Front & Center: Game World owner Matt McKerall turned passion for video games into thriving business

A childhood hobby of playing video games has turned into a thriving business for Matt McKerall.

The owner of Game World began selling video games as a high school student at an outdoor market in Victorville, California, and subsequently expanded the vendor business into a brick-and-mortar store in nearby Barstow in 1999.

Since then, Game World has steadily grown to become a large independent video game retailer with 18 employees and three additional stores in Spokane, Spokane Valley and Fort Irwin, California.

Although McKerall permanently closed a Game World store last summer in Bakersfield, California, because of the pandemic, video game sales have been brisk at other locations as more customers look for home entertainment options.

That demand has allowed McKerall to add more products in his stores, which sell retro and new release video…