of Mythic Tabletop Games, which we launched six months ago.
It’s been an exciting challenge so far and we’ve had more support from you, our community, than we could ever have hoped for. We wanted to mark this half-year milestone with a quick look back at the story so far and look forward to what we can build over the next six months.
Building the space
(Image: our family helping with painting)
While setting up and running a business, building a brand, e-commerce and marketing was nothing new for us (with one of us having a background as executive director for a number of global brands, to the other having run a successful digital marketing agency) creating a physical space for a community to gather in person was something entirely new to both of us.
It still feels recent that we picked up the keys to 9A Parchment Street - equal parts excitement and nerves, and the realisation that we were all in.
Before the first game was ever played, there was a lot to do.
The shop you see now didn’t start that way. With just the two of us - alongside incredible help from family and friends - it took weeks of decorating (so much painting), building, moving furniture, testing layouts, and refining every detail to turn an empty unit into a space that works for retail, play, events, and community.
The first games
(Image: MTG community Halloween party)
From day one, we were incredibly lucky to have strong support from the community, especially the local Magic: The Gathering community, with early events, including our Halloween MTG party, bringing energy into the space straight away.
One of the first big milestones was hosting our first MTG prerelease: Lorwyn Eclipsed.
There’s something special about prereleases: everyone discovering new cards at the same time, figuring things out together, and the mix of excitement and chaos as games unfold. Having YouTube creator Pleasant Kenobi join us for that first event made it even more memorable.
That was the moment it felt like Mythic had really come to life.
A growing community
(Image: Dungeons & Dragons Campaign at Mythic with volunteer DM, Mark B)
What we couldn’t have fully predicted was just how quickly the community would grow and how much of it would be shaped by the people walking through the door.
Our Dungeons & Dragons and RPG nights are the best example of that.
What began as a couple of one-shot sessions has grown into fully booked, regular nights with multiple tables running at once. That’s only been possible thanks to our incredible volunteer DMs and GMs who bring their time, creativity, and energy to every session.
They’ve helped turn D&D and RPGs at Mythic into something bigger than we imagined this early on.
Expanding the realm
(Image: Winchester School of Art Games Design students playtest)
As the community has grown, so has everything else.
We’ve added additional Magic: The Gathering nights -including Wednesday sessions- to make sure more people can get involved.
Warhammer nights have steadily grown, bringing in both new and experienced players. And we’ve been fortunate to have Black Library author Neil Andrew Miller become a regular part of the Mythic community, alongside building great relationships with Hampshire Hammerers and Winchester Rogue Traders.
Beyond the games themselves, we’ve been proud to support and collaborate with others: hosting Board Games Socials in support of Beyond Reflections, a charity providing mental well-being support, counseling, and safe spaces for trans, non-binary, and questioning adults, as well as their families and allies. As well as welcoming University of Southampton games design students to run their first public playtests.
These are exactly the kinds of things we hoped the space could make possible.
The team behind the tables
(Image: Alec, one of our Mythic team members)
As things have grown, so has the team.
We’ve been incredibly lucky to bring on casual team members who really care about the space - helping run events, support players, and keep everything moving on busy days.
They also bring years of experience and specialisms in Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and more - adding even more to what Mythic can offer.
Looking ahead
(Image: D&D one-shot with The Board Bard at Mythic Tabletop Games)
Six months in, it still feels like we’re just getting started.
There’s so much more we want to do:
- More events at a bigger scale (Warhammer players—keep an eye on War of the Bleeding Sun this May)
- More ways for new players to get started (including our Learn to Play D&D sessions, D&D one-shots and Learn to Play Magic: The Gathering this Easter)
- More space for regular groups to call their own
- More collaboration with the local community
(Image: Jen & Blake, Founders of Mythic Tabletop Games on opening night)
Thank you for being part of it
Whether you’ve been with us since day one or only just discovered Mythic, you’re part of this story.
Every game played, every event attended, every recommendation to a friend - it all helps shape what this place becomes.
We’re incredibly grateful for that.
And we can’t wait to see where the next chapter takes us.