Visiting Local Hobby Stores Around New Hampshire and Massachusetts

Howdy folks!

Most long-time readers of the blogs know that I ADORE visiting local hobby stores that aren’t massive chains to buy hobby supplies (Looking at you, Hobby Lobby). Local-friendly hobby stores are one of the pillars of what we do. Owners provide spaces that are welcoming and safe for people to participate in what we love!

Nothing is better than playing Friday night magic or Warhammer without any road bumps!

One thing about myself is that I prefer to shop in stores rather than online if I can. Don’t get me wrong, I love some online hobby stores, but there’s something nifty about being able to see the product in hand, especially with things like Magic The Gathering cards. One of my worst fears is spending a large sum of money on a booster box and then finding out it’s been messed with. Tampering and theft of items, such as promo cards, is an occurrence that can happen.

I’ve been fortunate not to experience this, but the concern still lingers.

Here are some of the recent hobby stores that I visited during the last few weeks. I’ll be giving an honest review of what I think of the stores and hope that if you’re in the area you’ll take the time to check them out.

I don’t have many pictures of the stores because they were busy.

POP CULTURED (The Mill no. 5, Lowell, MA)

The Mill No. 5 is one of my favorite places to go on my days off. It’s a historic building in Lowell that has a handful of shops that I love to shop at! Many are LGBTQIA+ friendly. They also host many events such as Bazaars and mini conventions. A few top shop choices at the Mill are Curation, an urban art store, and a shop. This is where I go for my spray paint vending machine! Red Antler Apothecary for soaps, teas, and depending on state laws, edibles. The other is the namesake of this section, Pop Cultured!

This small shop is packed with goodies ranging from Magic, Warhammer, and Anime. They have a few tables for their event nights for dungeons and dragons, Flesh and Blood, and Magic. Not too much space for large groups.

The prices are particularly fair, especially for Magic and Warhammer. Our card pulls from this store have been great, including a Mana Crypt, so this is where my partner and I prefer to buy from.

The owner was nice and informative, especially when I was looking at their selection of Warhammer’s Black Library section and to reach out through Discord if we wanted anything specific.

We’ve bought quite a few booster boxes from this. Yesterday’s visit had us leaving with a Tyranid Commander deck and a Flesh and Blood Booster Box (Tales of Aria).

Double Midnight Comics (Manchester, NH)

I’ve heard many things about Double Midnight Comics when we visited the store last week. We went in looking for the new Ravnica booster bo,x and while the price for it wasn’t quite what we were hoping for (new set, what can you do?), it still was an awesome shop to visit. They had an extensive variety of TCG cards to shop from, ranging from Pokémon to Flesh and Blood.

Double Midnight also had a large collection of DnD minis and, of course, comics! They even had a few Gunpla kits!

The staff was friendly and helped us sign up for reward points. The store didn’t have the weird funk that comes with hosting events. It was spacious if you wanted to play in groups.

While it might not be a store I go to often. Manchester is a bit of a trip for me. I would still recommend it. There’s even a Concord store if that’s closer to you.

We did walk out with two booster boxes. One for Zendikar, the other for Dominaria United.

Interested in learning about other shops?

Check out these posts:

The comic store has moved locations to a warehouse. It still sells the same merchandise, but the hours are slightly different. It is, in my opinion, less accessible than before if you need any mobility devices. However, I imagine the owner being more than kind to do what he can to help anyone out.

Accessibility-wise, I’m not entirely sure all of these stores are wheelchair accessible. I have seen it mentioned that the elevator at the Mill No.5 is an inch below the floor level. Not sure if this is helpful, but I just wanted to note it.

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