Bizarro World — Attraction in Davis

So I've been browsing these other reviews for some time now, and frankly I believe a lot of these allegedly "awful" experiences people are having are almost always hyperbolic. Maybe saying that puts me in the minority - either way, it seems obvious to me that these people are, conscious or not, willingly tarnishing the reputation of a store based off a single interaction that didn't go the way they wanted to. So take it from my own, undistorted experience:

I'm a broke college student, but I always make it a habit to visit Bizarro World and make a purchase every weekend - even if it's small, I know that doing so consistently still goes a long way to the store's financial health. And almost every time I've been here, I've never once been disappointed: there's always new comic book issues stocked on the shelves, always people playing Magic and other TCGs, some new records to listen to and some old records to reminisce, perhaps some old movies to reminisce and some new movies to watch, I could go on - for me, it's always been a chill place with a chill ambience to stop after a chaotic day (plus the music playing is always super goated). So with that being said -

If you have a pretty minor grievance, for heaven's sake don't write a Google review - your wildly unfair 1-star review will be seen by the entire internet, making people who read your review (and most likely only yours) less likely to visit, thereby making business for the store harder to come by. Instead, if you TRULY feel that must have your opinion heard one way or another, go in-person and address your minor grievance there.

Either way, if you do decide to leave a bad review (do everyone a solid and double-check that it conforms to reality first), know that you are doing a lot more harm for many people - not just the store(!!!) - than you think you're doing the public a favor. If you didn't know - this store is a local gem for those apart of and visiting this great city, but it's also a small business that's probably very hard to run; so please, please consider what you've written before you hit "post".

As for me, I'm planning on coming back after I finish this review and buying some comics I've been meaning to read - to all those still reading this and still desperately wanting to leave a mendacious review on an innocent store, go take your pessimism...

Would give zero stars if I could, where do I even start? I have never written a negative review in my life, but my experience today inspired me. I came in to look at some MTG singles, as I have done every once in a while ever since I was ten years old. During my 8 minutes of browsing, I saw the owner interact with three other customers, and in every conversation, he was rude, condescending, unhelpful, and in one case, flat-out refused to help a customer with a simple question. I picked out two cards from the bulk, a copy of Damping Matrix and Timesifter (market value on TCG player $0.80 and $2.00 respectively). I told him I was ready to check out and we moved to the register, where the owner's atrocious business practices were displayed in full. Any time I had previously come in to buy singles, cards were always marked at a price, but the owner would double-check the price online to make sure he sold it at the right price. Seems fair right? Well, I realize now that that is not the case. This time, when it was time to pay, I told him that I had checked both of the prices online and showed him the market values of both of the cards. He then looked me dead in the eye and told me “I'm not willing to sell those cards for that price.” Please keep in mind, that this is $2.80 worth of cards. It was at that point that I realized that every single time he checked prices online over the years, he was only doing so to see if prices were higher online than what was marked. If the card was worth less than what his label said, or if there was no label, he would arbitrarily make up a price. He had been scamming me since I was a kid. At this point, I was fed up and walked out of the store right there. The only highlight was on my way out, two other dudes walked out with me, saying that they had been treated poorly as well and we all laughed at the pathetic state of the store. Overall, scummy business practices, dirty store, depressing owner, and horrible customer service. Avoid coming to this place to buy cards, or honestly anything else. Owner, if you can see this, you’ve lost a long-time customer, and a kid who grew up loving your store, over $2.80. I hope...

During the 2-ish years that I lived in Davis, Bizarro World was my favorite place in town. The store has a lot to offer for nerds of all types, but my absolute favorite part of it is their video rental system. They have a way better catalog than any existing streaming service, and the prices are very reasonable, certainly a way better deal than any of the online streamers. You can rent movies individually or take part in their subscription service which essentially allows unlimited rentals per month (3 titles at a time but you can easily exchange them for another 3 titles after you watch them). During the time I was on their subscription plan I pretty much always had something rented out and came in about once a week to pick up new titles. What makes it even better for me is just how knowledgeable owner Dan and his son Xavier are about film - if you want a recommendation, they’ll give you one, and if you want to talk about what you’re picking up or dropping off while you’re at the counter, there’s a very good chance they’ve seen the movie in question and will be able to engage with you on that. Whether it’s talking to Dan about watching bizarre movies like Tetsuo: The Iron Man, or getting a recommendation from Xavier curated specifically to your desired genre and era, even just standing at the counter is a good time. The father-son duo that run this place also just bring a lot of personality to the store that I found to be very appealing. They’re both very honest about who they are and never come across to me as being anything less than genuine, and the store itself represents that in a way that I don’t really see at other establishments.

As of writing this I’ve moved out of Davis and likely won’t be moving back, but should I ever be in the area in the future, Bizarro World will be a...