No, this has nothing to do with 5th edition coming to a close and the approach of 6th edition. It's much more sad than that and hits much closer to home.
As many of you know the place I play at regularly is known as the Battle Barn (yes it's literally a barn, red paint job and everything!) Well it's going to be closing soon. It's not all doom and gloom though. The reason the barn was opened was because there was no place in town to game and Jeff (the owner) and Brian (our de-facto club president) decided that to try to keep gaming alive they would clean out the barn and have regular game nights.
Recently though, a few new game stores have opened their doors and are offering open gaming. Places like Cobblestone Hobbies in Holland and Alpha Omega Coffee and Games in Cedar Springs have gaming on Saturday afternoons while Big Kidz Games in Grand Rapids offers open gaming everyday of the week (even on Fridays during Friday Night Magic!) With a few options open now for regular gaming there is no longer a need for the Barn and so sadly Jeff has decided to close it.
I have made many friends in the few years that I have been gaming out at the Barn and I hope that they will continue on to these new locations (as I will frequent all of them!) It's great that gaming has become so strong in the area to support multiple locations but the Barn will be missed.
I want to thank Jeff and especially his wife for opening up his Barn to all of us these past few years. It's been a great run!