I can probably best describe The Box as being the Platonic ideal of a gaming store. It is the ideal, that each of us holds, that allows us to identify the imperfect reflections cast by all other game stores.
This review has been a long time coming. I grew up in Calgary, and have been coming to Sentry Box since probably about 1996 or so. I remember dedicating entire days to trips to The Box where my friends and I would take the train downtown and then walk 45 minutes just to get there.
They have more square footage dedicated to Warhammer alone (including its weird spinoffs dating back to the 90's) than most Games Workshop stores have in total and that's on top of their massive selection of RPG's, board games, a fantasy and sci-fi novel selection that is three times the size of anything you'd find in a Chapters, enough CCG cards to destroy the suspension of a good sized truck were you to load them all in, and that's just the mainstream stuff.
The real magic of the place comes when you start digging through old stock and obscure stuff. Are you looking for an obscure Green Ronin D&D 3rd edition splatbook from 2001? There is a reasonable chance they might have it. Maybe you've always loved Paladium? Well, from RIFTS to Heroes Unlimited, they have all the black and white line art and bizarre rules Siembieda's ever released. Have you embraced the OSR and are hunting for a hardcopy of OSRIC? Yep, they got it. Do you want a copy of Queen of the Demonweb Pits to go along with that? Check the used stuff, and assuming I haven't been through recently they might have it. The prices are fair, generally in line with Noble Knights, and although their used selection has been shrinking over the past couple years you still occasionally find some real gems.
Last but not least maybe you feel like going full grognard and doing some proper wargaming. Well, at the back of the store there's a staircase leading up to the second floor where you will quickly realize that they are quite possibly the only gaming store on the planet that stocks miniature, as well as hex and chit board wargames. Everything from Advanced Squad Leader and the latest releases from GMT games to 15mm Napoleonics.
The staff is great, especially once you get to know them and can figure out who is the best one to ask for certain things, but I'd like to give a particular shout out to the gentleman with the British accent, I believe his name might be Greg. He's been there for years, knows the store about as well as anyone possibly could, and he once spent the better part of half an hour helping me hunt for a Shadowrun book that had been miss-shelved.
