Crown Collectibles — Local services in Presque Isle

Hello everyone, I would like to issue a warning for anyone in the Aroostook County TCG community, especially in Presque Isle, who cares about trans rights in the state of Maine.

Over the last few years, I have done business with Crown Collectibles at the Aroostook Mall; just like with Eagle Hill in downtown Presque Isle, however, I've been made aware over the time I have been a customer of the outright bigotry of the business, it's owners and some of it's patrons.

At first some of their conversations were of the typical 'reasonable economic conservative' variety that I am used to hearing from most business owners ("I'm a centrist but I vote Republican so I have to pay less taxes and keep people on welfare! Yeah!") but over the years they have often held long conversations with customers about the 'ridiculous stuff' the trans community was supposedly 'pushing' onto Mainers.

Today (2/25/25) however was the breaking point for me.

While shopping for TCG bulk at Crown Collectibles, the owner, an employee and a customer were going off on a long-winded rant about how they hated Governor Mills standing up to Trump's blatant bullying of the state of Maine over cutting our federal funding simply over allowing transgender students to compete in school sports. The owner also openly called the Maine governor visually and mentally 'R*ed' and stated that her defiance of our fascist president's intimidation campaign against Maine would 'kill a bunch of old people' because standing up to a bully for socially progressive human rights is apparently 'greedy' (which is rich, coming from someone who wants to pay less taxes so welfare recipients can't receive assistance) Regardless of Mills' performance as governor, I applauded her for standing up to Trump openly when our federal funding was being threatened, something Democratic politicians have refused to do despite having good reasons to do so. Now is not the time for complacency or 'both sides' narratives. The fascists are in power now.

He also tried to pull the "I have (marginalized group here) friends so I'm not a bigot" argument by saying that he has queer friends who said they should leave the 'T' out of 'LGBTQIA' because it is 'weird' and 'pushing their weird agenda on Maine' and then made many discriminatory comments about trans students, like making fun of their supposedly 'bulky size', 'breaking high school girls in half at the pole vault' and 'they're still boys despite what they think they are.'

I have already lost trust in one game store to transphobes and bigots, and sadly, I was too worked up and angry to say anything to them since I didn't want to lose my temper in public, so I sadly have to abandon another. It saddens me that so many people in the LGS/hobby gaming business community are so clearly bigoted, which is a testament to the work as a country we need to do in order to understand, validate and support an already very marginalized community in the face of a rising christofascist American government.

It is my goal someday to help foster and build an LGS/hobby gaming community that will stand up to racists, bigots and transphobes...though I may not be a business owner who would run the actual store (my vocational skills are more on fine arts and graphic design) I would love to assist in any way to bring a LGBTQIA-accepting gaming community to Aroostook County, Maine, which is something we sorely need...especially as Trump and his cronies push this country in a frightening authoritarian direction and as a result, enable more of these business owner bigots to come out of the woodwork about how they really feel about queer and trans rights.

So I would like to encourage anyone who supports the trans community to boycott Crown Collectibles. It's the least I can do if it means taking a...

I've been going since the old location on Main Street. Truly a collectibles store as they have a bit of everything. Trading cards, sports cards, video games, funko pops, comics, albums, toy cars, shirts, steins. I could keep going and going and going. Everytime you go, there tends to be something new. Matt and Kurt are super friendly, helpful, and patient. They dont try to sell you product, but help you make an informed purchase. The facebook updates they post are also nice as you see when they get stuff. I like to play pokemon tcg, and they often have a good set of singles to pick from. Also have older stuff at times for collectors. Worth a call...

Crown Collectibles has been awesome to deal with.

I'm a Gameboy (DMG-01) fanatic - and Matt has been great when I have been buying or selling items - fair prices and fair treatment. He's been able to find some pretty cool retro items for me over the past year or so.

They also have a great selection of old Horror and Sci-Fi comics - I really dig those old cheesy, campy ones.

On a side note - I've instructed my 9 year old that if she ever needs help at the Mall - that she is to go to Matt's store immediately. I have full faith that it's a safe place for her - or anyone. It's nice to have a place and people...