ThePokeHive — Local services in Castle Hills

People hype this place WAY too much. My boyfriend and I drove from Houston to visit here because we wanted to see how “great” this store was. We arrived when they opened, it didn’t take long for others to swarm in but I prepped myself mentally for it so it didn’t really bother me. What did bother me, besides the scalper-priced sealed product, was the fact that ALL they had to visibly see were slabs and vintage. We went for Jap and Eng illustration rares and when I asked to see a binder of Eng ones, I was told by some unenthusiastic Asian guy to scan a QR code and essentially shop via their store on TCG Player. Seriously? If I wanted to sit on a sofa and scroll then I would’ve saved the gas and time and ordered from home. I didn’t want it to be a wasted trip so for a couple of minutes I sat and scrolled but only made it a handful of pages in before I got too annoyed and called it quits. I had selected five cards out of what they said was “in stock”, yet the guy returned with only TWO available cards and was like “uuuhhyeahuhhh someone probably bought the othersss or somethinguhhh”. Unless words have lost their meaning, in stock means AVAILABLE, so maybe don’t promise cards that you’re not sure have sold.

It was truly a disheartening and lame experience. They cater to the whales, plain and simple. Not all of us collect chunky plastic and not all of us want old cards. The only way I can justify the necessary-to-post one star is for the fact that they had a couple of Jap tag teams that my boyfriend was able to grab. Other than that, the store is trash and their practices are goofy to say the least. They were so hyper-focused on mailing cards out, they couldn’t have cared less about the people INSIDE the store ready to spend money. Gladly NOT recommending here to anybody.

After this let down we ended up winging it and store hopping, the day got instantly better the second we stepped foot out of...

I just want to preface this by saying that I intend no disrespect to the owners or staff of this establishment.

This card shop has many items which is nice in today's market but they charge scalper prices for items. I purchased a brilliant stars etb from a guy I met at an event for $75 which is market value. The Poke Hive wanted $110 for that same etb.

I find it convenient that all of the surrounding stores like Walmart, target, etc. Are constantly cleaned out on restock day so I can't find anything so I'm faced with desperation to find cards and the one store in town I can always find product at is always stocked no matter what. It's just a theory but it's happened before and other shops have been caught doing that. (I understand scalpers exist but I can drive 30 mins into hill country and get as many cards as I want with no issues at these stores)

According to products I've seen and the calculations I've done, this store does approximately 20-120% markup on items. How is this fair to people who just want to enjoy the hobby??? A shrouded fable etb $80?? I understand some items are rare and no longer being printed but the prices are STILL above market value. Absolutely crazy that no one sees a problem with any of this.

I have yet to have a bad interaction with any of the staff. They've always been very respectful to me and very friendly for the many times I've visited this establishment.

I hope in the future that the owner sees the wrongs and fixes them because this is ridiculous.

Service 5/5 Prices 1/5 Clean environment 4/5 Product...

Usually pretty fair but the same guy the last 2-3 days doesn’t use TCG player he just eyeballs it and gives you a best guess. Everyone else in the store tho is pretty fair and will at least explain if they don’t want something or don’t think its something they can move. This guy just seems annoyed to be in the store and wants nothing to do with you or your cards. If it’s a big deal then why work here? A day or so ago I brought in cards for a trade I asked him if the prices were TCG and he said they were- I know he didn’t check because he just typed stuff into his calculator. It was close enough the first time so I didn’t care. Second time I went in he just half shuffled through my cards while on the phone with another customer and said “4 bucks” and was surprised when I said no thanks… the first few times I was in here one of the ladies helped me out. She went through all the cards on TCG player and gave me a price that was reasonable explained why she didn’t want something/ wouldn’t take market value. I wish there was some consistency here but with scalper prices on newer products, 40% higher prices than market on some older stuff, and sometimes sketchy trades… I’ll be going to Hero’s Hideout, Euphies, or Shenanigans Cards. If it wasn’t for this one guy being super off putting the last two times I was here I’d probably still do...