The Otaku Hangout LLC — Local services in Hickory

This is a great store, they are very friendly towards the customer so no complaint about that. And a good place to buy figures…but after reading other reviews here I do have to agree with them. Most of the problem is the prices, specially on the dragon ball z figures. There awesome dragon ball z figures in all them glass cases but unfortunately a lot of them are overpriced and you can find many of them figures in the glass case way cheaper on eBay, Mercari, and stockx. And as I read on some reviews here, you can find them being REAL and still with or in the original box they come in with the Toei Animation certificate sticker on the box. But when it comes to being more overpriced is pecially the manga figures at the store. By reading the reply of the owner/worker of the store, he claims there’s a lot of fakes online. But if you are looking for them online most of these are in sealed boxes and you can tell whether they’re are bootleg or not. A good example is this manga dimension super sayian goku he has and i can’t remember the exact price of the top of my head but i want to say he has it for around $300-400, but a quick search around ebay, mercari, and stockx, the average price is $100-$200 and even sold item it’s around $100ish. Another small example is this Gotenks from the Grandista brand I saw in the glass shelf for $100!!! When you can find the figure on eBay and Mercari from prices starting of $26-$35 plus shipping or if you get lucky some free shipping…Yes, real figure coming with its original box and certificate sticker on it, and the only reason why I am saying this is because I have this figure after buying it online for around that same price on Mercari. But when I saw the figure with that price on the store I thought to myself that is too much, that really is overpriced!…But once again, this store is not bad at all in terms of having a lot of figures, funko pops and many other anime stuff and i Completely understand when you need to mark an item a bit more to make profit it is clearly well understood, but those manga figures/other dragon ball figures in the glass case are way too marked up specially when you can find ones sealed in the boxes or not for way way much cheaper. And with all due respect, I hope this honest review from just another random customer doesn’t cause any issues, but I just felt like this is an honest opinion that needed...

EDIT: Since Google doesn't let me reply, I'd like to say 1) the owner reacted exactly like I expected him to, and it does nothing but confirn my accusations, 2) 3 shops in our area got Gundam TCG, which was Otaku, Gamer's Alley, and GSG....and guess who the only one selling $10+ over MSRP was? Miss me with that "everyone is doing it" garbage, and 3) I've been in your shop more than once, lol. At least 6 times since you've opened. I even brought friends from out of town in to attempt to help you grow your business, but that will never happen again. With the attitude you have, your shop will fail. Customer feedback should be valued, not something that pisses you off. Good luck scalping!

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I've really tried to give this shop a chance, but the owner seems more interested in scalping product for 3x the MSRP than he is creating a strong customer and player base. I've been blocked from their Facebook Page bc I called him out for selling a $12 MSRP Structure Deck for $30, but rather than own up to it and explain themselves, he simply blocked me. Several other shops local to us, such as "Get Some Game" and "Gamer's Alley" and "RC Games" get product in regularly for newer games, and sell for as close to MSRP as humanly possible to avoid scalping accusations and make the product readily avaliable, so I'm thankful for them. I should've known that this was common practice for him when he did the same exact thing when Lorcana launched, and I drove 15 mins down to RC Games in Newton and got the product I wanted for $30 less than what he was scalping for. Again, I wanted to like this place, but it has become increasingly evident on what this place's business model is. I would absolutely recommend shopping around at any and all other options, and make sure you're getting the best deal before shopping here, and I would still make sure you cross reference prices first. DO NOT FEED THE SCALPERS.

Also, looking at the responses for other reviews, it's wild this place is still in business. Bradley at RC Games, Ms. Mary at GSG, etc would never treat their patrons this way. My family and I will never spend another penny here. Very disappointed at this childish and predatorial behavior from the...

Saw a card I really liked. Wanted to trade some of my stuff for it but couldnt even get 50% back from the actual cost of the items. Example: A total of $500 worth of cards and you only get 200 back especially for trade in credit. Now imagine if it were cash, probably lower than that. Place is ok, guy seems cool, but after the initial back and forth, it seems like my business is better elsewhere. Another thing I can barely even touch the card at all when asked to see it. Wanted to inspect the condition, but was told not to take it out of the top loader or sleeves. For crying out loud, I am not a child and while I understand the caution and expense of the card, youd at least think the owner or employees would take it out for you to look at it, but nope. Majority of places let me do so and will even take it out for me to see the condition. This place will not!

Overall, my experience has not been good here just buying or trading. Go to pokemon LLC, he has better trade in value and even gave cash for what I traded in up to 70-75%. Then I went back to this store and almost bought the card that I wanted, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it after the initial low trade in value. Went online and just bought the card elsewhere. I just couldn’t support this store even when I really tried and wanted to. I left, probably wont be back unless I find something I like of the lower end cards.

I gave it a two stars, that 2nd star is for the other employee who seems more chill, even though he wasnt as knowledgeable, his vibe seems more friendly and easy going. Because of him I added an extra star, if it werent for him, then it wouldve been a 1.

Thats just my experience, if you have different experiences and better than mine, thats good for you. Hope you can keep supporting this place as I really wanted to but...