The journey to Red Raccoon Gaming’s new home was a waiting game for owners Jamie and Kellie Mathy.
Located in Downtown Bloomington, Mathy wanted to move just two spots down to 301 N Main Street, but the former owner was adamite about not selling the location. But one day that changed and Mathy jumped on the opportunity to bring his business to the historic building.
“We’ve actually been looking at this building for a very long time,” Mathy said. “But the owner wouldn’t sell it and randomly last year he reached out to us and said, ‘Hey, are you still interested?’ It was a perfect opportunity because we’ve grown enough as a business that we were busting at the seams, and we just needed a bigger space.”
Red Raccoon games has slowly outgrown its former space and needed an upgrade. With 1,500 additional square feet of space, Mayer should not have a problem with space. Mathy has imagined the new Red Raccoon Games to feature a spacious layout with plenty of room for anyone’s gaming needs.
Mathy welcomed the community to his new location on Tuesday with a groundbreaking with the McLean County Chamber of Commerce. Well over 100 people attended the event which included food, desserts and beer from local restaurants.
Before breaking ground on the building Mayer took time to help those who made the transition easier.
“Thank you to the City of Bloomington’s economic development department who helped us get through a whole bunch of stuff and hurdles so that we could rehab an old building. It’s not a cheap prospect to take these old buildings that are historically relevant to our community and, and make them so they work again,” Mayer said.
Wes Styles | Red Racoon’s Jamie Mayer breaking ground outside of the future storefront.
“Thank you to the Chamber. Always been huge supporters of small businesses of our businesses as we’ve been downtown,” Mayer continued.
A former IT professional, Mayer made the transition to store owner in 2014. One day while stretching his legs on a walk during a day at work, Mayer stumbled upon Red Raccoon and walked in and was an instant fan.
Mayer was constantly stopping by the store and quickly became friends with the former owner. While talking to the owner, Mayer looked to help him grow the business and would offer advice consistently. One day while offering some guidance the chance to buy the store was offered to Mayer and he jumped on it.
‘It’s been great. I love the people,” Mayer said. “It really comes down to the community, the customers. I love the people and that’s my favorite part of everything we do.”
Not only will Mayer get a bigger space for his store, but the building that will hold it will be revitalized. Located on route 66, the space was built in 1890 and has sat empty for many years.
“Most of Bloomington’s history is centered in downtown. This is Route 66. This is Abraham Lincoln’s old stomping grounds,” Mayer said “We get a significant amount of tourism and traction, um, is growing down here all the time. We have to save these old buildings. Part of our history as part of our anchor of who we are.”
Wes Styles | Zeta Coffee’s set up at the Red Racoon groundbreaking on Tuesday.
During the opening Mayer also announced that Zeta Coffee will be opening next to them. This new coffee place will fill a hole in the late-night coffee market. Its hours will stay open until 2 am some nights and looks to cater to night owls who need a pick me up.
“The goal I created was to give back to people through coffee or food, whatever that looks like,” owner and founder Joel Aper said. “I realized, not much of a late-night market here. I wanted to bring something to the town that isn’t just drinking and more things that are just fun to go do.” [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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