Updated: Support Gamers' Haunt's Recovery and Reopening

---Update 2, Nov 2---

Thank you all for your support! It meant the world to us and helped us so much. Good news: we are going to open the shop again starting on Friday, 11/8/24! So we've closed donations for this GoFundMe, since we'll have a fully functioning business again! Thank you again, and see you all in the shop!

----Update 1, Oct 6----

GoFundMe $15K Updated to $27K

THANK YOU. Our community is amazing. Thanks to you all, we’ve met our initial GoFundMe goal! The best way to a permanent “normal” for Gamers’ Haunt is still unclear, but we anticipate having small open play times this week (to give people a place to gather and feel normal—as well as to give us an excuse to see you all!) plus prizes and giveaways in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for that schedule and location very soon, we are excited!

While the timeline on full fixes are still unclear, the extent of the damage and the costs they bring are coming into focus. As such, we’re putting a stretch goal of an additional $12K on the GoFundMe. The goal remains the same: pay for fixes and the ability to open again (and stay open as much as we can), or help us cover a move if that is needed—we’re exploring options but it’s hard to nail anything permanent down in such a short timeframe. All funds received through the GFM will be used for our operations, and if there is excess money raised when all is said and done we’ll put it back into the community.

We wanted to take this moment to thank you all and recognize how amazing you all are—we are so grateful for your support. There’s a long road ahead, but this community is a bright light shining the way.

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Hurricane Helene devastated many homes and businesses in the Asheville, North Carolina area, and unfortunately Gamers' Haunt was not spared. A tree fell on our roof, destroying portions of the ceilings and leaving a hole. The floors are destroyed and will need to be fully replaced. Right now, Gamers' Haunt is inoperable. Our landlords are unable to give us a timeline on when the tree will be removed let alone when repairs can be made.

Our goal as a business has always been to provide a place of refuge from the outside world, where people of all backgrounds can come together, be themselves, enjoy a game of Magic the Gathering, and make friends. With the shop closed, we cannot give our community and the people we love this place to gather and relax—something we could all use in this unprecedented situation in our area.

This GoFundMe will be used to get Gamers' Haunt back open, since we currently aren't able to operate and sell cards and accessories. That means paying expenses and people as well as repairs to make our shop operable again in its current location—or helping pay for a move to a new location if that is what's required. We don't know how much this will cost—we made our best estimate when setting a goal—but repairing or moving will be significantly expensive; any excess funds received after we have recovered will be donated to Asheville recovery efforts around town.

Once we are able to reopen, we intend to give back to the community that has helped us, holding events in our space and fundraisers to benefit others who have been impacted by the storm.

We love Asheville and our Magic community dearly, and every donation, large or small, will be appreciated and remembered. We can't wait to game with you again—hopefully soon.