Store Name: Legendary Games-Lexington
Store Address: 320 N. Ashland Ave
Store City, St Zip: Lexington, KY 40502
Rating: 1/10
This card and game shop opened in 2015 on North Ashland Ave. The shop sits where CycleYou used to have their cycling studio in Lexington KY. The front of the shop is stocked with items such as Magic cards, booster packs, and board games. The back half of the shop is devoted to tournaments for Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, and Yugioh, or if you just want to get some friends together and play for fun you can use the tables in the back for free. They also offer Dungeons and Dragons games during the week.
The owners are Jason and Julia Adams and when their shop first opened, it was a nice place to go for playing some Magic the Gathering. They have a nice selection of single cards from Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Pokémon along with booster packs of a variety of sets with those card games. They also sell a variety of card sleeve protectors if you want to play a deck you just purchased at the store. They also sell board games and books to go along with Dungeons and Dragons.
One point of contention is that their game cards are higher priced then other game shops in town. Other shops in Lexington sell single cards based on The Card Gamer (TCG) player pricing, while Legendary games sells their singles at Star City Games pricing. If you are looking to purchase booster packs from the shop, they don’t offer any deals on the most recent sets, where other stores offer 3/$10 type of deal, while Legendary games just sells their booster packs at full retail price ($3.99/pack of 15 cards).
Another bone of contention is the customer service at this store. There have been multiple times I have gone in there to look around. I see something I would like to purchase, but when I ask for the price on a card I wish to acquire, the people at their front desk tell me its Star City Games pricing, in which pricing varies based on condition and rarity which I don’t know off the top of my head. I have to repeatedly ask for the pricing to obtain it from them, a process by which I am made to feel stupid for not knowing. I have also asked for cards to be held there so I can pick them up after I get off work on three separate occasions. However, when I have gone down there to pick them up, they have sold the cards I asked them to set aside for me. When I have asked other local game shops to pull cards for me so that I can get them on the weekend, I have never had a problem with their not being available when I stopped by to purchase them.
Finally, coming here to play competitive MTG also leaves much to be desired. I have played quite a few tournaments between here and other local shops in the Lexington area. I feel every time I come here to play competitively it is always much pricier ($35-40) then other shops in town ($25). I have played a few Pro tour qualifiers (about $30), and most of the time the prices are spot on with most these other tournaments in town. When it comes to qualifying tournaments that only Legendary runs, their fees came in at around $35-$40 with a payout that isn’t reflective of the tournament pricing or player turnout. They typically cap their payout amount at $400 cash, but put in small print prizes subject to change depending on turnout. Not only do they make money on food and game supplies, they also seem to do quite a bit better than the players with respect on making money on the tournaments themselves.
I have stopped coming here to buy cards or play competitive Magic. I feel that in the last few years since the store opened, it just doesn’t have a welcoming atmosphere that existed when it first opened in Lexington. The owners aren’t willing to assist you if you have an issue at their store and overall, they just seem to care more about making money off you than providing a gaming experience that makes it a pleasure to come back. Businesses that are not interested in customer service, are unwilling to assist customers, or hire people that are customer oriented are just not worth the time and trouble to visit in my view.
In closing, I wouldn’t recommend this store to anyone looking for a good local game store. There are 2 stores on Southland Dr, D20 Hobbies, and A+ comics and collectibles. Those are the shops that I would recommend over this one. Both those stores have staff willing to go out of their way to help you if you have questions about something. Legendary has its perks being so far from the rest of the game stores in town, but it has way too many downsides. Perhaps your experiences with them are better, but for myself I will never use them again.
Thank you for reading,
Jason
UPDATE: I have been banned from the store
