A CoolStuffInc visit in Orlando

When most people travel to Orlando, Florida, they’re thinking about Mickey Mouse, Disney World, Universal Studios, Sea World, and all sorts of family fun.

But when you’re traveling by yourself for a business trip, those theme parks aren’t typical on the itinerary.

At least, that was the case for me while I was in Orlando for a conference for a few days last week.

Instead, I spent some time one evening visiting a CoolStuffInc game store in the area.

If you’re not familiar with CoolStuffInc, let me introduce you.

CoolStuffInc.com is an online game retailer that also has a number of physical store locations in Florida.

Here’s their short description:

We aim to satisfy all of your gaming needs with our great prices, fast and fair shipping, live accurate online inventory, and unrivaled card grading policy. Our top priority, however, is providing superior service because we know that happy customers are worth more than a quick buck.

Our philosophy is that the only way to be successful is to make sure our customers are happy. We firmly believe in repeat business and word of mouth advertising. We want to make sure we separate ourselves from our competitors, so on top of our great prices we offer exceptional service. From the way we pack our products for shipping to the speed in which your order gets to you, we have streamlined our process to deliver the best experience to you. If there is ever a problem, let us know and we will do whatever we can to make it right.

I’ve ordered games and supplies from CoolStuffInc.com in the past and had heard about their friendly game stores. So, I decided to pay them a visit while I was going to be in town.

 

The Store

After finding a hotel relatively close to where the conference was, I did a quick search to find the nearest CoolStuffInc game store. It turned out that the South Orlando store wasn’t too far away. And better yet, it was in a shopping area with a number of restaurants nearby as well.

So after I was done with the conference for the day, I took short Uber ride to a restaurant nearby, then walked over to the CoolStuffInc game store.

There are a number of things I look for when entering a game store and they all revolve around how inviting the store feels.

The first is if I’m welcomed by one of the staff. This can take various forms. The most common and easiest is simply to be acknowledged. So I was pleased to get a warm greeting by one of the staff welcoming me to the store and offering to help if I needed anything.

The next thing that gives an inviting sense is the environment itself. And CoolStuffInc hit a homerun there as well.

The store was very clean, well lit, and nicely organized.

 

Games, Games, Games

I spent the first little bit just looking around the game shelves at the games on display.

I wasn’t really looking at the games themselves because I was already familiar with almost every game in the store. But I was looking to buy something. That’s because I like to buy games from great game stores. And I also knew it would be a good memory for me of my visit (like a souvenir).

But since I didn’t have a lot of space available, I knew it would have to be something easy to pack in what I had. (This ruled out Gloomhaven.)

An obvious purchase for me would be a few Star Wars: Destiny booster packs.

That’s because I’ve been on a Star Wars: Destiny kick since getting a copy in the SaltCon Math Trade at the start of March. Star Wars: Destiny actually launched at GenCon the year I attended (2016). But because of the collectible nature of the game, I decided to stay away.

But I’ve continued curious all these years and when it started popping up on trade lists, I figured now was the time to give it a go. I got the Two-Player edition in the trade and bought a couple starter sets in the SaltCon Game Swap for $5 each. After opening them, I quickly saw the problem that many do — how to store all the dice and cards?

I really dislike the type of box the Two-Player edition comes in and the start set boxes only hold their little set.

That’s when I stumbled on the best solution around — Zen Bins Star Wars: Destiny custom storage!

I saw that CoolStuffInc sold the Zen Bins Star Wars: Destiny trays and promptly ordered some. That also happened to be the same week I was setting my travel plans in order.

The great news was that the order arrived ahead of the projected delivery date and I received the trays before my trip to Orlando. So of course, I was going to by some Star Wars: Destiny booster packs from CoolStuffInc while I was there as well.

But I didn’t want to just leave it at that.

So I also bought a couple other items that I could easily pack home — Scythe Encounters and another Unlock game (Unlock! Expedition: Challenger).

Now every time I play these games I’ll think about my time in Orlando at CoolStuffInc.

 

Play Area

Another key element of a friendly store is having a nice place to play games.

And CoolStuffInc had plenty of place to play!

Off to one side of the store were a few shelves of games available for people to play in the store. I didn’t spend a lot of time however checking out what was available because I was more interested in what was already in play.

You see, I didn’t just haphazardly pick which night I was going to visit the store.

I noticed on the calendar for the Orlando store that Monday nights were Star Wars: Destiny nights!

That sounded like the perfect fit for my current interest.

While I didn’t dive into a game myself, I did get to watch a couple games in play and chat with the folks playing. They were nice and friendly and added to the inviting feel of the game store.

Overall it was a great way to spend some time while in the area.

If you’re going to be in the Orlando area, I’d recommend you stop by a CoolStuffInc game store.