Nerds Rule
Soon after opening Sweets & Geeks candy and game shop in Medina, owner Jim McMahan had a revelation.
“It’s a bigger geeky world than you realize,” he says. “Someone’s got some bit of something geek inside of them, or their sweet tooth brings them in.”
Since 2001, his team has been running Alter Reality Games, a business that specializes in collector’s cards, and wanted to expand into nostalgic candy, sodas and pop culture items. When Sweets & Geeks opened in October 2020, they were surprised the demand was so high for nerdy merchandise, and management and McMahan were pulling 60- and 90-hour workweeks, respectively, filling orders.
It quickly became a whimsical destination to beat pandemic doldrums, with people driving over two hours to visit. It’s been called a fantastic day trip because the store is an astonishing 32,000 square feet and can take an hour to explore. It starts with candy on the lower level, from 1900s Necco chocolate wafers to pumpkin spice cotton candy to TikTok sensation Toxic Waste Sour Slime Lickers. The you-pick six-packs of sodas are popular and let customers choose from 600-plus varieties such as Japanese Ramune blueberry and Hello Kitty Fizzy Pop. Devoted collectors can stop by an ARG section where you can sell rare collectibles like Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering cards.
Upstairs, discover tons of rotating games and gag gifts like Scooby-Doo Clue and Fart in a Can. Also peruse expanded Dungeons & Dragons, Funko Pop, trading card and anime collections. Plus, life-sized props provide photo ops throughout, including a couch with the family from “The Simpsons” and a massive gumball machine. McMahan has seen people as young as 2 and old as 90 giggle as they browse.
“I’ll be walking through the store and there’ll be 70-, 80-year-old ladies laughing because they’re looking at the gag gifts,” he says.
Events bring geekdom to life. For a Harry Potter day, entire families came dressed in capes and for a superhero day, mini Batmans, Spider-Mans and Wonder Womans overran Sweets & Geeks. People celebrate birthdays and anniversaries by shopping or renting private game rooms, and one person even went to commemorate surviving a life-threatening surgery. It becomes an experience when a family picks a puzzle or game to do together. And die-hards come out for regular game nights, with Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments on Wednesdays and Magic: The Gathering tournaments on Fridays.
While McMahan attributes the reignition of nostalgia to the pandemic and throwbacks in pop culture, like “Stranger Things” being set in the ’80s, he’s also seen some trendy games that remain popular.
“There’s three generations now that are collecting Pokemon together,” he says. “We’ve seen kids, dad and even some grandfathers, so it’s like a new world coming into it.”
The massive store is responding to the hype with a 2022 expansion that includes bigger game rooms to host card tournaments and an ice cream and snack bar with unique candy toppings.
In a challenging time, people are embracing their inner geek in a happy place.
“We make it a lot of fun,” McMahan says, “so when you come in, you’re just smiling,”
342 E. Smith Road, Medina, sweetsandgeeks.com