Pop Vault — Local services in Savannah

Never in my life have I met staff so kind, so patient, and so helpful. Were it not for employees like Alyssa and Christine, I would have stopped coming here a long time ago. You can tell these people are passionate the things they are selling, and are truly good, honest people who show up and give it their all. They remember your name and, even if you are new, always eagerly point you in the right direction, or tell you about new deals on product you are interested in. They are the ONLY reason I sometimes pop in, and a big reason I write this. Truly salt of the earth staff I was lucky enough to meet right when I was getting into the card collecting hobby.

And that's why this review is difficult to write. Because aside from them, and the decent selection of inventory, this place is icky. Especially the pokemon cards. The owner up-charges them to a point that I'd call them scalpers. Buying low, sometimes from overseas, and selling very, very high. Prismatic and 151 were at one point $24 a pack, Japanese, eventually lowered to $20. That itself I could almost forgive (the pokemon market is bad, everywhere).... It's not good, but it's also not unique, just an especially egregious case of someone taking advantage of a bad market, even when the product stays on the shelves (spanish silver tempest over in the double digits, not moving at all... yikes).

But then I witnessed the owner YELL at one of his employees for asking for a chair to sit in while she worked behind the counter. During store hours, completely unprompted. He was so rude and unprofessional to a younger girl who had been nothing to kind to us every time we entered the store. It was something you wouldn't believe unless you were there hearing it. That coupled with the horror story prices of his product makes me unable to recommend supporting this store. Ive never seen someone who openly rude and unprofessional to his own employees during work hours.

When it comes to anything pokemon, Ebay will have cheaper price, every single time. Sometimes 60% cheaper. Sometimes even more.

I wish the staff who works there the best, and if you want to pop in and see if the prices are reasonable, you can take the coin-flip. Hopefully you won't walk in to the owner yelling at the women...

Where do I even start? For those in the know, Savannah doesn't have many real nerd havens. Tragic, I know. BUT-- enter... Pop Vault! This breath of fresh air resides directly across from Savannah's very own Planet Fun. Located at 128 E. Broughton, doors open on to a neatly kept and colorful scene of your favorite anime and game merch. But I'm getting ahead of myself. As soon as you enter, on your left you'll find a variety of drinks available including fizzy faves and some Ramuné flavors I've never seen before. Yuzu Soda? Right next to that is a shelf of Imported chips with familiar brands but unfamiliar flavors. You ever had Beef Flavored Cheetos? Me neither. And speaking of snacks and drinks, you can feast your eyes on a variety of other imported munchies including (drum roll please) ✨️mystery snack boxes✨️. Too much to choose from? Surprise yourself or even gift it to a friend to discover new flavors. They include snacks, chips, drinks, and candies. You'll never know what you'll get. On to the merch! An entire wall of lanyards, wallets, pins and croc decorations for those who want a little flair to the crocs they're rocking. By the way, this is only one side of the shop, I haven't even mentioned the Pops that make Pop Vault. An entire wall and a half of Pop Vinyl Figurines. And when I say POPS, they have exclusives. Figurines you don't normally even find anymore. Can't find it? They can scour everywhere and find it for you. Don't live here? They can ship it, nationwide. To all my gamers, they've got mad love for us here. SNES games. PSP. PS1-4 games. All kinda XBOX, old gens to now. Nintendo love shown too, trust. And CONSOLES in fantastic condition. Custom controllers for PS4. Metal Posters for your favorite anime franchises too. Like what? And with loyalty cards, no less. We stayed in there WAY too long but the environment was so chill. Be sure to say hello to Christine, she made us feel welcomed and helped us pick through some new snacks to try. Christine, if you see this, thank you again. We can't wait to...

I dragged my girlfriend into Pop Vault after deleting some ice cream from Leopold's, as whenever I see a vintage video game store I just have to pop in. It brings me back to a simpler time. To a time when my only concern was figuring out how to get through the water temple in the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time with my older brother. It’s the best video game of all time.

I sent a picture of the game behind the glass to him and his only response was "NO WAY. WHERE."

It took everything in my soul not to buy an N64 along with an Ocarina of Time cartridge for my place in NYC, but I had no space in my luggage to get it home.

I was flooded with an even bigger wave of nostalgia as I saw a Gameboy SP and a v1 of the Nintendo DS. That was legit my childhood. Playing Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga on those devices was a huge portion of my youth. They simply don't make games like that anymore.

I told my girlfriend when we move in together, I'm buying an N64 for our place. That is the only thing I am really putting my foot down on.

Pop Vault, and vintage video game stores like it, just make me reflect on a younger version of myself. I honestly love that chunky little guy. He was so pure, so passionate. You can't teach that.

When I don't want to wake up early to chase this dream I'm chasing, I just think of him, wipe my sleep crusted eyes, chug some cold brew, and get TO it. I'm working everyday to make him proud.

IG @johnny.novo Tiktok...