VGMX The Nerd Emporium

Columbus fixture since 1996 with one of the region's largest Magic, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh! singles inventories alongside walls of retro video games.

Thirty years in business buys a lot of inventory, and VGMX The Nerd Emporium has spent its three decades on Schrock Road accumulating exactly that. The store opened in 1996 as a video game exchange and grew into one of the largest trading card singles operations in central Ohio — the Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh! singles stock here runs deeper than nearly any Columbus card shop, organized into long rows of binders and cases that reward collectors who come with a want list.

The dual identity is the charm. One half of the floor is a retro gamer's archive: NES carts, Sega consoles, imports, and modern titles, all bought, sold, and traded over the counter daily. The other half belongs to cards, where sealed product from the current Pokemon and Magic sets shares space with older boxes and a steady flow of traded-in collections. That trade-in pipeline means the singles stock refreshes constantly — regulars check back weekly because yesterday's empty binder slot may be filled today.

Nearly 700 Google reviews averaging 4.5 stars tell a consistent story: fair trade values, staff who actually know the price of what you are holding, and a store that feels like a museum you can buy from. It is a frequent first stop for anyone liquidating an inherited collection, since video games and cards get appraised under one roof.

Hours are among the most generous in the city — 10AM to 9PM Monday through Saturday and 11AM to 7PM Sunday — making VGMX the reliable fallback when other shops are closed. Find it just off Route 161 in the Schrock Road retail corridor, with easy parking out front. For trading cards Columbus collectors have trusted across generations, this is the veteran.