Cotten's Collectibles — Attraction in Corpus Christi

9-23-25 was my last visit and probably my last visit.

This is the fourth time I've visited this store. I discovered it quite some time back when visiting family and this was always a dope shop to visit, especially for TCG.

yesterday, I flew into town for a bit and decided to stop here. I got excited because Im finally getting back into TCG and I was curious to see their prices and see if any boosters were available (since the pandemic, it's hard to find things at MSRP) I was confident this store remained the same.

Alas, I was wrong. First off the vibe was just different upon entering the store. Less "having fun" and more "sharky" if that made any sense. I noticed prices were much much higher than my previous visit last year. There was a young fellow inquiring about some boosters packs and the person behind the counter was full of energy and very attentive. So at least the service stayed the same?

Not quite. When I inquired about an item that had nothing to do with booster packs or singles. It's like the joyful spirit that was in their body had suddenly got up and left. I wasn't sure if this was the manager or a regular employee but none the less. It was sad. Their body language changed to a more sluggish attitude. Tone of voice lowered a few decibels. It was almost like depression had just moved in. (And I tested it, I inquired about singles and almost immediately that same spirit returned)

Safe to say their main source of income is possible opening booster boxes and selling cards at market price and slightly above that.

In my humble and experienced opinion, having been operating and store managers at many big box stores to mom and pop shops in the past. The best way to make money and keep client happy is a healthy balance of availability and events. Not taking advantage of a market. Leave that for the clients. Sure you can sell singles. But don't rip the packs your customers come to the store for. You're stealing the magic of possibilities. If the store is failing and your P&Ls are unbalanced, get creative. People love that. Create a community, there's already enough banks around. Do better. I'm disappointed.

Edit: sorry for the typos. I wrote this at my pups vet appointment and saw a cat. Reminded me of the cat there. IT WAS YHE SWEETEST CAT EVER. Change your ways for the cat at least. Clearly it's the best...

Not a bad place to buy stuff, I'd stay away for any events. I've been going to the store occasionally since they opened up. They were fine at first. However there has been no organization for their events and it's pure chaos in their play area. You're constantly having to figure out where to sit every round, the tables the employees rarely step in to handle any disputes, and when they do they rarely seem like they know what they're doing.

I've talked to others, and it's not just this either. They let kids get bullied by other kids, promised events and later changed the event time or reneged altogether, promised prize support for tournaments and later changed it when they don't get enough people, outright stopped supporting games altogether, allowed people to cheat in their events, and more.

That's just my(and other's) experience from their events. As far as the retail side goes, it's actually fine. Lots of products to see, decently stocked and cool stuff for different kinds of people. I actually like the variety of products they offer. I've talked with the owners before and they're cool and the employees know me by name despite how little I show up. The place used to stink and the stench would hit you like a truck when you walked in, but they fixed that. The bathroom has fallen on some hard times however, and is need of care.

The card selection is pretty decent, especially for Magic, but having to be there physically to find if they have something or not is a huge downside.

All in all, it's a store I can enjoy going to and browsing, but not a place I'd enjoy...

Decided to stop by for the first time recently. Upon entering, the place smelled really bad. Not just of body odor alone but also a mixture of food and mop water, just very unpleasant. Definitely made me browse quicker than I usually would. Once I had a question about a few cards in the singles glass case, the guy working there (I wish I got his name) seemed really annoyed that I asked for help, once he came to see what I wanted, I inquired about 2 separate cards, once he pulled the first card out I then was about to ask for the second card of interest and mid sentence he cut me off and said “I’m not pulling out multiple cards” as if I was asking him to pull out their whole stock, it was just TWO CARDS BRO. Even if he didn’t mean it in a bad way, it seemed very rude and made me not wanna buy anything. I wanted to inspect the first card to check the condition ($10 card btw) and when I picked it up, he asked me not to take it out of the sleeve and top loader bc I would damage the card, to give it back and that he’d do it for me, again, seemed really rude and made it seem as if I was a child and didn’t know how to handle a piece of cardboard… I don’t know, places like this make me really appreciate my local card shop back home and remind me why I never venture off to new places...