Christmas is just around the corner, which means parents across the north-east will soon be asking themselves, “What exactly is Fortnite?”
That’s where Dave Goodwin owner of Hybrid Gaming in Ellon, steps in to help.
A father of one, Dave opened the Union Lane shop earlier this year specifically to answer that very question for many puzzled mums and dads across Aberdeenshire.
Speaking to The Press and Journal ahead of the busy holiday season, the 41-year-old shared that he expects many parents to turn to him for help setting up new computers for their children in the lead-up to Christmas—a service they can’t get from Amazon.
From his base in his hometown of Ellon, Dave described it as his “mission” to make gaming and computer set-up simple for non-tech-savvy customers.
He said: “We can’t compete on price with the likes of Amazon or PC World, but what I can do is make computers and gaming really easy for non-techies.
“Instead of telling parents what model of processor, or graphics cards they want in the computer, we just simply ask what games do you want to play on it, and we do the rest.
“We get a lot of good feedback on that, because shopping for a new PC can be quite confusing and stressful for someone like a parent. They don’t want to buy something that is not fit for purpose.”
Owner of Ellon’s Hybrid Gaming is in it for the long-run
Starting his business during lockdown, Dave has always had a passion for building PCs.
He noticed many people were getting “ripped off” on platforms like Facebook Marketplace and eBay when buying custom gaming PCs.
In response, he posted his own custom PC offer online, highlighting its ability to run popular games like Fortnite and Minecraft—and it sold out in just 20 minutes.
He started the website for Hybrid Gaming in 2021 during lockdown before opening his first shop in March this year.
Dave has eight other part-time staff, who are all local.
“It’s definitely been a learning curve, but we are really busy and have a lot of support in Ellon area. It’s a nice community to be involved in,” he said.
Dave acknowledges that the high level of service they are providing comes at a cost, but he believes it pays off in customer satisfaction and long-term loyalty.
“If a customer has an issue, we don’t faff them about and we just fix it. It may cost us money short term but what we are finding is that these customers are coming back time and time again,” he explained.
“We are building that trust, and going forward with that vision.”
Grand plans for Ellon’s Hybrid Gaming
The business has recently expanded and now offers parties for up to ten kids at a time, who can game with their friends on top-end computers.
Proving successful, he added that he is plotting an expansion across the north-east.
“Our plan is to end up with five stores eventually – we want to get Christmas over with and expand through Crowdfunding,” Dave added.
“Our first location we want to expand to is Inverurie. Then we want to cover Peterhead, Stonehaven and then probably Bridge of Don.
“Scaling of the business is the issue right now, but once we solve that we feel that is possible.
“We want to expand across the north of Scotland and see how far we can go.”
Conversation