Underworld Cards & Games — Attraction in Raleigh

I've never written a Google review and I hope this will be my last. A staff member (possibly the owner) was rude to my friend while we were visiting. While trying to reconcile a trade with the store, the staff member said "This trade seems like a waste of my time" and abruptly put his cards away. It was jarring and awkward. He was clearly upset about something, but did not elaborate on what besides saying he didn't want to be "nickel and dimed." When my friend responded that he was just trying to get a fair deal on his cards, the staff member responded "Yeah, but you don't have to pay rent" (as though this is an experience exclusive to him. I also have to sell my labor to put a roof over my head, friend!).

I love visiting game stores all over the triangle, and I've never had an experience like this. It was especially startling considering they just opened. We left not knowing what set this guy off and feeling pretty insulted. I get it if you weren't interested in trading, but "a waste of time?" That's harsh. Naturally, I will continue to go to stores where they've been historically nice to me.

Two stars because giving one star seems unfair and overdramatic. Maybe he was having a bad day and they do have an extensive stock of Yu-Gi-Oh cards.

EDIT: I don't see a way to reply to replies on this system, so I would like to emphasize something in light of Jake's reply: it is perfectly acceptable to reject a trade, but he was really rude about it and that was the problem. Simply communicating "this is the only trade I'm accepting" or "Actually, I don't really want to part with this card right now" would have been much nicer to say than "this trade is a waste of my time." Heck, saying "hey, the store is pretty busy right now, would you mind coming back another time?" would have been totally acceptable! Literally anything but...

Summary- Card selection awesom and prices fair. Be warned you may be losing in a tourney to the owner who you paid to compete in their tourney.

This review is not about the card sales and trading portion of the business. For that, they must objectively receive 5/5 stars. Solid selection and supply of booster products and singles.

I give them three(3) stars based on their tournaments. I've participated in two Lorcana tournaments at this location and both times the store owner/operator participated and won. Never personally played them, and my losses were fair and square.

Him participating and winning his own tournaments is a common occurrence and to me is unethical and improper way to run a business/tournaments. Like having your company run an employee of the month award and the CEO wins every month. Employees also play(no issue with that) and having them pay to be beaten by the owner/boss creates an inappropriate power dynamic.

Their profile picture on FB is a photoshopped image of themselves rewarding themselves with 1st place at their own tournament w/prize packs they own being awarded to themselves.

These are house rules tournaments and not part of actual Lorcana official league, which is clearly advertised, but still rubs...

I’ll preface that I’ve been collecting Pokemon since base set, but just got back into it recently due to my kiddos. I’m aware of the market values, and that is reflected in the comments below.

So I was heading home with my family today from dinner, and my kids wanted to check out some Pokemon cards. They were on the way, we stopped by with zero expectations to buy nada.

As most know, Pokemon prices are through the roof. When it came to singles, they were about on par with TCG Player, which in my eyes is reasonable. They had a TON of stock, ETB, collector boxes, tins and loose packs. Ended up grabbing an Obsidian ETB and two 151 packs.

From the 151 pack, pulled the Mew. From the ETB I pulled a few illustrations rares, but also that charizard.

Not only is the staff and patrons friendly, but their product is legit. I haven’t been to a card shop since I was a kid and we always worried about weighed packs, not here. And I get I didn’t “fully make my money back”, but this is about collecting and playing with my kids. I’m super happy with what I got, and the overall experience.

I’ll be returning in the...