Posted on chicagobusiness.com, December 11, 2015
Lindsay Gaskins, 39, is CEO of Marbles: The Brain Store, a games and gadgets retailer she started in Chicago in 2008 and grew to 42 stores nationwide, with 50 more planned in the next three years. A college basketball player, Gaskins still plays in a competitive league weekly. She lives with her wife, Laura Barnard, and two young daughters in Wicker Park, where Gaskins is president of the parents group at Chicago Public Schools’ A.N. Pritzker School.
How do you know they’re aware? One year for our store managers conference, we all read the book “The Power of Habit” (by Charles Duhigg). Everyone was like, “This is what Lindsay does.” But I still do it.
What makes you mad? Guns.
How so? I really don’t understand why politicians on either side of the aisle aren’t addressing it. People are dying, kids are dying. I wish our country would not stand back and say it can’t be done. Other countries have figured it out.
Your flight is delayed. What do you do? I always try to make those airport spas work—I’m like, these are the best idea ever!—but they never have anyone working. I’ll keep trying.
Item you’d grab in a fire? The nearest piece of artwork from my wall, just to have something sentimental.
When you play games, do you play by the rules? I am a rules stickler on many things, but with little kids, I’m getting used to bending more.
Your kids must love what you do for a living. Pretty much every game Marbles carries has come through our house. I feel like Christmas isn’t the same for them because we’re always opening new stuff.
