Young entrepreneur revives iconic Nelson game shop

Being an entrepreneur is no easy feat, and when you're a 20-year-old student balancing business ownership and another job the odds can feel stacked against you.

But that's not how Brady Stocks, the owner of Stuart’s News sees it. For him, the sacrifices he’s making now are necessary to build a solid foundation for the future.

“I’ve had to sacrifice a lot, but there's no huge sacrifices. It's just a little bit here and there,” he said.

Stocks took ownership of the Nelson-based game and card shop in January 2025 after working there for three and a half years. After the owner was slated for retirement, they planned to sell the business.

“The owner wanted to sell, and she was gonna sell by the end of the year—because her lease was up—she was just gonna close down,” he explained.

Not wanting to see a long-standing local business shut its doors, Stocks took a few days to think it over and then made an offer.

“The rest is history,” he said. “The only real money I spent was on food and gas for my car. Then, it was just ‘save, save, save’.”

With financial guidance from his father, an accountant, he was able to make an offer to the previous owner. Darlene Struty wanted to ensure that the business would have an owner who truly cared about the store’s legacy.

“When realizing that I can buy this business, it was like “here’s a Christmas present to myself.”

In addition to owning Stuart’s News, Stocks is a Business Administration student at Selkirk College and works as referee-in-chief for Nelson Minor Hockey.

“I oversee around 30-40 referees in Nelson,” he said.

His daily schedule is packed.

“I wake up at seven, 7 a.m., answer a couple of emails and then go to school. About noon-ish I stop school then I come here to the store.”

Stocks added that he’s typically at the shop from the afternoon until the evening, later returning home to complete any homework, business work, or hockey-related duties.

“After that, I get around an hour to myself. Then I go to bed and repeat it the next day.”

While the workload can be overwhelming at times, Stocks said his family—parents and older brother—are always there to support him.

“That's where my family comes in. They say, ‘just breathe, take a minute, refresh your mind, and then go from there’.”

Owning a store at the age of 20 is a major achievement, but Stocks said he still had to prove himself to customers and suppliers.

“That was a huge hurdle, to convince people after telling them my ideas and exactly what I'm gonna do," said Stocks.

“People are now like, ‘okay, he's serious’.”

He has already worked on improving the store, focusing on expanding product selection and enhancing Stuart’s News' social media presence.

“The first thing I thought of was advertising and social media,” he said. “Our main thing was to also expand our trading card offerings.”

Stocks also mentioned his passion for supporting local businesses and maintaining the store's over 30-year legacy.

“Everybody knows this place…It's one of the last local businesses in the mall,” he said.“That's why people always come to us. Stuart’s has been a local business from day one in Nelson, and I want to keep that going.”

For Stocks, owning the store has been more than just a business venture, it’s helped him grow as a person.

“If I wasn't working here, I'd probably still be very shy, and not be where I am today,” he admitted.

Stocks encourages other young people who want to purchase or start their own businesses to take the leap.

“Don't be scared,” he said. “If you mess up, everybody makes mistakes; they're fixable. If you have that will and that drive, you can do anything.”