Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Clare, I am the owner of Peebles Comics & Games (along with my husband Simon). We are a small comic book and games store in the Scottish Borders and I run the shop with my colleague Alex.
When we started, I actually knew little about TCGs until I opened the store other than playing a little MTG and watching my kids and husband play Pokémon. However I have really gotten into Lorcana since it launched, I love the game mechanics and the art on the cards is beautiful.
How did you get started in opening the shop?
We have run various online comic subscription services for the last 20 years. We moved up from London to Scotland 9 years ago and bought an ongoing online comic business based in Glasgow. We have unfortunately since had to close this down. However, 5 years ago we opened a brick and mortar comic shop in Peebles and have grown the business from there.
We’ve always loved comics and board games and there was not a comic book store in the whole of the Scottish Borders despite there being pockets of TCG, RPG and board game players who had nowhere to buy products or meet other like minded people.
What is the TCG scene like in the area? What products do you stock the most?
We stock Lorcana, Pokémon (when we can!), MTG, One Piece and Yu-Gi-Oh and try and promote them all but Pokémon is our biggest by far. We are a tiny store so we do not have space for organised play in the shop unfortunately.
We have a huge amount of support for Pokémon as well as a few very active MTG players and a small Lorcana following. While we don’t have the space in the shop for people to play, we do sometimes play Magic or Lorcana at our regular board games group.
What makes your shop unique?
We are small but mighty. We cram a lot of products into a small space so we normally have something for everyone. Our unique selling point though is our service, we go above and beyond for all of our customers and provide as personal a service as we can.
Although we offer pre-orders for all our TCGs, we purposefully do not sell Pokémon online to avoid scalpers getting their hands on it. We only sell to local and regular customers with the aim of getting products directly to players and collectors.
We also ensure we have a strong presence on social media. We’re always sharing what new products we have from comics to trading cards! We also have groups where fans of particular brands can connect with each other, for instance, Pokemon fans discussing the latest release.
What would be your advice for getting into the TCG hobby? Equally, can you share one of your favourite moments from running the shop?
Learn to play! It’s not just about completing the sets or collecting. You’ll appreciate the cards and the artwork so much more if you create a deck and play with your favourite cards.
As for favourite moments, it’s always lovely to see our customers supporting each other. One of our Pokémon collectors always buys a few booster packs and asks us to keep them behind the counter for when we sell out. Then if a kid comes in disappointed that we don’t have any or someone comes in that can’t afford a pack, we hand over the prepaid packs. The look on their faces is precious!
In your opinion, why is it so important for people to support their local hobby shops?
It’s crucial we can stop online scalpers and ensure real collectors and players get hold of their cards. We also have lots of kids that come in on a Friday afternoon with their pocket money for a booster pack. We would implore everyone to buy local and not online. Many people nowadays are spending silly money with scalpers who only do what they do because people are prepared to spend silly money with them. Support local businesses to get products into your hands at reasonable prices.
What are your plans for the future and where can people find you?
While we don’t have space to run events, we would love to consider demo days and “learn to play” sessions in the future. For now, we’re kept busy running the business day to day and enjoy meeting new people!
You can find us at 42a Northgate, Peebles, EH45 8BZ and we’re most active online on Facebook. Follow us to see all our latest products and releases.