A Cardstore — Attraction in Town of Cheektowaga

Today marks the first and last time I ever set foot in this store. When I got to the store I was greeted with a locked door, a customer waiting in his car told me the owner would be back in 5 minutes. After 20 minutes I was able to enter the store. I'll give credit where its due, the owner has a ton of stuff to look at which is pretty sweet. However the behavior I witnessed from the owner is not sweet, rather salty in all honesty. I happened to overhear an interaction between the owner and two customers. One customer was inquiring about the new Pokemon cards out, the owner quickly shut the question down by saying "not here those are new and cost 200 a box". The other customer chimed in mentioning places that could be worth checking out to see if they have the cards. The owner quickly barked back at this customer saying something along the lines of "stop telling people to leave my store, those boxes are 200 dollars, do YOU want to buy that?". I found that to be rather odd things to tell a customer... I'm pretty sure no one in the room meant to strike a nerve on the owners financial situation, I feel bad honestly, maybe the business isn't doing too well since all the other card stores have those cards but he seemed pretty set on it being too expensive. Regardless I didn't really feel right supporting someone who's so rude to people, plus I wasn't sure if everyone gets that treatment but I certainly won't be going back...

This review is 15 years in the making, this place is the closest shop to me and I've tried plenty of times to give them my business. The guy who works here is absolutely miserable and makes sure everyone knows it. He had expressed very clearly that if you don't spend enough, he'd rather you not purchase anything. I don't collect, I just buy stuff I think is cool when I have some extra money. I'm talking like $10-15 but he gets mad when you only spend that much. I hate writing bad reviews but today was the nail in the coffin. I came in specifically just to look at free comic book day cuz the store up the road was out of them. I didn't even want to interact with him but he greeted me and asked what I was looking for, I told him I'm looking for a specific free comic book for today and he said "you just want something for free?" And then scoffed and went back to handling the customer in front of him. Do you not realize if I came in and got good service and good prices (these are abysmal compared to literally up the road, how is this place able to flip product when scalpers are cheaper) I would recommend them to my friends and other people I know? Instead I actively advise friends to avoid this place like the plague. The 5 star reviews are absolutely from friends or favors cuz come on, there's no real reason to spend...

Selection of TCG products is wide and, considering this current market, in very good supply. That said the prices are extremely high. Comparable to what you will find with something like Facebook Marketplace scalpers. Who know, maybe these aren’t purchased through a distributor and the owners costs are high.

That said my experience was not one that earned a returning customer. The pandemic will end. Our collectible hobby’s will ebb and flow and ultimately supply will increase and prices will adjust accordingly. It’s disheartening to see a local store attempt to squeeze every penny out of supplies and collectibles. It certainly didn’t give me the confidence that this is the go-to place in the coming months and years for regular purchases.

My brief interaction with the owner was a bit off-putting. This isn’t a buyers market by any means but it just felt like I had to put the effort into finding what I needed just so I could shell out a above MSRP value at the end of the day.

All that said, the store is clean and organized albeit very small. You will likely find what you need but I’d confidently say it’ll cost more than you’ll pay locally or online. If you want something immediately and will pay a premium it works. If your willing to shop around or wait a few days for delivery your better...