[Avery] 9/30/99
The news came out on Friday, September 10. Wizards of the Coast, the company
that distributes Pokemon cards (as well as many card-based games, such as
Magic the Gathering), was being acquired by Hasbro. Hasbro also announced
that they would expand the card distribution to increase sales to major retail
stores (like Toys R Us and K*B Toys) and bookstores.
I'm sure that 99% of you out there don't give a damn about this, but when one of your friends owns a comic shop, it can spell disaster for them. This sort of move, especially during the pre-holiday season, is the sort of thing that could put many independent comic/game shops out of business.
I found this news out from Chris, a friend that owns the comic shop that Janet and I frequent. It was in the same breath (ok, virtual breath because it was all done online) that he mentioned that he could use a beer. So, we decided to meet up at The Spigot at 8:30pm so we could drown our collective sorrows in pints of Spaten Oktoberfest beer.
Within minutes of arrival at the Spigot, Chris stopped licking his wounds and the conversation moved quickly into ribald stories of drinking, traveling and eating. As the conversation progressed, Janet mentioned that we had just come back from Boston, and I asked Chris if he had ever been to the Sunset Grill and Tap in Allston (a district of Boston) before.
Chris' friends who lived in Boston informed him that due to the way he carried on that night, the Sunset imposed a two yard per person limit.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: what a small freaking world.