After a month of traveling to Indiana for work, my wife returned the favor this week (the busiest week for the entire year for my department) and took a trip to Texas to tie up a project. That left me with both kids and they're crazy basketball schedules. Waiting downtown for the practices to be over is such a waste of time, but I did manage to try to do a tour of the local gaming shops, specifically the new location for Dragon Knight Games.
I've mentioned Dragon Knight a number of times, most notably their recent remodel of their Pittston store. No major purposes, but I was able to visit a few times for some painting supplies. The last time, prior to my trips, they had mentioned moving into a new location in early September, across the river and down the road, in Kingston, Pennsylvania. The only problem I foresaw was the fact that there already was a game store less than a half-mile down the road.
The shop had moved from a downtown location to a small strip mall setting, and I had anticipated issues driving past the turn, but much to my surprise, the store had a professional sign installed at the big roadside stand for the entire mall. Big bonus points in my book.
Better yet, in the 15 years I've lived in the area, this was the first store since The Unknown in Scranton to have proper front signage.
Inside I found a large storefront stocking their normal lines of all D&D-related products, Games Workshop, and a bevy of CCG supplies. The open gaming area is no longer relegated to a back room, rather five or so well-constructed tables in the back-center of the store.
The biggest improvement to the previous store? The hours. The store is now open an incredible 12pm - 9pm, seven days a week!
Despite all the improvements to the new locations, I'm going to temporarily downgrade Dragon Knight Games to 3 1/2 Gnomes out of 5 on the Gaming with the Gnomies review scale.
The extra square footage needs product, and the boutique set-up of the Pittston location was really appealing to me. After visiting the two game stores in Bloomington, this one still needs a bit more work. Hopefully a future review will but it back in its proper place.
I wasn't going to rely on the lone employee for rumors and data, but a quick half-mile drive down the road confirmed my suspicions. The other game store, Tactical Advantage, was no more, an empty storefront in its respective strip mall. In my crazy month of traveling, the owner of that store announced his deteriorating health prevented him from running the store, and after a short sales, it closed on September 30th. I didn't particularly like the staff, most of the inventory was predictable, but I've managed to find a few gems over the years.
The current location of Dragon Knight Games is 738 Wyoming Avenue, Kingston, Pennsylvania
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