Nothing makes a store as warm as having a cat. Today I found a shop that is off the Wizards radar. It is locally run by husband and wife with three rug rats and a cat. Sorry guys, no wiz link for this one:
Card Shop Avalon <- Shop Link
Super accurate ‘Google Maps’ location link ->They don’t specialize in magic, nor do they have Friday night events. But they do have the odd organized event and I happened to visit when a legacy event was taking place.
And there was the usual crowd of people packing US$1000+ decks. There was even a battle of wits deck with every dual and fetch land, ‘four ofs’ of the most expensive cards in the format. Do they play this deck to show off? I doubt they play it to win. Either way, all the decks showed overpowered and overpriced monstrosities of many different flavours but I didn’t see any reanimator decks… aaand that’s the only legacy deck i own. I’m in. Anyway, back to topic, there was this cat.
It was sooo, right. It was the ultimate touch to make a store more local than a local store could possibly be. Her name is Aiko which means “love child”! How cool is that? Well maybe not so cool to the regulars but very cool to me. So during the ‘high stakes’, not-so-often legacy tournament there was a cat giving hints and strategy advice to both players. Isn’t there a rule against this?
All aside, the shop had warmth and atmosphere. There’s not many places where its the customers that entice you to become a part of the Magic: The Gathering community. Avalon in Tottori is one of those places. It is also frequented by the local English Teacher from America.
The staff go that extra mile to help you get what you need. That’s how small local stores thrive. Avalon are doing the right thing in that department. They even gave me ‘freebies’ after I purchased a few items.
Avalon has stock. Maybe too much stock and nowhere to put it. The isle to the front counter it just wide enough for one person. This makes an incredibly interesting travel from one end of the store to the other (roughly four meters).
Even though not dedicated to Magic, if you’re in the city of Tottori, this will be the only place you’ll get healthy competition. Ask in store for details about Magic Tournaments. They seems to be random and decided by the players.
And if you get bored there waiting for your next match, theres always kids programs on the TV. If you want to watch something else, you’ll have to battle children for the remote. Anyway, there’s plenty of people that like Pokemon right?
MTG Zoo 