The Kaneohe PC Gamerz shop is looking for a new home and may have found a location just down the road.
The shop, where gamers can play video and online games in a social environment for a nominal fee, has been at its Kawa Street spot, adjacent to Windward Mall, for 21⁄2 years.
"A lot of the gamers have gaming ability at home, but their computers might not be as good, or they may not have access to as much (Internet) speed, and certainly there’s the social aspect" of coming into the shop with friends, said owner Jimmy Wolarey.
No alcohol is allowed or sold at PC Gamerz. "We see ourselves as sort of a youth center," he said.
The company monitors each console, pornographic sites are blocked and "we don’t allow rough-housing, and we try to keep the language at a reasonable level," he said.
In recent weeks complaints to the hui of property owners and its property managers led to the termination of PC Gamerz’s lease, despite its efforts to be "proactive" about addressing any concerns, Wolarey said.
"They’re not being evicted; their lease ended," said Rand Totoki, property manager for King Street Properties LLC, which manages the small shopping center.
The most hurtful complaint was about vandalism in the small shopping center’s common-area bathrooms.
"When we got blamed for that, the customers took it a little bit personally," he said.
"The complaints were coming from a source we didn’t know" but mostly were reported after security personnel left the property at 9 p.m.
The property management suggested that PC Gamerz could pay for security between 9 p.m. and its 4 a.m. closing time, but the added cost of more than $4,000 a month didn’t pencil out, Wolarey said.
Hence, PC Gamerz started closing at 9 p.m. a little more than a week ago.
Its customer counts have plummeted by a conservative 45 percent, to about 460 last week from a normal range of 850 to 1,000 a week. Its revenue has sunk even further. The 9 o’clock closing time has "reduced our income by 60 percent," Wolarey said.
"It’s not that 60 percent of our customers came after 9 (p.m.), but 60 percent of the spending comes after 6 (p.m.), because when they sit down, they’re going to want to play for five or six hours."
Wolarey is hopeful a lease deal with a nearby shopping center will come to fruition and that PC Gamerz can relocate at the end of next month "or maybe the middle of July," with minimal downtime of 10 days to "two weeks at the outside," Wolarey said.
PC Gamerz’s Aiea store at 99-082 Kauhale St. is the flagship location, and "since Kaneohe is our second store, we’re somewhat familiar with the process."
The new spot, if a lease is signed, could need considerably more network cable.
The existing Kaneohe location is about 1,600 square feet, while the potential new location measures a comparatively cavernous 3,300 square feet.
Wolarey is considering a complimentary addition to the computer and console gaming space, but the no-booze-or-drugs policy will remain in effect.
The possible new location also has round-the-clock security and is closer to the police and fire stations.
TheBuzz will keep gamers and the parents who love them updated in this space.
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On the Net:
» pcgamerzhawaii.com
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
