Editor’s note: The following is our second installment in an occasional series on how this year’s tariff situation is impacting local businesses.
Since returning to office in January, President Donald Trump has escalated his administration’s signature trade tool: tariffs.
As of August, a sweeping set of new import duties is now in effect, including a 10% baseline tariff on nearly all foreign goods — with limited exceptions — and a web of country-specific tariffs that range as high as 50% for some U.S. trading partners. These reciprocal tariffs, finalized in late July and to be implemented on Aug. 7, now apply to imports from over 60 countries, reshaping the cost structure of global trade for American businesses.
China, however, remains on a separate track. A tem- page 2 porary tariff rollback negotiated in May capped most duties on Chinese imports at approximately 30%, down from earlier levels that reached as high as 145%. That truce remains in effect for now, but with a looming Aug. 12 deadline, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods could rise sharply again if no agreement is reached.
For small retailers and niche industries, especially those reliant on Asian imports, these evolving trade policies are already being felt. Among them are tabletop game stores, whose shelves are stocked with low-margin, high-volume products like cards, dice, miniatures, and board games, most of which are manufactured in China and subject to elevated U.S. import duties. With no immediate relief in sight and another potential tariff spike on the horizon, game store owners and distributors are finding it difficult to adapt.
To understand the on-the-ground effects of these tariffs, The News-Gazette visited Just Games, a locally owned game shop perched on the corner of Nelson and Jefferson in downtown Lexington. Co-owner Paige Gance spoke candidly about the pressure building behind the shop’s shelves.
Gance, who holds a background in economics and works at Washington and Lee University, offered a view of the long-term risks of tariffs to the games industry: “The manufacturing capability of China, especially for tabletop games, is unbeatable. It cannot move overnight to the United States. If this continues, publishers will go out of business — some already have — and the hobby will decline.”
That warning, she stressed, wasn’t political; it was practical. While in theory, tariffs should pressure companies to build out manufacturing capabilities stateside, in practice, small industries like tabletop games rely on more than infrastructure. China boasts not just factories, but the training and expertise that have allowed the hobby to flourish around the world.
“As much as I would love to buy products made in the United States, that’s just not going to happen on any reasonable time frame,” Gance said. “Especially not without the expertise and equipment, which also comes from China.”
So far, Just Games’ strategy has been one of preparation. Gance estimates the shop placed an order for five times its usual amount of dice earlier this year — “a tremendous amount,” she noted. “We figured: all dice are manufactured in China. Therefore, because these items are small, we are going to buy as many as we can afford.”
The gamble has helped them avoid raising prices, but Gance acknowledged it’s not a sustainable approach. “We only have so much room in our stock room.”
For product categories that can’t be forecasted — new releases, oneoff board games, collectible cards — the cost hikes are already being felt.
“Every time we go to restock now on games we haven’t been able to stock before, we’ve had to absorb a much higher cost,” she said. “On the order of 5% to 20% sometimes.” Whether those costs get passed on to the customer depends on the publisher. “Some are completely eating the tariffs. Some are passing the full amount on to us. Most are somewhere in between.”
Asked whether the rising prices were driven more by anxiety from flip-flopping policy announcements or actual cost increases, Gance didn’t hesitate. “We’ve absolutely had to pay more for items.”
Still, with their minds on their customer base, Gance and Just Games’ co-owner, her husband Zander Tallman, have been resisting making their own price hikes.
“We’ve tried as much as possible to avoid raising prices,” she said, “and one of the ways we’ve been able to do that is by stocking up much more than normal in advance of announced price increases from our publishers.”
That strategy has helped them keep customer prices stable for now, but it’s come at a cost. “We basically drew down most of our cash to stock up as much as possible,” Gance explained. “Cash that we would normally be doing other things with.”
For a business that sells entirely nonessential goods, inflation and tariffs both pose a particular threat. “We are obviously a store where people are only spending their discretionary income,” Gance said.
“Nothing we sell is essential. It’s great, it’s fun, and yes, on a philosophical level, fun is essential; you could argue that we need it more than ever. But it’s not something people need to live.”
That said, she noted a common theory among game shop owners: that in a small way, tabletop games may actually be “recession-proof.” In tougher times, customers might skip an expensive vacation and opt for a stay-at-home game night instead. “Some folks are pivoting to something like a board game at home, a staycation, if you will,” she said.
But there’s a limit to how long the industry can hold its breath.
At least for now, Just Games is stocked up and ready for the 2025 holiday season. “I absolutely believe that we have enough inventory to get through the holidays,” Gance said. “But if people have special requests, that may be more difficult. I’d just encourage people to shop early this year, so we have time to fill orders.”
The store weathered COVID-era supply chain chaos, she added, and they’re confident they’ll weather this too. But it will take patience, foresight —and a bit of luck. “We’ve survived that. We’ll survive this. But we’re definitely feeling it.”
