Community Highlights: Meet Amanda Strand of Gamers Haven

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Strand.

Hi Amanda, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Gamers Haven was established in 1998 by original store owner, Wally, with an outstanding selection and free playing environment for all table top miniature and hobby needs. Community was at the heart of Gamers Haven when it began, and continues to be the cornerstone of our mission today. Since 2024, Gamers Haven has been under the ownership of Andrew and Elizabeth, long time customers of Gamers Haven, who took over ownership from Brandon, the store’s second owner, who owned and ran the store for 5 years before retiring to focus on fishing (and other hobbies.)

Gamers Haven is run today by Amanda, Chris, Brian and Steve. Amanda, the Store Manager and face you see most days, along with the other staff, has cultivated a warm and welcoming environment, where gaming is our passion and community is our priority.

Gamers Haven is a unique store – not only do we have a long history, spanning three owners, and nearly three decades serving the hobby community, but many of our “regulars” have grown up within our store, playing here since they first discovered us, and perhaps their favorite game, when they were kids. When you enter Gamers Haven, you are just as likely to be greeted by a regular as you are to be greeted by our staff, and everyone is willing to answer questions you may have about any of the miniature games, board games, card games, or painting.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Gamers Haven has seen its fair share of changes: two locations, an expansion, three separate ownerships; through it all we have been able to rely on our community.

Like most brick and mortar small businesses, we face many of the same challenges. There has been an ebb and flow to the specific brands and items we have carried over the years, but the thing that has always been true, is that we will do our best to cater to the needs of our community, and folks can rely on us to get them the table top hobby items they want.

Obviously, the state of the economy will always have an impact on how we are doing, and may impact brands we can provide at a given time (tariffs, as an example, affect us.) We understand that sometimes things may be tight, but we do not want that to deter folks from coming to Gamers Haven. This is why we try to offer low cost or free options for the different events that we host weekly. We want folks to think of us as a third space, that they can always rely on and find community in.

As you know, we’re big fans of Gamers Haven. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Gamers Haven has always been a source for table top miniatures since our opening in 1998. Today, we have expanded our regular miniature selections to Warhammer, Bolt Action, Battletech, Konflikt’47, Moonstone and Malifaux. We also have an expanded selection of board games and TTRPG’s, as well as supporting several TCG’s including Star Wars Unlimited, Flesh and Blood, Universus, Ultraman, Riftbound and Lorcana. We schedule weekly events for most games and coordinate with community members to host special events, demos and tournaments.

One of the things that we are most proud of is hosting open events for the community. These include a weekly hobby night, a time for folks to gather, build and paint their miniatures in community, as well as share tips and tricks. We also host open free board game play every Saturday evening, offering demos, learn to plays and just good fun playing new and favorite games. This is an especially unique option for folks who want to play board games, but maybe don’t have the friend group to play, or have games that they want to play, but don’t know how and want to learn. Our staff and regulars bring in different games each week, and we also have a library of games that live at Gamers Haven for folks to try out.

Another thing that we are very proud of is that we try to spotlight local and indie companies as much as possible. We proudly carry Huge Miniatures, Academy Games, Lance & Laser Miniatures, all NEO based companies. We are one of the few stores that carries Moonstone, a miniature game from the UK; we were one of the first stores to support Flesh and Blood, a TCG from New Zealand; and we were one of 12 stores in the US to support the Ultraman Card Game when it first released in 2025.

One of the biggest advantages we have is our gaming space. With multiple private rooms, able to hold 2-12 players, and our many 4’ by 8’ tables, perfect for table top miniature games and large board games, we are able to host multiple events at once, or hold large single events up to 64 players. This is a unique feature of Gamers Haven.

Ultimately, what we are most proud of is that Gamers Haven is just that, a Haven for the gamers in our community. Whether you are a regular, who just hangs out and socializes, or you regularly attend gaming events at the store, or you are new to table top gaming and you are looking for a place to play, we are here for you. All are welcome at The Haven.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
The team at Gamers Haven are not only passionate about the items that we sell, but are players ourselves, each with their own unique interests and experiences, which is why you know you will get good service when you shop with us.

Owners, Andrew and Elizabeth, have a vast knowledge of all things miniature games, RPG’s and board games. You can always count on them to bring in a unique or complex game and introduce it to the group. They have both spent many hours delving into rulebooks, and studying lore to their favorite game systems, and probably know more than most about a lot of things.

Amanda, the Store Manager, loves board games, and will happily explain many of the games on our shelves or sit down and teach you to play. She also enjoys RPG’s and some TCG’s, and has an interest in the miniature games, she just hasn’t found one that she wants to delve into yet. She is also an avid dice collector, who will joyfully help you to pick out a set of dice for your next character or adventure.

Chris, the Online Manager, not only loves board games, but also has a deep passion for Flesh and Blood, and is always happy to teach the game to anyone that wants to learn. His focus is on our TCG singles storefront and running our monthly sessions of the social deduction game Blood on the Clocktower.

Brian and Steve are our two sales associates. Brian is a jack of all trades, playing a little bit of miniature games, TCG’s and board games. He leads our open board game play on Saturday evenings, and if it’s your first time visiting Gamers Haven, will give you a full tour of the store. Steve is our in-house expert painter, and is a fount of knowledge when it comes to miniature games and their history. He is always happy to give tips and suggestions on how to paint your miniature figures.

Pricing:

• Private Room or Big Table Reservations for only $20!
• Daily Discount: Spend $100 or more, and receive 10% off your order. Some exclusions apply.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://gamershavenohio.shop/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gamershavenohio
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GamersHavenOhio