Amadeo Herrera, owner of PokéOasis in Fort Worth, TX, started selling cards on social media in 2021, got a brick and mortar store in 2023, and now has given up online sales altogether in favor of buying, selling, and trading at card shows. “I’m on a flight every week,” he told Fort Worth Report. “That’s really where the money comes from.” That nugget is part of a larger story about the surge in popularity of trading cards, which also includes an interview with the owner of Fort Worth’s Galactic Gamez. Both Herrera and Galactic Gamez owner employee Tyler Cox talk about the nuts and bolts of selling collectible cards, including the frustration of bots who scoop up new items as soon as they are available and big retail chains that get new releases early. What has emerged is a split between the players and the profit-seekers. “We know the deal,” Cox said. “They’re not really the true nerds like the rest of us are. They’re in here just to kind of make a quick buck.”
The Post and Courier of Columbia, SC, profiles two local game stores, The Side Deck and Firefly Toys and Games, both of which recently expanded to three locations. While the article focuses on the community surrounding the stores (one manager got married in his store, and one co-owner first went to the store when her child got into gaming), there’s also an interesting side trip about research into RPGs as therapy, which is taking place at the University of South Carolina.
“My ultimate goal is to be a home to all nerds,” Bill Yowell, manager of the Reaper Game Store in Denton, TX, told the Dallas Observer. The store has its own factory that casts miniatures from metal and plastic, as well as a Paint Club for customers to talk shop while they decorate their own figures. It also has its own four-day con, ReaperCon, every Labor Day weekend. In between cons, Yowell works hard to make the store a welcoming space for a variety of customers, including homeschool groups and adult gamers who regard it as a second home. “I’d rather see a room full of people smiling than count dollars at the register,” Yowell said. “When you make people happy, the sales come anyway.”
The newest game shop in Hermiston, OR, opened its doors on April 14. Fusion Games, in the Hermison Plaza, will focus on fantasy games such as Warhammer, Dungeons & Dragons, and Magic: The Gathering, owners Izzy and Dazua Stiefel told the East Oregonian. The store also offers 3D-printed objects and can produce custom figures for customers. The store has a large Warhammer table where customers can come and play at no cost, and the Stiefels encourage the public to come in and try out the games. “You can come in and play it and see if it’s a game for you without spending any money,” Izzy said. Fusion is the second game store in Hermiston; “It’s kind of a niche market, but it’s growing,” Izzy said.
If your spirits could use a lift, check out this photo gallery featuring Critical Whiskers, a combination game store and cat lounge, at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. There’s a fuller article about the store that’s behind a paywall, but the pictures tell the story (and they’re super cute, too!).
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