In 2015, Parish moved the store to the current 1,400-square-foot location, giving him more room. But his business again experienced a boom in part due to COVID-19, and in 2022 he expanded into an adjacent space giving him more merchandise space.
“And we did $1.4 million [in revenue] with that little storage room during COVID-19. You would not expect that kind of volume. Last year we did $1.1 million. ... That was up from $700,000 when COVID hit and everyone had all that extra money. I was busy mailing [orders] constantly,” Parish said.
“As a kid, I had always wanted to have a hobby shop. ... In the 1990s, I bought Al’s Sports Cards ... but it was only 200 square feet inside of a Fiesta grocery store,” Parish said.
Parish could not scale the business in such a small retail space, but when he went to work for Shell Oil Company, he kept his business as a weekend passion project.
“We did the Beanie Baby craze, and my deposits for Beanie Babies were larger than my deposits from my gas station that I ran for Shell,” Parish said.
What happened
As the gaming industry exploded in popularity due to the advent of the internet, Parish realized he needed to transition to more current gaming products and accessories, such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon.
Parish then rented a space from a neighbor in his subdivision for a year to see if he could make a go of it as a full-time business, and once he was able to realize a sustainable income, he decided to stay in it and grow the business.
Parish said his busiest times are after 6 p.m. when gamers come with their card decks to play at the tables in the main room, particularly after card companies release their newest versions of the most popular games on weekends.
“After 6 o'clock, that's when ... we may fill all 48 [table] spots that we have in the store,” he said. “And during the regular tournaments ... you'll see 30 or 40 people sitting down here playing.”
Cy-Tex Gaming
12736 Grant Road, Cypress
www.facebook.com/cytexgaming
