Tons of geekery on Cincinnati Re-adventure lately, yeah?
People have been telling Dan and I about YottaQuest for ages now, and just before our grand Comic Con adventure, we were feeling a little itchy to check the place out.
YottaQuest is in Mt. Healthy-- not an area I'm very familiar with. We made the trek over, excited about the ultimate gaming store, but to be honest I was a little disappointed. Definitely not with the inventory-- the walls are absolutely stacked with board games, RPG sets, etc. It was a real treasure trove.
However-- and I know this is not my first time mentioning this about various comic or gaming stores-- the experience was awkward as hell. After we walked in, a bunch of people occupied most of the modest store space playing some kind of RPG, and in order to see the games lining the store walls you had to walk very tightly around the gaming table. No one looked up or acknowledged our existence, even when we had to shimmy around them to get to another wall. People-- as far as I know, not employees, so not really their fault-- stood directly in front of us, didn't make eye contact, generally blocked us from moving around the small store.
Finally as we were leaving-- physically walking out of the store-- a clerk asked us if he could help us find anything.
I'm well aware that I have somewhat unfair expectations about these kind of stores, but I've seen that geeky but unawkward shops CAN exist. Dan and I still make the drive out to Clifton Comics every week or so, and we love the relationships we've formed there and the conversations we have. Our experience with Sci-Fi City in Northgate Mall was also top-notch.
I don't expect to be waited on hand and foot, no matter what kind of store I'm in. I don't even necessarily need to be greeted or spoken to while I'm here. Consider Boardwalk Hobby Shop, for instance-- I don't think anyone spoke to me a single time when I was there, but the store was awesome and had the same kind of games as YottaQuest. But a few of the stores that we've visited have felt like they've gone out of their way to be unwelcoming to people outside of the in-crowd. YottaQuest, for me, on this specific day at least, was one of those.
YottaQuest website: http://yottaquest.com/
1 comments:
YottaQuest is my store of choice but I understand exactly what you are saying. The store is not large enough to accommodate it's purpose anymore. They wanted to purchase the old Mannerino's next door but it turned out the building needed some $50,000 worth of work. What made/makes the store so great is Matt, the owner. It is harder and harder to catch him in the store as the business grows and demands his time elsewhere. I am sorry you had an awkward experience but looking back I can see how this could happen.
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