(Review) Sword in the Stone Games, Laurel Mall, Hazleton, Pennsylvania

I've had the good fortune to travel around a bit this summer, discovering quite a few game stores.  

But nothing quite got me excited like the opening Sword in the Stone Games in the Laurel Mall in Hazleton, PA. 

Even thought there was a shop a mile away from my apartment, I've frequented every name, iteration, and location of Sword in the Stone since they first opened, and I'm quite happy to swing by their main location in the Wyoming Valley Mall.  It's ten minutes away from me, even in bad traffic, there's always something new, and the staff is incredibly pleasant.  

Why is the Hazelton location, a store thirty-plus miles further away, excite me? 

Because the expansion is in collaboration with Erik at White Knight's Game Room in Williamsport.  Erik's been in business for thirty-sum odd years, in fact his location in Faxon was my go-to game store back in my Northern Tier living days twenty years ago... and his store has evolved in to a behemoth since then. 

Greeting:   It took less than a minute for the staff to not only greet, but fully engage me, and they were working with customers.  Since I've made this my go-to grade, it made me quite happy, and with a new business with a mall crowd, this is going to be essential. 

Cleanliness:  They had just celebrated their grand opening, so everything was new, clean, heck the smell of freshly cut wood was still in the air.  

CCGs:  Magic The Gathering, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Lorcana, One Piece, Riftbound, Star Wars Unlimited, and pretty much whatever else the two other stores stock.  The case was focused on Magic singles, and certain Pokemon products allocated to one per customer per day. 

Board Games:  Not necessarily an immense selection yet, but a diverse one from big board games, to tiny cards games, even some I'm not familiar with!  

RPGs:  D&D and Pathfinder dominate, but they do spread further with their selection.  

Miniatures:  A beautiful and full wall of Reaper Bones (even with this grumpy old guy complaining about the price of plastic) will never be frowned upon, including a number of the larger figures. 

And they do promote Games Workshop, keeping inventory at reasonable quantities.

Other:  Just like the Wilkes-Barre location, they've got plushies, dice, CCG supplies, and can special order most traditional items in a week or two.  

And they have this guy, who is NOT for sale...

Amenities/Events:  They just opened up, but the back gaming space is... spacious, and already had a couple players on a Tuesday evening. Snacks and drinks are available.. plus some decent mall food options to boot. 

Board game nights are Wednesdays at 5pm and Sundays at 3pm.  There's a host of Magic formats, Riftbound, Digimon, One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh,  and Gundam CCG as well.

With a visit mere days after the grand opening (and an appearance by note Magic artist Ed Beard), I was suitably impressed by what they had put together, and the potential they had for the future.

That being said, based on proper planning, inventory, design, staff, and potential for fun, on my Gaming with the Gnomies Five Gnome scale, I give the brand new Sword in the Stone Hazleton location four out of five gnomes.

Part of my calculations was my score was to obviously keep it lower than the  well-established Sword in the Stone's Wilkes-Barre location... and The White Knight's Game Room's "compound" in Williamsport. 

Except, in possibly my biggest gaffe of my 17 years of blogging, I don't have a current review of the Wilkes-Barre location and I've NEVER formally reviewed White Knight's!  

That will be corrected shortly, but if you're passing by Hazleton anytime, check out the new store (I used the Old Navy outside mall entrance, but the parking garage entrance will get your there faster.   Everything is currently set up on their Facebook page.