Valkyrie's Vault — Local services in Brownsburg

I don't usually write reviews. I don't feel good about writing this, but my last experience here left me feeling unwelcomed... I've recommended this shop constantly. Had nothing but great experiences, & it shocked me that some had dealt with rudeness here. But now I might be seeing their POV.

My partner & I don't look for specific cards. We pick out a stack we would like to buy, go through them & make a final decision based on our budget, & hand back the cards we decided against. I won't lie, we've given back thick stacks, but they always fit in the black holders they provide. We've done it at other card shops, I checked with VV staff at our first visit if this was okay, & they genuinely seemed like it wasn't a problem. I truly hadn't noticed any annoyance or frustration ever.

We only go 6-12 times a year. Tonight we went in & shopped the same as usual. There were some staff members we'd never seen before. One unfamiliar woman came up after I gave some of my stack back. She spoke with us about how we should only take out cards that we plan on buying. (Honestly, we did want to buy them, but we browsed more binders & we found different cards that we loved more). We apologized & explained that we didn't realize it was a problem. I know tone can be very subjective, but her tone just sounded unempathetic, VERY annoyed, immediately antagonistic, and placing blame on the customer when it was a misunderstanding. She tried to say it in a customer service voice, but her feelings were apparent. She told us this while we still had cards to finalize through. We didn't take out ANY new cards after the convo, and we stopped looking through new ones. We made our final decision ASAP, rang up our cards, & left the unbought cards on the counter. We apologized to the guy (he's ALWAYS been super nice & previously said it was okay, so we felt bad overall.) The same girl took our unbought cards, brought them to the binders... and honestly, she scowled at us. I might be wrong. All I'm really confident in saying is that her expressions towards us the whole time were negative & transparent, to say the least.

The major thing that rubbed us the wrong way was when she said, "It falls back on us to put it back." I know we should, & I try to be, considerate of employees. But it put the blame on us, despite there being much easier organization systems existing. At other card shops with more overwhelming selection, their system accommodates these issues. One shop has color-coded sleeves for their respective binders, they take the sleeves back at checkout, & can easily put away unbought cards. Another shop sticks small stickers with written numbers onto the penny sleeves, saying what binder it belongs to. I get that what I did made their jobs harder, but I don't think it's solely on me to make the process easier.

It's overall a great shop. Most of the staff I deeply appreciated. I know my business ultimately doesn't matter, but this last visit really soured my desire to go back. I feel like I'm a bad guy for shopping for cards in a way I always have there, and a way that other shops can accommodate with more efficient organization.

I've worked many customer-servicing jobs, and I know it's hard dealing with the volume, rudeness, inconsideration... but I always tried to prevent myself from being that for VV. I used to work at a card shop, my partner still does. We get it. They might've been having a hard day, or it's a rampant problem, or they've just been extra patient with us, or maybe they communicate in a different style than what I'm used to. But to put it bluntly, all we would've wanted was to be communicated to a lot nicer, & we would've been receptive & accommodating. Her interactions felt unnecessarily rude, hostile, & blaming us as customers for something we were previously told was okay every past visit for years.

There were so many different approaches to a customer/problem than what they chose. It's not a huge deal, but I don't know... I think it's just better if I shop elsewhere. I can't help but feel unwelcomed &...

Very rude staff. If you're wanting to buy multiple cards at a time or look through binders to look at what might be available; I would not recommend this place.

My partner and I have been been coming to Valkyries vault for about 3 years. We are collectors and buy multiple cards at once. We come in about once a month and buy as many as we can fit within our budget (usually $50 each). Every time that we've come in, we look through multiple binders and build a stack. We will pull the cards we are wanting to purchase and then we will go through them again to make sure we stay within our budgets. We've never had an employee say anything to us about having a stack of cards. The dark haired employee with the septum piercing was flat out rude to us and made us feel guilty for giving them a stack of cards to return. Informing us "us giving them bigger stacks means, it's on us [the employees] to put them back."

