After careful consideration, we have determined that our last day of service will be Sunday, December 8th. That will be the last day to visit us and use membership points or gift cards. We will spend the rest of the year winding the business down. We will not be selling any of the games or fixtures separately and will be turning them over to our creditors.

There is definitely still a possibility of someone purchasing the assets of the pub and running it in a similar fashion after we close, but no serious buyers have manifested to take over operations as-is, and making our announcement didn’t generate the bump in business we hoped it would, so we will not be able to operate through the end of the year as we had originally communicated. We’ve also seen some of our awesome staff get new opportunities quickly and we wouldn’t have the staff to run through the end of the year.

We are sorry to cut even shorter the time that we will get to spend with our loyal customers, but this decision is in the best interest of our staff, our family, and our creditors.

We hope to see you in the next week. If not, it has been our pleasure to serve you the last couple of years.

To our dear patrons, 

I am so sorry to announce that after being open just shy of three years, we have run out of funding and will be planning to close at the end of the year if we cannot find a buyer before that time.

Our goal is to find a buyer who will inject some cash and energy to reinvigorate the business and hopefully find a profitable way to support the gaming community here in Bellingham, but if we are unable to do so, our final day of operation will be December 31st. 

I will be using this blog to keep communicating about the process. You can subscribe to the RSS Feed on the right for updates, and we will also let you know on Facebook when we have an update.

As a member of this amazing community it is important to me that we handle this transition thoughtfully and to take care of the guests who have made it possible for us to make it as long as we have. To that end, we will begin making a few changes effective immediately:

1. We will no longer be selling annual memberships or gift cards. Anyone with an existing gift card or membership points should plan to use them before the end of the year. People without memberships can still pay a library fee to access hobby or grail games until we close or transition to a new owner.  It will be entirely at the discretion of a new owner about whether or not to honor old gift cards or memberships, so please take advantage of the opportunity to use them while you can.
2. For existing members, I have pulled a list of members and membership dates from our database, and applied a pro-rated account credit based on how many days are left on your membership. For example, if you purchased a $50 hobby membership yesterday, I would credit your account $50. The amount credited to your account will be 14 cents per day remaining on a hobby membership, and 28 cents per day remaining on a grail membership. Members will still be able to make reservations online and access hobby and casual games in the pub with no library fee until we close or transition to a new owner. 
3. If we have not found someone to purchase the pub as-is by December 15th, we will begin to sell the assets of the pub (including board games, RPGs, merch, and fixtures). I will provide more details about that plan as we approach it.

Please know that we did not come to this decision lightly. We have done all that we can to try to do this with as much notice as possible. Please be kind to our staff as they go through this transition, it's a difficult time for all of us, especially so close to the holidays. On behalf of my family, I just want to say what an absolute privilege it has been to serve you all. I'm incredibly proud of the business we have built, and I know so many of you will be mourning right along with us.

That said, if there's anyone with deep pockets who wants to save the day here, I'd be happy to discuss the specifics. There is a page of the website for prospective buyers if you or anyone you know has the means to take over operations.

Sincerely,
Danielle Rupinski
President and Dungeon Master
Rook & Rogue Board Game Pub