Huzzah Hobbies — Attraction in Ashburn

Honest reviewer here who gives honest advice. Huzzah Hobbies is a little gem and a throwback to another era in the hobby. It is not a hobby store but more a game store with a small but decent hobby tool and paint section. There is also a section for miniatures but it is 95% fantasy based. For historical gamers you will not have your itch scratched here. But to be fair those places that would —no longer exist in this area. Their bread and butter is clearly the renting out of table space to play wargames. Both board and miniature types. That section of the store is 2x as large as the merchandise side.

Ok, the problem and the 1 star. Despite what others rate the store, the absolute weak link for the store is the incredibly immature staff. I have been going to this store for years and spent hundreds of dollars. So this comment is not a one off bad experience. I know they hire gaming enthusiasts who would probably rather be playing games, eating or talking than manning the counter. They are far too often disinterested, talking to each other, sloppily eating food in front of you or at times plain rude. They clearly do not have much interest in working and the major issue for me in particular is that they have zerooo knowledge about the “store” side of the shop. The actual merchandise and money makers. They have literally never been able to answer even the most basic questions.

It is sadly like a bunch of adolescent gamers grouped together and opened a grown up store but have no clue how to run it. This store is in desperate need of non-game playing salespeople, and a manager. Frankly, I try to support local businesses and avoid the internet shopping if I can for hobby supplies but coming to Huzzah for the merchandise side is a huge turn off for a middle aged guy who will spend money. The staff dismisses my demographic which the owner needs to know. Why? Because we have more disposable income to spend in the store than the counter workers buddies...

A gem of a game store, doing their best.

They should train their staff bettter, a case study: I called for a pokemon preorder, they said I could get one of each black and white ETBS. Had they specified at the time i could not, i would have changed my order to get an etb and a booster bundle, and avoided this entirely.

Had they appologized in short form when I got ther today and they couldn't fill the order with some kind of "we didn't get product we expected, this is all we had, we have to make do" then I wouldn't be upset at all, the market is the market.

But what they said, when they didn't fill my preorder was "It's always this way, you can only have one etb."

This is an enormous and deliberate violation of customer trust, because I specifically ordered small in order to be polite to their other customers, I didn't order booster bundles, poster sets, nothing, aside the very small and reasonable order I made, and I made it in the confidence they would deliver.

But they didn't, and they didn't it SEEMS, according to the explination in the store, on purpose according to policy.

So.... Either the person taking the preorders, or the person issuing the appology, is grossly misinformed. I don't mind, but now my kids are upset because I couldn't get the product I promised them litearlly on my way out the door to get the preorder, assuming I would get the product I was promised, product I could have easily gotten with a little effort or money had I been properly informed, product that is now sold out everywhere.

So points for trying and being a delightful shop that does a great job for it's community, -1 point for poor pre order exectuion, - 1 point for terrible appologies, and -1 point for making my 5 year old cry.

edit: Minus one more point for deliberatly misunderstanding this review and trying to respond below trying to frame it as if I were upset about allocations and not their willfully bad comunicataions and...

⭐️ Poor Experience – Would Not Recommend

My friends and I were visiting from out of town to meet up for a Dungeons & Dragons session, and we needed to grab some last-minute supplies — mainly dice. We were recommended to check out Huzzah Hobbies, but honestly, it was one of the worst shopping experiences I’ve had in a long time.

We walked in and weren’t greeted. The man behind the counter never acknowledged us with a smile or even got up to help. Every time we asked a question, he responded with long, exaggerated sighs — like we were bothering him. There were six of us, and yes, most of us are from the South where customer service tends to be warmer, but friendliness should be universal — especially when customers are ready to spend money.

On top of that, the prices were steep. I asked for a specific item and was recommended something completely different, which I didn’t realize until it was too late. That purchase ended up being a total waste. One of my friends asked what made their store stand out or what they were known for, and his only response was, “It’s on the board.” No effort. No engagement. No thank-you for stopping by.

It left us with a bad impression — not just of the store, but of the kind of gatekeeping or cold attitude that unfortunately turns people away from hobby shops and nerd spaces. I don’t know if the guy was the owner or just an employee, but if I’m ever back in Virginia, I’ll be skipping this place.

Do yourself a favor — go to Hashtag Gaming Arena instead. They treated us like real people, were incredibly friendly, and had the kind of energy that made us excited...