VIDEO: Local Legends makes brick-and-mortar play with new Westport gaming center
November 26, 2018 | Austin Barnes and Tommy Felts
A popular E-Sports startup plans to level up sooner than its founder ever envisioned — putting Local Legends Gaming on Main Street.
Brianna and AbdulRasheed Yahaya, Local Legends Gaming
But this time, it’s wheels up, said AbdulRasheed Yahaya.
“We really want to introduce Kansas City to the big, E-Sports brand and how social [gaming] really is,” Yahaya said of his new brick-and-mortar business venture — Local Legends Gaming Center.
The site at 3933 Main St., near dozens of Westport area entertainment options, comes about a year after Yahaya and his wife, Brianna, launched Local Legends as a mobile gaming truck. The two planned a slow rollout, hoping to develop a gaming center further down the road. But when the opportunity to move beyond a successful string of one-off birthday parties and events presented itself more quickly, the Yahayas were ready to pounce.
Keep reading below the video.
“We want to provide an opportunity for [serious gamers] to truly shine,” he said of the training aspect Local Legends will offer gamers. “We’re going to find individuals who are passionate and enable them to be as great as they possibly can be.”
Set to open Dec. 8, Local Legends will serve as a training site for E-Sports enthusiasts, eager to hit the next level in the world of competitive gaming, Yahaya explained.
Offering players a place where they feel truly welcome, he said, the location could help defeat common stereotypes through social gaming.
“We provide opportunities for two or more individuals to sit on a couch together and get to know each other, make friends off of a liked, beloved experience,” Yahaya said, echoing a philosophy that helped make the ongoing mobile gaming truck a success.
Click here to read more about Local Legends Gaming’s beginnings, as well as E-Sports in Kansas City.
Creating a space for gamers to share their interests is the first step in a greater community cause — providing a gathering place that feels like a home away from home for young people in the metro, he said.
The entrepreneur plans to partner with such local brands as MADE Urban Apparel and HeartShaped Clothing — both companies that are likely to hold retail space inside the gaming center, Yahaya said — to host events that promote fun for young people, outside of clubs and bars.
Local Legends Gaming Center will also serve as an event space, Yayhaya said, enabling the startup founder to maximize the full potential of his 5,000-square-foot center.
Featured Business
2018 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Rhonda Dolan, on-demand personal assistant Udo honored as Chamber’s Entrepreneur of the Year
A lunchtime affair at the 2019 Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Awards quickly turned from celebratory mingling to shock and awe for Rhonda Dolan. “For [the Chamber] to recognize my efforts over the last year, which have been pretty intense, means a lot,” said Dolan, founder and CEO of Udo, reflecting on her…
Atlanta-based Opportunity Hub announces plans for KC minority accelerator
Opportunity Hub is about building strength in numbers, said Rodney Sampson, a feat that can only be accomplished in Kansas City through inclusive and intentional ecosystem building. “The bottom line is that it takes everybody to be a stakeholder at some level,” said Sampson executive chairman and CEO of Atlanta-based OHUB. “The thesis of a…
Can KC build the next billion-dollar company? ‘We have the internet here too’
Ambitious startups need to believe they can become Kansas City’s next billion-dollar company, said John Thomson, urging confidence — and the ability to roll with the punches — in the face of risk. “Accomplished entrepreneurs who I’ve met … they just did it. Of course it was risky, and it might fail, but they went and…
KC’s MixTape Monkey curates 11 million users through hip hop streaming service
Taking a long sigh, an underground mixtape mogul logs off from a live Q&A session with customers. Inside his two-bedroom downtown Kansas City apartment, Mark Serrano stares out a window overlooking the corner of 12th and Walnut streets. “Online I have this huge community, itʼs overwhelming,” said Serrano, referencing his staggering global user base of…