In this video I’m answering a question we get a lot: how did Jay and I end up running a “art-first” hobby store that’s packed with what people call “elite materials” — Opus brushes, Harder & Steenbeck airbrushes, Redgrass palettes, Green Stuff World bits, niche stuff like Dirty Down, and basically every paint range under the sun. The honest answer is: it was accidental. It started the same way our hobby started — a bunch of us meeting at Games Workshop back in the day, syncing up on painting standards, and then protecting a weekly hobby night for years no matter what. Because we painted more than we gamed, we naturally kept hunting for better tools and better materials. And the big difference with our store is we don’t just stock products — we actually use them. I can usually tell you “yeah, I like this” or “here’s what to expect” because I’ve put the mileage in, even if I haven’t used every single one of the 11,000 products we carry. The takeaway is pretty simple: the store grew out of genuine love of painting, and that authenticity attracts the same kind of people. When your customer base is painters who finish models, every release stays exciting — not because of editions or rules, but because the character is cool and you want to paint it.