There is nothing wrong with the balloons I ordered online from Michaels. However, DO NOT BUY…read moreBALLOONS THROUGH THEIR WEBSITE! I was told by a salesperson at the store that you can order balloons online at Michaels, and bring them in for inflation with helium. I assumed that Michaels works the same way as a grocery store selling and filling their balloons for the cost of the balloon itself. I thus ordered balloons for a baby shower from the Michaels' website. However, upon bringing them in for inflation, I was told by the manager that Michaels sold this set of 10 mylar heart balloons through a third party. Michaels will only inflate these third-party balloons for $3.00 a piece. This makes a simple mylar balloon cost now $6 each. The Michaels website reads: "Order online and pick up your pre-inflated balloons in store." They do NOT mention that inflation with helium is a hefty separate charge, or let you know that they do NOT inflate for free all of the ones they sell on the Michaels website. To compensate me as this is not a clear policy on their website, they gave me a $15 gift card towards the cost of the $30 helium charge. My advice: save your money and go elsewhere for balloons!

Yesterday I attempted to purchase silk flowers that were clearly marked 80% off -- for all spring…read moreand summer decoration. The register marked them at regular price. The attendant refused to listen, claiming that she couldn't do anything. Two other ladies behind me also carried similar flowers and we all inquired about the misleading signs throughout the store. The attendant refused to call a manager. We all left behind the intended items of purchase. Michael's at Albany is becoming a disappointment of shopping experience. Don't advertise a price you can't honor.

I celled to ask questions about product because I live one hour away from the shop and have no car…read morei take the bus guy on the phone was super rude and not customer friendly told me he was dealing with customers why answer the phone then proceeded to tell me if I want to know what they have i to go down there in the most rude way possible like I was wasting he's time or something they also over price like scalper level prices nasty rude people dont bother wasting your money

Worst card shop in the area! Everything is super high and over market by a lot! It's scalper prices…read moreon top of scalper prices. Won't even deal with you when you ask for market prices. I am not even asking for msrp, I am asking for market!! Staff is super rude. Shops like this make the hobby just horrible. I would take my business elsewhere.

The Fortress of Gaming is a new all things gaming event center referred to as, "A Country Club For…read moreGamers". It is located in the warehouse district of Railroad Avenue and a bit tricky to find until the signage is updated but it is more than worth the time you spend searching for it. The Fortress of Gaming is owned by the same person that runs Zombie Planet. The ambition of this place is as grand as the size the venue offers with a small storefront for things like paints, play mats, and dice, the majority of the other two large sections of the location are dedicated to running events and offering space to play games. A flat $5 entry fee gets you access to the facility, their large gaming library, on site concessions, and many tables. Currently, they have spaced out tables, a new HIPPA rated HVACC system with plenty of ventilation, and a requirement to prove you are vaccinated to enter. Masks are optional once inside as a result which is a nice upside to the requirement to prove you are vaccinated. I went for my first visit to try out a event called, "Paint and Take" which is where you buy a $25 kit that includes a pre primed miniature, the paints and brushes you need, and a cup for water so that you can essentially sit and paint with others and have a good time. Eventually, there are plans to get a liquor license and to possibly host "paint and sip" instructional events as well. The venue currently runs magic the gathering, digimon, Warhammer 40K events and really, the potential is vast right now for future events from regular board gaming nights to conventions. This is the gamer equivalent of a field of dreams. He built it, the only question now is, will they come? I hope so. This is a great space and I plan to visit often and see everything they have to offer. This is a local small business that is very niche and it is my hope that it is one of the examples of how we have built back better since the pandemic threw a wrench in all our lives. For those who know about Zombie Planet, note that the store is still there and not closing. It is going to be a full retail location now with more product to offer. It is shifting all it's event business to The Fortress of Gaming. This is an exciting new place to visit and I recommend doing so. It is not crowded, it is not noisy, it is clean and they follow current covid best practices. The owner is open to new ideas too. If you happen to have some nifty and feasible ideas for events you'd like to host at the Fortress, try talking to George about it. You may just find yourself with a venue that meets your gaming event needs :)

