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New owners needed if Geraldton’s only gaming lounge is to remain open past August

Phoebe PinGeraldton Guardian
Harro's Gaming Lounge owner Stacey Dunen.
Camera IconHarro's Gaming Lounge owner Stacey Dunen. Credit: Picture: Phoebe Pin

Geraldton’s only gaming lounge will be forced to close its doors for good if new owners are not found soon.

Stacey and Dave Dunen opened Harro’s Gaming Lounge in August 2018, with more than 3500 individual users — mainly local youth — enjoying a selection of PC, console and virtual reality games in that time.

There is also an arcade machine loaded with almost 1000 old-school games.

Mrs Dunen previously worked as an IT technician and said running the business had been one of the “funnest” experiences of her career.

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But the young couple are now hoping to have children of their own, with Mrs Dunen saying the time was right to sell the business.

“We want to start a family and running a business at the same time is difficult,” she said.

Some parties have expressed interest in the gaming lounge since it went on the market in January, but Mrs Dunen said high rent prices may be deterring buyers. She said the gaming lounge would have to close if a buyer was not found by August.

“I would really like to see it go to someone else and see it continue on,” she said.

“It would be so weird to see this shop just cleared out and empty.”

Mrs Dunen said the sky was the limit on how the new owners wanted to run the business, with competitions and birthday parties proving popular in the past.

“A lot of the parents love having their parties here because they say it is the easiest party they have ever hosted,” she said.

“We get kids coming in by themselves but it is mainly kids coming in with their friends ... they will play Fortnight or Minecraft together.”

Prospective buyers can contact Harro’s Gaming Lounge for more information.

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