Another completely bonkers year has come to an end, we survived, but barely. What a rollercoaster these past 12 months have been. Entering 2021 in a lockdown, spending time online and growing our community from a safe distance, making so many lovely new friends and continuing to grow our online store has been a joyous experience with the restrictions we were given. Reopening in September gave us the massive boost we needed, it was so wonderful to see our wee venue full of friendly and new faces, to see you all again and to introduce new fans to our little gaming world! Thank you to everyone who visited us and supported us, you are all superstars!
Unfortunately winter hit and with it a variant that just wont stop, literally the same weekend we relaunched our R-CADE Lates nights again, the world announces a highly transmissible variant of Covid, and with that announcement our business crashed. Restrictions are brought back, parties are cancelled and we have to reduce capacity to follow new rules and keep everyone safe We have spent the last two weeks of December with minimal bookings and a sense of impending anxiety for what the next few months will bring. It has been exhausting as a small business trying to adapt to all the changes, to keep everyone safe and keep our business going at the same time. We were so excited to end the year on a high, but with new restrictions in place and our bookings looking bare, our optimism has dwindled and we are exhausted!
We had hoped that 2022 was going to kick off with a bang! We were so looking forward to attending our very good friends gaming convention in Norwich in January, but unfortunately the OLL '22 Games Convention has been postponed until April 2022. We were also hoping to announce a super fun party week to celebrate the 4th anniversary of R-CADE Glasgow in January, but that too will have to be put on hold.
It seems the overall theme of 2021 was to wait, adapt and survive, but we are officially bored of doing that, and we refuse to spend 2022 with this same mindset.
Adapt to thrive, not survive
We have had enough of waiting, we want to adapt to thrive, not just survive! Right now we are spending our time creating the most epic masterplan to reboot R-CADE in 2022! Forget what you remember about our tiny venue on Saltmarket, we are aiming bigger in the New Year! Some of our old ways may have to be sacrificed, but they will make way for lots of new and exciting projects for our business. On top of everything we want to really focus on our amazing community, as you lot have been amazingly supportive, and awesome, and have kept us from going crazy these past two years of pandemic! (wow almost two years!)
We have spent the festive period laying low, and are hoping for a fresh start in the New Year. We are tired, but hopeful. We have our community to keep us going, and we will never be able to thank you all enough for that! x
What would you like to see from R-CADE in the New Year?