Player's Choice

The comic book store is slowly going the way of the dodo bird.  At least, that's what Mark tells me.  It does seem that there aren't many out there, and when you do find them, they have such restrictive hours that you can't visit them.

As time has passed, they've added additional nerd-centric options.  You can often find anime related items in these stores.  You can maybe find old video games there, as well.  Many of them have expanded to include tabletop role-playing games.  Maybe it's not that the comic book store is going extinct; maybe it is just adapting.  Player's Choice is an excellent example of this new beast.

Located in the Myrtle Beach Mall*, Player's Choice is a store that covers pretty much all of the nerd bases and in every conceivable way.  The sign is a giant NES controller.  When Mark spied it, he just about flipped.  He turned into a giddy school boy.  Being the awesome wife that I am, we went in.  We must have been in there for at least thirty minutes.  We even went back a second time.

When you enter the store, there are cases to either side.  To the right, there are comic book character tumblers.  To your left, you have old school games and consoles.  We even found a Virtual Boy on a shelf behind the case.  Behind the case on the right were some old pinball machines and arcade machines.  They had a Dungeons & Dragons pinball machine and a Marvel Versus Campcom II cabinet.**

A bit further into the store, there were additional glass cases, as well as t-shirt racks.  Player's Choice had some obscure, as well as odd, t-shirt choices, and we loved it.  I could have spent quite a bit of money in there buying just shirts.  Mark got a Resident Evil shirt that is a bit subtle.  I almost bought my dad a Predator shirt and a Princess Leia shirt.  Mark almost ended up with a Japanese Thundercats shirt.  Those couple sentences give you a good idea of the variety they had.  There were also World of Warcraft shirts, a Castlevania shirt, and some wrestling t's.***  There was even a Doctor Who shirt I had never seen before.  When you walk around the store, you see additional t-shirts lining the walls.

In the cases near the t-shirt racks, there was a vast array of items.  One held some Final Fantasy figures and assorted coffee mugs.  Another held WoW miniature weapons.  Anime related items were also located in these cases.  Frankly, I could do all of my Christmas shopping for my youngest brother, who I have oft referred to as Little Geek****, in this one store alone, and I'm sure that would make him happy.

Continuing into the store, moving along the right wall, there are a great deal of movies.  I saw some anime on the racks, as well as your more standard fare.  On the end caps of some of the racks, there was additional merchandise, such as bags and stuffed animals.  I didn't pay much attention to the DVDs, aside from looking for the Evangelion box set*****, which means I could have missed some awesome stuff.  There was so much to see that I had to pick and choose my focus.

The back of the store is home to comic books, lots and lots of comic books.  I didn't check to see which ones, as I can't afford to get sucked into comics.  They get expensive real quick.  There is a case in the center area of the store that houses some snacks and yet more merchandise.  Snacks are only fifty cents, unless otherwise marked.  You could just leave your kid here with a couple of bucks and not have to worry.******

Mark and I don't usually go up to the Myrtle Beach Mall.   The Coastal Grand is much closer to us and houses our favorite theater.  I get the feeling we'll be making more trips to the Myrtle Beach Mall now that we have discovered Player's Choice.  It's a great store with a ton of merchandise.  If you can't find something that appeals to your interests, we shouldn't be friends.  Seriously, they have everything.  There was even a plush facehugger from Aliens.

*Previously known as the Colonial Mall.

**They had something for each of us.  Mark was sad that we had no quarters.

***I don't care for wrestling, but I thought you should know.

****While he is a bit geeky, the name actually came from the movie the Abyss.  If you don't know why, go watch it.  Seriously, it's a good movie.  Maybe I would steer away from the director's cut.  Just go with the theatrical release.

*****Mark has never seen all of it, and I would like to watch it with him.  It's not even available on most sites that I've checked.  Boo.

******Don't do that.  They're not baby-sitters.