I am a pretty active boardgamer. My BGG account goes back to 2009, and I have been gaming since I…read morewas a child. I usually game a couple of times a month, as well as attend various board game conventions. However, I don't like to go to game cafes in general... I just don't see the need. That being said, this place was new so my wife and I checked it out on a Saturday. They are located in practically the middle of nowhere in an old industrial section of Albany. They don't have a sign yet (bureaucratic red tape is slowing it down) and GPS will get you to the right area but not exactly there. Just keep driving around and behind the buildings until you find it. Inside, there are several rooms: one is for general gaming, the other appears to be set up for tournaments (or space rentals). We paid the $5 each for attendance (all-you-can-game) and checked out titles on the shelves. The owner said they had 300, but it looked like much less. They do own a gaming store (Zombie Planet) and he said they were hoping to get up to 500 titles. I recognized about 50% of the games they had, and probably had played 20% already. It is a nice collection, but if you want something in particular you might not find it. You could always bring your own, but I would rather stay at home and play. If you don't have a local gaming group, this is a good alternative. A miniatures tournament was going on in the back room and they were clearly having a good time. A couple of my friend's were getting killed (some things never change!) and it is a good venue for a tournament. Everyone is packed together and it is loud... but that is how things go. Speaking of which, you need to be vaccinated to get in so bring proof. I supposed post-covid that note won't be necessary anymore. They offer some hot food (chicken fingers, fries, pizza rolls, etc.) and cold food (pretzels, chips, candy) and various drinks. Prices are reasonable and any profits go to help support the operation, so I didn't mind paying a bit more than the local grocery store. I don't think you can bring food in, so keep that in mind. We stayed for a couple of hours and played 3-4 games. It was fun. If you are looking to connect with other local gamers this would be a great place to start. They clearly have a nice space for gaming.

Great place !! All of it friendly people! We have stores with no more help on the floor takes to…read morelong so I avoid those stores or not speaking English! Hate seeing a lot of stores closing! Rose

I'm not going to get into the religious views of this company...let just talk fabric cutting…read morecounter. Not a great selection of fabric to begin with, but whatever, I've found some cool stuff. Rarely is there a staff member in the department...I usually have to ring the bell. Okay, great, they finally show up. Now for those of us here in 2019, we are used to decent technology, including scanners that can read bar codes. Not only does HL not have scanners, they HAND WRITE every single fabric price and amount on a slip. Then calculate each price. So let's go through the process shall we? Employee slowwwwwwly unrolls fabric from bolt, then places it against the ruler repeatedly to make sure not to give even an eighth of an inch more than we asked for! Slowwwwwwly cuts said fabric. Slowwwwwly folds fabric and places into a pile. Slowwwwwwly hand writes amount on slip. Slowwwwwwly folds up bolt and sets aside. Repeat. And don't get me started on when there's a mistake and they have to rewrite the entire slip. I don't know if the employees are not properly trained or just seriously lack customer service skills. They should just stand there and watch while I cut my own fabric; I'd sure as heck get out of there faster! Bottom line - if you have a lot of time to kill, or just really want to torture yourself, grab a few bolts of fabric and have them cut various sizes. You can thank me later.

I love Zombie Planet!!! They have a huge selection of all things nerdy, from ttrpg, to comic books,…read morecard games, figurines, mystery packs, small gifts, and more! I was able to get a lot of my holiday shopping done here. Family owned business, the owner is great and the staff is even better! Theo was extremely knowledgeable, kind, patient, and helpful. He helped me pick out the perfect gifts for all my nerdy loved ones, and knew everything there was to know about EVERY. SINGLE. PRODUCT. in store. We love ZP and will continue to support this small family owned business forever! Don't even get me started on the DICE SELECTION and GACHA MACHINES

