Solz Gaming and Collectibles

East Side Saint Paul shop running a sanctioned Pokemon League, with deep One Piece and Yu-Gi-Oh singles and nine-hour days most of the week.

Suburban Avenue on Saint Paul's East Side is not where most collectors expect to find a tournament-sanctioned TCG store, but Solz Gaming and Collectibles has been quietly building one at 1994 Suburban Ave, Suite B. The footprint is compact and singles-first: cases of Pokemon, One Piece and Yu-Gi-Oh! sit front and center, with sealed product stacked behind rather than dominating the room.

Pokemon is the anchor. Solz runs an officially listed Pokemon League through Play! Pokemon, which means the events here count for organized-play credit rather than just being a casual meetup. Pokemon Open Play lands on Sunday afternoons around 1PM and tends to pull a mixed crowd of kids, parents and competitive players. If you are hunting Pokemon cards in Saint Paul and want somewhere you can both buy singles and immediately play them, this is the shortest path in the eastern half of the city.

The schedule rewards people with awkward availability. Tuesday through Friday the doors are open 10AM to 9PM — a genuinely long day for an independent shop — and Saturday and Sunday run noon to 9PM. Monday is the one closed day, so plan around it. Those late weeknight closes are the main reason the store draws players who cannot make a 6PM start somewhere else.

Magic: The Gathering rounds out the singles inventory alongside the Japanese-origin TCGs, and the shop sells online as well as in person, so inventory turns over faster than the storefront size suggests. Reviews average 4.8 stars across roughly 51 Google ratings, and the theme is consistent: the owner is unusually welcoming to walk-ins, prices on Pokemon singles are reasonable rather than eBay-chasing, and online orders ship packed properly. Parking is in the strip lot out front, and Suite B is toward the end of the row — worth knowing before you circle the block.