What's your favorite local game store?

[EOL]

Hastur Hobbies

"The Game Store which must not be named!"

 

[Paragon]

There's this Talon Comics place in my town. It's ok
The owner's kinda weird though.




Paragon

 

[Maerdwyn]

Maerdwyn,
you beat me to it -- I was planning on starting a similar thread but instead of just naming favorites, I was going to try to get people to give the pros and cons of the stores in their area.

Sounds like a good idea to me

Here's my evaluation of Bay Area, CA stores:

San Francisco:

Gamescape San Francisco
333 Divisadero St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
(415) 621-4263
Pros: Great selection, good sized used section, in store gaming.
Cons: few discounts, used section is invariably expensive compared to other area stores, including the other Gamescapes. Staff is somewhat indifferent, IMHO. Parking is tough.


Peninsula:

Gator Games & Hobby
4212 Olympic Ave
San Mateo CA 94587
650-571-PLAY(7529)
http://www.gatorgames.com
Gator Games is, as stated above, my favorite of the whole area, and is located in San Mateo on the Peninsula. Pros: Great Selection, well informed staff, constant discounts, twice-weekly game nights, lots of parking and the owner is a great person who will work to find anything you're looking for. Cons: no dedicated in-store gaming space, used section is somewhat small (but cheap!)

Gamescape Palo Alto
465 S. California Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94306
(650) 322-4263
Home of my first campaign when I moved to the area, I have a soft spot for this store.
Pros: A good selection, a decent and inexpensive, but shrinking, used section. In Store gaming, with lots of terrain avalable for use. Staff is friendly and helpful. Adequate parking.
Cons: few discounts, staff is Very RPG oriented, and not all that helpful with miniatures games or board games, in my experience.

North Bay:
Gamescape
1225 4th St
San Rafael, CA 94901
(415) 457-8698

Nice, well organized store. Pros: In-Store gaming, very good selection, painting classes, excellent used section, with reasonable prices (except of 1e hardbacks). Cons: Few discounts, staff is well informed but no overly helpful IMHO, hard to get a parking space sometimes.


Ian's Games
301 Georgia St #A12
Vallejo, CA 94590
(707) 552-7127
Nice sized store in an ugly pink building.
pros: Good selection, especially of older RPG's; entire store is always on sale, usually 15%(GW 10% off), some items deeply discounted; Some Used stuff; Ian is very helpfu, plentiful free parking. Cons: Only Open Fridys (2-6)and Saturdays (8-5)


East Bay:

Epic Worlds
Castro Valley Blvd
Castro Vally, CA USA
510-733-2585
Small store, with a very good used section. They usually have a booth at area cons.
pros: Used section is huge. In store gaming.
cons: hours are irregular - call before going. Selection is limited for everything except GW. Staff is only marginally helpful. Used section is huge, but very expensive.

Games of Berkeley:
Large store in downtown Berkeley. I basically echo eveyone else's comments about GoB.

Scenario Game and Hobby
37120 Fremont Blvd.
Fremont CA 94536
510-792-9333
http://www.scenariogame.com/
Really large store thant's been around for decades, but whaich was taken over by eminent domain and will be demolished to make room for a mall.
Pros: Massive selection of all things hobby and scouting related. Had a whole bunch of old school minis (T'Char the dragon, anyone?) until I bought most of them . Really large instore gaming room. Helpful owners, dedicated to the hobby.
Cons: They may re-open in the new mall, they may not.


South Bay

Neutral Ground
San Antonio Plaza
Mountain View, CA
Pros: Great in-store gaming, good GW selection. Right next to San Antonio Hobby Shop, where I buy all my terain-making supplies, paint, and brushes.
Cons: RPG selection isn't great, and has been shrinking.

D&J HOBBIES & CRAFTS
16 SAN THOMAS AQUINO RD
CAMPBELL CA 95008
Pros: Another really massive store, dedicated not just to gaming, but to RC cars, model trains, and general crafts.
Pros: Good selection, Only place in the bay area to get Old Glory and Foundry Miniatures in any quantity, as far as I know. Usually there are several 30% off bins near the front of the store. Lots of parking

Cons: Staff is hit or miss (especially in the gaming dept.), few discounts on current stuff. Minis are all behind glass doors, and not all that organized, making it a bit hard to browse.


There are other stores in the area, but these are the ones I visit enough to comment on.

Edit: Added my comments on Neutral Ground, after being reminded by Gizzard.

