Post by G on Mar 2, 2009 9:25:34 GMT -5
I kind of know Fantasy Escape because I had a friend who was an artist who befriended the store owner and with this got a job painting a mural for his front window design to entice comic enthusiast to come into his store. The job my friend did was pretty nice and Im sure it captured what the owner wanted. My friend would even work there for a time.
My visits there however left me will little I can recommend about the place. If I had to make a call on the store, I would say it is smack dab average. Maybe slightly below or just maybe average. Located in a little strip shopping center, the size of the store is one major thing that is lacking. It's pretty small. Now I can deal with this if it is set up properly and comfortably. And if no one is in the store, Ive had a decent experience or two. However, the last few times I was in there, they had reduced their store to being yet another card gamers hangout with no respect to the comic shoppers given. Since the place is so small, my last experience there had about a fire hazards worth of kids sprawled out all over the store. I dont even really remember much of a gaming area, so the kids did the next best thing. They laid their card games out on top of the comic boxes and began playing right on top of the comics. This is just unacceptable to me. Its almost like saying "I dont care about your desire to buy comics"....even though its a comic store! Not only that, I didnt see the counter help encouraging kids to move their wares to a location elsewhere so that comic customers could shop.
To top it off, I have found pricing there from generally expected, to outright high. My best days in the store have generally been an hour or so of looking only to leave with about 3 or 4 comics I felt was acceptable. Selection also was muted with a bunch of tried and trues, but not much in terms of Silver Age, or hard to find comics.
My last card gamers delight visit caused me to leave with nothing and I havent been back in a few years now. Probably close to 5. If I make my rounds again, I may stop back by, but Im not expecting much to be different and if it is not, I think I will stay away another 5 years. Sometimes its just the little things that make the experience worth it. It's the little things I feel are lacking at this store.
My visits there however left me will little I can recommend about the place. If I had to make a call on the store, I would say it is smack dab average. Maybe slightly below or just maybe average. Located in a little strip shopping center, the size of the store is one major thing that is lacking. It's pretty small. Now I can deal with this if it is set up properly and comfortably. And if no one is in the store, Ive had a decent experience or two. However, the last few times I was in there, they had reduced their store to being yet another card gamers hangout with no respect to the comic shoppers given. Since the place is so small, my last experience there had about a fire hazards worth of kids sprawled out all over the store. I dont even really remember much of a gaming area, so the kids did the next best thing. They laid their card games out on top of the comic boxes and began playing right on top of the comics. This is just unacceptable to me. Its almost like saying "I dont care about your desire to buy comics"....even though its a comic store! Not only that, I didnt see the counter help encouraging kids to move their wares to a location elsewhere so that comic customers could shop.
To top it off, I have found pricing there from generally expected, to outright high. My best days in the store have generally been an hour or so of looking only to leave with about 3 or 4 comics I felt was acceptable. Selection also was muted with a bunch of tried and trues, but not much in terms of Silver Age, or hard to find comics.
My last card gamers delight visit caused me to leave with nothing and I havent been back in a few years now. Probably close to 5. If I make my rounds again, I may stop back by, but Im not expecting much to be different and if it is not, I think I will stay away another 5 years. Sometimes its just the little things that make the experience worth it. It's the little things I feel are lacking at this store.
