How did you come to choose this mythological creature totally unrelated to the world of videogames for your image?
When we decided to start a small business, at that time (we are talking 2003) we were specializing RPG books, mainly Dungeons & Dragons, but also other role-playing games like Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf, Warhammer and the likes.
Most of these games have their universes rooted in medieval-fantasy settings, with loads of mythological creatures and fantastic beasts.
Since our main seller was anything Dungeons & Dragons related, it made sense to us to pick a creature from that universe as our emblem.
Now, there was a plethora to choose from; we wanted a creature that was relatively known (at least to our target customers), had a nice presence and was good-looking. However, we didn’t want something that was too common.
The dragon came to mind, but it felt a bit too common to our liking. We wanted something that would stand out more.
That is how the gryphon came out of the lot and seemed perfect for the task;
L’Antre du Griffon (the Gryphon’s Den) was born!
The business quickly took flight, but unfortunately for us, the building we were renting at the time had a hidden flaw that we discovered only when winter came.
There was absolutely no isolation in the walls, rendering the place literally impossible to heat during winter.
Literally. The water would freeze in the toilet.
Sadly, this meant we were forced to close shop, and keep doing business online and at conventions instead.
We did that for quite a few years.
We started with one convention in Ottawa, Cangames, but as years passed, invitations to more and more shows came, and our yearly conventions schedule filled up.
At one point, we acquired a RPG collection, and with it came a small collection of videogames.
We brought them with everything else in our travels, and quickly realized people were thrilled we now carried retro videogames and wanted more. So we decided to add them to our regular products, and slowly, they became our main line.
Business kept growing, and eventually, we decided to give our business a little makeover, the reason being that, while we still carried (and still do) roleplaying games books, we were now clearly specialized in used and retro videogames, consoles and accessories. We were now in 2010…
Our graphic designer worked on a new image for our gryphon, which until now was regular-coloured (brown, cream and yellow). While finishing the adjustments with the coloring, just for fun and in memory of the time of the frozen gryphon from 2003, she tweaked the colors and turned him blue…
And she thought he looked quite nice in blue…
The Blue Gryphon was born.
In 2013, with business steadily increasing, we decided to give it another try, and we rented a small location in old Gatineau to see how that would go.
This time, it was clear to us that things were really taking flight and doing well.
Business kept growing, and as the demand grew for more anime and manga related merchandise from part of our customer base,
we began carrying more of those and improving our selection.
Three years later, we had to move out and get a bigger, more centralized location in downtown Gatineau, and so here we are now!
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