 

[Neowolf]

My favorite is Lion & Unicorn in Hoover, Alabama. However, there's another store that just recently opened that I haven't been to yet...

 

[Maerdwyn]

I've been to Gator Games a few times.

What nights do they do those pizza night things?

I might consider that in 5-6 months when I have time to DM again... I'll be short 1-2 players depending on who in my current batch I choose to keep.

Game Night's are Monday and Tuesday, with Mondays being more devoted to CCG tournaments/leagues and minatures games, and Tuesdays more for the RPGers. They are held from 6:00 to 9:00 at:

Pizza and Pipes
Redwood City
821 Winslow Street
Redwood City, 94063
Phone 650-365-6543

 

[Dr. Confoundo]

So where else do people go in the Bay Area? Or LA for that matter? I just made a little pilgrimage around the LA game shops when visiting over Christmas, but I am always looking for new places.

As for the Bay Area, I'll put in another vote in for Gamescape on Divisadero in S.F. During my school years at SFSU, this was the *best* games store in the city, and I always stop in every time I'm in town. It doesn't hurt that Comix Experience, the best comics store in the city, if not the state, is two doors down.

Los Angeles, on the other hand, has a few okay stores, but nothing really stellar.

Someone mentioned Aero Hobbies in Santa Monica, but I'm not crazy about it. It has the same problem that The Last Grenadier in Burbank and the Warhouse/Balboa Games in Long Beach have: Slightly scary old men who will talk your ear off about their D&D campaign.

Last Grenadier in Northridge is small, and won't have everything you are looking for.

AllWays Gaming, also in Northridge, is mostly a CCG/Minis store, and you'll have to fight your way past bunches of kids.

Third Planet in Torrance is pretty cool. They've got a pretty wide selection of stuff, and the guys behind the counter are nice.

But I'd say the best selection to be found in all of Los Angeles would have to be Brookhurst Hobbies, down in Orange County. They have two copies of everything... I will sometimes make the trek down there just because I know no other store will have something particular.

Doc

 

[Maerdwyn]

Oh yeah....

re: Brookhurst Hobbies - My wifes folks used to live in Orange county and I happened upon that store during a visit once a few years ago. Suddenly, my wallet was about $125 lighter. Great store

 

[Agamon]

Up in my neck of the woods, The Sentry Box in Calgary is something to see. Brings tears to a gamer's eyes, I tell ya. It's absolutely huge and full of games of all types, as well as anime and fantasy and SF literature. Plus, it has a huge gaming "room" which is more like a balcony overlooking the store.

Anything I can't get locally, I order from Sentry Box, and they always have what I'm looking for. And i'm not ordering from the US, which is good; I always get burned big-time when ordering anyhting across the border.

 

[Cyragnome]

For the DC area, I have to agree with the others on Game Parlor. Bright, open, clean...lots of tables for those who want to play, etc. They shrinkwrap their books, which makes thumbing through and looking a problem, but I only go out there if I *know* I want something.

I don't know MD too well, so no opinions their.

I do go to the Compleat Strategist in Falls Church, mainly because it's so close to home, and while they are getting better than they used to be (imagine frayed grey carpet-not sure of the original color-slanted bookshelves; many books bent, dog eared, twisted; unfriendly staff; cramped, etc. etc. etc.) with new carpet, a little more open and some new aquisitions in their staff; it's still a bit disappointing. The best description I've heard is my fiancee calls it "Zed's" and if you've seen Pulp Fiction the "Gimp's" in the back...somewhere.

I used to go to another place, long gone, called Wargamer's in Sterling, again unfriendly staff, but they did have great prices in the day.

 

[Gizzard]

Gamescape San Francisco
...Parking is tough

Hehe. I usually park in front of the Shell (?) a block to the north. Never had a problem. Usually go late on weekends since I live in the East Bay.

Games of Berkeley:
... I basically echo everyone else's comments about GoB.

As far as I can tell, they changed management (or assistant management?) sometime a year or two back. Things have steadily gotten worse since then. They used to have a great selection of RPGs, but now things are very hit-or-miss. The same with board games. (Actually, this store was one of the ones I was thinking of when discussing how bad business practices can kill a store. I dont think they are close to death, they do have a great location to prop them up. But, really, everyone has noticed the problems they are having. And thats not a good thing for them.)

Another big Bay Area store is Neutral Ground in Los Altos (?). Its huge, with multiple tables for gaming. They mostly do Magic and GW games, but they dabble in lots of different stuff. On Friday nights you have a fair chance of picking up a game of almost anything ever made.