MONROE, CT — Four friends sat around a table for a board game inside Upper Crust Games Friday afternoon. The business, which sells tabletop games like Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon and Lorcana, and hosts tournaments and weekly events, recently moved to Century Plaza, 535 Monroe Turnpike.
Elias Levy and Soorya Chenthilnathan, who are regulars, sat across from store employees Nick Centopani and Christie Borchetta.
“We’re here a lot,” Chenthilnathan said. “We like it a lot. It really brings the community together to play board games. Otherwise, we’d have to travel outside of town.”
“It’s nice that Monroe has a place to call its own,” Levy said. “The staff is awesome and everyone who comes here is nice. It’s a really good, welcoming atmosphere.”
Borchetta, who lives in Trumbull, said she likes how Upper Crust Games is centrally located and receives of lot of foot traffic from people shopping at Big Y and frequenting other businesses in the plaza.
The game store, which is owned by Scott Braia and Devon Coughlin, recently moved from a location in back of Crescent Village shopping center on Main Street in Monroe to a larger space, increasing its square-footage from a 600-square-foot retail area with 450 square feet of space to 2,000 square feet.
Braia said Upper Crust Games began as an online business in 2019.
“I was just trying to get rid of my own Magic collection on eBay and it grew to this,” he said. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s rewarding.”
Magic: The Gathering, one of the most popular trading card games, has been around for about 30 years, according to Braia.
When Braia decided to turn gaming into a business, Devon Coughlin, his longtime friend, joined him on the venture.
Braia said their website did so well, they decided to expand to include a brick and mortar store. “We ship to Canada and to other countries overseas,” he said of their online customers.
Upper Crust Games hosts weekly events allowing customers to play the games with assistance from staff, as well as special tournaments for prizes. These events are advertised on its website.
These events allow players to try out games, before deciding on a purchase.
“We can hold two events at the same time with up to 64 people,” Braia said of their new location. “The last space maxed out at 20.”
Coughlin and Braia reopened in Century Plaza last September. Braia said he likes the traffic, along with an anchor store like Big Y in the busy shopping center, and Coughlin said it’s easier to park.
“The Sippins are fantastic landlords,” Braia said.
Brothers, David and Mark Sippin, attended a grand opening ceremony for Upper Crust Games on Friday afternoon.
A grand opening
The grand opening was attended by First Selectman Terry Rooney, Economic and Community Development Director William Holsworth, Monroe Chamber of Commerce President Ray Giovanni and Vice President Jan Snyder.
Several Chamber and Monroe Economic Development Commission members also attended the event.
“On behalf of the town of Monroe, we welcome you into the town and thank you for investing in this town,” Rooney said after cutting the ribbon. “We appreciate all our businesses that come here, especially new, interactive and creative businesses.”
The first selectman praised Braia and Coughlin for their own creativity and recognized the Sippin family for “always bringing some of the finest businesses” into Monroe.
Rooney also thanked the Economic Development Commission, Holsworth and the Monroe Chamber of Commerce for being there.
“We really respect what you do as individual owners to bring about this type of solution for our town,” Giovanni said. “We’re all about our community and I can’t think of any other business model that would surface and help our community stay entwined together — and that’s what your spirit does for us, so I thank you for bringing that.”
Giovanni said the Monroe Chamber of Commerce will help Upper Crust Games in anyway it can to get nice folks to sit down and roll dice together.
“Congratulations to your families and we thank you from our community, the business community, for the great efforts you’re putting forth, and we’ll support you in every way,” he said. “Call any time.”
Upper Crust Games is open Mondays from 1 to 7 p.m., Tuesday through Friday from 1 to 9 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information on the store and its events, visit its website, Facebook and Instagram pages.
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