SAN ANTONIO – The votes are in, and viewers have decided on their favorite businesses around town.
From categories like restaurants to dog grooming, gyms and hobby spaces, there are nearly 100 different winners. One of those wants to make sure that a growing industry still feels like home to the Alamo City.
“It’s just kind of interesting to see how the community has changed,” said Robert Carrasco, general manager of Heroes & Fantasies. “I’ve been in this so long that it was kind of taboo in the beginning to read comics, or play card games, or whatever. And now it’s cool.”
Heroes & Fantasies has been operating in San Antonio for nearly 40 years, growing from a small storefront off Loop 410 into a warehouse with more than 100,000 comics in stock, aisles full of action figures and rows of tables available for board games.
“You’ve got a lot of celebrities who play D&D or Warhammer, or they paint custom stuff for Gundam and everything like that,” Carrasco said. “So it’s helped in the growth and it not (to) just be seen as, we’re just a comic book shop. It’s kind of more of a pop culture thing“.
The store hosts tournaments, challenges, group games and tutorials for several different games 4 times a week.
The owners say that community is just as important as commerce for their operation, and providing people with an accessible place to try something new is beneficial for business.
“We do have some of our employees that will demo for you and teach you how to play a game, but I think it’s just as cool when some of the players want to help you as well, and like, well, if you need these cards, I have some extra or whatever, that kind of (thing). And so it’s kind of neat to see them kind of pull together and help somebody out,” said Carrasco.
If you’d like to see a full list of winners for SA Picks, you can click the link above.