(Review) Excellent Adventures, Ballston Spa

In my trip to Upstate New York to watch Maja's volleyball team actually win games, she had one request with some free time last weekend:  visit Excellent Adventures in downtown Ballston Spa.

It was a pretty easy request to fulfill, Ballston Spa has plenty of on-street, non-metered parking, so a half-block walk and I was at the door.

But first a story....

Around 25 years ago, I would often get out of my job at the newspaper around noon, and by friend Brian and I would grab lunch, then do a tour of the game stores in the Lehigh Valley.  Dreamscape, Cap's Comics, the Allentown Encounter were the usual spot. although we did take some road trips out to as far as Pastimes in Palmyra (and a Pennsylvania Dutch dinner on the way home).  

One of the local places we only stopped by once or twice a year was a shop nearing the western side of Allentown.  Decent location, lots of inventory... but between the gruff owner behind the counter and the ash tray on the counter, it was off putting.  

Thankfully it's a different world, because I walked into Excellent Adventures, and got the same vibe, but without the smell.  

With a downtown storefront and the interior filled with comics and collectibles, it is the perfect "hole-in-wall" store, and I sincerely mean that in a good way.   

Pulled directly off the store's Facebook page.  

I'll be honest, before I looked for pictures of the store, I had forgotten the swath of wall space for the new comics, because I was scanning every other square inch of cool stuff on the wall.

Gold/Silver/Bronze age back issues were on the walls and boxes, and I did survive the 90s, so the number of newer comics with chromium covers (or whatever the trend is now) was a bit unsettling, but I can't argue with them if they sell.  

The toys and collectibles made me smile, prices seemed fair.

I mostly went back around to mine the older $2 paperback shelf to mine for ideas for Monday nights.  

That being said, on the Gaming with the Gnomes Five-Gnome review system, I give Excellent Adventures two and a half gnomes out of five.

And I actively admit my biases.   Despite working in comics retail for nearly a decade, I've stopped collecting a long time ago and rarely read.  I'm more geared towards quality game stores than comic shops (You'll see that blatantly with future Albany reviews). 

Despite a cluttered and filled store front, I saw a few families during my stay.  Right there gives it my vote. 

And my daughter Maja, who actually lives up there, visits it regularly, so that means more than this old man. 

It's simple: If you live there, you go there. It's an essential piece of Ballston Spa

If I have time, I'll always stop in there first, then venture out to other shops.  

Excellent Adventures is located at 110 Milton Ave (Rt# 50) in Ballston Spa, NY.