About Us
Eclectic Games is a family-owned, independent, specialist retailer, with a commitment to stocking and selling the best games, matching the right games to each individual customer, and sharing the joy and fun that playing together brings. Darrell and Becky Ottery opened Eclectic Games in 2006, and after fifteen years and in the fourth set of premises, the shop is now internationally recognised, has been Reading's Retailer of the Year, featured on local and national news and radio, seen the rise and rise of boardgames, hosted a local convention including internationally famous games designers and artists as guests and built an amazing, loyal, passionate and wonderful customer community.
The goal of Eclectic Games is to sell our customers great games, representing good value, and making it possible to have a wonderful gaming experience. To this end, we build relationships with our customers, getting to know them and their tastes. We have a large (2000+ titles) collection of games that are available to be played at the shop, at our regular games evenings or weekend events. This allows customers to try a game before they buy, to make sure it suits both them and their gaming group. This takes a lot of the 'risk' out of purchasing, and cuts down on 'buyer's remorse' - a terrible emotion we try to avoid at all costs.
As another part of this, we will never try and sell a customer a game 'just to make the sale'. If we don't have the game they want, we will either order it on their request, or point them to an alternative source. If there isn't a specific game, but a set of criteria, we will make recommendations based on our extensive knowledge of the games we sell, and if none of them quite meet the need, then we advise against spending money on something that isn't quite what is wanted. There are so many games, with so many new ones being released every week, there is a good chance a perfect fit will be along soon.
As the business has grown, and matured, so have our customers, and we have broadened our product offerings to meet new needs. We now stock a fantastic line of games for those as young as 2, as well as supporting all ages upwards of that point, since there are a number of our customers who, while solo gamers when they first came to us, are now raising the next generation of players!
We are Reading's Friendly Local Games Store, and we are dedicated to the long term success and happiness of our customers, our staff and our business.
We're looking forward to seeing you in our shop and games room soon!
