The Hobby Chest

We killed some time today by showing Mitch around good ole Jacksonville. Jacksonville is the closest town to where I grew up, and it’s where we had to go if we wanted to buy certain things. I hung out at the mall a lot growing up, because malls were pretty cool back then. My mom liked to shop, so I would run off to the Record Bar or the Sound Shop to check out some music. If with friends we spent most of our time at Aladdin’s Castle pumping machines full of tokens. A little sidenote, I remember the day Mortal Kombat came out. A large group of us huddled around this one guy that kept continuing his game until he beat it. It was so much fun and exciting seeing a game like that, as well as someone playing through in one go. I remember standing up on my toes trying to get a glimpse of a finishing move if he was able to pull it off. That game blew my 12 year old mind.

Eventually the coolest shop in the world opened up; the Hobby Chest. They had so many things I’d never seen. Comic books, graphic novels, role playing games I was used to, sure. But all of the anime, manga, Gundam models and other random Japanese toys made this a place like nothing else I’d ever seen. This was my place. I bought all of my comics here. I built my first Gundam models from here. Not many, and I never got into painting them. They were just so darn cool without having to do any extra stuff. I started buying some anime on VHS and eventually DVD. This is how I was introduced to Akira, Bubblegum Crisis, Ranma 1/2 and many, many others. When we started playing Magic the Gathering, this is where we bought our cards until I took it more seriously, playing in local tournaments at dedicated card shops.

They moved across the street to a larger space and it became more of a model hobby shop. Still lots of Gundam, but also cars, planes, and military vehicles. Which makes sense because Jacksonville is right beside Camp Lejeune. RC planes and cars are also a big thing. And loads and loads of WARHAMMER stuff. They apparently have big WARHAMMER games as there are lots of big tables setup with WARHAMMER-related structures on them.

There’s still some anime blu-rays behind the counter, but hardly any comics or graphic novels. I was very happy to see that it’s still around, and if I do ever get back into Gunpla , this will be my go to place whenever I’m back home.