(Review) Alchemist's Cove Comics and Games, Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania

I have the pleasure of taking back to back trips up to Albany to see the girls for the remainder of the month, so it was fitting and expected to run down to check on my mom, grab some lunch with her and run some errands, and leave by 3pm.  After a quick trip to Hobby Lobby, detailed on Sunday's post, I decided to go back to Wilkes-Barre the roundabout way to finally see the new location for Alchemist's Cove Comics and Games 

Four years ago I stopped by and reviewed their original Schuylkill Haven location.   I enjoyed the store, it was a great in-town location, and tons of positive thoughts (and the ever-elusive 5-out-of-5 gnome rating). 

Since then, they left their Schuylkill Haven location and physically BUILT their new location on PA 61 in the great Orwigsville metropolitan area (Those of you who know the Hamburg area, it's a few miles north of Cabella's.)

New Location:  I knew they had built their own structure, across the highway from a red brick church, I follow them on social media and have seen pictures. of the inside and outside.

I still gasped and giggled a little as I saw it coming up on the left hand side.  I also had a grin of astonished glee as I realized the sizable but still packed parking lot was dedicated solely to the store. 

Rows and rows of parking dedicated to comics and games...

Let's get my two pet peeves out of the way.

Greeting:  This has been a problem, as I've expanded my store reviews.  It was NOT a problem here.  It was quick, friendly, and they had a crowd around the display cases, so I was delighted with that. 

Cleanliness: It's big, it's spacious, there are multiple bathrooms, and it's very welcoming.  It is definitely a place to bring your friends, family, and non-gamers with zero hesitation.  

CCGS:  The right hand side of the store is the register, and a long series of display cases joining all the way to the back of the store., showing a LOT of Magic and Pokemon.   Behind that were multiple shelves of various boosters, starters, decks, gift sets, etc.   From the look of their schedule they also have events for Riftbound, Gundam, and.... Overpower???  I'm assuming they have product for those games as well.  

Only drawback, looking at the old review, the Schuylkill Haven location had cards in the case priced out, and one of the delays in handling the crowd was pricing out something from the case... and the probable million variants it could be. 

Board Games: Yes, if you're inquiring about popular board games of the last 15 years, and a little bit more, they had it, with the smaller games nestled off in their own section.

RPGs:  The rock solid selection of D&D, more Call of Cthulhu then I've seen in quite a while, and a few other random items.  

Miniatures:  Classic GW assortment (with fully stock paint rack and overpriced spray paint/primer.  Much impressed!), some Mantic (Kings of War/Armada), a section for Battletech (and a whole lotta Savannah Masters!) and a dominant selection of Warlord that rivals vendors at an HMGS convention.  some game stores with a "historical" interest.   They even covered the lesser lines from Bolt Action, including Gettysburg, Black Sails, and Konflict-47.  

Throw in a boatload of the D&D/Wizkids minis in blisters and sets, and fun display of no frills fantasy figures from Wildspire minis, and a decent line of Heroscape they should cover most folks' wants.  

Amenities:  The entire second floor is dedicated to event and open gaming, complete with a command center at the top of the steps for management of tournament evens.  It is spacious, it looks comfy, and it was probably responsible for 2/3 of the vehicles in the parking.  It is an event destination for sure.

The first thing that I noticed when I walked in was the kid's area.    A section dedicated for the little ones with activities to keep kids occupied as long as they want to be occupied.    It's an interesting choice, but has probably paid for itself already.  In my short time there, I  saw it used twice, with kids running to the area and letting mom and/or dad get at least five minutes of peace to look around (... and both families purchased stuff.)  

Comics:  They are a full service comic shop, with the one entire long wall dedicated to it, including back issues, a pull service, and a hefty library of graphic novels.

Events:  With the space upstairs, there's more than enough room for CCGs pre-releases, regular tourney and Commander leagues, plus not only Heroscape and D&D Adventurer's Guild material (including 16 and under events!), but board game nights, and even a painting session in the next month.  

Staff:  It seemed well-staff, with one person overseeing the upstairs gaming area and three on the sales floor,  although they just couldn't break up/check out/ shuffle through the multiple players and some families crowding the case.  Twice I went back to wandering around the store instead of checking out because I couldn't figure out if there was a line and who was doing what.    When I did finally check out on attempt number three, they all seemed like good dudes.  

I picked up a Wildspire Fantasy minis pack of housecats, plus my first major buy of the year, the TMNT Redux GM Screen (review pending).  

I was little disappointed when a small town store moves out, but these folks have built their dream location for Central Pennsylvania,   On the Gaming with the Gnomies 5-Gnome rating system, I give them their second score of five out of five gnomes!

I was pondering giving 4.5 out of 5 gnomes, for a few minor issues, but the old location got a perfect score, and this was a huge upgrade from an already successful operation.

Alchemist's Cove is located at 1284 Centre Turnpike, Orwigsburg, PA 17961 (PA 61).    Easy access to get in, with a Pennsylvania take on a Jersey jughandle to get back onto PA 61 North to continue my way home.  

You can check them out on their website (which has pictures of the old shop) and on Facebook.