Grand Adventures: Comics & Games — Attraction in Murfreesboro

If I am being totally transparent, the place was originally alright, I have been going there for the past few months for the card game community. I was initially told a few months ago by Trevor and Joey that on Tuesdays there are local Digimon players that come in and play other card games. I am not a fan of Digimon and had asked if I could introduce a card game called Cardfight Vanguard to which they replied it would be okay as long as I pay the table fee to come and play. I have complied with this every week habitually on Tuesday and Thursday (I have receipts and can prove this) with paying for the table fee and buying other various items. Recently a small community has formed of at least 10 people.

As of today, Joey had went around stating "If we do not sell it, you cannot play it here.", even though we had paid our fees for the day. I had gone up to ask him about this rule to which he replied "It was always a rule and I just never noticed you guys playing" even though he blatantly watched us play the games multiple times. This rule has not been posted anywhere within the store and the only rule posted on their tables states that you must pay at least a $5 table fee to play which can either be paid outright or paid by buying merchandise because they are "not running a charity" which is posted on their tables (picture attached). I understand needing to make money but that is a rude way of stating it.

Before this is mentioned, I have made sure several times that it would be okay to play there, to which it was cleared every time. I have asked if they would ever be willing to carry it, to which it was denied every time. I thought if a following had started they would be more willing to do so, but apparently not. Do not have us pay money if you will not...

This is a store that is trying to compete with everyone, thus making it good at nothing. It has comics to compete with Outer Limits. It has board games to compete with roll the dice. And while we are at it, why don't we add tabletop games? Oh they are not good at that either.

The staff don't care what game you play unless you are playing their games, which is unfortunate as there are many they do not stock. In fact they refuse to stock games unless it is their idea, even though it is what the people that play there want.

Double check with the store what their times of operation are as what it says online is not always correct and they don't update it. Oh and don't come in with stuff bought off of the internet because you will likely get the stink eye since you didn't buy it in the store.

I did try to stick to loyalty for the store a while ago and order stuff through them, it took four months to get what I had ordered and by that time I had found an alternative because I cannot wait that long.

It is unfortunate for this to be the main tabletop HQ for Murfreesboro as it is truly abysmal, and don't even try to get a game in on an off day, Friday nights are Magic, Saturday nights are Magic, even Sundays they are trying to fit in Magic because that is their big moneymaker. And the nights they are open late, when people want to game? You won't get a table because of Magic.

Not to mention all the action figures and collectible stuff that hardly anyone buys yet a quarter of the store is devoted to it, taking up room for gaming tables and also other games people might actually buy and play.

In finality, since I have rambled a bit, this is the only store for gaming in Murfreesboro, the next closest is in Nashville. That said, Nashville is worth the...

In the past, I would have left a 5-star review for this nice little store because the people working here and the community that congregates here are typically very positive and willing to help out others, whether they're building a Commander deck for MTG, painting a gnarly Tyranid model or just searching for a new board game to play with friends. I've (almost) never had a negative experience with this place, and hope to go back in the future.

However, my recent experience with this store made me quite uncomfortable. I enter the store, knowing what I'm looking for, and head right to that section. One of the regulars (I believe, as I've seen him in the store many times, but not behind a counter) noticed me wearing a mask, which I am doing because we are currently amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He starts loudly speaking negatively about people wearing masks, and making some rather extreme comments about the political climate at the time.

It was about this time that I realized I was the only one out of the 10 or 11 people there who was, in fact, wearing a mask, including the employees.

I hurriedly finished up my browsing, asked the employee at the counter if what I was looking for was in stock, and left the store, empty-handed and a bit frazzled by the rude and somewhat frightening comments I was hearing.

I hate to say it, but I feel a bit uncomfortable going back. Maybe in the future, I'll go in looking for a new board game or space marine model, but since this negative experience a couple weeks ago, it's going to take some time for me to warm back up...