Comic Lair

Three decades deep on South Broad Street, Comic Lair pairs a serious back-issue wall with Magic singles, Pokemon and non-sport card boxes.

Chad Spano has been running Comic Lair on South Broad Street for more than three decades, and the shop wears it well. This is an old-school neighborhood storefront rather than a mall unit — narrow, dense, and organized by someone who actually knows where everything is. Customers keep using the same word for the inventory: curated.

Cards live here alongside comics rather than in a separate department. Magic: The Gathering sealed and singles carry the TCG side, with Pokemon on the shelf as well, and there is a genuine non-sport card presence — Garbage Pail Kids, Wacky Packages and similar oddball sets that most Trenton card shop searches will never turn up. If you collect the weird corners of the hobby, this is the stop.

The back-issue wall is the anchor. Reviewers single out "tons of back issues priced reasonably" and a real selection of keys and hard-to-find issues, not just recent floppies. New comics land every Wednesday, which sets the weekly rhythm of the place, and Chad will special-order essentially anything he can source. He also runs his own local comic show, so the shop functions as a hub beyond its four walls, and hosts in-store Magic events.

Hours have a quirk worth planning around: Monday is a short 11AM to 4PM day, Tuesday is by appointment only, Wednesday through Friday run midday to 6:30PM, Saturday is 11AM to 5PM, and Sunday is closed. Wednesday afternoon is the busiest and best-stocked window if you want new-release day energy.

Practical details: street-front parking on South Broad, bike parking available, in-store pickup on webstore orders, and credit cards accepted. Chad buys collections — comics, toys and games — so it is a reasonable place to bring a box you have been meaning to clear out. Expect a conversation about what you actually want to read or collect before anyone tries to sell you anything.