While I understand how it could be annoying to put multiple cards away at a time, you do work at a Valkyries Vault. Also, not to be rude, but we do not. With that logic if my budget is $20, I pull 20 $1 dollar cards I want to buy, but then I find 1 card worth $20 that I've been looking for and return the $1 dollar cards; that means I'm not following their rules.

I work at a card shop myself, so I know what its like. I have also consistently recommended Valkyries to our customers, but no longer. If it is such a hassle for 6 employees that're hanging out behind the desk in a store with about 7 cudtomer in it, to put away cards at a card shop, I highly recommend taking notes from more established card stores and improve your organization system.

It isn't the customers responsibility to make your jobs easier, but allow me to try. Use colored sleeves or colored stickers on your sleeves that matches with your binder so it's a much more streamlined process. Maybe have one of your multiple employees check in with customers asking "can we take away any cards you aren't interested in?" Maybe each time you hand someone a binder, ask them if there's anything they can get out of your way or remind the customer "return any cards you don't want before getting another binder.

Again, I work in a card shop. You don't make your repeat and paying customers feel guilty about wanting to go through cards at a card shop of all places. You work at and get paid for working at a card shop. We apologized twice and even after that, the employee was rude to us as we were checking out. I understand it could be a new policy. I wouldn't be writing this if the employee would've talked to us with some decorum; less attitude in her voice and body language. Especially when after 3 years of going there and having no other employee ask us to not pull out multiple cards.

This place used to be my favorite card shop, but if I'm going to be made to feel guilty for something that they don't even have a sign for, Im not coming back...

I preordered a Final Fantasy Collectors Booster last year, and the product just released recently. To my surprise, the shop forced me to unseal it in-store—or else I’d have to pay scalper prices. They claim this prevents reselling or scalping, but that’s not their role. If companies like WOTC wanted to enforce that, they would. Sealing and resealing product is easy, and anyone truly part of the Pokémon or TCG community would know this. These people clearly aren’t.

When I brought this issue up in a discussion—just looking to see if anyone else had the same experience—I was met with gaslighting, manipulation, and harassment. They act friendly on the surface but flip the moment you disagree. It reminded me of the same kind of bullying I went through growing up. Sad to say, it felt exactly like that again here.

This isn’t a welcoming space for hobbyists. If you stay quiet and don’t challenge anything, you’ll probably be fine. But if you speak up, expect to be ostracized, bullied, and dismissed. That’s not what a hobby shop is supposed to be. It’s supposed to build community—not tear people down.

Edit after response::

I was apart of your community as well. To which I say yawn

Your response is just as passive aggressive as the responses on your discord were for a legitimate concern. You ARE scalping people and claiming to prevent scalping. Selling the sealed boxes at scalpers prices IS SCALPING. Which hobby shops do all the time. Collectors boosters are not for players they are "Collectors boosters." It is not industry standard and I was made to feel uncomfortable. When I stood up for myself I was met with the classic bullying victim taking stance. I will say that the man at your counter has been great and a few notable others. But these people that you are talking about in your discord gaslighted me and just said "go shop somewhere else."

I was cordial as I was treated cordially. When I was not, I responded in kind because I stand up for myself. You've taken that to the extreme of saying I made people feel uncomfortable without regard to the reality of the situation. Your preconceived notion of who you think I am verse who I actually am shows. Even in your previous responses to other 1 star customers. Its mad cope. Your community is toxic. And you are enabling it. These people probably don't even spend much money at your business.

I was a regular and I was never asked about this. So did you actually?

I will not be back. You called me a yahoo and said that "after reading the conversation, they were fine." So are you actually trying your best after calling me a "yahoo?" No you aren't. I raised an actual concern I had and was treated with disrespect. But in my case this isn't a "clash of personalities." You pick and choose. That is not "trying your best." I will accept an honest apology.

Also that other review is not me.

If you want to have a conversation with me privately you...