GRANITE QUARRY — Just across from The Hotdog Shack in Granite Quarry, gamers and collectors can stop by the new store in town and pick from the selection of the classic games and Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon or Magic cards that is offered there.

The new store, called Collectibles and Games and located at 409 S. Salisbury Ave., began in June of 2021 when Cameron Gilbert began selling collectibles such as Yu-Gi-Oh cards online. Gilbert said the main reason he started the business was to help him build generational wealth that he can pass down to his kid.

When Gilbert got his friend J.T. Lynch into the hobby as well, he says the other began to help him out on the business side. Eventually, Lynch joined Gilbert’s store and brought his passion for collecting retro games in as well. When the store began to do well online, the two looked into taking it into the real world and eventually decided to start their brick-and-mortar store in Granite Quarry.

On Monday, Sept. 11, the store officially held its grand opening and its doors have been open to the public five days a week since. Gilbert said that before the grand opening, the store did hold a soft launch the week prior to see how the Granite Quarry location would work.

“We had a soft launch last week, just to kind of see how things would go, and it went well enough that we’ve already covered our first month’s rent,” said Gilbert.

Gilbert and Lynch both said that the store started because of their passion for the hobby of collecting. The growth of the online portion of the business surprised them, and with that they thought it would be worthwhile to open up a separate physical location.

“When I was a kid, we played Yu-Gi-Oh and then in college I got back into Yu-Gi-Oh and I’ve really just been playing ever since,” said Gilbert. “And of course, he’s the one who got me into it,” Lynch said from the other side of the store.

Gilbert says the store’s location in Granite Quarry almost fell into his lap. He said there was actually another place that was available for rent, but because the owner of that location was not answering his phone, Gilbert went out to see it in person.

“There was another place we were looking into renting, and I was driving out to take a look at it and I actually drove past it and had to turn around. And I turned around in this parking lot and noticed that there was a space available. So really, the first guy missed out by not answering his phone,” said Gilbert.

Gilbert said that he and Lynch are making certain to keep their online store separate from their new in-person store, so people who visit Collectibles and Games in-person or online do not have to worry about missing out on what they see as available. Gilbert said the main reason for this was that combining the two would create a logistical nightmare for the two men when they try to figure out what has been sold, to who and from where.

The two men also work other jobs, Gilbert as a software developer and Lynch as a restaurant manager, so the two keep the store open as much as they can. The hours right now are 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., and Gilbert and Lynch said both try to be there as much as they can.