Replay Collections

Replay Collections is a trading card and collectibles shop at 672 N Loudoun St in Winchester, Virginia. It carries Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering and Flesh and Blood singles alongside retro video game consoles and tabletop RPG books, and it buys collections from customers. It suits collectors who want to sell a stash or hunt down older games and cards, and it stays open late, until 11 PM every night.

What's on the shelves

Trading card games are the core of the stock: Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering and Flesh and Blood, with other games carried as well. Beyond cards, the store sells retro consoles, video games and books for tabletop RPGs. The name was chosen to cover that spread rather than pin the store to one niche.

Every item is tested, quality checked and cleaned before it goes out for sale, so a console or game comes in working. The store also sells online, with more than 20,000 sales completed.

Buying collections

The store buys collections and individual items. Sourcing locally is the part of the business the owner enjoys most, and that includes walking into other shops, working yard sales and dealing with friends who are clearing out a collection. Questions about selling a collection get an answer within 24 hours of the first email or phone call.

How the store runs

Replay Collections is a one-person operation, and always has been. The owner handles every order personally, from processing to packing to shipping. Orders ship within 24 hours of being placed, and each one goes out with a personalized thank-you message that says whether it ships the same day or the next business day. The owner may add one part-time person as orders pick up.

Hours

History

The business grew out of the owner's college years, when thrifting, yard sales and competitive trading card games fed each other: sharp deal-spotting paid for stronger decks, and prizes the owner didn't need were sold online. Selling began in 2011. When the pandemic hit, the owner went back to thrifting full time and built a registered business of it, with video content, business cards and a brand of its own. The goal was never to depend on someone else for a paycheck, and the shop has been growing toward a full-time operation since.

The local scene

Winchester has several other collectible and hobby stores within about a mile. Comic Kung Fu is right alongside Replay Collections, and Back to the Media (video games, records and comics) and Hobby Hut are each about 0.9 miles away. Time Traveler Toys and Collectibles is about a mile out, which makes an afternoon of hopping between shops easy to plan.