New Wichita game and hobby shop opens for sales and tournaments

Southeast High School teacher Jonathon Schweer isn’t quitting his day job, but he’s finally pursuing his dream of having a game and hobby store.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” he said.

Pink Elephant Games and Hobby is at 5120 E. Central near Angelo’s.

“I’ve been playing collectible card games in Wichita for 20 years now,” said Schweer, who teaches engineering and mathematics.

He said he has regularly thought, “If I owned a shop, I’d do this, and I could do this better.”

Finally, he said, “I just kind of thought, well, why don’t I just do this?”

Customers can buy popular games, such as Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon cards, or visit the shop for tournaments and events.

The cards all “fall in the collectible card game market.”

“They’re way different from, like, blackjack or poker or anything like that.”

They’re the kind of cards that every few months, there are new ones for collectors to buy and form sets.

The hobby portion of the shop has items such as Star Wars: Legion, that require customers to assemble and paint miniatures before they build armies and do battle.

The Pink Elephant name comes from a couple of places. Schweer’s wife, Gayani Wijegunawardena, is from Sri Lanka and particularly likes elephants.

“In her country, elephants are like a sacred animal,” Schweer said.

And he has always liked pink — his favorite color.

Together, he said the name is “something memorable.”

With the pandemic, Schweer is teaching from his store on many afternoons because it’s quieter than his house. He said a number of his students are card players.

“They’re all excited,” he said of him having a shop.

Often, he said, he uses examples from his store for class. For instance, he can explain costs and profit by showing how $1,000 in merchandise sales don’t equate to $1,000 profit.

“So I can use . . . real-world examples.”

Schweer said he’s learning quite a bit, such as how talking about having a good shop and doing it are two different things.

Still, he said, “I’m just excited to be adding some value to the city of Wichita.”