Every weekend is a basketball weekend for this family, but we closed out June in King of Prussia. I did need to take one child home so she could work her pet-sitting job, so I was unable to do the full tour of local game stores for #FreeRPGDay. On Sunday, though, the children piled into the other parental unit's car for shopping at KoP, so I was left to my own devices. I did manage to find the Blue Bell location of Alternate Universes.
Before I laud or condemn this business, I must applaud them for the best practical use of two store fronts in a strip mall. Imagine two narrow but deep storefronts. Cut a hole in the shared wall so it looks like an "H". The gaming area is on the side away from the main entrance, so you can control customer flow, and curtail product loss, and keep the volume to a reasonable level on the shopping side.
Cleanliness: Storewise, it's clean, well-organized, with plenty of trash receptables (empty) in the open gaming area. Only gripe was the pile of smoking/vaping dudes literally right outside the front door. In all seriousness, I hit a dude with the door trying to get in AND OUT of the store, after loudly saying "Excuse me..."
CCGs: This is their bread and butter, and it's done very well. Magic, Pokemon, One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh! and a host of others. Magic/Pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh! singles in binder and in the case with a nice variety of old and new.
Role-Playing Games: A well stock, but default selection. Almost all 5e and a host of accessories for the releases.
Miniatures: Solid D&D/Wizkids for RPGs, standard well-stocked GW selection of 40k and Sigmar.
Board Games: A proper display of all the best sellers, plus a few new games that made me turn my head in surprise.
Accessories: Outside of the very nice, but stock assortment of drinks and snacks, in well-kept displays, there wasn't much to make my eyes pop.
Events: Events are there jam. Multiple Magic, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon, and One Piece events, with many being part of larger promotions and qualifiers.
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| A picture of the open play area.... ripped right off their Facebook page. |
We're giving Alternate Universes in Blue Bell 3 1/2 out of 5 Gnomes.
Here's the honest to god truth. If you're a local, use this store. If you're an active CCG'er, use this store. Enjoy it. Appreciate it. For me it's missing the extra pizazz on top of the traditional inventory.
And the smoking/vaping douche-canoes didn't ruin my first (and last impression), the rating would go up a half-gnome.
Alternate Universes can be found at 211 W. Germantown Pike East Norriton, PA 1940. Check them out on Facebook or
www.alternateu.com for all their locations.
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