I still love this place. While the free paint Saturdays aren't still a thing the store is still…read morehands down my favorite spot for finding the games I want, the friends I need to play them, and the community I am grateful to be a part of and without whom all my games would be pointless to have. The store still offers a great newsletter with discounts which you can sign up for via their tablet by the counter, they still have Friday night board game nights I attend regularly, and they have begun organizing and supporting Keyforge tournaments which I sometimes attend Saturday afternoons. They offered a buy one get one 50% off sale this Christmas and typically have a great sale every Friday the 13th. Sometimes they wrap games up and sell them at a discount so that you can enjoy a little self imposed gifting and surprising :) I love coming here regularly not just because of the great selection of product (they aren't just some FLGS that runs MTG and has no stock) from board games, to miniatures, to comic books that make them the, "one stop geek shop" but because doing so has afforded me access to a community of people with similar interests as my own and provided a environment that supports and fosters the growth of these relationships. Put simply, I have many good friends in my life because of Zombie Planet. My life is richer because of these friends who are a part of the community that this store has forged and supported and allowed to flourish. That is the thing that really sets the store apart. It runs organized events. It offers space which allows people to congregate and build a gaming family. The owner is both generous and a savvy businessman who I hope stays in business for a long time to come.

Good selection, comparable to other hobby lobby's I visited…read more I wish, just once, that checking out wasn't a nightmare. It feels like once you're in line they don't care. They had me go to a shorter line, which was for returns, when I had no return. I must have watched 20 customers behind me leave before me. A 15 minute wait for 2 customers ahead of me. I'll admit this seems to be an issue at most locations. I don't think this corporation will ever figure it out, and because of that I generally avoid these stores.

This new Hobby Lobby opened in Aug 2019 and took over the old Toys 'R Us / Babies 'R Us building…read moreafter they had been closed for a while. I wondered at why they opened another one only 5 miles down the road from the one in Latham. The sales associate said it's also smaller by about 10,000 sq ft, but I couldn't tell because it had the same amount of shelf space for the hobbies that I like, so it's no big difference to me. I can't believe that a Hobby Lobby would require more square footage than a Toys 'R Us! If you're a bargain hunter like me, you'll find some gems at steal prices in the clearance section, but since this is a new store, there aren't a lot of marked down stuff yet, as expected. One of my favorite hobbies is model rocketry and HL has a dedicated section stocked with a variety of kits, launchers and engines to outfit your own (scaled down) Cape Canaveral launch site. But alas, they worked out a deal with the manufacturer (Estes) to discount their line and the 40% off coupon can no longer be used on those products ("Your Price," yellow tag). I took home a rocket kit anyway and applied the weekly 40% off coupon to an electric slot car. I'll have to stop in here again in the future, when we're in this area again.

This is the definition of a great "LCS". Amazing inventory, reasonable prices, and friendly staff…read more Will definitely swing by here again next time I'm in the neighborhood.

Dabbled in collectable sports cards as a kid but lost interest. Grandsons, however, have developed…read morea strong interest in collecting and we wanted to fostr that interest. Happened upon Jeff Finnigans shop on Central Ave, in Albany. Store is amazing with a huge inventory of sportscards of every type...Baseball, Football, Basketball, Soccer and most any other sport you can imagine. Not only is the selection vast at virtually any pricepoint but the owner, Jeff, seems like he has a story about every card in the shop. He is very generous with his knowledge and whether cards are for you or a young person, he's happy to share. In fact, when we told him that our grandsons were big sports fans and had started collecting, he lit up and he's been collecting since he was a kid. Knowledable, friendly and gracious, you won't go wrong with a visit to his shop.

I brought a group of people to the Albany area to check out this shop. We were greeted with…read morerudeness and hostility. I'm assuming it is/was the owner. He pointed his finger at us and with wild eyes, he told us the " we better not touch anything...If you break it, you'll buy it!" He also told us that we'd pay more than their value. My group was sad and disappointed. This was probably the rudest individual I've ever met. One must learn how to "conduct" one's self.

I'll preface my review: I have NO knowledge of model trains (not a hobby of mine), so take my…read moreopinions with a grain of salt. I've purchased a locomotive from this store before, along with the train set, and have been really happy. I'm having trouble with the set now, but that's because I'm no train buff and probably haven't kept up with it as well as I should (I only use it for a miniature Christmas village). Now, I'm ready to purchase a new set. I spoke with the owner, Vince, on the phone, as he's always friendly and helpful. He's very accommodating about meeting time and explaining some of the trains to me. It's nice to be able to trust someone if you don't know all about the hobby yourself. I'm planning on visiting Delaware Trains at the show in Albany tomorrow, where I'll be purchasing a new steam locomotive. I wouldn't go anywhere else for this hobby!