Friends since their high school days in Waterford Twp., Cam Sohrabi and Garrett Pyatt, now thirty, are teaming up on their fifth Game Pawn store, with grand opening giveaways set for May 1 in Maple Village.
Playful hand-painted murals line nearly 3,000 square feet of floor space in the former Clothes Mentor franchise refashioned for their own version of resale. Appealing especially to millennials nostalgic for their childhoods but now with bigger budgets, Game Pawn takes a wide-ranging approach in buying, selling, and trading consoles (Xbox, Wii, PlayStation), handhelds (Game Boy, Nintendo DS and Switch), gaming media, electronics (PCs, tablets, monitors), and collectibles.
The duo says that used items once accounted for the vast majority of sales, but it’s now about evenly split with new merchandise, particularly Pokémon cards and figurines, blind boxes, and plush toys. They’ve coped with tariffs by ordering bigger lots to reduce unit costs and choosing slower but cheaper shipping methods.
Sohrabi, an MSU alum in accounting, credits Pyatt, who majored in marketing at EMU, with one of their best decisions: opening near the Carpenter Rd. Target in 2022. Its success encouraged them to launch across town, bringing their total employee headcount to about thirty, including stores in Kalamazoo, Novi, and Waterford Twp.
Game Pawn, 339 N. Maple (Maple Village). Mon.–Sat. 10 a.m.–9 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.–7 p.m. gamepawnusa.com
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