I haven’t written for the soapbox in a while, the last time I was tempted to write was right after the record breaking GP 2010 when we drew 1000 plus Magic players to join the event, but in the end I ended up letting the event speak for itself, being the biggest Grand Prix in Asia for 2010 . It’s too bad that the occasion that would lead me back to writing for the soapbox isn’t exactly good news.

For 12 years or so we have called Robinsons Galleria our home for various hobbies. In fact to some, Neutral Grounds (or “Neutral” or “NG”) might be synonymous with Galleria. We know some of you have made regular weekly schedules to go to Galleria to play your favorite games, or to purchase the latest release or play tournaments or just meet regularly with your gaming friends. We all shall have fond memories of this site and location.

It is therefore with a sad and heavy heart that we bid farewell to Neutral Grounds Galleria. We will be ceasing to operate at Robinsons Galleria on the 17th of May in the year 2011.

I am writing this statement to inform people where they could locate other Neutral Grounds locations to purchase and where we have relocated the regular weekly events and weekend events and to explain what transpired behind the scenes.

We would rather have stayed on in Galleria, partly for nostalgic reasons. We’ve known kids who have been going to Galleria regularly and are now grown men (some of them with kids of their own now). We know you and your families or special someone have grown accustomed to Galleria and probably call it your second home on weekends. Alas all good things must come to an end, and we believe we owe you, our Galleria regulars, an explanation and an assurance.

We never asked to be relocated. In fact, we’re perfectly fine with our location; we never initiated any meeting to merely complain about weak traffic flowing through the area. When we were asked about the traffic flow, we actually told them that we generate our own traffic since being with the same mall for 12 years allows our friends to build their habits around spending weekends in the mall. When NG customers go to Galleria, they take their loved ones with them who find other stuff to do in the mall as well (even during those times that the mall had a lot more closed, unoccupied spaces).

A few months ago, we were requested to move NG to a 4 square meter kiosk space. Obviously the mall does not have an inkling of what Neutral Grounds does or the amount of inventory that this branch keeps. We pointed out this very basic oversight, and after some time, we were given an offer for a 15 square meter space, right beside spaces that give purely services (definitely not a “zone” where retail sales is done). This sort of led me to a conclusion that maybe zoning was not the real issue here. Therefore, during our meeting I asked pointblank if they have someone waiting for my space and the space next to mine, which has already vacated a month before, willing to get the two spaces at a higher rate. I did not get a response to this question.

We have exhausted all civil means and have delayed making the closing of the store to the last minute, hoping that Galleria would value the more than a decade’s worth of relationship more than their need to “zone” our current location. However they seem really intent to reacquire our space to be given to whoever is waiting on the wings. We had to go through several stages before reaching acceptance; we went through disbelief, anger, bargaining and finally acceptance.

When we moved to our current location, we were told that it is to be a Boys’ Toys area (and yes, for a while Filbar’s was there, but what kind of toys will Goldenhills Jewelry or even HBC offer to boys, I wonder). They then turned it into a sports and hobbies area (which perfectly suits a lot of the tenants there). Then now they turned it into an exclusively sports area (now really, sports?! I just have to look from across the store to see a display glass full of “sporty” decals but not selling anything sporty at all).

In the end, no matter how hard we had to agonize over our decision to not accept their offer of a smaller space, we had to make our stand. Frankly we felt insulted and unvalued and therefore decided to not take the offer.

In light of this we would like to redirect all our friends, customers and patrons to our other stores in nearby locations. All regularly scheduled games in Galleria will now be held at Neutral Grounds in Eton Cyberpod, which is just across Ortigas from Galleria (go out through the Krispy Kreme exit and you won’t miss Eton). All pending orders at NG Galleria will also now be served through NG Eton Cyberpod. We have been running our regular weekend events which gather anywhere from 100 to 400 participants every weekend there already, and a lot of gamers have made their regular weekly habit of being at Eton Cyberpod. The Eton Cyberpod branch will be assigned its own phone number within the next weeks, and we will announce it as well. For your gaming requirements, you can also feel free to drop by Neutral Grounds Megamall (4L, SM Mega B – 4250275 or Neutral Grounds VMall (3L, near the food court – Telephone Number 7278583).

Before I close, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the management, leasing, and marketing department of Robinsons Galleria past and present for the more than ten years of business at your location, but alas we have to say goodbye.

Thank you also to the management, leasing, and marketing department of Eton Cyberpod for understanding and realizing and appreciating the Filipino gamer. You guys understand that the people we bring to your mall are valuable, usually of above average intelligence, with good command of English and generally above average earning capacity, typically the demographic malls usually want in their malls (guys with disposable income) plus the fact that these gamers usually have to eat lunch and dinner at the mall, along with the people they go with, either significant others or their families. Too bad not everyone understands this. We truly are one of the most misunderstood segments of fringe society. “GAMER AKO! May angal ka?”

Thank you to all our gamers who have supported us for the past decade.

We are also considering looking for a location that is not necessarily located inside a mall, where we can conduct gaming events, and not too bound by the whims and fancies of the constantly changing (flavor of the month style) lease officers of some malls. If any of you know of a location or have a suggestion do not hesitate to drop us a line, or let me know when you see me at the events. 

Thank you for reading and let the games proceed!!!