HomeGamers, a mall-based franchise concept, will open three stores in the Philadelphia market next year. It operates a corporate store in Westminster, MD, and and has one franchisee in Waldorf, MD. HomeGamers boasts a 6,000 square foot plus showroom featuring full lines of licensed sporting goods for fans of professional and college teams.
Merchandise includes hard-to-get items like logoed barbeque grills and canopies for tailgating all the way up to team recliners and pool tables. It also carries furnishings and décor for home gameroom and home theaters including merchandise such as air hockey tables, arcade games, foosball tables, juke boxes, home bars and stools, and pinball machines.
“We selected Philadelphia because it has the most avid sports fans in the nation, definitely the 'ultimate sports fan,' which is our customer base,” said HomeGamers Partner Seth Richards, who is a Philadelphia resident. “We sell a lot of licensed sports merchandise, which tends to increase in sales whenever the sport is in season, and with the Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, 76ers, and soon the Philadelphia Unions you pretty much have year round play-and sales.”
“Philadelphia is also a stone’s throw from our Maryland headquarters so we know we can provide optimum support to franchisees there,” he explained. “Plus our real estate studies have indicated that there are many attractive Regional Malls in the Philadelphia ADA which would be ideal for our business model.”
Since launching the franchise program a year ago, the company has received numerous inquiries from people in major sports markets in other states interested in HomeGamers.
Part of the strength of their business concept, Richards explained, is that they have tapped into an underserved hybrid industry: “We are the only franchise in this hybrid industry that straddles established NAICS industries like Furniture Stores, Sporting Good Stores, and Family Clothing Stores within the retail sector.”
