Nathan Caplan

Review of Little shop of Magic

I had high hopes, walking into Little Shop of Magi...

I had high hopes, walking into Little Shop of Magic. The space, compared to other local shops across town such as Battlezone Comics, was massive. They have, in plain and easy view, tables for Magic and tables with full terrain for Warhammer/Warmachine. The walls to the back left (from walking in) are painted with miniatures and miniature interest items, while the back walls are dedicated to board games (for those of you unfamiliar with the genre, think less Monopoly, and more Settlers of Catan/Cargo Noir/Smallworld/King of Tokyo/etc).

I'm not a Magic player, so I can't speak with any proficiency on the stock in this area.

The miniatures section is stocked well enough, though the items are more for starter armies. If you're looking for a specific named 'jack for your Cygnar army, there's a good chance it's not there. I've been disappointed with this several times over. Battlezone has a physically larger selection, though frequently their stock is only one deep. Little Shop of Magic has the numbers, but lacks the spectrum.

The board games section was very well embellished, and I've picked up quite a few. The general staff, from what I've found, are actually rather knowledgeable about the products. I can say games I like, and they'll offer a recommendation. Please note: this is specifically the general staff. More on this. Lastly, the main disappointing thing about their board games section is that they never seem to have originals. Expansions, alternate versions (think: Zombie Fluxx), but not a lot of the base versions of games, which can be really frustrating. They always offer to order whatever you'd like, but that's never been a hassle I bother looking into.

In regards to above statement about staff...I do not blame the underlings for any customer service-related issues you read on here. They do the best they can under John's iron fist. John is the owner/operator of the establishment, and I avoid going to the shop unless it's an item I'm nearly positive they'll have, for fear of existing in the same space as him. He is outwardly brief, even when you've got green money in your hand. He's tyrannical to his staff and seems to regard his players (read: customer base) with an air of disillusioned self-posturing.

One personal experience, I was in the midst of checking out. I was being actively helped by the young lady behind the counter, literally mid-sentence of an order over $150 in board games, thanks to the great recommendations of the staff. The dollar amount shouldn't matter, but just to emphasize, that's a decent purchase if you ask me. But really, in the grand scheme of things, I could have been buying a candy bar. The principle remains the same. Mid-sentence with the employee, John oozes out of his office, and REMOVES HER. My debit card is on the counter. My transaction half-rung on the screen. He negates any form of "excuse me" or "I'm sorry sir, this will just take a moment". He gives me little as eye contact, and addresses her as "Hey. Come here." She is visibly torn, and says "Um, now?" and he flippantly offers back "Yes. NOW. Just come here."

He pulls her to the side for literally four seconds of what appeared to be nothing at all. I didn't get the sense of "We need to talk, your register was $20 short.", I got the sense of "Don't forget to straighten the dice before you go." Seriously, nothing urgent here. But my patronage, my business, and my level of service were nothing to sacrifice for his machete-swinging style of management.

TL;DR
Shop's great. Don't give John your money.