NASHUA – Video and computer gaming is big business, but building a Nashua business to host these gamers has once again proved to be difficult.

Gamers Sanctuary, which opened in June offering high-end gaming equipment on huge screens in a shopping center near Nashua Community College, has announced that it is moving to Manchester.

“We have been struggling the past two months. We’ve tried many different programs. If we don’t get some help and support, we will fold,” Joshua Gallien of Nashua wrote on the store’s website, which announced that it is moving to 1295 Manchester St.

Gallien declined to comment
Monday. “Talk will have to wait until I’m done moving. … Don’t really have time. Sorry,” he wrote in an email response to a Telegraph query.

The region has hosted several businesses over the years that tried to get gamers to spend money to play computer or video games in a communal area rather than at home. This is often called LAN gaming, for “local area network,” the computer system that connects people playing games via wires.

Few of these businesses, such as 100Main in Nashua and Area51 in Londonderry, have lasted long.

Gamers Sanctuary was somewhat different in that it used TV-based consoles like Xbox and PlayStation connected by Wi-fi, projected onto huge screens up to 7 feet by 9 feet in size. It also has gaming chairs, with special speakers and vibration to make the games more realistic.

Gallien’s idea was to create an experience radically different than playing at home, creating an entertainment venue that fills the role of movie theaters or bowling alleys. It also hosted other events, such as board-game nights.

The 3,500-square-foot space at 495 Amherst St. has housed a number of businesses over the years, including a furniture store, bread store and tile center.

In a June 17 Telegraph story published just before the center opened, Gallien was enthusiastic about the location because of its proximity to the community college, right across the street, and to the Relentless Dragon game store, a few spaces away in the shopping center.

He also said that a dearth of entertainment venues for teenagers in western Nashua would help him stand out.

David Brooks can be reached at 594-6531 or dbrooks@nashua
telegraph.com. Also, follow Brooks’ blog on Twitter (@GraniteGeek).