Located underneath the giant 'Haven' sign near the Anaheim Metro station in downtown Long Beach, Nerdy Related is a retail shop, open 6 days a week, focusing on trading card games (TCGs). I had a chance to stop-in, chat with the proprietors, and make purchase: found the entire experience to be really heartening.
Nerdy Related just opened earlier this year, with their grand opening sign promoting role playing and trading card games. It wasn't too busy when I stopped by on a Tuesday afternoon, so had a chance to talk to the proprietors about how things were going. They are both from the Long Beach area, and were very excited about their new venture.
It's small but super bright inside, with product not overwhelming the space. There is an area in the front for a couple of folding tables/chairs where community card gatherings/tournaments are meant to be hosted. I joked about being so close to a dispensary, and they mentioned that they considered it a positive, with curious folks stopping in. Positivity just permeated throughout the store, and I couldn't help but have it soak in. Was definitely in a better mood leaving than when coming in.
As often happens, great customer interaction/service resulted in more purchases. Definitely spent a bit more than original intention, but they had a (expensive) Pokemon set that I've not been able to find anywhere else, and will be a future birthday gift. For myself, I bought a Union Arena card set with characters from Demon Slayer.... there is one for Solo Leveling as well, but was told that it's very hard to keep that in stock. They get their product from a distributor, so prices will be higher than directly from the manufacturer or from a big box store. But availability is a huge factor (TCGs like One Piece, Pokemon are super popular right now with certain sets just not available without big markups), so thought the pricing was very fair. And I loved the shopping bags that came with the purchase: with an expensive looking wax seal clearly branding where the purchase came from. There are binders with loose Pokemon cards for sale, so can spend time looking through those. They mentioned that they don't have a searchable online catalog yet, but hope to do so at some point in the future. Much thought has been put into the opening.
It's the kinda place that I would imagine the guys from The Big Bang Theory would hang out: having discussions with fellow geeks and nerds about all things 'nerdy'...cause...you know...it's in the name. read more