A while back, I asked for some suggestions on what hobby stores to stop by while in Louisville Kentucky to visit family. A number of folks her on TMP suggested that the best place in Louisville would be Pet Shop Comics. Well, after visiting family I finally got a chance to go by the store on Monday and I must say, I was blown away.
Not sure what most of your local game stores are like, but here in Atlanta, we have few stores left, and those we have are not all that special. When you walk into Pet Shop Comics, the first thing that hits you is the size of the store. There are two sections to the store, on one side is the retail section and the other is one long room of gaming tables and terrain big enough to host a very large tournament. They have a FoW tourney coming up with 58 players, so that gives you an idea of space.
In the retail section, they have a very nice array of comics and magazines, arranged very well down one side of the space. This is a very long room, so there are a lot of comics. The other side has miniatures along the wall and shelves of boardgames and card games along the middle of the section. The main lines seem to be FoW and Reaper, but they also had a nice selection of GW and other assorted minis. The new Plastic historical, like those from Warlord Games, were available, along with terrain by companies like JR Miniatures. The selection of boardgames was impressive with all the new titles as well as the popular older titles available, including a vast assortment of expansions and add-ons. Few local stores I have been in had this nice a selection of boardgames, especially since they had reasonable prices and many titles on sale. Truly impressive was the "Reaper Wall". This was by far the largest display of reaper minis I have seen, with Rick the store's owner, trying to have every SKU with it's own peg so you can find what you need by the codes in the catalog. The Flames of War section was no less impressive. Even more surprising to me was the fact that Rick and Jeannie, his wife and co-owner, told me their inventory was actually low since they were trying to slim down before the tax man requires them to pay for their inventory early next year.
There were also other things that made the store stand out. In the gaming side of the store there is a counter with a massive selection of board games arraigned on the selves behind it. Customers can come in and check out games to play in the store to see if they like them. Many groups apparently come up every weekend and play board games using the store collection. Keep in mind, this was a massive collection, including many new games as well as classics, even the expansions. I am deeply envious of this system. Rick also informed me that the store also has painted armies for many of the lines they sell so customers can check out an army to try out a game system before spending money on something they find they don't like. This is a VERY nice service that most stores can't offer their customers.
In addition to the great offerings of the store, I must say that Rick and Jeannie, the owners, were more than friendly. They were very knowledgeable of their products and happy to show people around and explain their store's policies and offerings. This is so much better than the local kid behind the counter that cares little whether you need help and would rather not be bothered by things like customers. When I was looking through a large selection of FOW blisters that had just been added to a sale table that morning, I noticed that many of the blister prices were really low. Jeannie pointed out that they have a policy of never increasing the price on products even if the blisters eventually go up in price from the manufacturer. They charge based on what they paid for the items, not the current market value. That is very nice . . . .
Even more in Rick and Jeannie's favor, I took my 72 year old father with me to the store so he would not drive my mom crazy. Rick and Jeannie were VERY nice to him and talked with him quite a while about the local area since it turned out that my parents had owned their first house on the same street as Pet Shop Hobbies 50 years before. They were very nice to him and I REALLY appreciated that since many stores I have been in would not have been so kind.
Nice people, good prices and sales, great selection, wonderful policies and the awesome try before you buy program, make Pet Shop Comics stand heads and shoulders above the majority of stores I have been to over the last 30 or so years. My only disappointment is that they are not local here in Atlanta, but now I have a new place to shop when going back home to see family.
Pet Shop Comics and Collectibles
1191 Hillview Blvd.
Suites 4&5
Louisville, KY 40229
Owners Rick and Jeannie Newman
petshopcomics.com (The pictures are from their old location!)
Thanks,
Jeff
