Tell me about your favorite game store

[goodmangames]

Hi everyone,

One thing that struck me about reactions to my recent post was the various commentary on game stores.

There are definitely some poorly-run game stores out there, no doubt about it.

There are also many well-run game stores out there. Hundreds and hundreds of them, in fact.

So tell me...what is your favorite game store, and why?

Thanks,
Joseph

 

[Crothian]

Bookery Fantasy Comics, Collectibles, Games, and Toys

The Bookery, which is near Dayton Ohio. There are 4 or 5 gaming stores within 20 minutes of me. I might stop by them once a year. The Bookery is over an hour away and when they have special events like the Ohio Gamedays I make sure to get there.

The Bookery has a very good selection of RPGs both current and out of print. They have discounted used RPGs as well. They have a good board game, minatures, and CCGs it seems though I don't do as much with that so haven't really looked into it. But just being in the store you can tell the selection is good.

They have two basements for games. There is plenty of free standing minature terrains and people come in every weekend it seems to use the space. The people are always friendly and it is one of the few stores I've been in where the person behind the counter has admnitted to not knowing something. There is plenty of space to walk around and everything is very clean.

One nice thing is they have more then gaming there. They have a kick ass comic book store, a place for action figures and other more grown up toys. It is a place I could spend hours just looking through everything they have.

I have been to about a dozen or so gaming stores in Ohio and Bookery is easily the best in the state.

 

[darjr]

I have a few around here.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/4829993-post26.html

The above was inspired by that thread, and I guess by your own tour.

Where are you posting your travelogue of your tour?

Edit: I should have realized that it was at the Goodman games forums

 

[FunkBGR]

Critical Hit Games

Local shop that offers rpg's, board games, W40k, etc. The main draw of the store? You absolutely cannot beat the atmosphere and effort the owner puts into his store. My favorite game store to ever exist in the Iowa City / Coralville area.

 

[Eridanis]

Yay! I get to be the first to put forth Games Plus, in Mt. Prospect, IL. Clean store with a deep and wide stock of games of every persuasion; plenty of gaming space; knowledgable staff who participate in the community, both in person and online.

No other store I've been in is in its league. I've lived in the NYC area, Buffalo, Chicagoland, central Illinois, and the SF Bay Area and have shopped in some nice stores (and some not-so-nice ones), and they are the best.

 

[Festivus]

Game Empire - Pasadena, CA
Game Empire Pasadena - A great place, meet people, hangout, play games, and make new friends.

Big store (two stores wide) with a wide selection of games ranging from chess to Warhammer to D&D and everything inbetween. The owner is very supportive of all games and gamers, dedicating half the store to nothing but game tables. It's always busy with something going on every day of the week. They offer introduction sessions for various games and have a stable of boardgames you can go in and try before you buy.

The employees are all very knowledgable about what they sell, are courteous and clean.

There is a HUGE used book section, where I often find myself digging out some nugget of yesteryear. A friend f mine snagged Gamma World 2e last month as I recall, for $10 and it included a couple adventures too.

 

[Dyson Logos]

Fandom II – my FLGS in Ottawa « A character for every game

As a long-time resident of Ottawa, I would be remiss to not brag about our excellent Friendly Local Gaming Store (FLGS). I’ve shopped at a dozen stores in the city over the years, and even had my loyalties lie elsewhere for some time – shopping at Master Yang’s, or the Silver Snail, or even the Comic Book Shoppe in Nepean. But time and again I find myself back at Fandom. Fandom has it all. They’ve been gaming at Fandom since forever, and then some. Of the original three guys who ran the place back when I started going there in 1980 when it was in front of Ottawa U, good old Randy is still behind the counter when you walk it today – somewhat grumpy, somewhat jovial, and always a source of interesting minutia about gaming, games and the industry. The selection is incredible, the grognarderie impressive, and there’s even a dungeon-like gaming ghetto in the basement with a few tables for the resident gamers to gather.

I’ve bought an uncountable number of games at Fandom – from my D&D Expert set, through to Cyborg Commando and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and on to CyberPunk, Shadowrun, the fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons and Feng Shui.

After shopping across Canada for games, I can say that Fandom is only equalled by the Valet de Coeurs in Montreal and surpassed by the Sentry Box in Calgary. All are incredible shops well worth visiting, especially in my quest to support the FLGS.

 

[Dyson Logos]

Please to ignore.

This post, it is a double.

 

[FriarRosing]

Bookery Fantasy Comics, Collectibles, Games, and Toys

The Bookery, which is near Dayton Ohio. There are 4 or 5 gaming stores within 20 minutes of me. I might stop by them once a year. The Bookery is over an hour away and when they have special events like the Ohio Gamedays I make sure to get there.

The Bookery has a very good selection of RPGs both current and out of print. They have discounted used RPGs as well. They have a good board game, minatures, and CCGs it seems though I don't do as much with that so haven't really looked into it. But just being in the store you can tell the selection is good.

They have two basements for games. There is plenty of free standing minature terrains and people come in every weekend it seems to use the space. The people are always friendly and it is one of the few stores I've been in where the person behind the counter has admnitted to not knowing something. There is plenty of space to walk around and everything is very clean.

One nice thing is they have more then gaming there. They have a kick ass comic book store, a place for action figures and other more grown up toys. It is a place I could spend hours just looking through everything they have.

I have been to about a dozen or so gaming stores in Ohio and Bookery is easily the best in the state.

He speaks the truth. The Bookery is probably my favorite game store too.

 

[Cincinnatus]

He speaks the truth. The Bookery is probably my favorite game store too.

I liked it a lot better before they remodeled about a year or so ago.

My favorite:

YOTTAQUEST, Mt. Healthy, Ohio

http://www.yottaquest.com

This is one of the biggest things I miss about living in Cincinnati. Yottaquest is about 15 minutes outside of downtown Cincinnati. There's everything one ever could want in the way of gaming - friendly service, large selection, big tables to play, and something cool going on almost every day of the week.

Go there and spend money!